Building A Fort With Junior

My weekend project, better known as “building a fort with Joey”, is going to be an interesting test of patience and attention to detail.

We have purchased one of those large backyard playsets (see the picture) that comes delivered in about 5 big boxes weighing a couple of hundred pounds apiece.  I’m a little nervous just how many parts there are going to be once we get the boxes open.

And because we have plans on Sunday, I’m under the gun to get it completely assembled and kid-worthy by sundown on Saturday. No pressure.

I can’t wait to see Joey’s face once it’s all done, but putting this thing together quickly with a helpful three year old running around is going to be a challenge.

Think I may want to brush up on some stress reduction techniques.

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Einstein Was A Jogger

In a study soon to be released in the scientific journal Hippocampus, scientists have shown that exercise will increase brain capacity.  Periods of reasonably vigorous physical activity result in the growth of the hippocampus, the structure in the brain responsible for the formation and storage of new memories and our spatial navigation abilities. “Spatial navigation abilities” is just a scientific way of describing our ability to walk down a hall without bumping into things.

Studies of  elderly people have shown that individuals who are generally physically fit have a larger hippocampus than their less active counterparts.  As a result, these individuals also demonstrated better spatial memory and superior mental clarity as compared to the inactive test group.

These studies show that the hippocampus is a key component in our ability to learn new concepts, retain memories, and navigate our way down a crowded city street.  And in this case, size does matter.  The bigger the hippocampus, the “smarter” we are.

Aging,  hypertension, and chronic alcoholism can all work to shrink the hippocampus.  Human and animal studies have also shown that mental stress will lead to shrinkage in the hippocampus.

How do we counteract the inevitable effects that aging and lifestyle can have on the hippocampus?

Experiments on mice have shown that rodents voluntarily running on an exercise wheel increase the size of their hippocampus.   Scientists also observed that these mice had an increase in the rate of neurogenesis, or the production of new neurons.   Note that I said voluntarily.  These same experiments demonstrated that mice forced to run on the wheel for the same periods showed no increase in hippocampus size.

So, pestering a spouse or loved one to exercise may make them healthier, but probably not much smarter.

One of the scientists leading the study, Kirk Erickson, stated that the findings “supports the notion that your lifestyle choices and behaviors may influence brain shrinkage in old age. Basically, if you stay fit, you retain key regions of your brain involved in learning and memory.”

Exercise to stay fit.

Exercise to stay smart.

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If They Ever Kick Me Out Of The United States

I’ll happily pack up the family and move to Australia.

Over the last couple of years I have had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time living in the land down under.  I spent 3 months living in Adelaide, the Southern capital, and 8 weeks living in downtown Sydney.

Both trips were a great experience, especially since I was able to fly the family over during my time in Adelaide.

I was amazed at, in addition to being a beautiful country, how clean the cities are.  The Aussies are a very environmentally conscious people.  There’s not much in the way of big industry, so the air is clean and the sky is the richest shade of blue.

And healthy?  You don’t find many fast food places in the streets of Australia.  Most eateries are focused on fresh fruits and vegetables, and there’s a juice shop on almost every corner.

And the beaches?  While in Sydney, I spent quite a bit of time at Bondi Beach, one of the most famous surfing beaches in the world.  Gorgeous scenery, killer waves, and Australian women in bikinis - now that’s a good day.

I love this quote about the country:

“For Americans, Australia engenders nostalgia for our own past, which we gauzily remember as infused with John Wayne plain-spokenness and vigor. Australia evokes an echo of our own frontier, which is why Australia is the only place you can unironically still shoot a Western.”

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Red Red Wine

I’m not much of a beer drinker. Loved it in college, but aside from the occasional cold one after a good game of rugby or basketball, I pretty much stay away from the suds.

I also generally steer clear of hard alcohol. The exception to this being any afternoon spent on a beach, or at a bar set up to look like a beach, where margaritas are being served. Oh yeah, and the occasional Jimmy Buffet concert. Yes, it is a cliche, but still just seems so right at the time.

So, am I a total wet rag when we go out? Nope. Cause I do love wine. Over the years and much to the derision of my beer swilling, tequila tossing buddies I have developed a real taste for the vino.

I used to favor the whites - Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, etc - but now I pretty much stick to the reds to avoid all the sugar generally found in white varietals. Plus I think my wife gets tired of seeing me mix a nice glass of white wine with apple juice. Yea yea, but it’s good AND good for you.

Now I stick pretty much with the reds. I’ve done alot of research and am convinced by the studies that indicate that the resveratrol and other antioxidants in red wine really do  convey some degree of health benefits.

So, what is this resveratrol stuff?

Resveratrol is a substance found both in red grapes and in the roots and stems of the vines that they grow on.   When those grapes are used to make wine, the wine is actually fermented in a mixture that includes the grapes and the vine stems thus producing large concentrations of resveratrol in the resulting liquid.

Resveratrol is an antioxidant.  Antioxidants have been shown to provide heart health benefits by increasing levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and decreasing levels of bad cholesterol (LDL).  Resveratrol, in addition to other antioxidants found in red wine, have also shown significant weight loss benefits and actually could result in increases in lifespan.  Animal studies have demonstrated that diets supplemented with resveratrol resulted in slimmer, longer living test subjects.  Yes, it’s only been proven in animals, but the average lifespan of cultures that subsist on the Mediterranean Diet is higher than those that don’t adhere to that red wine friendly diet.

The supplement industry has jumped wholeheartedly on the resveratrol bandwagon.   Go figure.  There are a ton of different resveratrol supplemenst out there.  Some are good, others, not so.   It really comes down to the concentration of active resveratrol in the pill, powder, or potion.  So, do your homework.

Me, I’ll stick with my 1-2 glasses of red wine each night.  Cabernet Savignon typically has the highest concentration of resveratrol, followed closely by Pinot Noir and Petit Syrah.  Lesser concentrations can be found in Merlot and Red Zinfandel. I’ll wager to say that, as I don’t think they even use grapes to make it, that you won’t get much in the way of health benefits from Boones Farm Wild Red.

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Growing Younger Everyday

“Grow old and die”

I’ve always hated that phrase. It just sets an expectation that life pretty much ends when you hit the “old” stage. And while I’m nowhere close to being classified as “old”, I don’t expect to start wilting away when I get there.

The truth is, to grow old does not have to mean to grow decrepit or frail. Aging is inevitable. Hair turns grey, gravity starts to take its toll on our body, and we may lose a step or two in our running speed. But looking old is not the same thing as feeling or acting old. There are some key biological facts to remember.

The evolution of the human body has not caught up with the couch potato lifestyle that many of us fall into, especially as we advance into middle age.

The human body is designed for a life in nature where a feast and famine cycle is typical.  Our bodies still think we’re cavemen.

Our ancestors, as recently as the last century, followed a Summer-Winter circle of life.  Summers would be spent hunting and foraging for food, and Winters would be the time to hunker down against the elements and live off carefully rationed food that had been stored. The human body, over thousands of years, adapted to this and developed internal controls to facilitate survival.

During warm weather, when activity levels were high, the body used nourishment to feed all the functions that the body required for hunting, farming, and foraging activities.  The brain sent signals that encouraged the body to be lean, efficient, and strong. Bones and joints were fed to become more resilient, the heart and circulatory system increased in blood and oxygen capacity, and the body’s immunity functions were enhanced.  This Summer cycle was when our ancestors thrived and stocked up in preparation for the Winter.

When the cold season hit, humans typically would slow down and adopt a low activity lifestyle and just try to survive the Winter. The body, with the goal of preserving energy, would go into “famine” mode where only the critical bodily functions were supported. Energy would be doled out to keep the heart beating, the blood pumping, and the nervous system operating. But other non-essential systems would be left to decay. Without the signals encouraging growth and the expenditure of energy, muscles would begin to atrophy, cardio capacity decreased, and the body’s immunity system would weaken.

Our bodies are still acclimated to that feast-famine cycle  and will react accordingly when our lifestyle encourages one or the other stage of the cycle.  When we don’t exercise, our bodies assume we are in “Winter” mode and will slow down and decay.  In addition,  as we grow older, the body’s natural balance of growth and decay begins to shift to the decay side of the scale. This occurs as we enter our 40’s and 50’s and increases as we advance in age.

Chronic stress also contributes to this imbalance.  The body interprets the chemical changes associated with stress as signals that our environment has changed for the worse. In response, the body goes into shutdown survival mode and will leave non-essential systems to decay from lack of support.

The key to overcoming the tendency to exhibit this cycle of growth and decay is to fool the body.  We must fool the body into maintaining the “feast” stage of the growth cycle.

How do we do that?

Exercise is the key factor. Exercise mimics the physical work that our bodies associate with hunting and foraging. Maintaining a consistent high intensity exercise program will promote steady and consistent growth and maintenance of all body functions including the cardio related systems, bones and joints, and muscle tissue.

Grow old and stay young.

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It’ll Cost You To Be A Couch Potato

It started when the airlines began looking at plans to charge additional ticket fees to anyone who could not “fit” into a standard airplane seat. Essentially an individual would have to purchase 2 tickets to cover the cost of taking up the two seats necessary to support their size. As someone who has traveled quite a bit over the years, I can tell you that fitting into a standard airplane seat is difficult for skinny people, much less our heavier counterparts.

I’ve often wondered how the airlines would implement such a plan. Do they ask how much you weigh when you purchase your ticket? Do they make you stand on a scale at the check-in counter?

“No sir, first we weigh you, THEN we send you through the x-ray.”

Am I at the airport, or my doctor’s office?

Pudgy People Will Pay More

This trend of financially penalizing unhealthy people is now carrying over into the workplace. Employers, including state and local governments, are evaluating plans to increase health benefits costs for employees they deem “unfit”.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week that the city of Kennesaw, Georgia is going to vote on a plan that would effectively double the insurance premiums for city employees who are “fat”, smoke, or are deemed to fall into the “high-risk” health category.  Now this begs the question of who sets the definitions for what is “fit” and “high-risk”.  The city intends to partner with a wellness consulting firm that will dictate those standards.  They will also offer wellness programs designed to help people quit smoking and to lose weight so that they can obtain that favored “fit” status.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.  And keep in mind, I’m all for offering employees access to programs to improve their health, regardless of the financial incentive to do so.  I’ve always tried to take advantage of employee discounts for health club memberships and such in the past.

However, the city of Kennesaw is pushing this plan also as a way to cut the city’s health care costs.  But study after study has shown that introducing wellness programs to an employee base does, in fact, not save an employer money or cut benefits costs for the employee.  Now in this program of penalizing the employee for not maintaining a “fit” standard, the employee will save money if he adheres to the standards set by the wellness firm, but the people making the real money in this are the wellness companies.

The wellness industry is built around profits made from personal consultations, dietary supplement sales, and weight-loss programs.  Allowing these firms to set the standards to which employees will have to adhere is basically giving them the ability to define a captive, paying customer  base.

Should the firm that sets the standards be the one to profit from those that don’t meet them?

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Maybe He’ll Make A Fortune Selling Viagra In Prison

The CEO of Atlanta-based Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Jared Wheat, was sentenced last month in the ongoing trial that has blown the lid off of Internet prescription drug scams.  According to the original indictment back in 2006:

“Jared Wheat, the principal owner of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, and the other defendants opened a drug manufacturing facility in Belize in approximately 2002. The defendants allegedly used Hi-Tech funds and Jared Wheat’s own funds to cover the costs of operating the Hi-Tech facility in Belize, and would travel to Belize to manufacture various prescription and controlled substances. The defendants allegedly made approximately 24 different drugs that they marketed through so-called “spam” advertisements over the Internet as authentic generic versions of those drugs being imported from Canada. The drugs included steroids such as “Oxymethelone” and “Stanazolol,” along with unapproved versions of controlled drugs such as “Ambien,” “Valium,” and “Xanax.” The defendants also manufactured versions of prescription drugs such as “Viagra,” “Cialis,” “Lipitor” and “Vioxx.” From 2002 through 2004, the defendants allegedly ordered enough active ingredients to manufacture millions of pills, many of which were then shipped into the United States to individuals who purchased the drugs after receiving Internet “spam” and also to various wholesalers of drugs.”

Under a plea deal, three other named defendants were sentenced to jail terms of 16 to 27 months.  However, the judge found that Wheat would not receive the suggested 37 month jail time detailed in the plea.  Due to the severity of his criminal actions in personally spearheading the scheme, the judge imposed the 50 month term.

It is interesting to note that during plea negotiations, prosecutors dropped allegations of racketeering, spiking supplements with ephedrine alkaloids and conspiracies of blackmail and murder.

Just another example of why it is critical to do research before buying any type of supplement or prescription drug over the Internet.

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The Answer: Popsicles, Pizza, and Painkillers

The question: What are they serving up in that van parked around the corner?

The Partnership for Prescription Drug Assistance, run by the drug industry trade group PhRMA, is currently sending vans across Texas and New Jersey, dispensing free drugs at every stop.  Long lines are being reported at these stops as the record numbers of uninsured individuals desperately seek assistance in obtaining needed medications.

The Dispensary of Hope is also reporting sharp increases in the number of people lining up for free medications in their dispensing locations across Tennessee.  The effects of the recession - unemployment and loss of medical coverage - have led to a 50%+ jump in the number of individuals clamoring for free pills, potions, and powders.

The good news for these people is that, so far, the supply of medications is meeting the surging demand.

Where do these drugs come from?

The Dispensary of Hope acquires their drugs via a “Netflix”-like model where they supply bins to participating physicians.  These physicians will fill those bins with surplus prescription samples that they routinely receive from  pharmaceutical-industry reps.  When the bin is full, it is sent to the Dispensary of Hope dropoff location where it an empty bin will be sent back to the physician.  The drugs are then packaged and sent out for distribution via van, kiosk, or city street corner.  Okay, maybe not actual street corners…

While I do certainly understand the fear and desperation that a lack of medical coverage can cause, I’m also concerned that this “band-aid” fix of providing free medications is a program rife with risks.  When a doctor prescribes a drug to a patient, that patient is relatively confident that he or she is getting the right medicine at the right dosage to treat their condition.  When a pharmacy dispenses that medicine to the patient, that patient is also relatively confident that the bottle contains exactly what it is supposed to contain.

This system of taking close-to-expiration pharmaceutical samples and handing them out to people who can’t afford to go the normal doctor-pharmacy route seems to lack adequate control over the handling and distribution of these medications.  The opportunities for mistakes in medicines supplied, dosages recommended, and expiration date control are huge.

And tampering?  It seems like there are alot of hands touching those drugs before they ever reach the consumer.  Remember the Tylenol poisonings?

I don’t know what the answer is.  My first reaction is to lobby for the FDA to step in and put some rigor around the free drug programs.  But the FDA is currently as screwed up as any agency out there and is too busy trying to stem the loss of their top people to the big pharma companies.  That’s a whole ‘nother column.

If you were unable to obtain prescription medicine through the traditional doctor-pharmacy channel, would you accept handouts of free meds from a van driving through your neighborhood?

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The Latest Anti-Aging Wonder Pill

Now, I am not a total skeptic when it comes to miracle supplements that are advertised as everything from “the cure for cancer” to “the fountain of youth in one little pill”. But I do have a healthy distrust of most of the marketing hype that preys on our desire to stay young and live forever.

Fortunately, although the supplement industry is unregulated (I see that changing very soon), there are typically multiple “scientific” studies around the underlying substances these wonder pills are based on. For example, the current craze over anti-oxidants is certainly based on proven, scientific studies that show that anti-oxidants do combat the free radicals in the body that contribute to aging.  In addition, there is ample scientific evidence available that indicates that fish and flaxseed oil supplements can lower bad cholesterol (LDL) levels.

One of the latest anti-aging supplements released to the world of frantic, youth-obsessed Baby Boomers is Pycnogenol.  Pycnogenol is a product made from the bark of pine trees and contains vitamin-like flavonoids that are said to combat aging, reduce heart disease risks, stem hair loss, and repair skin damage from the sun. 

Now that really does sound like a miracle pill, doesn’t it?

Pycnogenol is too new to have any substantive or long-term studies to back up these claims.  But the supplement is gaining quite a bit of favor in the medical community for its apparent ability to manage specific conditions such as hypertension, asthma, diabetes, arthritis, and menopause.  Researchers suggest taking 1.5 mg of Pycnogenol per pound of body weight per day.  And as always, do your research on any supplement provider.  Quality varies, and some companies are definitely better than others when it comes to supplement purity and efficacy.

Here is one doctor commenting on Pycnogenol:

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“The Pounds Will Melt Right Off” and Other Diet Miracles

Cookies, grapefruit, and cabbage soup. What do they have in common?

They each are the cornerstone of current diet fads where people are losing dollars, not weight. Fad diets are a money making industry, and it seems like every popular TV “doctor” and fitness “expert” are creating one or hawking one for someone else. Here are a few advertising taglines of some of the more popular diet plans out there.

See if you can identify which diet goes with which blurb.

“Imagine losing 15 pounds a month while eating cookies!!”

“Delicious snacks. Sweet success.”

“It’s not a diet. It’s a healthy, balanced lifestyle”

“Burn fat while you eat!”

“Lose 10 pounds every week!”

“The delicious, doctor designed, foolproof weight-loss plan”

And my personal favorite:

“The diet God originally gave mankind!”

Look, the truth is most diet fads are just that - fads. They come and go and generally are ineffective at providing long term weight control solutions. Pounds do not “melt” off. Grapefruit really doesn’t “burn” fat. And any diet that advises the use of appetite suppressant drugs (Cookie Diet) is just plain dangerous.

The key to consistent weight control is a balanced, healthy diet combined with a vigorous exercise program.

For an interesting quickie analysis of all the current fad diets, check out this report from RNCentral.com

And just to leave this on a humorous note, take a look at this video:

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