Better Health Can Be a Goal

   

I read in a January 17, 2014 edition of The Wall Street Journal that American diets have improved by 6.4 trillion fewer calories in 2012 than in 2007. This number breaks down to a reduction of 78 calories per person per day. However, if you wanted to lose some weight, one would need to eliminate at least 350 calories a day, from diet.

In order to improve one’s health, the following are three suggestions taken from March/April 2015 edition of Double Runner Magazine. Do you realize that Xanthohumol [found in beer] might be able to prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease, act as an anti-inflammatory agent, and treat menopausal symptoms and obesity? In a 2014 study, this flavonoid actually improved a group of young mice’s ability to navigate a water maize after ingesting this compound. I’ll bet there are volunteers willing to participate in a human study to test to determine if beer can improve their cognitive functioning.  Any volunteers?

Israeli scientists studied whether or not diet sodas cause obesity. In their published study, they found that artificial sweeteners alter the composition of bacteria in the G.I. tracks of mice. This in turn altered the way mice digest food.  The mice became intolerant to glucose which lead to elevated blood glucose levels and other pre-diabetes factors linked to weight gain. Probably, we would find volunteers to participate in a diet soda human study. Personally, I would rather volunteer for the beer study than for the diet soda one.

At one time, people believed that a steady heart rate was a sign of a healthy body. However, in a more recent study, the authors believed that there should be beat variability in beat to beat time. They believe that heartbeat variability is a sign of good health and fitness and the loss of that heart variability indicates the bodies, fatigue, or stress. In their study, they had five healthy athletes exercise on stationary bikes. The researchers found that the body must make constant adjustments to maintain oxygen flow to the brain and to skeletal muscle during exercise. This means that  increased  blood pressure is good since without  increasing blood pressure, that would likely cause brain damage. So employ a heart rate monitor to determine if you have heart rate variability during exercise. The loss of heart rate durability during exercise indicates there is a problem so check it out.

If you are eating less, then that’s a good sign. You now have information about beer, diet sodas and your heart. If only having the correct information was enough for better health. Consider, having a goal of reaching better health. What comes to mind is as following quote: "The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach."
– Benjamin Mays

In any event, keep moving, smiling, laughing, loving, bonding and appreciating along the way.