Eating For Health

Everyone knows that walking is good for you.   New studies have show how good walking is for your overall health.   If a short walk is good, is a longer walk better?   How much walking does one have to do to improve health? How much walking is needed to improve health? Sedentary is bad, walking is good , is a new way to look at activity.   A sedentary person who only walks about 1,000 steps a day who ups it to 3,000 steps a day can improve their health.   A study published in PLOS One , and highlighted in More Steps a day keep the doctor away , found that the more steps you do the greater the health benefits.   But even increasing walking from 1000 t0 3000 steps a day resulted in a 12% lowered mortality risk.     Those who met the goal of walking 10,000 steps a day lowered their mortality risk a whopping 46%.   They determined this by tracking 3,000 Australians, average age of 58, for over 15 years.   The study participants wore a pedometer to track daily steps.   In the

Looking to lose weight before summer?   So many people focus on cutting back starches to lose weight when cutting back on added sugars may be more beneficial.   People are more willing to cut back on the slice of bread but not the sugared soda.   As stated by Laura Schmidt, professor of Health Policy at UC San Francisco, “Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick.” Is Sugar Making Us Sick? Recent research shows that cutting back on added sugars is a good way for obese kids to lose weight.   (The Berkeley Wellness Letter highlighted this study in “Yes, it’s the sugar”, March 2016.)   Cutting back on nutritious foods needed for growth is not a good idea when a child is trying to slim down. But added sugars add calories and not nutrients needed for growth and development. What did the research find about added sugars? Two universities, University of San Francisco and Touro University of California studied 43 obese kids ranging in age from 9-18.   These

Does what you eat affect your vision?   Do the foods you eat or don’t eat affect your eye sight?   Recently I was at a restaurant and a couple sat down in the table next to us.   The man asked the server for a flashlight as he was not able to read the menu in the dim light.   It was a little dim in the restaurant but most people would be able to read the menu.   I didn’t know what his vision problem was, but one thing came to mind, vitamin A deficiency.   One of the first systems of vitamin A deficiency is night blindness.   This results in poor vision at night or in dim light.   Perhaps this gentleman had trouble reading the menu in the dim light because he was deficient in vitamin A.   What are the vitamins and nutrients that promote good vision?   The March 2016 issue of Environmental Nutrition has an article, “ Eat to See Clearly ”.   Choose a Rainbow of Colors:   – Eat the colors of the rainbow for healthy eyes.   A vitamin A precursor is carotenoids found in dark green and dar

How many calories are in those beverages you are drinking every day?   Many people drink high energy drinks, Starbuck’s coffee, soft drinks and drinks like Gatorade without even considering those calories.    And calories from beverages easily add up.    The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has some good advice for high school students that can be applied to all of us. Drop Liquid Calories is one of the Alliance for Health’s recommendations.   Many of us aren’t eating our calories but drinking our calories by consuming sugary beverages – soft drinks, energy drinks, sweetened ice tea, coffee with flavored syrups.   High school students and adults “are drinking more sugary beverages than ever before.”   As the website notes, the biggest source of added sugar in the diets of many of our youth are sugary beverages.   Surprisingly, many of these sugary beverages are provided by parents and they can easily change what beverages are in the home.   Liquid calories aren’t as fillin