Seven Superfoods to Help You Live Longer

Here's an infograph from Lemongraphic:

Pretty darn good, huh?

I'm happy to say that I regularly eat kale, coconut oil, chia seeds (this is a recently new addition), and lentils and beans, and I eat blueberries when they are on sale. 

Acai and maca?  Never.

To be honest, I'm not sure what maca is... but now I'm interested.

Have you ever tried maca?  Let me know what you think about it.

Spicy Food and Risk-Taking Personalities

According to a new study that was presented at the annual Institute of Food Technologists meeting and as reported by NBC News, there is a possible correlation between liking spicy foods and having a risk-taking personality.  You can read the full report from NBC here: Your Love of Spicy Foods Means You're a Risk Taker, New Study Says.

My thoughts:

1. I love how definitive the title of the article sounds when they have a quote stating, "I don’t think we can say that spicy food lovers are always risk takers, since there are always exceptions to the rules."
2. Perhaps I'm one of those exceptions:  I love spicy food, but it takes me 10 minutes to work up the nerve to jump into a cold lake. 
3. I feel like this study would not hold up in other cultures.  I love Thai food and Indian food, especially when it's spicy, but spicy to me is tame for someone who grew up in one of the cultures.

Your thoughts on spicy food and risk-taking?

Prescriptions for Vegetables?

That's right!  Doctors in New York are writing prescriptions for vegetables for high-risk, low-income patients.

You can watch a short news clip here: Fox NY

This makes my heart hurt a little because it shows just how many people do not have access to, the knowledge of, or the money for fresh food.

However, I love this idea because:

1. It helps put fresh food in the hands of those who need it most
2. It supports health
3. It provides food AND nutritional education 
4. It supports local farmers
5. It's financially supported by a non-profit (Wholesome Wave) so people can't complain

What do you think of this program?

Soda May Cause Heart Problems

More bad news for soda lovers: excessive soda drinking may cause irregular heart function.  

This follows news that soda can corrode your teeth as much as meth.

Granted, both cases involve excessive soda drinking, but it seems like many people do drink soda excessively.  I know I used to.

Your heart on soda

In this case, a woman drank nothing but soda for 16 years and suffered from irregular heartbeats and fainting spells.  This spawned research into other excessive soda drinkers and all were found to have similar heart problems.

If you want to read a little more on this case, you can check out Women's Health's coverage.

How did I kick the soda habit?  I went cold-turkey in a bet with a friend my sophomore year in high school:  Who could go the longest without drinking soda?

I went from drinking multiple cans a day to nothing.  I had headaches and withdrawal like symptoms for two weeks.  And then I never craved it again.  I've had soda in a mixed drink here or there but have not had a can or a bottle in over ten years.

I'm not sure what was going on in biology class that day since we were busy chatting away in the back of the room, but maybe it was a good thing to make a bet that day rather than pay attention.  Right?

Diet Soda as Corrosive as Meth

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, diet soda and methamphetamine can cause the same type of damage to your teeth.

See:

Brushing is important.  So is avoiding corrosive acids.

Too Much Sugar Is Bad For Your Brain

Our foods today, especially overly processed foods, include a lot of sugar.  And sugar is good at hiding behind other ingredient names:

Added Sugar Is Harmful To Your Brain

• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Glucose
• High-Fructose Corn Syrup
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Molasses
• Sucrose
• Syrup (in many forms: High-Fructose, Corn, Barley Malt, Malt, etc.)
• Xylose

And that's just to name a few.

So, what's the big deal?  Our bodies need sugar.  In fact, sugar is what fuels our cells.  So what's so bad about a little extra sugar here and there?

Exercise Works Your Muscles and Your Brain

Exercise gives you endorphins, right?  Well, it's beneficial in plenty of other ways too. 

That's a funny looking mouse!

You can read the article from Science Daily here.

In short:  Researchers from Princeton University found that exercise helps do two main things:

1. Responses to stress are reduced from the way physical activity reorganizes the brain
2. Normal brain function is less likely to be interrupted by anxiety

I know going for a run helps calm me down when I'm stressed, but this study focused on responses to stress (for mice) after six weeks of living an active life or a sedentary life.  The study isn't about an immediate calming effect.  Rather, it shows that exercise can have a prolonged and important impact on the development and growth of how your brain is wired.  The mice who lived an "active lifestyle" were able to run during the six weeks period: "The brain in a runner mouse showed every sign of controlling its reaction to an extent not observed in the brain of a sedentary mouse."

Exercise helps you handle and cope with stress.  Thanks exercise!

Learn

Full disclosure: I'm in education.  So I might be a little bias, but I think learning is awesome!

However, I'll also be the first to tell you that some of the most important and practical things that I have learned did not happen in a classroom.  Or at least, they did not happen in the classroom when I sat there as a student.  I won't go off on a tangent about our current education system (there are good parts and bad parts).  Rather, I just want to highlight that learning occurs EVERYWHERE!

Whether you are aware of it or not, you learn something daily.  You could learn something about yourself, or about someone else, or that you should make sure an oscillating sprinkler is pointed in the opposite direction as yourself when you ask your husband to turn on the water. 

Intentionally or not, learning occurs.  I try to fill my mind with new facts and information, with good books and interesting articles.  But some of the most compelling and useful learning occurs by accident.

So don't be afraid to make mistakes.  They are one of the best opportunities to learn something new.

Hello

I'm just getting things set up.  More will be coming soon!

Thanks for your patience,
-M