1. Fats are bad for us. - Even at that time when I felt I was giving best medical advice to my patient (“Cut down on fat”), I myself never was really able to cut out fats much. I get so incredibly hungry without! But I am still at the weight I had at age twelve … and have slowly come to the conclusion that I probably gave bad advice to my patients. (Sorry!). What I advise now: Olive oil for salads, coconut oil for frying, occasionally a bit of European-style cultured butter (very occasionally!).
2. Exercise hard. – The Centenarian Study has shown that people who live to a ripe old age usually are not strong on exercise. They have friends, putter around house and garden and live for a worthwhile cause. Plus they have good genes. – I am not saying don’t exercise – but like everything else: Do it in moderation! – A minute here and there on your yoga ball, daily, will give you better health than the gym once a week (my guess – no studies done).
3. Eat a snack before you go to bed. – Diabetics are taught this, and usually crackers and milk are recommended, both of which I think are really bad ideas. That dairy is unhealthy I have said before; crackers are nothing else than cardboard “food” – devoid of any nutritional value.
4. Snacks, in general. – Bad idea. Few people fare well on the “more meals but smaller meals” advice. Most people do “more meals and more and more calories.” I never snack – and I never try my own food when I am cooking – I just smell out if more salt is needed. And healthy snacks like celery sticks without the dip? They really make me hungry. - Forget snacks! Think of something more important!
5. Oh, and carrying water with you wherever you go. – Don’t! We got two hands to do really interesting stuff with them like fixing a car or playing the cello – NOT for lugging a water bottle or a coffee pot around. You don’t have to drink in the middle of your exercise or yoga class – before and after is plenty. Except if you are crossing a desert, don’t be seen with a bottle/cup in your hand. And drinks with calories in them? Also a no-no: Water and teas are all what is needed. Because drinks with calories are not drinks – they are meals.
6. Take a Tylenol or an Aspirin for fever. – Now, the body makes a fever to kill the germs that invaded you. It’s usually not a good idea to interfere with your body’s action. Go to bed early, drink hot herbal teas and sleep it out is usually the better response to a beginning cold.
7. Take a painkiller against pain. - If a simple Tylenol, etc. will do the trick, the pain is probably not so bad that you cannot tough it out (which is easier on your body – all the pain medications have unwanted side effects). Also: Better think why you got the pain in the first place: Hangover? Too much sun? Too much computer? Too little movement? Bad posture? Too little sleep?
To be continued, I guess. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Fats Are Bad – And a Few Other Medical Myths I Am Not Sure I Still Believe In
September 7, 2010
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News from My Summer Reading Pile
August 14, 2010
Remember my summer reading list? Slowly I am making my way through, devouring one Commissaire Maigret after the other. This is what I found:
“He had a bath, followed by a cold shower, and ate a substantial breakfast while watching the rain fall as continuously as on a November morning. At nine o’clock he had the ballistic expert on the line.” (Excerpt from “Maigret and the Surly Inspector”)
Not only James Bond – Commissaire Maigret also is fond of cold showers! Georges Simenon wrote this story in 1946. Something that was once common wisdom, namely that a cold shower does one good, has mostly been forgotten.
Just as a reminder – here are the benefits of ending each hot shower/bath with a cold shower (don’t do it if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure and/or arterial disease).
A daily cold shower
• boosts immune function
• lifts your mood
• fights fatigue and hangover
• normalizes your blood pressure
• decreases chronic pain
• trains and improves blood circulation – arterial and venous
• detoxifies the body
• deepens breathing, relieving obstructions in the lung
• tones subcutaneous connective tissues
• improves lymphatic circulation
• rejuvenate and heals skin
• regulates the activity of all glands (pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, ovaries/testes
• enhances motivation for physical exercise
• is helpful in diabetes, obesity, gout, rheumatic diseases, chronic fatigue, varicose veins and hemorrhoids
• regulates sympathetic/parasympathetic nerve system (the non-voluntary part of the nerve system) to an optimum
Now that the water is summer-warm it is the perfect time to begin cold showers. In February, it will be murder – I am screaming every time I have to get into the cold shower. But I do get in! Read More
Bowel health II: Fermented Foods
June 10, 2010
Probiotic pills/capsules provide healthy bowel bacteria.
But there exists an ancient method how to provide those lactic-acid bacteria without supplements: fermented foods.
Many traditional societies have used fermented foods:
• Sauerkraut (Europe)
• Pickled vegetables like dilled cucumbers (China, Europe)
• Tempeh (fermented, pressed soy beans)(Indonesia)
• Miso (Japan)
• Kefir (Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia)
• Buttermilk (Scandinavia, India, Bulgaria)
• Soy sauce (China, Japan, Southeast Asia) (beware of unfermented cheap products!)
• Umeboshi plum (Japan)
• Natto (Japanese soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis)
• Pao cai (pickled cabbages) (China)
• Kimchi (pickled cabbages and other vegetables with red pepper) (Korea)
• Zha cai (pickled mustard plant with red pepper) (Southern China: Sichuan)
• Doenjang (dark bean paste) (Korea)
There are many more traditional fermented foods worldwide from fermented fish sauce to fermented breads. A big subgroup are milk products that are fermented like natural cheeses and yogurts. On the other hand, modern products like soy sauce pickled dills might not have undergone the fermentation process; the taste comes from spices and preservatives.
Like probiotics, fermented foods are good for your health. Fermenting reduces so-called antinutrients (like lectins), making foods easier to digest. Fermented foods increase saliva and digestive juices flow, and provide vitamins and minerals which have been “pre-digested” by bacteria and therefore are more easily available for the human body. Sauerkraut was traditional a source of vitamin C during the winter and fresh things were scarce. Fermented foods are thought to have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial effects and help cleanse a system overloaded with toxins (or a hangover). They work against fatigue and aging. Read More