Ritz Toasted Chips

Right now I am holding in my hand a bag of Ritz Toasted Chips, Sweet Home Sour Cream & Onion. This is a perfect example of what you should NOT eat. 

My mother-in-law gave us the bag of chips and it tastes great (Great job on the artificial flavor!).  We don't buy this stuff somehow it seems to creep into the house.

Looking at the ingredient list you can see it is quite long and full of chemicals I can’t pronounce. Who knows what effect they have on your body.

Sure they crunch nice and taste good, but this is an example of what too many people eat.  Later they pay for it in obesiity, higher blood pressure and increased cancer risk from the chemicals. Best, just don’t buy things like this in the first place — then they won’t be around to tempt you.

Blood Pressure, Some Interesting Observations

In the USA and other developed countries hypertension or high blood pressure is a contributing factor to a high incidence of stroke, heart attack and other vascular diseases.

It is in everyone’s interest in keeping your blood pressure within a desirable range (less than 120/80).

Unfortunately not a lot is know about the causes of high blood pressure. Genetics is the major determining factor. If your parents have high blood pressure (or low) you will usually follow suit.

Genetics aside, what can you do to keep your blood pressure in a desireable range? Unfortunately, not a lot is know on causative factors. However, it is thought that the following contributes to high blood pressure: 1) being overweight 2) high salt in your diet 3) lack of exercise. There is some indication that a diet high in fruit (especially berries) and vegetables also helps.

Psoriasis Relief

Psoriasis runs in my family. My grandmother suffered terribly with itchy painful red welts over most of her body. She tried all kinds of treatments, some costly, nothing really helped for long.

I too had psoriasis as a teenager, though never as bad as my grandmother. In my early twenties I started eating healthier. One of the things I stopped eating was red meat. Surprise, my psoriasis started fading and eventually went away.

I have been mostly psoriasis free ever since. One exception was about 7 years ago. I was working almost full time remodeling a house I was flipping. Close by was a Hardees fast food restaurant. They featured a sale on burgers at the time so I thought: Why not?

After about 10 days of mostly eating these burgers for lunch my psoriasis came back. I stopped eating the burgers and it went away in a couple weeks.

Now, I don’t mean to pick on Hardees. I suspect that any fast food hamburger may have precipitated my psoriasis. I have since found that red meat, especially cheap (read greasy) red meat precipitates the inflammation response. Since psoriasis is an auto-immune disease it is not surprising that susceptible people like myself can break out on a high red meat diet.

My point is, anyone who sufferes from psoriasas may wish to try this remedy. Just stop eating red meat for a month. See if you don’t improve. Eat fish, chicken and vegetarian protein sources instead. You may be doing yourself a big health favor and save money at the same time. I only wish someone had thought of suggesting this to my grandmother (She loved red meat).

Garlic and Weight

The American Journal of Hypertension recently found in a 5 week study that people on a high sugar diet who ate allicin (the active ingredient in garlic) kept weight off better than a control group who did not get the allicin.

A high sugar diet (fructose in the study) increases insulin levels, blood pressure, and triglycerides.

Best advice: Eat a low sugar diet and enjoy garlic (fresh, not cooked, is best).

Why We All Need Resistance Training

You’ve seen the photos and ads. Championship weight lifters, bulging muscles, g string outfits. I often wonder what these guys (and gals) are trying to prove. Maybe they are afraid that if they didn’t look like Captain Marvel someone might try to kick sand in their face.

Actually, these muscle bound people give the wrong view of weight training. Most of us do not want to look like a creature from a comic strip. We do want to be lean, trim and with a firm body.

Now, I’m going to reverse course here and tell you that we all should do some weight training (lets call it resistance training). Why? Resistance training will give you a firmer, leaner body. it also boosts your metabolism, helping you burn calories at a higher rate, even when resting. No one wants flab and fat. Twice a week resistance training help you go along ways toward getting rid of the unwanted flab.

This goes for both men and women and even senior citizens in their seventies or eighties. Dumbbells start as low as 2.5 lbs each. Buy and use a pair. Start at your level of comfort and work your way up. Do a brief set of exercises twice a week. I do it while watching TV. You will look and feel better. You will not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. It takes hours of training, every day, to look like him. That is not your goal. If it is, you should be reading the muscle magazines, not this blog.

Regular resistance training, combined with a healthy diet will have you well on your way to a leaner trimmer body. No gym membership necessary. Start today. You can get the dumbbells at Wal*Mart.

The Dangers of Meat

No, this post is not a pitch to get you to be a vegetarian. Rather, it is a pitch to get you to be careful of what you do eat if you chose to eat meat.

Most beef, pork and chicken you purchase in the grocery store is loaded with hormones, antibiotics, undesirable fats such as omega-6 fats and other undesirable chemicals. I do urge you to avoid this grocery store meat as much as possible. If you do want to eat meat, minimize the amounts and eat organic meats such as free range chicken and grass fed beef.

Likewise, farm grown seafood such as salmon, shrimp, tilapia, catfish etc. do not have the favorable omega-3/omega-6 ratio that their wild caught brothers do.

I have a genetic tendency to psoriasis. I've noted that whenever I eat lots of meat, especially cheap hamburger, the psoriasis acts up. This is probably due to the inflamatory response stimulated by the meat. Fish and chicken do not cause the problem.

Two Foods to Avoid

Out of shape? Bad eating habits? Don't know what to do about it? Here is two simple things you can do to start making a major improvement today:

1. Stop or drastically cut down on drinking soda. The high fructose corn syrup used in regular soda is "empty calories" which only pack on fat but don't satisfy. The artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas can cause all kinds of maladies and may be an appetite stimulant. Stay away from them!
2. Stop eating french fries. You don't need the trans fats, inflammatory effects and the calories.

Just doing the above two things can make a major difference in your health. Yes, there is a lot more things you can do but start with the above

The Importance of Sunshine

Sunshine on your skin synthesizes Vitamin D in your body. In the winter, in northern latitudes -- or southern latitudes if you live in the southern hemisphere -- we tend to stay well clothed and inside a lot due to the cold. This means there is a good chance we are running a Vitamin D deficit.

Lack of Vitamin D can cause several bad things for our health. Diseases such as Ricketts can occur. This problem was "cured" by putting Vitamin D into milk. Unfortunately, we don't drink as much milk as we used to. Also, lack of Vitamin D can be correlated with increased cancer risk.

To help increase your Vitamin D in the winter try to get some sun each day. Also, make sure you are getting Vitamin D in fortified milk and/or supplements.

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