Shellfish

Yes, shellfish are good for you. Shellfish have gotten a bad rap because they are said to contain too much cholesterol. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know what I think of the cholesterol myth. While they do contain cholesterol, shellfish also contain lots of omega 3 fatty acids and are actually low in fat.

My husband was ecstatic when I told him he could really eat shrimp and not worry about the fat or the cholesterol. He wasn't so ecstatic when I told him, that was the sauces and butter that he had to watch a little more carefully. He's happy with the boiled shrimp and low cal cocktail sauce.

Other shellfish that are great for the same reasons are mussels, scallops and oysters.

Memory and Mood

Thinking happier thoughts will help your mood. Yesterday I mentioned movement as part of memory.

Here's something for you to ponder. If you put a pen or pencil in your mouth and hold it with your teeth, the facial muscles are utilized in the same way as when you're smiling. If you hold the pen or pencil with your lips, the facial muscles are ina downward or sad place. Smiling makes you think happy positive thoughts. Frowning or a sad face makes you think sad or negative thoughts. Think about this the next time you put your pen or pencil in your mouth.

More On Improving Your Memory

I mentioned yesterday that going for a walk can improve your memory. If you are learning something, walking can help you not only clear your mind, but then add some movement to help you remember what you are learning. Create a hand gesture that you can relate to whatever it is you are learning.

Repeating the hand gesture will help you remember.

Improving Your Memory

I get asked by many of my older patients if I think they are getting Alzheimers Disease. Usually it is because they have forgotten somethings. But the bottom line is that if they are asking the question, they don't have it.

Most of us have experienced times when we have forgotten something. Or have you ever been at work and you suddenly just can't seem to think any more, your brain is in a fog. Then it's time to clear it. One of the things that will help you improve your memory is simply by going for a walk. What this does is change your environment and also your thoughts. While you're walking, you may come up with a solution to whatever you were working on that you might not have thought of otherwise.

Exercise and Diabetes

I recently read an article about exercise and diabetes. It was a study conducted on NFL players and their risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. The finding that was being stressed, was the fact that the blood sugars of the NFL players tended to be lower on average than men in the control group who were not particularly physically active.

I found this somewhat amusing because for one thing, the diet of NFL players tends to be very high in protein. This is to help them build muscle. Their diets tend to be less in the realm of fruits and vegetables and hence how many times have we heard that an NFL player has the flu - there are at least a couple every week. They're not building their immune systems. But that is another issue. Back to the sugar. We also know that if you are physically active and the more physically active you are, the more efficient your cells become in terms of utilizing glucose. Also muscle cells tend to use more than fat cells. So it is reasonable to believe that these fairly large NFL players who are very physically active would have lower blood sugars.

My case in point here. When I was practicing in endocrinology, I had a patient who was a world class bicyclist. He was also a Type I Diabetic. When he quit riding his bike 6-8 hours a day, and started to work in an office where he sat at a desk most of the day, his insulin requirements started to go up and his fat to lean body mass changed.

The lesson here is to get out and move!

How The Nutrients Work When Your Engine Is Running #4

The fourth major output when your body is functioning well is the waste and recycling. The fiber you eat helps you eliminate the solid waste. Yes, we have our own internal recycling plant in the form of our kidneys. Once cells have grabbed the nutrients from the food we eat to nourish themselves, they send the rest back into the blood stream to get filtered and recycled.

Basically the blood carries the waste to your kidneys (your own person recycling center). The kidneys filter about 45 thousand gallons of fluid every 24 hours. In the filtering process, they return needed water and chemicals to the blood. Only about 1% of filtered fluids gets turned into urine.

How The Nutrients Work When Your Engine Is Running #3

In addition to the blood vessels dilating and bringing blood to the surface to cool the body, your body also begins to sweat. This is the body's most effective way of cooling itself. The sweat evaporates and results in cooling of the body.

There is a downside to this and that is if you sweat a lot, you can become dehydrated for two reasons. First, if you are sweating you are usually doing some activity that is going to require more oxygen, so you may have an increased respiratory rate. Usually, as you begin to breath faster you will open your mouth and breath through both nose and mouth. This will begin to dry the membranes of the air passages and hence begin the dehydration process. Secondly, as you sweat, you are not only losing water through the skin. If you lick your skin after you have been sweating, it will taste salty, because you lose sodium, chloride and potassium through the skin as well with the sweat. These elements stay on the skin while the water evaporates. Beware that you are replacing what you are losting.