Abs-olutely Risky

The Washington Post cites a new study showing middle-aged American women are gaining weight, especially around the waist (DUH!), and their risk of stroke has increased significantly.

"Abdominal obesity is a known predictor of stroke in women and may be a key factor in the midlife stroke surge in women," one researcher said in a statement.

The report also says average body-mass index, a measure of obesity, rose from 27.11 in the earlier study to 28.67 in the later study.

My first reality check about weight happened last spring when my life insurance agent informed me I'm considered "high risk" because of obesity as measured by BMI. For whatever reason, I just stuck my head in the sand and agreed to pay the higher premiums.

On January 15, 2008, however, I took my head OUT of the sand
(see my profile photo!) and started the BestLife diet and exercise program. As soon as I get my BMI back into the normal range, you can bet I'm calling for a rate adjustment!

Calculate your BMI. I'm off to the gym.

Respect Your Inner Elder Athlete

It’s a myth that athletes necessarily slow down as they grow older, reports Gina Kolata in The New York Times (1/31/08). In fact, some runners actually “are faster at 60 than at 50.” It’s not exactly that the trajectory isn’t downward, though. What Dr. Vonda Wright of the University of Pittsburgh has found is it’s possible “to stave off more deterioration than you thought.” Not only that but you can start the staving pretty late in the game — “one man took up running at 62 and ran his first marathon, a year later, in 3 hours and 25 minutes.”

The key to that kind of success, says Dr. Hirofumi Tanaka, 41, is to “train hard and train often.” The reason, he says, is that you need to increase your oxygen consumption, which is essential to performance. “You have to make training as intense as you can,” he advises. Dr. Steven Hawkins, a physiologist, agrees: “High performance is really determined more by intensity than volume. Sometimes, when you’re older, something has to give. You can have both so you cut back on the volume. You need to rest more days.” The challenge is, your heart rate and lung capacity both decline with age.

But the good news is, “muscle mass and lactic threshold can be maintained.” However, the other limiting factor is purely one of motivation. Athletes who have been going at it for 50 years sometimes just don’t feel like exercising anymore. This can be especially true if they see their performance declining, even though they are working as hard or harder as ever — but for the truly dedicated that really shouldn’t happen until around age 75, when times fall, “on average, by 7 percent.” Dr. Barry Erbsen, 67, a dentist, found a simple solution for that — he switched from running to mountain biking. “I’m not getting too much slower,” he reports.

(Reprinted from Cool News Reveries.)

Develop Right Thinking: Conscious I.D.

Strangled by a case of laryngitis today, I am more conscious of the conversations romping through my brain.

In Chapter Four of
The Ultimate Weight Solution:
The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom,Dr. Phil recommends we filter all interal dialogue
through these four questions:

1. Is the internal dialogue

TRUE?

2. Does your internal dialogue

SERVE YOUR BEST INTERESTS?

3. Does your internal dialogue

PROTECT AND ADVANCE YOUR HEALTH?

4. Is your internal dialogue

HELPING YOU ACHIEVE YOUR
WEIGHT-MANAGEMENT GOALS?

Good medicine for everyday use.

How to Cool a Hot Flash

Several times a week, DH cradles my head in his lap and strokes my hair until I fall asleep. (Together now: "Awwwww.") Last night, he abruptly stopped rubbing asking, "Are you like blowing up or something? Your head feels like a volcano!"

Well, DUH! He should feel a hot flash from MY perspective!

Dr. Christine Northrup, one of American women's most trusted medical advisors, challenges conventional approaches to "the change," asserting that we are not plagued by a collection of problems that must be "fixed."

Her book, The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change, 2nd Edition, examines the connection between menopause and a woman's emotional and spiritual life. In it, she stresses how the choices we make now - from the quality of our relationships to the quality of our diets - can either secure our health for the rest of our lives, or put our futures at risk.

Beginning on page 177, Dr. Northrup recommends Black Cohosh for its "estrogenic effect to decrease hot flashes, night sweats and emotional lability....Clinical studies show that it relieves menopausal symptoms such as depression, vaginal dryness, hot flashes and menstrual symptoms. (Note: Black cohosh can interact with medicine for high blood pressure and may result in excessively low blood pressure in some women.)"

On page 179, she also cites soy as a "safe alternative to hormone replacement, offering most of the benefits of HRT (hormone replacement therapy) without the risks or side effects."

According to Dr. Northrup, a daily dose of 60-70 mg of isoflavones reported measurable benefits for the heart and bones, as well as an inhibitory effect on colon cancer and bowel problems.

"Research and my clinical and personal experience suggest that most women need about 100-160 mg of soy isoflavones per day to get significant relief from other menopausal symptoms, such as vaginal dryness, as well as to protect the heart and bones," she concludes on page 181.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Has anybody else tried this product that combines black cohosh with soy protein?

(Research from other sources here and here. )