P otatoes and kiwi fruit are an incongruous pairing of edibles linked only by their common trait of being uncommonly nutritious.
Kiwi fruit from New Zealand (now California and Chile too), those fuzzy, brown, roundish things with green fruit; can be quite a healthy addition to your diet, if it isn't already.
This fruit is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, and fiber.
When shopping for kiwi fruit, pick those that are plump, fragrant, and with a slight "give" to light pressure. Avoid fruit that is shriveled, bruised or mushy, or with wet spots.
If you choose firm ones, leave them at room temperature (away from heat or sunlight) for up to a week. Ripe fruit can be kept up to a week or two. When ripe, store them away from other fruits; otherwise, they will over-ripen rapidly, even in a refrigerator.
How do I eat these things, anyway? You can rub off the fuzz and eat them peel (it is quite thin) and all; or you can peel it and slice it for adding to other foods (It is especially suitable for green or fruit salads.); but, it doesn't do well if cooked over a few minutes. Or you can halve it and scoop out the fruit with a spoon.
Potatoes (sweet potatoes are not included in this article, not that they aren't very healthy, on their own), can be a healthy choice; but let's clear up the "to peel, or not to peel" question before getting into more details. Some say to avoid the skins because they can pick up toxins from insecticides. According to the May 1993, issue of the University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter; however, the preponderance of evidence collected over the past 20 years says that it is both safe and prudent to cook potatoes in their skins. The bulk of nutrients are in the skin, although most of the vitamin C and potassium are in the flesh.
Buy unblemished potatoes and store them in a cool, dark place. Use them within two to three weeks. Trim any visible spots or blemishes. A green tinge should be trimmed away (or discard the potato). Gouge out sprouts. If a potato is excessively sprouted, or has gone soft, trash it. And if a cooked potato tastes bitter, throw it out - don't eat it.
Potatoes contain a chemical called "solanine," which can cause headaches, fever, cramps, and diarrhea; and eating a lot of them can give you these symptoms. Potatoes are usually safe and healthy, but sprouts contain extra solanine and the green tinge indicates excessive solanine.
A mitochondrion is an organelle (mini-organ), which resides mostly in muscle tissue, but also in brown fat, and some other places.
These organelles are commonly called the "power plants" of the body. Energy production starts out at the beginning of the digestive tube as simple food stuff, and after some catabolic processes (Metabolism consists of two processes: 1) catabolism, which is essentially the breaking down of larger to smaller components, like a protein to amino acids, for example; and 2) anabolism, which is essentially building, like muscle tissue from amino acids.), ATP (the ultimate energy source) is created via the Krebs Cycle and the Electron Transport System in mitochondria. The final step is to "split" mitochondria to yield energy, and also ADP and P, which can be reconstituted as ATP.
Illustrations of mitochondria typically show them as bean-shaped, and I always had thought of them to be stationary like other organs, but now I realize that they are actually more like a worm - longer and thinner than normally depicted, and they move and change shape, and even contain some DNA. They are almost like separate cells, and there is speculation that mitochondria were once bacteria that invaded animal and plant cells, maybe back in the primordial ooze.
Okay, now I am getting close to the questions. It seems that weight training may not have much of an effect on mitochondria, that it is aerobic training that has the greatest impact. But does aerobic training result in mitochondrial proliferation, or do the existing ones just get more efficient? And weight training has some effect, since increased muscle mass increases RMR, but what is it?
I'll try to answer those questions in a future issue.
B ooks - how important do you think reading is? I recently ran across an article that caught my eye, and got me thinking about this subject. The title was "I Cannot Live Without Books" - a quote from Thomas Jefferson. This quote reminded me that fitness is not just about exercise and eating right. Stress reduction - mental health - is also a factor. One that has been mentioned before, but only superficially. A major contributor to a healthy mental state is books - reading.
Books are the doorway to a world that we will never see - ideas, people, and places. Books bring to us history, travel, art, adventure, philosophy, and on-and-on. Books stimulate ideas and imagination. They entertain.
Reading is discovery, as the article says. So it is important for parents to read to their children to stimulate both their imaginations and search for knowledge. The U.S. Department of Education has found that the single most significant factor influencing a child's achievement in the first and second grades is whether the child has been read to at home before beginning school, and whether or not the parents are seen reading. And once a child picks up the reading habit, it should become a lifelong one. The importance of reading for the elderly has been mentioned in a previous Newsletter - it is one of the pursuits that helps maintain mental acuity.
C holesterol, again. The vicissitudes of cholesterol advice may never stabilize, or so it seems. We get new slants on the cholesterol puzzle so often that it is hard to keep current. But some hard facts seem to be emerging. It has long been noted that blockages in arteries that lead to heart disease contained cholesterol, among other things. And it was clear that those with the highest cholesterol levels had the highest amount of heart disease, and vice versa; but it wasn't clear whether lowering cholesterol decreased the risk. A causal effect was unproved, even in the face of a clear statistical relationship - it was thought by some that possibly whatever caused heart disease may also have caused an accumulation of cholesterol.
Finally, enough evidence has been accumulated to convince most doctors that cholesterol does indeed play a direct role in the buildup of plaques, which is what blocks arteries; furthermore, that lowering cholesterol reduces existing plaque formations, and decreases new formations.
A question that comes up; however, is should "normal" levels of cholesterol be further reduced by any means (i.e., by using lovastatin (Mevacor, Zocor, etc.). The answer seems to be "yes." It is thought that the lowest levels possible should be achieved; but that may not be completely true (e.g., we consider that lowering blood pressure is favorable. Low is good - to a point. Too low is not good. Is cholesterol the same? Maybe not. Cholesterol is needed by the body, which produces all it needs. We could do quite nicely with no dietary cholesterol.
Also, the advice about how much total cholesterol is acceptable changes. First under 240 was ok, then it was under 220, then under 200; and now some doctors are saying total cholesterol should be under 150.
So, the next question is when do we start taking cholesterol lowering drugs - how about age five??
I personally consider the HDL/LDL ratio to be of paramount importance, but without disregarding total cholesterol. My own feeling is that with total cholesterol under 240 and HDL high relative to LDL there is no cause for concern, but you and your doctor need to decide what is right for you.
As it turns out, lots of information has been collected on the cholesterol issue, and lots of opinions exist, but there are still open questions.
H eadaches were a major topic of the September 1995, Newsletter; and it is time for an update even though there don't seem to be any really fundamental changes. Much of the following information is little more than a repeat of the previous article, but maybe with some new understanding.
First let's talk about some classifications of headaches: one is primary headaches, which are those having no [known] underlying cause, which includes tension headaches, migraine headaches,and cluster headaches. Primary headaches make up about 95% of all headaches. The remaining 5% include those that may be a sign of a serious medical problem - a brain tumor, for example. Then there are normal headaches which include those from too much bright sun, or excessive use of alcohol, eye strain, too much or too little sleep, or by exertion. And finally, there are mixed headaches, which are the occurance of more than one type simultaneously, like a normal headache caused by excessive bright sunlight, and a migraine.
On a more specific level headaches are typed as:
The associated pain is characterized as a dull ache around the nose, and sometimes in the forehead and ears; and the pain increases if you bend over.
Some migraines are preceded by an "aura," which may be a visual anomaly like blurred vision or zigzag lights, or a weakness or pins-and-needles tingling on one side of the face or in an arm and leg on one side of the body.
Not everyone who gets a migraine gets an aura, but most get some kind of precursor hours or even days before a migraine strikes. These warnings may be yawning, a food craving, a high energy burst, or a cold feeling. These signs may not be very obvious, and require training yourself to recognize them for what they are.
Diagnosis of cluster headaches is sometimes a problem because not all doctors recognize them because of their relative rarity, and proper treatment gets delayed. The initial diagnosis might be severe migraine, sinus infection, or even a dental problem - if the pain is in your teeth.
The pain is an excruciating, stabbing one on one side of the head, usually behind or around one eye; and it may occur several times during a day.
The resulting pain is mild to moderately dull pain around the front and back of the head, and may be constant.
It has been suggested that those who are prone to migraines may have nerve impulses traveling the wrong way on the trigeminal pathway, and end up at blood vessels in the protective covering of the brain (meninges) and in the scalp, where the vessels become inflamed and swollen. The resulting pain message fired off to the brain causes a headache.
The seratonin connection is that during migraines, the seratonin level drops as blood vessels become swollen. Because of this, nearly all migraine pain-killers alter seratonin levels to block the pain, although some drugs attack the problem by reducing the swelling of the blood vessels .
Even the medications used have not changed much, but there is one new drug, rizatriptan (Maxalt - MLT), that was recently approved by the FDA. It is a mintflavored pill that melts quickly on your tongue so no water is needed to take it.
One thing about migraines that anyone who gets them knows is that people who are predisposed to get them, can come under attack after being exposed to "something" known as a "trigger". Following is a partial list:
Dietary Triggers
Environmental Triggers
Emotional Triggers
Activity Triggers
Medications Triggers
Hormonal Triggers
If you get migraines and are unaware of your triggers, keeping a headache diary might help - when a headache starts, record information like time, food and drinks ingested, sleeping/eating patterns, stage in menstrual cycle, etc.
A final note: Sumatriptan succinate (Imitrex) is a very effective migraine medication, BUT it is contraindicated for patients with ischemic heart disease a history of myocardial infarction, documented silent ischemia, Prinzmetal's angina, or uncontrolled hypertension; and in those considered at risk for CAD.
C hromium picolinate has stirred up a lot of interest as a weight loss aid, but is it safe and effective? Maybe sometimes effective, but maybe not so safe.
It may or may not work for some people, but maybe only those who are deficient in chromium, if at all. In trace amounts - micrograms (mcg), where one mcg= 1,000,000th of a gram - the body uses chromium during metabolism of sugars and fats. On a simple level, suffice it to say that chromium helps insulin move sugar and fat into cells for eventual energy production.
But, there is a potential problem with chromium picolinate - picolinate enables chromium to enter a cell, where chromium on its own works only outside of a cell. Once inside a cell chromium can damage chromosomes. In fact, it appears that picolinate itself can cause chromosomal damage, which equates to cell damage, which can ultimately cause cancer. Several studies have been done using different forms of chromium - only the picolinate version caused cell damage.
These studies were done on animals, so the same results may not occur in humans, and there are dosage level questions, but if I were thinking about taking chromium picolinate, I would take the conservative approach and forget the idea. There are other sources of chromium, the best of which is your normal diet. Sources include: liver, cheese, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, dried beans, peanuts, apples, prunes, whole grain breads and cereals, brewer's yeast, and wheat germ. Anyone should be able to get the recommended 50-200 mcg (daily) from this list.
(Q) I have deleted nuts from my diet because of their high fat content, but I really like them, and miss them. Are they really so bad?
M.M., Los Gatos, CA
(A) No, generally speaking, they are okay in moderation They are high in fat content, but nuts like almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and cashews, among others,' are high in fat, but mainly monounsaturated fat, which has been shown to lower LDL, which is clearly advantageous from a health standpoint. A handful or two a day won't make you fat and will seemingly reduce your risk for heart problems.
(Q) I like to walk as part of my weight loss strategy, but I am so fat that I am embarrassed to have people watch me sweat. Any solutions?
Big Mama, Milpitas, CA
(A) There are several possibilities. One is to just GET OVER IT. But more realistically, it has been shown that you don't have to sweat through a 30 or 40 minute session to lose weight; you can do several 10 minute sessions and achieve the same thing. Also, a study of overweight women who either walked on a treadmill or not, found that the indoor treadmill users stuck to their program better and lost more weight. Outdoor walkers may simply encounter too many impediments to their programs to maintain them (e.g., gawkers, weather, air pollution, or just simple lack of self-confidence).
At home on a treadmill, it is easy to grab short times for multiple workouts, and the boredom factor can be overcome with a T.V., radio, reading, or even mind-traveling.
Your back works like a fulcrum with a 10:1 ratio. Just bending at the waist to tie your shoes can exert over 1000 lbs. of pressure on your lower back. [Ouch, can that be true?]
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