In This Issue

• Getting Rid of Flying Insects,
• Not So Serious Fitness Secrets,
• O-T-C Pain Medications,
• Dementia,
• Vitamin/Mineral Supplement Cautions,
• Exercise Corner - Dumb Bell Snatch,
• Questions And Answers

Anyway, I came across a tip as to how to effectively eliminate them. Use a vacuum cleaner, and just suck them off a wall or out of the air using a wand attachment or even a small hand-held vac. They disappear into a black hole, and are never seen again.

Okay, let's get back to business, but with a bit of levity. Following is an article on fitness secrets submitted by a guest author.

I have had some sort of fitness-professional air as long as I can remember. For most of my life people have been asking me for advice about diet and exercise. This has been going on since I was a teenager and definitely did not know what I was talking about.

Now that I am over 40 and well ensconced in my profession and very knowledgeable about exercise and the human body, I have a developed a group of answers for all the questions that I get asked on a regular basis. (Please rest assured that this is tongue-in-cheek.)

* I have found that it is very important to lie in the sun all day without sunscreen, chain-smoking unfiltered cigarettes, while eating lard coated in syrup washing it down with whiskey.

* Do not eat a varied diet. Make your body live without the actual molecules necessary for building and burning and for goodness sake don't do ANY real research. Believe ALL TV commercials and ads especially if they promise one pill will fix everything.

* DO NOT exercise under any circumstances. Follow Hollywood stars. DO every thing they do - no matter your budget.

* Treat all food as the only love you will ever receive on this planet and the only possible reward under all circumstances.

* Treat all food an entertainment. Do not for one minute understand that food is what you are made from since the first two cells you were forming in your mommy.

* Use alcohol as your major form of emotion. Do not grow up. Do not ever be responsible. Lean on others all the time.

* Blame every one and every thing for any thing you ever do that is less than a good effort.

* Do not research answers.

* Do not check facts.

* Starve as much as possible then eat ice cream in secret every day.

* Never read.

* Be sure that your body is bone carrying around fat and never, ever under any circumstances consider the value of muscle. Equate ALL muscle with drugs. No muscle, whatsoever, was ever built with hard work. Only drugs make muscle!

* DO not drink water! None!! EVER!!!

* The only way to be a wonderful human is to hold still as much as possible and put stylish things in your mouth and complain, complain, complain.

* Be sure to stick to the idea that humans, without much information, making emotional decisions are perfect in every way.

* DO not for even one second look around and realize that no human speaks all the languages of the world, not one human has read all the libraries of the world and not one human can perform every surgery and build every car and computer.

* Ignore all this logic and believe that you know everything every day.

* Be sure to curl up in a ball as much as possible. The human is not designed to stand upright and use the wonderful muscles of the bottom (backside, back of the lap, gluteals ) AT ALL.

* Keep saying that you are "building long muscles" without ever considering that your muscle will not become longer than your bones.

* Jump up and down on cement without shoes. Jump a lot on anything without shoes.

* Put your knees together and your feet wide apart.

* Put your knees in front of your toes at all times and PRESS hard.

* Do flick kicks while wearing ankle weights.

* Never look at your own body. Look at others and say, " I want to be like that."

* Do deep knee bends and plenty of them.

* Follow traditional wisdom without question!!! If people in the past thought that earth is flat then it must be flat!!! DO NOT analyze data that would question this under ANY circumstances.

* If someone is giving you information, do not listen to what they are saying. Just look at him or her and decide whether or not you like how they dress. What they might be saying is of no importance whatsoever. The only thing that matters is if you like how they look.

* Talk as much as possible. Run your mouth and do not listen.

* Cigars are full of vitamins and iron. They also help with breathing problems like asthma.

* Women, don't train with weight, especially with anything over a pound or two. you will get big, bulky muscles.

* Pastry and Ice Cream for every one!!!!

Yes, yes. this is a good bunch of answers! Curl up, jabber, eat silly things, very good!.

I have found that people don't want to hear the truth. People want to hear what Madonna is doing.

I have a full schedule because fitness professionals are not well paid. I love what I do but the ends must meet so I work a lot.

One woman decided that I MUST be her personal trainer no matter what. She actually changed gyms so she could meet with me. I could only see her on Sundays. We agreed to meet and I would give her a week of assignments, she would do them and report back and get more. She could call me anytime she wanted to during the week for support and questions. On the 3rd Sunday we met and began. She said to me, and I quote, " I know I haven't been to the gym all week, and I know I haven't done any of the things you said, but I don't understand why I still have loose skin."

WHAT is a fitness professional to do?????? All I could figure was that she thought I had a magic wand and I wasn't waving it. sigh!

Another woman has decided that she will hate me. She went through several carefully constructed paragraphs to decided that this is a good idea. Under no circumstance would she consider actually exercising and eating well. She spends literally 90% of her time talking. Won't do what works. Will talk. Won't learn new things. Will jabber. Can be counted on to jabber. If you want a skilled jabberer, I've got your gal!

Another personal trainer and I watched a grown man without any physical problems get 3 pound weights to work his biceps. When asked why he chose these weights the man said, " I don't like to feel any sort of burn. It's irritating." (I wish I could insert a facial expression here!).

Another man asked me the secret for having great abs. I told him that there is not secret, it's just diet and exercise. He glared at me and walked away.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Wait! stop!", I said. The real secret to great abs is to rub mustard on your ears, put a needle on top of your head, spin three times toward the west under a waning moon, soak your feet in coffee, give all your money to the poor, and chase cars. There! Great ABS!"

I won't get started on the list of men who won't listen to a word I say because I am a woman.

Sigh, sigh, sigh. What is a fitness professional to do? I guess I'll go talk to the dentists who can't get people to floss.

[Submitted by Dawn MacLear of Evolved Yoga fame.]

Let's discuss dementia a bit. Sometimes I worry about getting it. "Where did I put those keys? Where are my glasses? Oh, I'm wearing them." Or, "where did I park my car; or what did I do yesterday? Or what day is it?" And sometimes words fail me - I start a sentence and suddenly forget a key word, name, place. . . They often pop into my head minutes, hours, or even days later. (My filing system isn't bad, but my recall system is faulty.) And it gets worse, but I chalk it up to simple forgetfulness. But what exactly is dementia, do I have it?

Dementia is a general mental deteriorization characterized by loss of ability to think, reason, and remember.

There are a number of conditions that can bring on dementia, including the following seven: Altzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lewy body's disease, Huntington's disease, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, Multi-infarct (also called Vascular dementia), and Pick's disease. All dementia cases share some common characteristics: some degree of memory loss, impaired thinking and reasoning, and language difficulties (reading, writing, and understanding. The progression of dementia may lead to personality changes and abnormal behavior (sometimes manifested by violence).

Dementia was once simply called "senility," and was thought to be a normal mental deterioration resulting from aging. That theory is no longer in vogue, not everyone gets dementia from aging, and it isn't known exactly why some do; but it isn't caused by aging. It is caused by some as yet unknown condition which damages the brain.

Following is a more detailed description of the above mentioned seven factors that can lead to dementia:

* Altzheimer's disease is the most known and most common of dementia cases. It commonly begins with some memory loss (mild forgetfulness) and progresses to more serious symptoms affecting the ability to reason, speak, read, or write - communication is effectively cut off.

Changes in the brain include a decrease in nerve cells, and loss of chemical "messengers" needed to carry messages back-and-forth between nerve cells. An affected brain displays "tangles" (tangled nerve fibers) and "clumps" (plaques) of the tangled nerve fibers. Unfortunately, a confirmed diagnosis of Altzheimer's is only verified by autopsy.

* Multi-infarct (also called Vascular dementia, and consists of multiple, small strokes) is also fairly common, and is characterized by a narrowing and ultimate obstruction of the blood flow of arteries supplying blood to the brain. Symptoms may appear abruptly, or may occur more slowly, sometimes making the condition appear to be Altzheimer's. Common symptoms of this condition include paralysis, vision loss, and language problems, and are considered to be irreversible.

* Parkinson's disease is a progressively degenerative condition affecting the nervous system. Roughly 30-40% of those with Parkinson's will develop dementia in the later stages of the disease.

Some of the symptoms of PD are shaking muscles (tremor), speech difficulties, stiff joints, and a shuffling gait; all caused by impaired neurological functioning.

* Lewy body's disease - Lewy bodies are protein deposits found in deteriorating nerve cells, causing Altzheimer's-like symptoms. Many with this condition experience similar problems to those with Alzheimer's, but in addition may hallucinate, obscuring reality from unreality. In early stages of this disease, symptoms may come-and-go, but eventually become continual and irreversible.

* Huntington's disease is characterized by a progressive and degenerative condition affecting both body and mind. Some brain cells inexplicably cause some nerve cells in the brain to essentially erode away. As HD progresses personality changes and intellectual decline affecting memory, speech, and judgement develops. The condition is caused by an identified gene (i.e., a genetic defect).

* Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease is an uncommon and fatal brain disorder that is perhaps caused by "prions" (an infectious particle) that change normal protein molecules into infectious, deadly ones. This condition can result in dementia among the young or middle aged. Again, memory loss and behavioral changes are initial symptoms. Progression of the disease results in rapid mental deterioration, involuntary muscle movements, weakness in limbs, blindness, and finally coma.

* Pick's disease (frontotemporal dementia, or FTD) is another rare brain disorder characterized by disturbances in behavior, personality, and memory. As in the case of Altzheimer's, Pick's disease is confirmed only by autopsy.

In addition to the aforementioned Depression conditions, there are a number of other causes of dementia, as well as conditions that mimic it. These normally reversible conditions include brain tumors, head trauma, metabolic disturbances, alcoholism (or chronic use), toxins, and drugs (both recreational and medicinal).

* Normal-pressure hydrochephalus, a rare condition that is characterized by a blockage of cerebrospinal fluid , causing an excess in the brain, and resulting in dementia, incontinence, and difficulty in walking.

This condition can be caused by meningitis, encephalitis, or head trauma. But, if detected early, may be treatable by surgically implanting a shunt to drain the excess fluid from the brain.

* Depression may be diagnosed as dementia, or vice versa, and is normally treatable.

* Delerium is a state of temporary confusion, which can result from a variety of conditions among the elderly - heart or lung disorders, long-term infections, nutritional deficiencies, medication interactions, and. . . Quick treatment is vital to addressing these conditions, rather than misdiagnosing dementia.

Table 1, below, provides some information about over-the-counter (O-T-C) pain medications, and is entirely self-explanatory, thus relieving me of the need to explain it.

If you take vitamin or mineral supplements, you should know:

* After eating chewable vitamin C, brush your teeth, or rinse your mouth. The acidity of vit C is strong enough to begin dissolving tooth enamel.

* "Natural" vitamins are an extra expense with no benefits over synthetic vitamins, except with vitamin E. One's body uses natural E more effectively than the synthetic version.

* If you take folic acid, also take vitamin B12 - folic acid can cause a vit B deficiency.

* An iron supplement (taken only if ordered by your doctor) should be accompanied by vit C (citrus fruit, for example) to assist with absorption. But don't take iron within two hours of consuming calcium, which will interfere with iron absorption.

* Limit vitamin C supplements to 500 mg at a time, and take with food.

* You need vitamin D to assist absorption of vit C. The best food source is milk/milk products, which are fortified with vit D; but vit D is also synthesized by your body from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

A caution - retailers try to rip you off with chelated minerals and time-release vitamins - don't buy them. They are expensive and offer no special health benefits.

Exercise Corner in this issue addresses the Dumbbell Snatch. This exercise, done with a bar, is one of the normal Olympic lifts. The variation of this exercise using dumbbells is performed as follows: in a standing position, holding dumbbells with a supine grip, and letting them hang in front of your thighs thighs; squat (with your back as vertical as you can get it) until the dumbbells nearly touch the floor, then swing the dumbbells overhead as you stand up. Note that this is an arcing movement, with the arms straight, from near the floor to overhead in one explosive action. Pause, then lower the dumbbells to the initial position, under control. This multi-joint exercise primarily uses the muscles of the back, shoulders, and legs. It would be a good idea to practice this lift with light weights until you are confident in your form.

(Q) Does broccoli kill bacteria?
O.J., Crater Lake, OR

(A) It does contain sulforaphane, which prevents the growth of H. pylori, which has been identified as a preventative for some stomach cancers and most ulcers, but you'd have to eat a truckload to do any good.

(Q) Are cooked carrots better nutritionally than raw ones?
A.B.,

(A) Yes and no. Cooking makes more beta-carotene and phenolic acids (both antioxidants) more absorbable, but also destroys other nutrients. [The same goes for lycopene in tomatoes.] It would seem to make sense to eat both cooked and raw vegetables to get the best mix of nutrients.

(Q) Does sugar boost your intelligence, as I have recently heard?
R.N., Missoula, MT

(A) The brain's preferred food is glucose, which is essentially sugar. Glucose is manufactured in the liver and also comes from carbohydrates. Eating a breakfast containing carbohydrates gets your brain off to a good start for the day. Also, there have been studies showing that those who eat more carbohydrates demonstrated better mental performance than those eating less.

(Q) Is hair analysis an accurate method for determining nutritional status as some claim?
R.P,. Eau Clair, WI

(A) Health professionals are not generally big fans of hair analysis for determining nutritional status, with the one exception - poisoning by heavy metals. Blood or urine tests are much more reliable.

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