From ACA
Tue 16/10/07
By ACA staff
While most of us struggle with the latest fad diet and excessive exercise plans, one scientist claims the way to stay lean into old age — and even enjoy a longer life — is to just eat less. Sounds simple, but is it good for your health?
Professor Everitt, a physiologist with Sydney University, has been eating around 20 percent less than the minimum calorie intake recommended for men — and has been doing it for much of his adult life. As a result, he has managed to slow down his bodily functions and he argues, increase his longevity.
"Calorie restriction has effects in reducing body functions in just about all tissues that have been looked at," he said.
"Not only does the heart beat more slowly, the blood pressure would fall and I would say the blood cholesterol would come down. So everything is operating at a slower rate."
"Therefore it (the body) lasts longer."
The lifestyle change is based on the principle that people who eat fewer calories are less likely to have common illnesses associated with ageing.
A similar eating principle is used in Japan and other parts of Asia where people eat less as they grow older.
Getting back to basics and eating simpler foods is great for the body, according to best-selling author Dr John Tickell.
"Let's get back to being like those healthy, happy, long living people in the Asian villages and Japanese villages," he said. "It's very simple food and what I call low H-I, low Human Interference."
Not all diet experts though think lowering your calorie intake is a great idea.
"The people who are living to 120, it's not simply because they've cut back on their diet," said nutritionist Claudette Wadsworth. "Yes that does have an effect but…its' really important to look at the quality of the food that they're eating and changing to those things in your diet ."
Eat less, live longer
Detox tips
(From Ninemsn)
Healthy = hot! Check back here each week for little tips you can integrate into your daily routine. Loving your body starts here. Try this:
After the sluggish winter months, summer makes everyone want to cleanse! Here are some tips on dietary detox ...
While there is no scientific evidence to support the notion that the body needs to be "cleaned out" as the kidneys and liver do a very good job at ridding our bodies of unwanted bugs. Getting rid of the additives, caffeine and processed foods does tend to make the body work a little more efficiently in terms of ridding itself of waste, improving energy levels and clearing skin and eyes. So, here are some simple detox steps to get you started.
Simple steps to Detox
1) Plan to "detox" for a week at most
2) Drink at least 2 litres of water each day
3) Cut out the caffeine in tea, coffee, chocolate and cola drinks (yes, you will get a headache). Herbal teas can be used
4) Bump your vegetables up to at least 3 cups each day
5) Snack on either fruit or a handful of nuts
6) Get rid of fatty and processed meats and stick to tuna or salmon only
7)Some people also like to get rid of wheat and dairy. That is up to you
8) Try adding in a vegetable soup at night to rid the body of extra fluid that can make us feel tired
Sample detox plan:
Breakfast: Fresh fruit and thick Greek style yogurt OR oats with milk
Morning tea: Fruit
Lunch: Tuna/bean salad with Mountain bread
Afternoon Tea: Handful of nuts
Dinner: Steamed fish/Vegetables
Dessert: Baked apple
You can see that this type of eating plan is difficult to sustain but will make you feel reenergized and refreshed if followed for 5 days or so. Please note, any dietary information is a suggestion only and cannot replace specific health advice for an individualized advise from your own GP or dietitian.
Men who smoke risk erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction is the consistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance.
In a study of 4763 Chinese men aged 35 to 74 years who were free of blood vessel disease and who reported that they had been sexually active within the last six months, the researchers found a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes smoked and the likelihood of erectile dysfunction.
"The association between cigarette smoking and erectile dysfunction was found in earlier studies," said first author Jiang He of Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans. "However, most of those studies were conducted in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
What distinguishes this study is that it is the first to find this association among healthy men." Overall, men who smoked had a 41 per cent greater risk of erectile dysfunction than men who did not, the team reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology. And there was a clear "dose-response" relationship, meaning that the more the men smoked, the higher was their risk of erectile dysfunction.
Compared with non-smokers, men who smoked up to 10 cigarettes per day had a 27 per cent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction ;
those who smoked 11 to 20 a day had a 45 per cent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction; and those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily had a 65 per cent greater chance of suffering erectile dysfunction.
The investigators estimate that 22.7 per cent of erectile all dysfunction cases among healthy Chinese men - or 11.8 million cases - might be caused by cigarette smoking. And even when cigarette smokers quit, their risk of developing erectile dysfunction did not decrease.
The risk of erectile dysfunction was statistically about the same for former cigarette smokers as for current cigarette smokers, the authors found.
"This study really has a strong message for young men," He said. "It may get their attention if they know that smoking is associated with erectile dysfunction - even in the healthy population."
"So the message is: Don't start."
Avoid Cancerous Foods and Products
Some info from the web (unverified) about carcinogenic food and products.
INSTANT NOODLES
Dear instant noodle lovers,
Make sure you break for at least 3 days after one session of instant noodles before you eat your next packet! Please read the info shared to me by a doctor. My family stopped eating instant noodles more than 5 years ago after hearing about the wax coating the noodles - the wax is not just in the Styrofoam containers but it coats the noodles. This is why the instant noodles do not stick to each other when cooking.
If one were to examine the ordinary Chinese yellow noodles in the market, one will notice that, in their uncooked state the noodles are oily. This layer of oil prevents the noodles from sticking together.
Wanton noodles in their uncooked state have been dusted with flour to prevent them sticking together. When the hawker cooks the noodles, notice he cooks them in hot water and then rinses them in cold water before cooking them in hot water again. This process is repeated several times before the noodles are ready to be served. The cooking and rinsing process prevents noodles from sticking together.
The hawker then "lowers the noodles in oil and sauce to prevent the noodles from sticking if they are to be served dry. Cooking instructions for spaghetti require oil or butter to be added in the water when boiling the spaghetti to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Otherwise, one gets a big clump of spaghetti!
There was an SBC (now TCS) actor some years ago, who at a busy time of his career had no time to cook, resorted to eating instant noodles everyday. He got cancer later on. His doctor told him about the wax in instant noodles. The doctor told him that our body will need up to 2 days to clear the wax. There was also an SIA steward who after moving out from his mother's house into his own house, did not cook but ate instant noodles almost every meal. He had cancer, and has since died from it.
Nowadays the instant noodles are referred as " cancer noodles "
If you all eat Satay, don't ever forget to eat the cucumber, because eating Satay together with carbon after barbequing can cause cancer.
But we have a cure for that... Cucumber should be eaten after we eat the Satay because Satay has carcinogen (a cancer causing element) but cucumber is anti-carcinogenic. So don't forget to eat the cucumber the next time you have Satay's. NS
BBQ
DO NOT eat shrimp / prawn if you have just taken VITAMIN C pills!!
This will cause you to DIE in ARSENIC (As) toxication within HOURS!! ORK AWARENESS
PORK AWARENESS
Try this and see whether the pork you bought has worms. There goes with your "Bak Kut Teh" for those who love it. Most men love to eat this so watch out before it's too late. If you pours Coke (yes, the soda) on a slab of pork, wait a little while, you will SEE WORMS crawl out of it. A message from the Health Corporation of Singapore about the bad effects of pork consumption. Pig's bodies contain MANY TOXINS, WORM and LATENT DISEASES.
Although some of these infestations are harboured in other animals, modern veterinarians say that pigs are far MORE PREDISPOSED to these illnesses than other animals. This could be because PIGS like to SCAVENGE and will eat ANY kind of food, INCLUDING dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta including their own, garbage, and other pigs. INFLUENZA (flu) is one of the MOST famous illnesses which pigs share with humans. This illness is harboured in the LUNGS of pigs during the summer months and tends to affect pigs and human in the cooler months.
Sausage contains bits of pigs' lungs, so those who EAT pork sausage tend to SUFFER MORE during EPIDEMICS of INFLUENZA. Pig meat contains EXCESSIVE quantities of HISTAMINE and IMIDAZOLE compounds, which can lead to ITCHING and INFLAMMATION; GROWTH HORMONE which PROMOTES INFLAMMATION and growth; sulphur containing mesenchymal mucus which leads to SWELLING and deposits of MUCUS in tendons and cartilage, resulting in ATHRITIS, RHEUMATISM, etc.
Sulphur helps cause FIRM human tendons and ligaments to be replaced by the pig's soft mesenchymal tissues, and degeneration of human cartilage.
Eating pork can also lead to GALLSTONES and OBESITY, probably due to its HIGH CHOLESTEROL and SATURATED FAT content. The pig is the MAIN CARRIER of the TAENIE SOLIUM WORM, which is found in its flesh. These tapeworms are found in human intestines with greater frequency in nations where pigs are eaten. This type of tapeworm can pass through the intestines and affect many other organs, and is incurable once it reaches beyond a certain stage. One in six people in the US and Canada has RICHINOSIS from eating trichina worms, which are found in pork.
Many people have NO SYMPTOMS to warm them of this, and when they do, they resemble symptoms of many other illnesses. These worms are NOT noticed during meat inspections.
SHAMPOOS
Cancer-causing substance in shampoos. Go home and check your shampoo. Change before it's too late... Check the ingredients listed on your shampoo bottle, and see they have a substance by the name of Sodium Laureth Sulfate, or simply SLS. This substance is found in most shampoos; manufacturers use it because it produces a lot of foam and it is cheap. BUT the fact is, SLS is used to scrub garage floors, and it is very strong!!! It is also proven that it can cause cancer in the long run, and this is no joke. Shampoos that contains SLS: Vo5, Palmolive, Paul Mitchell, L'Oreal, the new Hemp Shampoo from Body Shop etc. contain this substance.
The first ingredient listed (which means it is the single most prevalent ingredient) in Clairol's Herbal Essences is Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Therefore, I called one company, and I told them their product contains a substance that will cause people to have cancer. They said, Yeah we knew about it but there is nothing we can do about it because we need that substance to produce foam. By the way Colgate toothpaste also contains the same substance to produce the "bubbles". They said they are going to send me some information.
Research has shown that in the 1980s, the chance of getting cancer is 1 out of 8000 and now, in the 1990s, the chances of getting cancer is 1 out of 3, which is very serious. Therefore, I hope that you will take this seriously and pass this on to all the people you know, and hopefully, we can stop "giving" ourselves cancer-causing agents.
Stroke Identification
STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R
Seriously ... please read:
STROKE IDENTIFICATION :
It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours, he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE ..
T * Ask the person to TALK & SPEAK A
SIMPLE SENTENCE (coherently, i.e ., It is
sunny out today).
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
NOTE
: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.