Sunday, May 30, 2010

Growth hormone may rise 300 percent with exercise: Acute increases also occur in cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline

The figure below (click to enlarge) is from the outstanding book Physiology of sport and exercise, by Jack H. Wilmore, David L. Costill, and W. Larry Kenney. If you are serious about endurance or resistance exercise, or want to have a deeper understanding of exercise physiology beyond what one can get in popular exercise books, this book should be in your personal and/or institutional library. It is one of the most comprehensive textbooks on exercise physiology around. The full reference to the book is at the end of this post.


The hormonal and free fatty acid responses shown on the two graphs are to relatively intense exercise combining aerobic and anaerobic components. Something like competitive cross-country running in an area with hills would lead to that type of response. As you can see, cortisol spikes at the beginning, combining forces with adrenaline and noradrenaline (a.k.a. epinephrine and norepinephrine) to quickly increase circulating free fatty acid levels. Then free fatty acid levels are maintained elevated by adrenaline, noradrenaline, and growth hormone. As you can see from the graphs, free fatty acid levels are initially pulled up by cortisol, and then are very strongly correlated with adrenaline and noradrenaline.  Those free fatty acids feed muscle, and also lead to the production of ketones, which provide extra fuel for muscle tissue.

Growth hormone stays flat for about 40 minutes, after which it goes up steeply. At around the 90-minute mark, it reaches a level that is quite high; 300 percent higher than it was prior to the exercise session. Natural elevation of circulating growth hormone through intense exercise, intermittent fasting, and restful sleep, leads to a number of health benefits. It helps burn abdominal fat, often hours after the exercise session, and helps builds muscle (in conjunction with other hormones, such as testosterone). It appears to increase insulin sensitivity in the long run. Maybe natural elevation of circulating growth hormone is one of the “secrets” of people like Bob Delmonteque, who is probably the fittest octogenarian in the world today.

Aerobic activities normally do not elevate growth hormone levels, even though they are healthy, unless they lead to a significant degree of glycogen depletion. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscle, with muscle storing about 5 times more than the liver (about 500 g in adults). Once those reserves go down significantly during exercise, it seems that growth hormone is recruited to ramp up fat catabolism and facilitate other metabolic processes. Walking for an hour, even if briskly, is good for fat burning, but generates only a small growth hormone elevation. Including a few all-out sprints into that walk can help significantly increase growth hormone secretion.

Having said that, it is not really clear whether growth hormone elevation is a response to glycogen depletion, or whether both happen together in response to another stimulus or related metabolic process. There are other factors that come into play as well. For example, circulating growth hormone increase is moderated by sex hormone (e.g., testosterone, estrogen) secretion, thus larger growth hormone increases in response to exercise are observed in older men than in older women. (Testosterone declines more slowly with age in men than estrogen does in women.) Also, growth hormone increase seems to be correlated with an increase in circulating ketones.

Heavy resistance exercise seems to lead to a higher growth hormone elevation per unit of time than endurance exercise. That is, an intense resistance training session lasting only 30 minutes can lead to an acute circulating growth hormone response, similar to that shown on the figure. The key seems to be reaching the point during the exercise where muscle glycogen stores are significantly depleted. Many people who weight-train achieve this regularly by combining a reasonable number of sets (e.g., 6-12), with repetitions in the muscle hypertrophy range (again, 6-12); and progressive overload, whereby resistance is increased incrementally every session.

Progressive overload is needed because glycogen reserves are themselves increased in response to training, so one has to increase resistance every session to keep up with those increases. This goes on only up to a point, a point of saturation, usually reached by elite athletes. Glycogen is the primary fuel for anaerobic exercise; fat is used as fuel in the recovery period between sets, and after the exercise is over. Glycogen is expended proportionally to the number of calories used in the anaerobic effort. Calories are expended proportionally to the total amount of weight moved around, and are also a function of the movements performed (moving a certain weight 1 feet spends less energy than moving it 3 feet). By the way, not much glycogen is depleted in a 30-minute session. The total caloric expenditure will probably be around 250 calories above the basal metabolic rate, which will require about 63 g of glycogen.

Many sensations are associated with reaching the glycogen depletion level required for an acute growth hormone response during heavy anaerobic exercise. Often light to severe nausea is experienced. Many people report a “funny” feeling, which is unmistakable to them, but very difficult to describe. In some people the “funny” feeling is followed, after even more exertion, by a progressively strong sensation of “pins and needles”, which, unlike that associated with a heart attack, comes slowly and also goes away slowly with rest. Some people feel lightheaded as well.

It seems that the optimal point is reached immediately before the above sensations become bothersome; perhaps at the onset of the “funny” feeling. My personal impression is that the level at which one experiences the “pins and needles” sensation should be avoided, because that is a point where your body is about to “force” you to stop exercising. (Note: I am not a bodybuilder; see “Interesting links” for more extensive resources on the subject.) Besides, go to that point or beyond and significant muscle catabolism may occur, because the body prioritizes glycogen reserves over muscle protein. It will break that protein down to produce glucose via gluconeogenesis to feed muscle glycogenesis.

That the body prioritizes muscle glycogen reserves over muscle protein is surprising to many, but makes evolutionary sense. In our evolutionary past, there were no selection pressures on humans to win bodybuilding tournaments. For our hominid ancestors, it was more important to have the glycogen tank at least half-full than to have some extra muscle protein. Without glycogen, the violent muscle contractions needed for a “fight or flight” response to an animal attack simply cannot happen. And large predators (e.g., a bear) would not feel intimated by big human muscles alone; it would be the human’s response using those muscles that would result in survival or death.

Overall, selection pressures probably favored functional strength combined with endurance, leading to body types similar to those of the hunter-gatherers shown on this post.

Even though the growth hormone response to exercise can be steep, the highest natural growth hormone spike seems to be the one that occurs at night, during deep sleep.

Exercising hard pays off, but only if one sleeps well.

Reference:

Wilmore, J.H., Costill, D.L., & Kenney, W.L. (2007). Physiology of sport and exercise. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Guest Commentary: Obesity Trends - There is Hope

Laura Kimberly, MSW, MBE
Director of Special Projects
Jefferson School of Population Health

Recently at JSPH, two presenters at separate events referenced the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System obesity trend maps in their presentations. These maps track obesity rates over time and create a powerful visual demonstration of the sharp increases in states’ obesity rates since the 1980’s. The numbers are startling, and the associated costs, both fiscal and social, paint a grim picture.

Much has been written recently about the challenge of addressing rising rates of obesity in the United States, and the outlook tends to be gloomy. Well-intentioned interventions may enjoy isolated, short-term success, yet behavioral change with staying power seems elusive. However, at JSPH’s Health Policy Forum on May 12th, Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, offered a note of hope. She discussed her work, which strives to make connections between academia and the community and to measure the impact of evidence-based interventions. She began by noting that the national vision for health, articulated in the Healthy People 2020 goals, includes an emphasis on creating social and physical environments that improve health for all, and she referenced T. R. Frieden’s health impact pyramid as a helpful framework for examining population health issues.

Dr. Glanz advocates for a social ecological approach to health promotion, and she pointed to several examples of interventions which have had a positive impact in the sphere of community and health system environmental interventions, and in legislation, regulation, and enforcement. In particular, Dr. Glanz discussed the success of tobacco control initiatives and was hopeful that our experiences with tobacco may help point us in the right direction as we develop strategies to address obesity.

She ended by cautioning that there is more work to be done and reminded us that we can’t assume causal relationships and shouldn’t always rely on randomized control trials as the gold standard when we do have access to natural experiments which can offer valuable insight. In addition, we need to reach disadvantaged populations and develop more practical tools.

All-in-all a sobering and immensely sensitive topic, but an area in which we can’t afford to throw up our hands. Do you think we can develop effective strategies to address rising rates of obesity? Please share your thoughts.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Postprandial glucose levels, HbA1c, and arterial stiffness: Compared to glucose, lipids are not even on the radar screen

Postprandial glucose levels are the levels of blood glucose after meals. In Western urban environments, the main contributors to elevated postprandial glucose are foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars. While postprandial glucose levels may vary somewhat erratically, they are particularly elevated in the morning after breakfast. The main reason for this is that breakfast, in Western urban environments, is typically very high in refined carbohydrates and sugars.

HbA1c, or glycated hemoglobin, is a measure of average blood glucose over a period of a few months. Blood glucose glycates (i.e., sticks to) hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells. Red blood cells are relatively long-lived, lasting approximately 3 months. Thus HbA1c (given in percentages) is a good indicator of average blood glucose levels, if you don’t suffer from anemia or a few other blood abnormalities.

Based on HbA1c, one can then estimate his or her average blood glucose level for the previous 3 months or so before the test, using one of the following equations, depending on whether the measurement is in mg/dl or mmol/l.

Average blood glucose (mg/dl) = 28.7 × HbA1c − 46.7
Average blood glucose (mmol/l) = 1.59 × HbA1c − 2.59

Elevated blood glucose levels cause damage in the body primarily through glycation, which leads to the formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). Given this, HbA1c can be seen as a proxy for the level of damage done by elevated blood glucose levels to various body tissues. This damage occurs over time; often after many years of high blood glucose levels. It includes kidney damage, neurological damage, cardiovascular damage, and damage to the retina.

Most regular blood exams focus on fasting blood glucose as a measure of glucose metabolism status. Many medical practitioners have as a target a fasting blood glucose level of 125 mg/dl (7 mmol/l) or less, and largely disregard postprandial glucose levels or HbA1c in their management of glucose metabolism. Leiter and colleagues (2005; full reference at the end of this post) showed that this focus on fasting blood glucose is a mistake. They are not alone; many others made this point, including some very knowledgeable bloggers who focus on diabetes (see “Interesting links” section of this blog). Leiter and colleagues (2005) also provided some interesting graphs and figures, including eye-opening correlations between various variables and arterial stiffness. The figure below (click to enlarge) shows the contribution of postprandial glucose to HbA1c.


Note that the lower the HbA1c is in the figure (horizontal axis), the higher is the postprandial glucose contribution to HbA1c. And, the lower the HbA1c, the closer the individuals are to what one could consider having a perfectly normal HbA1c level (around 5 percent). That is, only for individuals whose HbA1c levels are very high, fasting blood glucose levels are relatively reliable measures of the tissue damage done be elevated blood glucose levels.

The table below (click to enlarge) shows P values associated with the impact of various variables (listed on the leftmost column) on arterial stiffness. This measure, arterial stiffness, is strongly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Look at the middle column showing P values adjusted for age and height. The lower the P value, the more a variable affects arterial stiffness. The variable with the lowest P value by far is 2-hour postprandial blood glucose; the blood glucose levels measured 2 hours after meals.


Fasting glucose levels were reported to be statistically insignificant because of the P = 0.049, in terms of their effect on arterial stiffness, but this P value is actually significant, although barely, at the 0.05 level (95 percent confidence). Interestingly, the following measures are not even on the radar screen, as far as arterial stiffness is concerned: systolic blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting insulin levels.

What about the lipid hypothesis, and the “bad” LDL cholesterol!? This study is telling us that these are not very relevant for arterial stiffness when we control for the effect of blood glucose measures. Not even fasting insulin levels matters much! Wait, not even HDL!!! A high HDL has been definitely shown to be protective, but when we look at the relative magnitude of various effects, the story is a bit different. A high HDL’s protective effect exists, but it is dwarfed by the negative effect of high blood glucose levels, especially after meals, in the context of cardiovascular disease.

What all this points at is what we could call a postprandial glucose hypothesis: Lower your postprandial glucose levels, and live a longer, healthier life! And, by the way, if your postprandial glucose levels are under control, lipids do not matter much! Or maybe your lipids will fall into place, without any need for statin drugs, after your postprandial glucose levels are under control. One way or another, the outcome will be a positive one. That is what the data from this study is telling us.

How do you lower your postprandial glucose levels?

A good way to start is to remove foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars from your diet. Almost all of these are foods engineered by humans with the goal of being addictive; they usually come in boxes and brightly colored plastic wraps. They are not hard to miss. They are typically in the central aisles of supermarkets. The sooner you remove them from your diet, the better. The more completely you do this, the better.

Note that the evidence discussed in this post is in connection with blood glucose levels, not glucose metabolism per se. If you have impaired glucose metabolism (e.g., diabetes type 2), you can still avoid a lot of problems if you effectively control your blood glucose levels. You may have to be a bit more aggressive, adding low carbohydrate dieting (as in the Atkins or Optimal diets) to the removal of refined carbohydrates and sugars from your diet; the latter is in many ways similar to adopting a Paleolithic diet. You may have to take some drugs, such as Metformin (a.k.a. Glucophage). But you are certainly not doomed if you are diabetic.

Reference:

Leiter, L.A., Ceriello, A., Davidson, J.A., Hanefeld, M., Monnier, L., Owens, D.R., Tajima, N., & Tuomilehto, J. (2005). Postprandial glucose regulation: New data and new implications. Clinical Therapeutics, 27(2), S42-S56.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Oven roasted meat: Pork tenderloin

This cut of pork is the equivalent in the pig of the filet mignon in cattle. It is just as soft, and lean too. A 100 g portion of roasted pork tenderloin will have about 22 g of protein, and 6 g of fat. Most of the fat will be monounsaturated and saturated, and some polyunsaturated. The latter will contain about 450 mg of omega-6 and 15 mg of omega-3 fats in it.

The saturated fat is good for you. The omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio is not a great one, but a 100 g portion will have a small absolute amount of omega-6 fats, which can be easily offset with some omega-3 from seafood or a small amount of fish oil. Pork tenderloin is easy to find in supermarkets, and is much less expensive than filet mignon, even though it is a relatively expensive cut of meat.

Below are the before and after photos of a roasted pork tenderloin we prepared and ate recently; a simple recipe follows the photos. This type of cooking leads to a Maillard reaction, which is clear from the browning of the meat and around it on the casserole. I am not too concerned; more about this after the recipe.




Below is the simple recipe. The roasted pork pieces come off easily after the roasting is done, and almost melt in the mouth!

- Make about 10 holes on 2 lbs of pork tenderloin, and add chopped garlic pieces into each of them.
- Pour about a cup of salsa evenly over the pork tenderloin pieces.
- Cover roasting container (casserole in photos) with aluminum foil to preserve moisture.
- Preheat over to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Roast the pork tenderloin for about 3 hours.

Now back to the Maillard reaction. When it happens inside the body, it is a step in the formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), which is not very good, as AGEs are believed to cause accelerated aging. However, the evidence that cooked meat is unhealthy, in the absence of leaky gut problems, is very slim. There are many hypothesized causes of the leaky gut syndrome, one of which is consumption of refined wheat products.

Our Paleolithic ancestors must have eaten charred meat on a regular basis, so it does not make much evolutionary sense to think that eating roasted meat leads to accelerated aging through the ingestion of AGEs. It is possible that eating charred meat caused health problems for our ancestors, and they threw their meat in the fire and then ate it charred anyway. Perhaps the health problems caused by charring were offset by the benefits of killing parasites living in meat with the heat of fire.

This is an open issue that needs much more research. Based on most of the research I have seen so far, eating roasted meat is not even in the same universe, in terms of the health problems that it can possibly generate, as is eating foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars (e.g., white bread, bagels, pasta, and non-diet sodas).

Monday, May 24, 2010

Intermittent fasting, engineered foods, leptin, and ghrelin

Engineered foods are designed by smart people, and the goal is not usually to make you healthy; the goal is to sell as many units as possible. Some engineered foods are “fortified” with the goal of making them as healthy as possible. The problem is that food engineers are competing with many millions of years of evolution, and evolution usually leads to very complex metabolic processes. Evolved mechanisms tend to be redundant, leading to the interaction of many particles, enzymes, hormones etc.

Natural foods are not designed to make you eat them nonstop. Animals do not want to be eaten (even these odd-looking birds below). Most plants do not “want” their various nutritious parts to be eaten. Fruits are exceptions, but plants do not want one single individual to eat all their fruits. That compromises seed dispersion. Multiple individual fruit eaters enhance seed dispersion. Plants "want" one individual animal to eat some of their fruits and then move on, so that other individuals can also eat.

(Source: Teamsugar.com)

It is safe to assume that doughnut manufacturers want one single individual to eat as many doughnuts as possible, and many individuals to want to do that. That takes some serious food engineering, and a lot of testing. Success will increase the manufacturers' revenues, the real bottom line for them. The medical establishment will then take care of those individuals, and prolong their miserable lives so that they can continue eating doughnuts for as long as possible. It is self-perpetuating system.

As mentioned in this previous post, to succeed in the practice of intermittent fasting, one has to stop worrying about food, and one good step in that direction is to avoid engineered foods. In this sense, intermittent fasting can be seen as a form of liberation. Doing something enjoyable and forgetting about food. Like children playing outdoors; they do not care as much about food as they do about play. Even sleeping will do; most people forget about eating when they are asleep.

Intermittent fasting as a religious and/or social activity, as in the Great Lent and Ramadan, also seems to work well. Any activity that brings people together with a common goal, especially if the goal is not to do something evil, has a lot of potential for success.

If you approach intermittent fasting as another thing to worry about, then it will be tough – one fast per week, on the same day of the week, from 7.33 pm of one day to 3.17 pm of the next day. I exaggerate a bit. Anyway, if you approach it as another obligation, another modern stressor, you will probably fail in the medium to long term. It is just commonsense. Maybe you will be able to do it for a while, but not for long enough to reap some serious benefits. A few fasts are not going to make you lose a lot of weight; the body will adapt in a compensatory way during the fast, slowing down your metabolism a bit and conserving calories. On top of that, you will feel very, very hungry. That will make you binge when you break your fast. Compensatory adaptation (a very general phenomenon) is something that our body is very good at, regardless of what we want it to do.

From a more pragmatic perspective, for most people it is easier to fast at night and in the morning. Eating a big meal right after you wake up is not a very natural activity; several hormones that promote body fat catabolism are often elevated in the morning, causing mild physiological insulin resistance.

If you have dinner at 7 pm, skip breakfast, and then have brunch the next day at 10 am, you will have fasted for 15 h. If you skip breakfast and brunch, and have lunch at noon the next day, you will have fasted for 17 h.

On the other hand, if you have breakfast at 8 am, skip lunch, and then have dinner at 6 pm, you will have fasted only for 10 h.

Leptin levels seem to go down significantly after 12 h of fasting, leading to increased body fat catabolism and leptin sensitivity. This is a good thing, since leptin resistance seems to frequently precede insulin resistance.

Many people think that skipping breakfast will make them fat, for various reasons, including that being what sumo wrestlers do to put on enormous amounts of body fat. Well, skipping breakfast probably will make people fat if, when they break the fast, they stuff themselves to the point of almost throwing up, combine plenty of easily digestible carbohydrates (e.g., multiple bowls of rice) with a lot of dietary fat, and then go to sleep. That is what sumo wrestlers normally do.

Eating fat is great, but not together with lots of easily digestible carbohydrates. Even eating a lot of fat by itself will make it difficult for you to shed enough fat to look like the hunter-gatherers in this post. But your body fat set point will be much lower if you eat a lot of fat by itself than if you eat a lot of fat with a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates.

Anyway, if people skip breakfast and eat what they normally eat at lunch, they will not gain more body fat than they would have if they had breakfast. If they do anything to boost their metabolism in the morning, they will most certainly lose body fat in a noticeable way over several weeks, as long as they have enough fat to lose. For example, they can add some light activity in the morning (such as walking), or have a metabolism-boosting drink (e.g., coffee, green tea), or both.

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors, living outdoors, probably spent most of their day performing light activities that involved little stress. Those activities increase metabolism and fat burning, while keeping stress hormone levels at low ranges. Hunger suppression was the result, making intermittent fasting fairly easy.

Again, intermittent fasting should be approached as a form of liberation. You are no longer a slave of food.

It helps staying away from engineered foods as much as possible, because, again, they are usually engineered with food addiction in mind. I am talking primarily about foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars. They come in boxes and plastic bags with labels describing calories and macronutrient composition, which are often wrong or misleading.

Let us say we could transport a group of archaic Homo sapiens to a modern city, and feed them white bread, bagels, doughnuts, potato chips industrially fried in vegetable oils, and the like. Would they say “Yuck, how can these people eat this?” No, they would not. It would be heaven for them; they would want nothing else for the rest of their gustatorily happy but health-wise miserable lives.

While practicing intermittent fasting, it is probably a good idea to have fixed meal times, and skipping them from time to time. The reason is the hunger hormone ghrelin, secreted by the stomach (mostly) and pancreas to stimulate hunger and possibly prepare the digestive tract for optimal or quasi-optimal absorption of food. Its secretion appears to follow the pattern of habitual meals adopted by a person.

References:

Elliott, W.H., & Elliott, D.C. (2009). Biochemistry and molecular biology. 4th Edition. New York: NY: Oxford University Press.

Fuhrman, J., & Barnard, N.D. (1995). Fasting and eating for health: A medical doctor's program for conquering disease. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

On Hiatus

On hiatus until July 2010 or later. Stay tuned for more!

JSPH Inaugural Commencement

TODAY, marks the inaugural commencement for our brand new School of Population Health. That's right---Population Health. A school whose mission is to prepare leaders with global vision to develop, implement and evaluate health policies and systems that improve the health of populations and thereby enhance, the quality of life.

We strive to fulfill this mission by providing exemplary graduate training in health policy, chronic care management, health care quality and safety, AND of course today, in public health.

Our nation stands today at a population health crossroad exemplified in part, by a new law----a law that is 10 weeks old. Whatever your politics, health care delivery in our country will never be the same. We have a lot of work to do!!! We must work hard to reduce the unexplained variation in health care services.
We must reduce disparities in how care is delivered. We must improve the coordination of care. We must improve the quality and safety of the care we deliver.

AND, we must put the patient at the center of all that we do.

Our school, in the great Jefferson University tradition, exemplified by these graduates here today, is preparing a new generation of leaders to meet these challenges. Men and women from a diverse background who now have the skills to go forth and to make a world of difference.

As the inaugural Dean, I am especially proud of the accomplishments of this class, and the support that they received from our faculty and our staff.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Type 4 Series: Smooth, Sleek Edges

This is a series on how to style and manage type 4 hair healthily. It doesn't matter whether you are natural, transitioning, or stretching relaxers.

Today's topic: How to achieve smooth, sleek edges without a boar brush.


WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Eco Styler Gel (local beauty supply store)
rattail comb (Walmart, etc.)
satin scarf (beauty supply store, Walmart, etc.)




Let's Begin ...




This process works best on hair that has been washed within a day or two. The reason is because the hair is most clean (free of product buildup) and malleable at this time. Also, be sure that your hair is sufficiently moisturized before continuing.



Apply gel
Eco Styler Gel is recommended because it is thick and holds well for type 4 hair. It is also non-drying. (Water, a moisturizer, and glycerin, a humectant, are listed amongst the first few ingredients. There is no alcohol.) Begin by applying enough gel to coat the edges.



Comb edges
Using a rattail comb, gently comb the gel through your edges. End by using the back of the rattail comb to smooth down your edges. (See this post on why the comb is gentler than the boar bristle brush.) Don't worry if your hair is not flat at this point; so long as you've applied enough gel and combed it through, the scarf will take care of the rest.



Wrap scarf
Wrap your edges with a satin scarf until the gel dries.



Smooth, sleek edges achieved! This process was done on dry hair. Even smoother edges can be achieved on wet, freshly washed hair (see video below).




For even SMOOTHER EDGES: The following is video tutorial of how one type 4 lady achieves smooth edges. She uses a combination of Eco Styler and setting lotion on wet hair:

Atheism is a recent Neolithic invention: Ancestral humans were spiritual people

For the sake of simplicity, this post treats “atheism” as synonymous with “non-spiritualism”. Technically, one can be spiritual and not believe in any deity or supernatural being, although this is not very common. This post argues that atheism is a recent Neolithic invention; an invention that is poorly aligned with our Paleolithic ancestry.

Our Paleolithic ancestors were likely very spiritual people; at least those belonging to the Homo sapiens species. Earlier ancestors, such as the Australopithecines, may have lacked enough intelligence to be spiritual. Interestingly, often atheism is associated with high intelligence and a deep understanding of science. Many well-known, and brilliant, evolution researchers are atheists (e.g., Richard Dawkins).

Well, when we look at our ancestors, spirituality seems to have emerged as a result of increased intelligence.

Spirituality can be seen in cave paintings, such as the one below, from the Chauvet Cave in southern France. The Chauvet Cave is believed to have the earliest known cave paintings, dating back to about 30 to 40 thousand years ago. The painting below is on the cover of the book Dawn of art: The Chauvet Cave. (See the full reference for this publication and others at the end of this post.)


The most widely accepted theory of the origin of cave paintings is that they were used in shamanic or religious rituals. By and large, they were not used to convey information (e.g., as maps); and they are often found deep in caves, in areas that are almost inaccessible, ruling out a “decorative” artistic purpose. As De La Croix and colleagues (1991) note:
Researchers have evidence that the hunters in the caves, perhaps in a frenzy stimulated by magical rites and dances, treated the painted animals as if they were alive. Not only was the quarry often painted as pierced by arrows, but hunters actually may have thrown spears at the images, as sharp gouges in the side of the bison at Niaux suggest.
Niaux is another cave in southern France. Like the Chauvet Cave, it is full of prehistoric paintings. Even though those paintings are believed to be more recent, dating back to the end of the Paleolithic, they follow the same patterns seen almost everywhere in prehistoric art. The patterns point at a life that gravitates around spiritual rituals.

Isolated hunter-gatherers also provide a glimpse at our spiritual Paleolithic past. No isolated hunter-gatherer group has ever been found in which atheism was the predominant belief among its members. In fact, the life of most isolated hunter-gatherer groups that have been studied appears to have revolved around religious rituals. In many of these groups, shamans held a very high social status, and strongly influenced group decisions.

Finally, there is solid empirical evidence from human genetics and the study of modern human groups that: (a) “religiosity” may be coded into our genes, to a larger extent in some individuals than in others; and (b) those who are spiritual, particularly those who belong to a spiritual or religious group, have generally better health and experience lower levels of depression and stress (which likely influence health) than those who do not.

There was once an ape that became smart. It invented weapons, which greatly multiplied the potential for death and destruction of the ape’s natural propensity toward violence; violence often motivated by different religious and cultural beliefs held by different groups. It also invented delicious foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars, which slowly poisoned the ape’s body.

Could the recent invention of atheism have been just as unhealthy?

Surely religion has been at the source of conflicts that have caused much death and destruction. But is religion, or spirituality, really to be blamed? Many other factors can lead to a great deal of death and destruction, sometimes directly, other times indirectly – e.g., poverty and illiteracy.

References:

Brown, D.E. (1991). Human universals. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Chauvet, J.M., Deschamps, E.B., & Hillaire, C. (1996). Dawn of art: The Chauvet Cave. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams.

De La Croix, H., Tansey, R.G., & Kirkpatrick, D. (1991). Gardner’s art through the ages: Ancient, medieval, and non-European art. Philadelphia, PA: Harcourt Brace.

Gombrich, E.H. (2006). The story of art. London, England: Pheidon Press.

Murdock, G.P. (1958). Outline of world cultures. New Haven, CN: Human Relations Area Files Press.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Guest Commentary: Public Health will Benefit from Health Care Reform Legislation

Rob Simmons, DrPH, MPH, CHES, CPH
Director, MPH Program
Jefferson School of Population Health


After over a year of national debate and discussion, earlier this spring President Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its accompanying law, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Whatever one’s view of the law’s global impact on health care in the US and the cost for the provision of such care, it is very clear that public health and health promotion will be positively impacted by the new law.

Some of the highlights of the new health law include:

• Expanded prevention benefits in private insurance policies, Medicare, and Medicaid that cover annual wellness visits, a personalized prevention plan, and evidenced-based health screening services with no deductibles and co-pays
• Risk reduction services including weight management, nutrition services, physical activity incentives, and smoking cessation
• Grants to small businesses to provide worksite-based wellness programs and services
• Chronic disease prevention and management services in such areas as diabetes control and obesity prevention
• Public health infrastructure and workforce recruitment and retention programs
• Training for mid-career public and allied health professionals
• Expansion of community health centers and a national health service corps
• Oral health public education campaign and demonstration projects
• Increased emphasis on breastfeeding
• Nutrition labeling of standard menu items in all chain restaurants
• Enhanced drug coverage for seniors by closing the “donut hole” for Medicare Part D
• Increased grants for college education that will help to expand the public health and healthcare workforce and increase its diversity

The public health provisions of the new law did not receive much media attention compared to other components of the health reform law. Yet, they will provide much-needed services for public health and preventive health that have been reduced over the past decade. Speaking as a member of the public health community, it could not have come soon enough.

Cheese’s vitamin K2 content, pasteurization, and beneficial enzymes: Comments by Jack C.

The text below is all from commenter Jack C.’s notes on this post summarizing research on cheese. My additions are within “[ ]”. While the comments are there under the previous post for everyone to see, I thought that they should be in a separate post. Among other things, they provide an explanation for the findings summarized in the previous post.

***

During [the] cheese fermentation process the vitamin K2 (menaquinone) content of cheese is increased more than ten-fold. Vitamin K2 is anti-carcinogenic, reduces calcification of soft tissue (like arteries) and reduces bone fracture risk. So vitamin K2 in aged cheese provides major health benefits that are not present in the control nutrients. [Jack is referring to the control nutrients used in the study summarized in the previous post.]

Another apparent benefit of aged cheese is the breakdown of the peptide BCM7 (beta-casomorphin 7) which is present in the casein milk of most cows (a1 milk) in the U.S. BCM7 is a powerful oxidant and is highly atherogenic. (From "Devil in the Milk" by Keith Woodford.)

[P]asteurization is not necessary, for during the aging process, the production of lactic acid results in a drop in pH which destroys pathogenic bacteria but does not harm beneficial bacteria! Many benefits result.

In making aged cheese, the temperature [should] be kept to no more than 102 degrees F, the same temperature that the milk comes out of the cow. The many beneficial enzymes in milk (8 actually) therefore are not harmed and provide many health benefits. Lactoferrin, for example, destroys pathogenic bacteria by binding to iron (most pathogenic bacteria are iron loving) and also helps in absorption of iron. Lipase helps break down fats and reduces the load on the pancreas which produces lipase.

By federal law, milk that has not been pasteurized cannot be shipped across state lines [in the U.S.], but raw milk cheese can be legally shipped provided that it has been aged at least sixty days. Thus, in backward states like Alabama where I live that do not permit the sale of raw milk, you can get the same beneficial enzymes (well, almost) from aged cheese as from raw milk. And as you pointed out, cheese that is shrink-wrapped will keep a long time and can be easily shipped.

I buy most of my raw milk cheese from a small dairy in Elberta, Alabama, Sweet Home Farm, which produces a great variety of organic raw milk cheese from Guernsey cows that are fed nothing but grass. No grain, no antibiotics or growth hormones. There is nothing comparable in the way of milk that is available legally. The so called “organic” milk sold in stores is all ultra-pasteurized. Yuck.

Raw milk cheese is readily shipped. Sweet Home Farm does not ship cheese, so I have to go get it, 70 miles round trip. On occasion I buy raw milk cheese from Next Generation Dairy, a small coop in Minn. which promises that they do not raise the temperature of the cheese to more than 102 degrees F during manufacture. The cheese is modestly priced and can be shipped inexpensively.

Jack

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Grapeseed Oil, Linoleic acid, and Body Butter Mix

Grapeseed oil contains a high amount of linoleic acid, a type of omega-6 fatty acid. (Safflower oil, my first love, also contains this fatty acid!) Linoleic acid has many health benefits when taken internally (e.g., decreases LDL cholesterol), but what is not discussed as much are its benefits externally. When applied to the skin, this fatty acid can help combat dryness by providing protection against moisture loss (1). Additionally it has demonstrated a potential to effectively reduce the size of blackheads and whiteheads (2).

*******

It's that time of year again to mix another body butter! In my original batch, I used unrefined shea butter with safflower oil. Since then, I've experimented with a couple more substances and mixtures to get a feel for what my skin likes. Here's my latest mix that I use on my elbows, knees, ankles, and lips. Enjoy!

Ingredients
grapeseed oil (high in linoleic acid, odorless)
unrefined shea butter (high in vitamins A, E; softening)
aloe vera gel (99% organic, moisturizing)
vegetable glycerin (humectant)

Melting the shea butter
Perform the following if your shea butter is too firm to mix and/or contains impurities. Heat the unrefined shea butter over the stove until melted. Stir continuously. Use low to medium heat. Should be melted in less than 5 minutes.

Filtering the shea butter
If necessary, filter the melted butter through a napkin to remove any impurities. (This depends on how unrefined the shea butter is and from where you purchase it.)

All mixed up
Allow the melted filtered butter to partially solidify at room temperature. Then mix in the grapeseed oil, glycerin, and aloe. Allow the mixture to harden overnight. The next morning, it is ready to use! (Roughly estimated portions: about 4oz of shea butter, 2oz of grapeseed oil, several tablespoons of glycerin and aloe. May adjust to achieve your desired consistency.)

SOURCES & MORE READS ON LINOLEIC ACID:
BARRIER AGAINST WATER LOSS
COMBAT ACNE
BODY FAT REDUCTION
DEFICIENCY
FOUND IN THE SKIN
GRAPESEED OIL CONTENTS

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cheese consumption, visceral fat, and adiponectin levels

Several bacteria feed on lactose, the sugar found in milk, producing cheese for us as a byproduct of their feeding. This is why traditionally made cheese can be eaten by those who are lactose intolerant. Cheese consumption predates written history. This of course does not refer to processed cheese, frequently sold under the name “American cheese”. Technically speaking, processed cheese is not “real” cheese.

One reasonably reliable way of differentiating between traditional and processed cheese varieties is to look for holes. Cheese-making bacteria produce a gas, carbon dioxide, which leaves holes in cheese. There are exceptions though, and sometimes the holes are very small, giving the impression of no holes. Another good way is to look at the label and the price; usually processed cheese is labeled as such, and is cheaper than traditionally made cheese.

Cheese does not normally spoil; it ages. When vacuum-wrapped, cheese is essentially in “suspended animation”. After opening it, it is a good idea to store it in such a way as to allow it to “breathe”, or continue aging. Wax paper does a fine job at that. This property, extended aging, has made cheese a very useful source of nutrition for travelers in ancient times. It was reportedly consumed in large quantities by Roman soldiers.

Walther and colleagues (2008) provide a good review of the role of cheese in nutrition and health. The full reference is at the end of this post. They point out empirical evidence that cheese, particularly that produced with Lactobacillus helveticus (e.g., Gouda and Swiss cheese), contributes to lowering blood pressure, stimulates growth and development of lean body tissues (e.g., muscle), and has anti-carcinogenic properties.

The health-promoting effects of cheese were also reviewed by Higurashi and colleagues (2007), who hypothesized that those effects may be in part due to the intermediate positive effects of cheese on adiponectin and visceral body fat levels. They conducted a study with rats that supports those hypotheses.

In the study, they fed two groups of rats an isocaloric diet with 20 percent of fat, 20 percent of protein, and 60 percent of carbohydrate (in the form of sucrose). In one group, the treatment group, Gouda cheese (produced with Lactobacillus helveticus) was the main source of protein. In the other group, the control group, isolated casein was the main source of protein. The researchers were careful to avoid confounding variables; e.g., they adjusted the vitamin and mineral intake in the groups so as to match them.

The table below (click to enlarge) shows initial and final body weight, liver weight, and abdominal fat for both groups of rats. As you can see, the rats more than quadrupled in weight by the end of the 8-weight experiment! Abdominal fat was lower in the cheese group; one type of visceral fat, mesenteric, was significantly lower. Whole body weight-adjusted liver weight was higher in the cheese group. Liver weight increase is often associated with increased muscle mass. The rats in the cheese group were a little heavier on average, even though they had less abdominal fat.


The figure below shows adiponectin levels at the 4-week and 8-week marks. While adiponectin levels decreased in both groups, which was to be expected given the massive gain in weight (and probably body fat mass), only in the casein group the decrease in adiponectin was significant. In fact, the relatively small decrease in the cheese group is a bit surprising given the increase in weight observed.


If we could extrapolate these findings to humans, and this is a big “if”, one could argue that cheese has some significant health-promoting effects. There is one small problem with this study though. To ensure that the rats consumed the same number of calories, the rats in the casein group were fed slightly more sucrose. The difference was very small though; arguably not enough to explain the final outcomes.

This study is interesting because the main protein in cheese is actually casein, and also because casein powders are often favored by those wanting to put on muscle as part of a weight training program. This study suggests that the cheese-ripening process induced by Lactobacillus helveticus may yield compounds that are particularly health-promoting in three main ways – maintaining adiponectin levels; possibly increasing muscle mass; and reducing visceral fat gain, even in the presence of significant weight gain. In humans, reduced circulating adiponectin and increased visceral fat are strongly associated with the metabolic syndrome.

One caveat: if you think that eating cheese may help wipe out that stubborn abdominal fat, think again. This is a topic for another post. But, briefly, this study suggests that cheese consumption may help reduce visceral fat. Visceral fat, however, is generally fairly easy to mobilize (i.e., burn); much easier than the stubborn subcutaneous body fat that accumulates in the lower abdomen of middle-aged men and women. In middle-aged women, stubborn subcutaneous fat also accumulates in the hips and thighs.

Could eating Gouda cheese, together with other interventions (e.g., exercise), become a new weapon against the metabolic syndrome?

References:

Higurashi, S., Kunieda, Y., Matsuyama, H., & Kawakami, H. (2007). Effect of cheese consumption on the accumulation of abdominal adipose and decrease in serum adiponectin levels in rats fed a calorie dense diet. International Dairy Journal, 17(10), 1224–1231.

Walther, B., Schmid, A., Sieber, R., & Wehrmüller, K. (2008). Cheese in nutrition and health. Dairy Science Technology, 88(4), 389-405.

UPDATE on Pandemic Planning and Response

Between 23rd and 25th March 2010 I took part in the first Asia Europe Foundation Network for Public Health workshop exploring ways of enhancing the pandemic preparedness capabilities across partner countries. This, the first of three workshops, brought together 26 high-level participants from multiple sectors including amongst others, scientists, governments, NGO’s and the health sector. The event was facilitated by Prospex http://www.prospex.com/ and managed by the Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) http://www.asef.org/

Although the detail of the work, is at this stage not public, I’d like to share some of the themes and process’ to keep those of you who are interested in this agenda, up to speed. I’d also like to encourage dialogue around these themes to continue our own explorations of this agenda.

Through an active participatory workshop the partners identified some of the driving factors and uncertainties around future pandemics and as such, were exploring the themes to feed into the second session which will develop and test some of the ideas which in turn, will feed the third session aiming to refine and analyze the scenarios developed to inform long-term strategic implementation and outreach.

The main elements of this first workshop involved participants identifying their own hopes and fears around the issues which included aspects of co-ordination, current preparedness and human capacity. The facilitators enabled the group to contextualise individual factors and further explore those from very specific perspectives ranging from the legal, economic and political, to demographic, ethical and cultural.


By introducing and interrogating existing foresight studies, the facilitators enabled, (for what was many of us our introduction to this field) an analysis of the successes and failings of contemporary thought. Much of the workshop unpicked the uncertainties associated with pandemic and enabled a clustering of factors with innovation (R&D) and notions of the Human Factor high on the agenda. Through the exploration of 15 clusters, the group further identified polarities in thinking and possibilities of response.

By way of example, I was personally very engaged in conversation around information and communication, particularly with reference to how messages are communicated. The polarities explored around these factors focused on whether pandemic messages would be critically received, or would be met with indifference. Worse than this perhaps, and a theme of many of my papers relating to arts/public health; would be that the media propagate hysteria. Participants from the media sector who took part in this work provided strong critical debate and crucial input into my thinking.

With hindsight, many of the subtle discussions I’d had here in Manchester prior to the workshop, weren’t given a full airing, but notions of the human element, universal metaphor and understanding the roles of both the media and new technologies were robustly discussed as part of the bigger picture. I was also able to make opportunities to discuss the notion of diversity and how different societies/communities around the world will interpret messages differently.

Whilst a good deal of the workshop gave opportunity for blue-sky thinking, it grounded very diverse perspectives in a community of joint interest. For my own part being jet-lagged, in a strange environment and in extreme heat made for quite an anxious start. However, the sessions were meticulously thought through and conducted in English. It is mortifying as a native English speaker, to be surrounded by people for whom this is a second or third language and who speak far more eloquently and with insight than someone who can barely master his own tongue. The company was truly diverse and I felt under a good deal of pressure as one of only two participants from the arts sector.

I most certainly feel that I added to the mix and injected the notion of thinking creatively around this public health agenda, but I could have more explicitly inputted on the role of the artist in society, both as reflecting and questioning societal norms. In particular, the role of the artist within research and development and community engagement is an area I hope to develop further in this work.

I was impressed by the creative insight of a number of participants from wildly different backgrounds, who positively exuded a deep understanding around the potency and relevance of the arts to this area of work.

Clive Parkinson

Monday, May 17, 2010

"Soul" Food Mondays || Living in Joy

Living in Joy.

If we become heavily dependent on our surroundings for joy, then we allow room for disappointment. Change your perspective in order to live joyfully.

We cannot always change our surroundings. Circumstances may appear that are out of our control. Events may occur that we cannot influence. That is life. However, we can control our perspective.

Reposition your perspective. Since we cannot always reposition our surroundings, joy must begin with our outlook. Two people can look at the same situation and see two entirely different perspectives. One individual can see an ordeal or doom while the other individual can see an opportunity or new beginning. Which perspective do you choose to have?

Focus your perspective on the reality of the situation. What is the reality? Well for one, the past is the past. Rather than spending endless hours dwelling on it, consider how to grow from it and then let it go. What else? The circumstances or events weighing you down today are only temporary. Your heart will heal; it will not stay broken forever. And another reality? Material things are just that - material. The latest shoes or hottest clutch should not define your inner joy.

Permanent joy exists beyond the temporary, beyond the material, and beyond our immediate environment. Joy comes from grasping the true significance and essence of life.

WINNER of the "Beautiful" Woman Giveaway!

So we have a winner for the "Beautiful" Woman Giveaway! Again, the prize includes the following:

$1 coupon for Olay
$1 coupon for Cover Girl Queen Collection
$1 coupon for Pantene Shampoo or Conditioner
2 NYX Lipgloss
1 NYX Nail Polish
1 NYX Glitter Mania Jumbo Eye Pencil

Thanks to all the ladies who responded. All answers exuded a 'healthy' beauty; it was tough choosing the winner. The question was:

... How do you stay "beautiful"?

According the random number generator, our winner is commenter #4:
caramelnaps25 said...

I stay beautiful (or try my best) by watching what I put into my body, using the most natural products that I can, trying to get enough rest, exercising, and not stressing out! It has been hard these last few weeks with teacher layoffs and worries about jobs for next year, but in a nutshell that is what I do:)



Congratulations, Caramelnaps25!! Email your address to healthy_loo@yahoo.com to claim your prize. Please respond by May 19 11:59pm EST.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Natural Blemish Lighteners

Dark spots and hyperpigmentation are common among people of color. Choosing from the many products available to "even" one's complexion can be a bit overwhelming -- and expensive. Below are some thrifty alternatives that may be worth trying. Realize that this process may take weeks or longer to experience noticeable results:

Yogurt and Orange Juice
Honey and Lemon Juice
Cucumber and Lemon Juice
All recipes found here.

Lemon Mint Honey and Orange
Recipe found here.

Be sure to use sunscreen in the daytime to minimize repigmentation of your darker regions.

As always, I encourage you to seek a real expert -- your dermatologist -- for other options.

What works for Loo's dark spots? Using lemon juice, brown sugar, or L'Oréal Revitalift Night Cream (the most effective + expensive of the three options).

Intermittent fasting as a form of liberation

I have been doing a lot of reading over the years on isolated hunter-gatherer populations; see three references at the end of this post, all superb sources (Chagnon’s book on the Yanomamo, in particular, is an absolute page turner). I also take every opportunity I have to talk with anthropologists and other researchers who have had field experience with hunter-gatherer groups. Even yesterday I was talking to a researcher who spent many years living among isolated native Brazilian groups in the Amazon.

Maybe I have been reading too much into those descriptions, but it seems to me that one distinctive feature of many adults in hunter-gatherer populations, when compared with adults in urban populations, is that the hunter-gatherers are a lot less obsessed with food.

Interestingly, this seems to be a common characteristic of physically active children. They want to play, and eating is often an afterthought, an interruption of play. Sedentary children, who play indoors, can and often want to eat while they play.

Perhaps adult hunter-gatherers are more like physically active children than adults in modern urban societies. Maybe this is one of the reasons why adult hunter-gatherers have much less body fat. Take a look at the photo below (click to enlarge), from Wikipedia. It was reportedly taken in 1939, and shows three Australian aboriginals.


Hunter-gatherers do not have supermarkets, and active children need food to grow healthy. Adult urbanites have easy access to an abundance of food in supermarkets, and they do not need food to grow, at least not vertically.

Still, adult hunter-gatherers and children who are physically active are generally much less concerned about food than adults in modern urban societies.

It seems illogical, a bit like a mental disorder of some sort that has been plaguing adults in modern urban societies. A mental disorder that contributes to making them obese.

Modern urbanites are constantly worried about food. And also about material possessions, bills, taxes etc. They want to accumulate as much wealth as their personal circumstances allow them, so that they can retire and pay for medical expenses. They must worry about paying for their children’s education. Food is one of their many worries; for many it is the biggest of them all. Too much food makes you fat, too little makes you lose muscle (not really true, but a widespread belief).

Generally speaking, intermittent fasting is very good for human health. Humans seem to have evolved to be episodic eaters, being in the fasted state most of the time. This is perhaps why intermittent fasting significantly reduces levels of inflammation markers, promotes the recycling of “messed up” proteins (e.g., glycated proteins), and increases leptin and insulin sensitivity. It is something natural. I am talking about fasting 24 h at a time (or a bit more, but not much more than that), with plenty of water but no calories. Even skipping a meal now and then, when you are busy with other things, is a form of intermittent fasting.

Now, the idea that our hominid ancestors were starving most of the time does not make a lot of sense, at least not when we think about Homo sapiens, as opposed to earlier ancestors (e.g., the Australopithecines). Even archaic Homo sapiens, dating back to 500 thousand years ago, were probably too smart to be constantly starving. Moreover, the African savannas, where Homo sapiens emerged, were not the type of environment where a smart and social species would be hungry for too long.

Yet, intermittent fasting probably happened frequently among our Homo sapiens ancestors, for the same reason that it happens among hunter-gatherers and active children today. My guess is that, by and large, our ancestors were simply not too worried about food. They ate it because they were hungry, probably at regular times – as most hunter-gatherers do. They skipped meals from time to time.

They certainly did not eat to increase their metabolism, raise their thyroid hormone levels, or have a balanced macronutrient intake.

There were no doubt special occasions when people gathered for a meal as a social activity, but probably the focus was on the social activity, and secondarily on the food.

Of course, they did not have doughnuts around, or foods engineered to make people addicted to them. That probably made things a little easier.

Successful body fat loss through intermittent fasting requires a change in mindset.

References:

Boaz, N.T., & Almquist, A.J. (2001). Biological anthropology: A synthetic approach to human evolution. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Chagnon, N.A. (1977). Yanomamo: The fierce people. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Price, W.A. (2008). Nutrition and physical degeneration. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Guest Commentary: Let's Get Moving

Laura Kimberly, MSW, MBE
Director of Special Projects
Jefferson School of Population Health


Prevention and wellness seem to be two of the health care reform buzzwords of the moment. Yet some of the efforts currently underway across the country indicate that a tremendous amount of energy is being devoted to thinking about the future and how best to create healthy communities where people thrive.

As we all know, physical activity is an important component of wellness, particularly in the face of rising rates of obesity and other associated chronic conditions. On May 3rd, the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan was released by an expert panel, including representation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.

Philadelphia was the first city to formally endorse the plan, and on May 11th JSPH hosted an event entitled Moving Philadelphia! Creating Healthier Communities. The campus green was abuzz with exhibitors and physical activities for children and adults, including an outdoor spinning class, followed by presentations on physical activity and the built environment.

On behalf of Mayor Michael Nutter, Dr. Don Schwarz, Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity and Health Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia, presented a proclamation declaring May 11, 2010 Moving Philadelphia Day.

In his keynote address, Dr. Schwarz discussed Philadelphia’s high rate of obesity and the many hidden costs associated with obesity and chronic conditions. He offered a particularly compelling example: at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, children too large for the CT scan machines in the hospital must be transported to the city’s zoo to use scanners designed for large animals. Dr. Schwarz noted the link between low physical activity levels and the built environment, stressing that communities must be made safer and more accessible to encourage recreation. To this end, as part of a Comprehensive Streets Plan, Philadelphia is working hard to increase bicycle and pedestrian traffic and reduce reliance on cars.

Other noted speakers included Allison Kleinfelter from the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity and Founder and CEO of achievABILITY, who discussed the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan in detail, and Richard Killingsworth, Senior Advisor at Nemours Health and Prevention Services, who explored the impact of the built environment on health and wellness. Both speakers issued a call to action, not just to policy makers and other key leaders and decision makers, but also to local grassroots organizations and to each and every individual. The push for change must come from each of these levels if we truly want to get our country moving!

What do you think about physical activity and the environments in which people live? Can we get people moving? To learn more about the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan, please visit http://www.ncppa.org/resources/plans/.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Your Voice: Type 4 Series!

This is for all ladies, whether natural, transitioning, texlaxed, or relaxed stretchers. Do you have super-tight kinks and coils?

Are you curious to learn how to care for them healthily? how to style them? how to comb them? how to "manage" them?

In the next couple weeks, I'll post about how to achieve the following on type 4 hair:






Super, sleek edges
(no boar bristle brush required)
Wedding/formal styles
(with little/no heat required)

Feel free to leave a comment below stating whatever else you're interested about learning.

REVIEW #6: Goody Spin Pins

Purpose: Use two spin pins in place of 20 bobby pins

Number of trials: 4-5

Instructions: Spin in to secure a style; spin out to take down the style. (Works similar to a screw. The pins come with detailed instructions and pictures.)

How I used them:

• To create a simple bun with twists. (One to two spin pins to secure bun.)

• To create an updo with a pompadour. (One spin pin to secure the updo and the other to secure the pompadour.)

• To create a sidehawk; to create a bun on loose, stretched hair.

THE REVIEW:

The best thing about the spin pins is that they are gentle, easy to use, and a timesaver. (They are much gentler on my super-tight kinks than bobby pins.) In my opinion, they are on the expensive side ($5.19 at my local Target vs. $7.99 at my local CVS). However, you can get your money's worth by using them for various creative updo styles beyond than the simple bun. They are ideal for ladies who steadily wear updos -- including me. At the moment, I'm still partial to my ouchless band, jaw clip, and single frenchbraid ... but the spin pin may become a good friend in time.


PROS: easy to use, easy to take out, very gentle on the hair, sturdy, detailed instructions and pictures, replaces multiple bobby pins

CONS: only comes in "blond" and "brunette", a bit pricey

RATING: Overall, I give the Goody Spin Pins 4 out of 5 stars. The ultimate question is can they do the work of 20 bobby pins? On my thick hair, not really, but they did the work of 5-10, which is still pretty cool. Additionally, it would be great if they could offer "black" spin pins in the future.