HealthHacks

Results from a study in this month’s Journal of Clinical Nutrition show that it is possible to lower cholesterol by up to 20% — nearly the amount seen by those using cholesterol lowering drugs — by eating a diet rich in viscous fiber and soy.

The study participants ate foods such as almonds, eggplant, oat bran toast, margarine with sterols, and soy burgers. The goal was to consume at least 7 servings of fiber and 7 servings of soy foods daily.
The average LDL cholesterol reduction was 14%, but those who followed the diet most closely saw the highest reductions.

There was one side effect, though. The participants experienced mild weight loss.
[tags]health, cholesterol, diet, [/tags]

I was reading Art De Vany’s excellent blog earlier this evening and happened upon this link to an article in The Economist. It discusses the latest research on caloric restriction (CR) and plant molecules (such as resveratrol) which can mimic the effects of CR. I was familiar with most of the content, but one concept I had not come across previously was xenohormesis.

Dr Sinclair thinks he knows why plant molecules such as resveratrol might affect longevity in animals. Resveratrol is produced when a vine is under stress—for example, due to dehydration or over-exposure to sunshine. According to Dr Sinclair’s theory, which he calls xenohormesis, animals rely on such botanical stress signals to give them extra information about their own environments, in the same way that the alarm calls of one species warn others of danger. If bad things are happening to plants, he surmises, that is a reason for pre-emptive animal action. Animal bodies thus react to molecules such as resveratrol by activating their own defence mechanisms. These, in turn, protect their cells from stress-related damage.

It is well known that organic fruits and vegetables contain higher levels of antioxidants than conventional varieties — that’s why I have long preferred them, but I was unaware that these higher levels were a result of increased stress on the plants. And the idea that we respond to these chemical cues in the foods we eat is simultaneously fascinating and frightening. Does it extend to animals? This suggests it might. It should certainly make you think twice about what you put in your mouth.

[tags]health, fitness, diet, organic, caloric restriction, xenohormesis [/tags]

We all know that water fills you up, but one company has developed water that is even more filling.

The top ten food trends.

Calcium fortified foods may not be as beneficial as foods naturally calcium rich.

Top ten tips for improving your mood with food.

How do you milk a camel? Apparently, it isn’t easy.

[tags]food, health, trends[/tags]

Good Housekeeping this month touts “9 Great Diet Tricks You’ve Never Heard Of” Well, I’ll give them credit for 2 — possibly 3, but the others are things I’ve either written about here or known about. Still, it’s worth a look.
[tags]diet, health, weight loss[/tags]

If you have ever lost yourself in a task, you have experienced what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls Flow. It is the feeling of being so absorbed in an activity that time flies by.

It can happen while jogging, playing golf, gardening, or any other activity that engages and challenges you. All thoughts when you are in this Flow state seem to exist outside yourself.

Scientists studying this phenomenon using fMRI brain scans now think they know why.

The researchers found that regions of the brain activated during sensory processing or self-reflective introspection were quite distinct and segregated. Sensory processing activated the sensory cortex and related structures, while introspection activated the prefrontal cortex, they found.

Importantly, the researchers found that activity in the self-related prefrontal cortex was silenced during intense sensory processing…

“To conclude, the picture that emerges from the present results is that, during intense perceptual engagement, all neuronal resources are focused on sensory cortex, and the distracting self-related cortex is inactive. Thus, the term “losing yourself” receives here a clear neuronal correlate.

The brain, it seems — like everything else — is subject to scarce resources.

[tags]brain, mind, Flow, fMRI [/tags]