You've probably heard the saying “too much of a good thing can be bad”; but what about too much of a bad thing? Well, if you ask me, that would be even worse! What am I talking about? Well, I am referring to the news overload we are bombarded with in the 21st century real-time, up-to-the-minute streaming media era that would be appropriate to call infomania.
Is the human body and psyche equipped to deal with all the bad news of our planet on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis? I am of the opinion that we are not designed to efficiently cope with that amount of stressors.
Eustress vs distress
Hans Selye, Hungarian-Canadian endocrinologist, who first described and coined the term “stress” differentiated between “eustress”, or good stress and “distress”, negative stress. The difference is that while good stress can provide a healthy challenge and the body has the ability to adapt to it, distress can lead to anxiety and depression, due to the lack of ability to adapt well, leading to maladaptive behavior and negative coping mechanisms such as substance use, aggression or social withdrawal.
One of the main determinants whether a stressor will cause eustress or distress is how much control we feel we have over it. Consider the news: let’s take the example of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. How much control do we have over what happened? None, although we may have some on the outcome. Yet, many of us tend to watch the news, ever-so available 24/7 and fret over what happened. Even worse than the reports of disasters that have occurred is the media’s favourite activity: fear mongering, like the constant “reports” of an imminent threat of nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The more time we spend in front of the television or computer watching horrific footage of the events, or yet another analysis and “worst-case-scenario” prediction of the nuclear plant, the less time and energy we are going to have to do something that could positively influence the outcome. What am I referring to?
These are some examples of what we can do to affect the outcome:
- look for ways of helping the victims and their loved ones
- learn from the events for your future benefit i.e. what can you do to prepare to deal with a disaster - every household should have a contingency plan for emergency situations
- stay positive and spread your positivity; example: a friend of mine who lives in Tokyo keeps posting informative, focused and positive writings in his blog ever-since the earthquake occurred
Even if you don’t feel that you can affect the outcome of the disaster, you can certainly alter the impact it will have on you and your family.
Some ways to diminish or eliminate distress caused by the news of disaster:
- limit watching the news to a manageable amount. Everybody has a different tolerance level; our tolerance for bad news is unique and individual. Mine is quite low, so I don’t even watch the news every day. I will skim Google news and read what I find necessary instead of allowing a network decide for me what I should be watching and hearing.
- keep your routine, don’t let news of a disaster stop you from having dinner with your family, or doing your workout, going for a walk etc.
- stay physically active or even add more activity as it has been shown to be beneficial in coping with stress
- don’t discuss the bad news constantly with your coworkers, friends and family, instead initiate conversations with positive, uplifting topics
Ever since I allowed the news of 9/11 affect my life way more then I should have by constantly watching the repetitious footage of the towers crumbling and the chaos following, I decided to be better prepared for news of disasters and wars: moderate my news-intake, be selective, keep positive and and be proactive. While being informed has its benefits, being bombarded with information can definitely be detrimental. I decided to equip myself with good coping skills and not to become a volunteer collateral damage to disasters that occur on faraway lands. Sure we can find thousands of websites with advice on how to cope with stress. I am suggesting that we can prevent the distress by not becoming around-the-clock news consumers.
So tune out, log off, disconnect, turn off...
Take a walk, talk to a friend... Face to face, not just on Facebook
Tune into Life... as it happens right around you...
Make someone smile, smile along...
Connect!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Wholy Food!
Back in the 50s and 60s the western world envisioned a future where taking food pills, powders, energy bars and shakes would replace eating whole foods. Consuming our nutrients this way was thought of as efficient, modern and time-saving. Yet, in 2011 there exists a movement, and it's gaining momentum, to eat local, sustainable, whole foods. Why is that?
Why eat whole foods instead of juice or other processed forms? One might think, that if a fruit, for example apple has beneficial phytonutrients, it would be even more beneficial, if we could have more by juicing or processing, therefore making it possible to consume a lot more at once. The more, the better, right? Wrong!
Just think of how many apples are needed to produce a glass of apple juice: it takes 3-4 apples. Even taking the best case scenario into consideration, where one would freshly squeeze one's own juice, the difference between eating the whole fruit versus the juice is remarkable.
What do you get in a glass of juice made from the whole fresh fruit?
Advantages of eating a whole apple:
Synergy - different compounds found in whole foods working together, making the whole greater than the sum of it’s parts - is on our side; let’s use this advantage and enjoy foods in their "wholiness" as much as possible!
Why eat whole foods instead of juice or other processed forms? One might think, that if a fruit, for example apple has beneficial phytonutrients, it would be even more beneficial, if we could have more by juicing or processing, therefore making it possible to consume a lot more at once. The more, the better, right? Wrong!
Just think of how many apples are needed to produce a glass of apple juice: it takes 3-4 apples. Even taking the best case scenario into consideration, where one would freshly squeeze one's own juice, the difference between eating the whole fruit versus the juice is remarkable.
What do you get in a glass of juice made from the whole fresh fruit?
- All the sugar - 42 - 50 g, the amount from 3-4 apples, equaling the sugar content of a can of pop, which can be drunk in a matter of seconds - this will cause a spike in blood glucose.
- No or minimal fibre, depending on the method of juicing used versus 10 - 15 g of fibre in 3-4 apples - nothing to slow down glucose absorption, also losing out on other benefits of fibre
- Damaged cells release polyphenol oxidase enzymes, which leads to oxidized polyphenols, causing browning of the apple; oxidized polyphenols are not affective
- Ethylane, due to cell damage
- No chewing, no affect on satiety
Advantages of eating a whole apple:
- Chewing - improved digestion and satiety - a recent study showed that people who ate one whole apple 15 minutes before eating a meal consumed 15% less calories during their meal; this is not the case when consuming apple sauce or apple juice before a meal
- Intact cells with beneficial polyphenols
- Skin, where the majority of bioflavonoids (polyphenols) are found
- Takes longer to consume, and we normally eat one whole apple in one sitting = less sugar taken in over a longer period of time with glucose regulating benefits
- Synergy - certain compounds work together, in "synergy", like pectin and polyphenols found in whole apples. They have found in studies that isolated pectin alone does not have the same affect on blood fats as the same amount of pectin in a whole apple.
Synergy - different compounds found in whole foods working together, making the whole greater than the sum of it’s parts - is on our side; let’s use this advantage and enjoy foods in their "wholiness" as much as possible!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
An apple a day...
... keeps the doctor away. Does it really?
I was thinking about that as I was reaching for a beautiful red, round, delicious Macintosh apple earlier today. How does the apple do that?
Well, it does it in several ways: first, you have to chew your apple... that of course if you are not eating it as apple sauce. Chewing is the first step of digestion; it initiates enzyme production in the mouth and in lower parts of the digestive tract. Chewing also contributes to satiety, the feeling of fullness. That's a good thing, isn't it?
Apples also do that through their fibre content. Although they only rank as "good" source of fibre, not "excellent", however the water-soluble pectin in apple improves satiety, amongst other benefits. Pectin in combination with other phytonutrients also lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels without any harmful side effects. The only side effect of consuming pectin is increased regularity.That's also a good thing.
The "star" of apples is a group of phytonutrients called polyphenols. These compounds (quercetin, catechin, anthocyanins to name a few) have been found - besides their well-known antioxidant quality - to have antiplatelet, antiviral, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activity. As a result of these characteristics, eating whole apples will help you fight cardiovascular disease, cancer, viral infections, inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, dermatitis.
In addition these awesome compounds have an impact on glucose regulation by the following mechanisms:
1. slowing carbohydrate digestion
2. slowing glucose absorption
3. increasing Insulin production
4. increasing Insulin-receptor sensitivity
As you can see, the old saying is true: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. You do have to eat your apple as a whole fruit to get these benefits. Why? I will talk about that another time.
Happy apple crunching!
I was thinking about that as I was reaching for a beautiful red, round, delicious Macintosh apple earlier today. How does the apple do that?
Well, it does it in several ways: first, you have to chew your apple... that of course if you are not eating it as apple sauce. Chewing is the first step of digestion; it initiates enzyme production in the mouth and in lower parts of the digestive tract. Chewing also contributes to satiety, the feeling of fullness. That's a good thing, isn't it?
Apples also do that through their fibre content. Although they only rank as "good" source of fibre, not "excellent", however the water-soluble pectin in apple improves satiety, amongst other benefits. Pectin in combination with other phytonutrients also lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels without any harmful side effects. The only side effect of consuming pectin is increased regularity.That's also a good thing.
The "star" of apples is a group of phytonutrients called polyphenols. These compounds (quercetin, catechin, anthocyanins to name a few) have been found - besides their well-known antioxidant quality - to have antiplatelet, antiviral, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activity. As a result of these characteristics, eating whole apples will help you fight cardiovascular disease, cancer, viral infections, inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, dermatitis.
In addition these awesome compounds have an impact on glucose regulation by the following mechanisms:
1. slowing carbohydrate digestion
2. slowing glucose absorption
3. increasing Insulin production
4. increasing Insulin-receptor sensitivity
As you can see, the old saying is true: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. You do have to eat your apple as a whole fruit to get these benefits. Why? I will talk about that another time.
Happy apple crunching!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)