A few days ago, the NYTimes health blog reported a pretty interesting news: the FDA acknowledged that cholesterol-lowering statins carry a risk of cognitive side effects.
If you’re not familiar with this drug, statins help people at high risk of cardiovascular problems, lowering cholesterol, risk of heart attack and stroke. They are one of the most prescribed drugs in the world.
For years doctors have been fielding reports from patients that the drugs leave them feeling “fuzzy,” and have been experiencing big memory problems. Finally the FDA has officially acknowledged that.
This news has raised concern because 21 million patients only in the US were prescribed statins during 2011. It's difficult to assess how many of them have experienced cognitive side effects.
So what’s the solution? Lowering cholesterol through a healthy diet and exercising, easy as that. You can get off statins and no more fear of “losing the mind”.
Among food that help with cholesterol issues one might be particulalry helpful: grapefruit!
A study conducted in Israel demonstrated that eating one ruby red grapefruit a day was as effective as taking statin drugs in the lowering of cholesterol. But beware, you cannot use the two together!
March 7, 2012
I like to add chia seeds and bee pollen to make it “complete” from a nutritional standpoint. If you have spirulina add some: this smoothie will get even more awesome!
March 4, 2012
Omega-3s are a hot topic, everybody keeps talking about how they’re a magic wonder for our brain, heart, skin, joints, and eyes. The consensus is that fish is the greatest source for Omega-3s hence, we should eat it at least twice a week. If not, we should supplement such deficiency with fish oil capsules.
However, most of the people don’t know that Omega-3s are not just a single nutrient. The term refers to a family of compounds that has a wide chemical variety. With each type of Omega-3 playing a different role.
The sources for each Omega-3s are different and sometime fish oil supplementation may not be enough.
Let’s discover some more about this.
However, most of the people don’t know that Omega-3s are not just a single nutrient. The term refers to a family of compounds that has a wide chemical variety. With each type of Omega-3 playing a different role.
The sources for each Omega-3s are different and sometime fish oil supplementation may not be enough.
Let’s discover some more about this.
February 29, 2012
Swimming is my absolute favorite workout/sport, there’s nothing else I rather do than jump into the water and swim for hours. Of the three triathlon’s segment, swimming it’s my favorite one.
I like not only the physical effort but also the sensation of calm and quite that comes when the water surrounds the body.
People are always asking me how I don’t get bored by just doing laps in the pool.
In a way, this concern is legitimate, if you’re just going back and forth, over and over again (“without a plan”) swimming might get boring in the long run. That’s why it’s so important to have a workout program to follow: it will break the routine and it will make you become a better swimmer.
So, I thought of posting the classic workout designed for beginners’ triathletes but that can also be followed by anyone who’s willing to improve in their swimming.
I like not only the physical effort but also the sensation of calm and quite that comes when the water surrounds the body.
People are always asking me how I don’t get bored by just doing laps in the pool.
In a way, this concern is legitimate, if you’re just going back and forth, over and over again (“without a plan”) swimming might get boring in the long run. That’s why it’s so important to have a workout program to follow: it will break the routine and it will make you become a better swimmer.
So, I thought of posting the classic workout designed for beginners’ triathletes but that can also be followed by anyone who’s willing to improve in their swimming.
February 27, 2012
Notwithstanding thousands different diets, pills and drinks we all know that there’s no magic formula for losing weight.
There are two golden rules that you should keep in mind when trying to shed those extra pounds off your body:
1) There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat; and
2) That you should reprogram your metabolism to go into burn-fat mode.
In other words, to lose one pound you should burn 3500 calories and those calories should come from your stored fat.
However, your body will start burning fat only when it doesn't have other more readily available energy sources to resort to. Needless to say it, the first choice source of energy is sugar.
Sugar runs in our bloodstream and it’s also stored in our muscles and liver as glycogen.
When your body runs out of sugar that's when it starts burning the reserves (i.e., stored fat), and, as a consequence, you’ll lose weight.
The end of the story is that to get thinner you have simply to drastically cut your overall sugars intake.
There are two golden rules that you should keep in mind when trying to shed those extra pounds off your body:
1) There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat; and
2) That you should reprogram your metabolism to go into burn-fat mode.
In other words, to lose one pound you should burn 3500 calories and those calories should come from your stored fat.
However, your body will start burning fat only when it doesn't have other more readily available energy sources to resort to. Needless to say it, the first choice source of energy is sugar.
Sugar runs in our bloodstream and it’s also stored in our muscles and liver as glycogen.
When your body runs out of sugar that's when it starts burning the reserves (i.e., stored fat), and, as a consequence, you’ll lose weight.
The end of the story is that to get thinner you have simply to drastically cut your overall sugars intake.
February 26, 2012
Last night I had a long and interesting conversation with my friend Pete. He’s thinking about becoming a vegan but he’s scared to lose on precious nutrients such as proteins, calcium and iron. He seemed particularly confused and concerned about iron: why it’s crucial for the correct functioning of our body, what foods contain the most amounts of it, and so on.
I told him that I know some vegans elite triathletes that are doing just fine (maybe even better than us “omnivores”). However, they are very conscious about getting all the iron an athlete’s body requires.
Fact is, being meat, fish and poultry the greatest sources of iron, if you take those foods out of the nourishment equation one needs to be extremely careful to find other sources of iron.
I told him that I know some vegans elite triathletes that are doing just fine (maybe even better than us “omnivores”). However, they are very conscious about getting all the iron an athlete’s body requires.
Fact is, being meat, fish and poultry the greatest sources of iron, if you take those foods out of the nourishment equation one needs to be extremely careful to find other sources of iron.
February 23, 2012
Who would have ever thought that if you want to win a Nobel Prize, you should not spend countless hours in a library or in a laboratory, but you must also make sure to raise your heart rate with a kick-ass cardio activity almost daily?
In fact, a newly published study has determined aerobic fitness has a positive effect on mental functions.
In fact, a newly published study has determined aerobic fitness has a positive effect on mental functions.
February 21, 2012
As runners we all, sooner or later, have to deal with plantar fasciitis.
And it’s always really bad news: it hurts, takes a long time to recover and, on top of that, we can’t train while we’re dealing with it.
But also non-runners can suffer from it, as plantar fasciitis can occur to anyone, unexpectedly, while walking or just performing an activity that requires standing up.
I’m currently dealing with a bad case of plantar fasciitis and it’s so bad that I can’t put my left foot down without suffering from excruciating pains.
My doctor told me to rest, apply some anti-inflammatory topical cream, maybe pop-up a couple of pills to ease the pain and just wait anywhere from 7 to 14 days.
I know myself too well, and waiting for me it’s just not an option; also because there are tons of things I can do speed up the recovery process of plantar fasciitis.
Let’s discover more...
February 19, 2012
My post on green juice has raised some question about why I believe it is important to integrate more alkaline foods (such as a green juice) in the diet.
Personally, even if I don’t follow the Alkaline diet; I think its proponents have made some valid points, and there are few valuable lessons we can learn from it.
But let’s make one step at the time...
Personally, even if I don’t follow the Alkaline diet; I think its proponents have made some valid points, and there are few valuable lessons we can learn from it.
But let’s make one step at the time...
February 14, 2012
I took this picture few weeks ago while I was in Paris. This is one of my favorites quotes of all time and seeing it on the wall just made my day.
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