~ My-Wellness-Coach ~

20 Good Reasons to Take Fish Oil (Omega-3)

Omega-3 (fish oil) is easily one of the best supplements you can take.  I take 2,000 milligrams every day and strongly recommend it to my friends.

Here's 20 good reasons from Dr. Dave Woynarowski , who has researched thousands of articles about omega-3 and who sells a "pharmaceutical grade" fish oil.

1. Fish oil prevents second heart attacks better than any drug it was tested against!
2. Fish oil is probably the best "medicine " available to prevent sudden cardiac death!
3. Fish oil makes aspirin's "blood thinning" benefits look like a joke.
4. Fish oil has been used effectively in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.
5. Fish oil improves memory, I.Q. and helps obliterate age related memory lapses.
6. Fish oil helps people with multiple sclerosis.
7. Fish oil plays a key role in brain development. In a Scottish study conducted with young children, fish oil improved cognitive and visual skills - making them smarter than kids who did not use it!
8. Fish oil lowers blood pressure. I know this for a fact as several years back
9. When I went on this longevity quest (after being diagnosed with high blood pressure) I used it successfully on myself. Then I gave it to my mother and it helped her, too. Then I gave it to my patients with the same result.
10. Fish oil reduces the incidence of stroke caused by clotting of brain blood vessels!
11. Fish oil lowers triglycerides and raises good HDL cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease.
12. Fish oil is a very potent antioxidant and one of the few that cross the blood-
13. brain barrier. I call it the ultimate antioxidant and in many cases, the only one you may need!
14. Fish oil improves personality, mood, and mental disorders!
15. Fish oil is a potent natural anti-depressant!
16. Fish oil improves the health of cartilage and joints!
17. Fish oil improves the ratio of testosterone to its metabolite, DHT, and in studies was shown to be useful in treating prostate, breast and colon cancers.
18. Because fish oil simultaneously improves hormone levels and improves the health of your joints, it is the perfect anti-aging supplement as well as a superb supplement for athletes, speeding recovery time from hard workouts!
19. Fish oil balances hormonal levels in the body, which has many benefits - one of which is a much sounder, deeper sleep, so that you wake up in the morning feeling totally refreshed and invigorated!
20. Fish oil reduces inflammation in the lungs and can be used to treat allergies, asthma and eczema.

One final note: it is highly unlikely that you can get an optimal amount of fish oil by just eating fish unless you eat fish every day and then you risk mercury poisoning.  So take the supplement!

Pesticides in Produce: Clean 15, Dirty Dozen

One very good reason for eating organic produce is to avoid all the carcinogenic  pesticides that modern farming has brought us.  However, it turns out not all fruits and vegetables are equally toxic.

When it comes to onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, asparagus, cabbage and broccoli you don't need to worry much and can safely buy and consume the non-organic variety. 

However, if you are going to eat an non-organic peach, apple, bell pepper, or carrot, you'd best clean it thoroughly first.  This will eliminate some of the pesticide, but not all. 

For these foods, the best strategy is to eat only the organic variety.  

The Environmental Working Group has developed a guide to the "15 Cleanest" fruits and vegetables and the "Dirty Dozen" based on data from 87,000 tests for pesticide residues conducted between 2000 and 2007 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

The complete lists and more information can be found in the poster, Pesticides in Produce: Clean 15, Dirty Dozen, a pdf file that you can download.  Look for this file in the right-hand column on the top of this page under, "Download Free Posters."

Or, if you'd like to have this as an iPhone app, go to foodnews.org.

Easy to Do Breathing Relaxation Exercise

Do you have 4 minutes you can devote to relaxation and stress reduction?  If so, try this wonderful video.  It works and will help you get through the rest of your day.

Why do this?  Here's just one reason: stress kills brain cells! 

So, go ahead, give this a try.

Don't be Fooled by Centenarians--Keep on Exercising

Nir Barnzilai, M.D., who I met recently at the Age Boom Academy in New York, is one of the world's authorities on centenarians.

He likes to tell the story about being stopped in an airport by a man who had recently seen him on TV.  The man ran up to him and said, "Dr. Barnzilai, I want to thank you.  Before I saw you on TV I went to the gym and worked out every day.  And now I don't have to do that anymore because longevity is all in the genes."

This was a "frightening moment" for Dr. Barnzilai because while his research has indeed found many centenarians do not have good lifestyle habits this does not mean genetics alone explain longevity.  In fact, he believes genes are only a 20% factor, while healthy living is 80%.

There is a lot of news about people living to 100 but Dr. Barnzilai tells me only one person out of 10,000 reaches this milestone.  Most who do come from families that include long-lived ancestors and relatives. 

They have "inherited protective factors" which make them virtually immune to most diseases.  This explains why some people can live past 100 even though they smoke, drink martinis, and don't exercise.

For the rest of us, our best hope for longevity is totally dependent upon lifestyle.  A recent study of 187,303 people by Japanese researchers at the University of Tsukuba found that subjects with the poorest cardiorespiratory fitness as measured by metabolic equivalent of task (MET) were 70% more likely to die during from all causes than people with the best cardiorespiratory fitness.

According to the researchers, if you can walk at a pace of four miles an hour continuously for one hour without exhaustion, you are at the highest level of fitness.  To maintain this level you need to do about 40 minutes to one hour of aerobic exercise five to seven days a week.

Assuming the Japanese study is projectable to the rest of us, if you are in top shape your odds of dying during any given period as compared to other people your age will be vastly decreased.  This explains why Dr. Barnzilai was so freaked out by the man at the airport.

More about MET

MET is a unit used by doctors and researches to estimate the amount of oxygen used by the body during physical activity.  The base of 1 MET is the amount of oxygen you use while at rest, sitting quietly or reading a newspaper, for instance.

The harder your body has to work at any activity, the more oxygen you consume and the higher the MET level.  Any activity that burns 3 to 6 METs is considered moderate-intensity and any activity above 6 METs is vigorous-intensity.  

If you are interested in learning a bit more, I've published an MET poster from the American Heart Association on this blog.  You can find it under "Free Downloadable Posters" in the right-hand column of my homepage or you can simply click here: Metabolic Equivalent of Physical Activities.