my health journey

3/27/25 - why being outside is good for you

3/22/25 - [a study on] plant-based diets and diabetes

3/17/25 - Tame your blood pressure

2/26/25 - Foods to eat and avoid if you have seasonal allergies

1/29/25 - Is fruit bad for you?

1/3/25 - Mediterranean Diet ranked #1 again

1/3/25 - Surgeon General calling for new warnings on labels of alcoholic drinks

12/28/24 - Health benefits of cherries

12/27/24 - USDA suggests replacing meat with beans

12/11/24 - Voo to be happy

12/5/24 - Dark chocolate may be beneficial to your health

11/19/24 - 10 Natural Methods to Increase Serotonin Levels

11/5/24 - Two traits centenarians share

11/4/24 - Six tips to boost your mood

10/28/24 - Health(ier) junk food

9/30/24 - 15 daily habits of successful people

9/23/24 - 15 simple lifestyle changes

9/21/24 - what makes a good life?  Make friends, keep friends, treasure friends.

9/15/24 - Cardiologists avoid these foods: red meat, white bread, instant ramen, salt, processed meats, chips, energy drinks, diet soda, cereal

9/11/24 - The healthiest people in the world play this sport

9/1/24 - 1 simple thing could help you live longer

8/16/24 - 5 Foods to Eat to Help Manage Your Cholesterol: oats, fatty fish, nuts, legumes, avocados

7/22/24 - food and inflammation

7/20/24 - health benefits of grapes

7/15/24 - Is red wine good for you?  yes yes maybe yes and no maybe questionable no

7/14/24 - How to store apples

7/13/24 - worst foods for your brain

7/9/24 - 10,000 steps?

6/25/24 - Is fish oil beneficial?

6/25/24 - Foods for clean arteries

6/22/24 - Wisdom From People Who Lived to Be 100

6/22/24 - 12 New Habits to Reinvent Your Health: sleep, walk, read, meditate, nature, foods, water, alcohol, smoking, socialize, electronics, hobby

6/22/24 - Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to being overweight or obese.

Losing weight and adopting healthier eating habits can have a significant impact on the progression of the disease.

Some of the most effective dietary strategies for putting type 2 diabetes into remission include:

Low-carbohydrate diets: Reducing carbohydrate intake can help lower blood sugar levels and insulin demand. A low-carb diet minimizes the consumption of bread, pasta, rice, and sugary foods.

Calorie restriction: Consume fewer calories by cutting back on portion sizes and avoiding high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like processed snacks, fast food, and sugary drinks.

Intermittent fasting: This dietary approach involves controlled periods of fasting. There are many different methods, such as the 16/8 method (fasting for 16 hours and eating during an 8-hour window) or the 5:2 method (eating normally for five days a week and restricting calories to about 500-600 for two non-consecutive days).

Mediterranean diet: This diet is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats (such as olive oil), and low in processed foods and added sugars. A Mediterranean diet can help improve blood sugar control and reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications.

Plant-based diets: This dietary approach focuses on consuming whole, plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, while minimizing or eliminating fatty animal products, such as red meat and processed meats.

6/12/24 - A far better idea is to store your apples in your refrigerator. But don’t just toss them on the shelf next to the milk and Tupperware leftovers; place your apples in the crisper bin, where they can last for — wait for it — up to 10 times as long as they would on your counter.

5/29/24 - There's no real scientific evidence to show that you need to bathe or shower after a certain period of time — it's mostly a matter of personal preference, Dr. Angela Lamb, director of the Westside Mount Sinai Dermatology Faculty Practice tells Shop TODAY.

5/27/24 - According to [Stephanie] Harrison, based on the available research, happiness actually impacts longevity a lot more than we might realize.

"Some of the most compelling research into happiness and longevity comes from the Harvard Grant study, one of the longest-term studies that followed a group of men for over eighty years," Harrison tells Parade. "Researchers discovered that good relationships are strongly correlated with physical health and well-being."

5/6/24 - NEW YORK, May 6 (UPI) -- Consuming olive oil could help reduce the risk of dying from dementia, regardless of overall diet quality, a new study of U.S. adults suggests.

"Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats and contains compounds with antioxidant activity that may play a protective role for the brain," the study's lead author, Anne-Julie Tessier, a registered dietitian and research associate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told UPI via email.

In a Mediterranean diet, olive oil "appears to have a beneficial effect against cognitive decline," said Tessier, who has a doctorate in human nutrition. "Higher olive oil intake was previously associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, but its association with dementia mortality was unknown."

Researchers evaluated olive oil intake every four years with a food frequency questionnaire. They categorized consumption as never or less than once per month; greater than 0 to less than or equal to 4.5 grams per day; greater than 4.5 grams per day to less than or equal to 7 grams per day; and greater than 7 grams per day.

During a 28-year follow-up, 4,751 dementia-related deaths occurred. People who inherited from both parents the apolipoprotein ε4 (APOE ε4) allele -- a risk gene tied to late-onset Alzheimer's disease -- were five to nine times more likely to die from dementia, the study showed.

Meanwhile, adults who consumed at least 7 grams of olive oil per day, or half of one tablespoon, had a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death compared with those who never or rarely ingested olive oil. The results held steady after the researchers adjusted for APOE ε4.

3/6/24 - Eye exercises

3/5/24 - Brush teeth before breakfast

2/6/24 - whole wheat bread and diabetes: "Whole-wheat can have positive effect on blood parameters, such as blood sugar and fat profiles, in patients with diabetic."

11/14/23 - If you want to live a long, healthy life, there's good evidence that a healthy diet with enough fiber is key. 

Foods rich in fiber, including plenty of carbohydrates, are featured prominently in diets in the Blue Zones, areas of the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives.

10/19/23 - Pressed juice contains almost all the nutrients of full fruits and vegetables, minus one particularly good vitamin: fiber. When the fruits and vegetables are pressed, they lose the fiber that makes them crunchy or chewy.

10/9/23 - This article mentions that pistachios can help lower blood sugar.  These article from Healthline and this article from A1Cguide have more details.  I think I'll buy some pistachios from Costco as my net nut snack.  At first I was buying mixed nuts, then lately cashews.  This article mentions that cashews might be good for cholesterol while not raising glucose levels.  While this article says that cashews may be beneficial.

8/28/23 - Saw Barramundi (a type a fish) on sale at Costco, so I'm trying it out instead of my usual salmon.  Is it any good?  Here's what WebMD says, "Barramundi is a healthy type of fish to start including in your diet. It's nutritious sea bass with great texture, taste, and nutrition. 

Barramundi is low in fat and high in omega-3 fatty acids, making it a great source of essential nutrients. Some consider barramundi one of the healthiest seafoods. This fish is great for your cardiovascular system.

... Barramundi is sea bass with moist flesh and large flakes. It has a sweet taste that makes it easily adaptable for most recipes. Barramundi complements most flavors and recipes. You can cook it in most ways except for poaching. The barramundi is a versatile fish and is a good alternative to salmon due to its nutrition and sustainability."

8/8/23 - What about eggs?  This article from Cyrus Khambatta, PhD says "Eating eggs increases your risk for the development of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, diabetes complications, and all-cause mortality. To maintain a low risk for these conditions, limit your egg consumption as much as possible."

7/13/23 - Interested in knowing the differences between a DASH diet vs. a Mediterranean diet? Both can offer the same types of heart and cardiovascular health benefits. But they both have their own unique differentiations as well!

This article will discuss the differences between a DASH diet vs. Mediterranean diet, their benefits, and how to decide which would be better for you!

6/21/23 - Certain foods, like oatmeal, nuts, and fatty fish, help to keep your cholesterol levels in check. And not all high cholesterol foods are bad for you. For example, eggs are high in cholesterol, but they’re also packed with protein and other nutrients. It’s the foods that are high in saturated fat that you need to worry about, because they can raise your cholesterol levels AND make you gain weight.

What are the worst foods for high cholesterol? Red meat, fried foods, and baked goods are notorious for raising levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the sticky kind that builds up in artery walls.

6/20/23 - Unlike many other foods that are high in carbohydrates, black beans don’t cause a spike in blood sugar. Studies have actually found the opposite. When people eat black beans with rice, their blood sugar levels tend to be lower than if they only ate rice. For people with diabetes, adding beans to a healthy diet can improve blood sugar control while reducing heart disease risk.

6/19/23 -  Due to increasing research around celery and celery juice, many nutritional experts consider celery to be a superfood. Like many superfoods, celery packs a nutrient-dense punch and offers a long list of both short and long-term health benefits despite being a common, everyday food item.

Many of the specific nutrients looked for in superfoods include fiber, antioxidants, and fatty acids, which are all closely linked to good health and longevity. Other superfoods include avocados, leafy greens, berries, and cinnamon.

6/18/23 -  Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial for maintaining good heart health. They help lower triglycerides, reduce inflammation, and prevent the formation of blood clots, all of which can reduce the risk of heart disease. Omega-3s also help lower blood pressure, which is another significant risk factor for heart disease. Therefore, if you have a history of heart disease or are at risk for developing it, taking Omega-3 supplements every day could be beneficial.

Blue Zones

[8/31/23] Dan Buettner, the man who popularized the idea that there are five Blue Zones around the world where people live some of the longest, healthiest, happiest lives, says people living in those zones all share five common traits.

"It is this interconnected web of characteristics that keep people doing the right things for long enough, and avoiding the wrong things," Buettner said.

Blue Zone residents, whether they're home in Loma Linda, California; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; or Nicoya, Costa Rica, all eat very little meat. Instead, they subsist on a largely plant-based diet filled with beans, nuts, and cruciferous vegetables, which Buettner has written about in a new book, "The Blue Zones secrets for living longer."

Blue Zone diets, which bear many resemblances to the healthy Mediterranean diet, are only about 50% of the Blue Zones longevity equation,  Buettner estimates.

"It's the scaffolding, this collagen," Buettner previously told Insider. "That keeps people eating the right way for long enough."

Here are the other four core principles that sustain life in the Blue Zones.

Move regularly, about every 20 minutes

Going to the gym is not a Blue Zones tradition.

"They don't exercise," Buettner said. Instead, people in Blue Zones are "nudged" into movement in little bursts throughout the day, by force of habit and, also, necessity.

"They're walking, or they're in their garden, or they're doing things by hand," he said.

In Buettner's home state of Minnesota, he credits shoveling the walks in winter, digging, weeding, and watering a garden in the summer with keeping him spry.

"I don't have a garage-door opener — I open it by hand," he said. "To the extent that I can, I use hand-operated tools."

He turned the inside of his house into a little mini Blue Zone, where he's getting up and moving all year round.

"I put the TV room on the third floor," Buettner told me, "So every time if I want a snack, I'd go up and down stairs."

The technique is one he's honed by studying life in the Blue Zones.

"It's being mindful of how to engineer little bursts of physical activity," he said.

Research has shown that such little energetic busts throughout the day can do a lot for overall fitness. One study published in 2019 showed that even 20-second, vigorous stair-climbing exercise "snacks" spread out over the course of a day could improve fitness.

"It's a reminder to people that small bouts of activity can be effective," study author Martin Gibala told Insider when his team's research came out. "They add up over time."

Live with purpose

In Japan they call it "ikigai," and in Costa Rica it's a "plan de vida." The words literally translate to "reason to live," and "life plan," respectively, and both concepts help residents of the Blue Zones feel there's a reason to get up and do what needs to get done each morning.

Studies also suggest that a sense of purpose in life is associated with fewer strokes and less frequent heart attacks among people with heart disease, as well as more use of preventive care.

One 2017 investigation from researchers at Harvard concluded that a sense of purpose in life is associated with better "physical function among older adults," including better grip strength and faster walking.

Enlist help from your friends 

Good health and happiness can be contagious, and obesity can too.

In Japan's Blue Zone, people form social groups called "moai" to help them get through life.

"Parents cluster their children in groups of five, and send them through life together," as Buettner explained in a video. "They support each other, and share life's fortunes and woes."

The trend is not unique to the Japanese. In Loma Linda, California, Blue Zoners (many of whom are Seventh-day Adventists) are more likely to share home-cooked, vegetarian potluck meals than meet one another over a Chipotle burrito or McDonald's fries.

Make 'the healthy choice the easy choice'

Buettner has created 75 Blue Zones "Projects" across the US, where cities and towns enact policies that change the entire environment people live in.

"We're genetically hardwired to crave sugar, crave fat, crave salt, take rest whenever we can," Buettner said. "We've just engineered this environment where you don't have to move. You're constantly cooled down or heated up ... and you cannot escape chips and sodas and pizzas and burgers and fries."

In cities from Minnesota to Texas, he's helped create healthier communities where policies favor fruits and vegetables over junk food, people form walking groups to move around town and shed pounds together, and many quit smoking, too.

All of this, he said, adds up to troupes of "biologically younger" people, who not only weigh less but suffer fewer health issues as they age.

"At every decade, you have more energy," he said.

This story was originally published in 2019, when Buettner's Blue Zones Cookbook was released. It has been updated.

Read the original article on Insider

[9/1/23 - Now I see there's a series on Netflix called "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones".]

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[9/29/23] Here's another good article on the Blue Zones diet.  It's by Stephanie Thurrot writing for Today.

[8/30/23, posted 9/29/23] ABC News interview with Dan Buettner

[9/29/23] Here's Dan's original National Geographic article from November 2005, "Secrets of Long Life"

[2/25/24] Four Blue Zones

[6/22/24] People Who Live the Longest Swear by These 9 Rules

[3/14/25] Trying the Blue Zones lifestyle for a week

getting rid of the penny?

President Trump recently ordered the U.S. Mint to stop producing pennies, for a simple-sounding reason. Each penny, he said, has “literally cost us more than 2 cents.”

He’s right. Since 2006, the government has spent more money minting pennies than those pennies have been worth.

The production costs of coins can be confusing. A nickel is worth half as much as a dime but costs twice as much to mint. A penny, which used to cost less than 1 cent to make, now costs 3.7. In 2011, a quarter was cheaper to make than a nickel; today the two coins cost about the same.

Since pennies are a clear money-loser, it seems straightforward to think that getting rid of the penny would save taxpayers money. But it’s not that simple.

Option 1: Don’t change anything — keep minting the penny

The U.S. Mint loses money on every penny and nickel it mints but is profitable because of its sale of dimes and quarters. The Federal Reserve buys the coins from the Mint at face value and then sells the coins to banks, also at face value. Unlike most government agencies, the U.S. Mint receives no appropriations from Congress.

Option 2: Stop minting the penny

If the Mint did stop minting pennies, it would save about $85 million a year. Unfortunately, it would then have bigger and more expensive problem: the nickel.

“If you get rid of the penny, it will increase the amount of nickels,” Mr. Jeppson said. “And you lose more on a nickel than you do on a penny.”

Last year the government lost 8.8 cents on each nickel it minted (compared with 2.7 cents per penny).

Option 3: Stop minting both the penny and the nickel

Why stop at the penny?

Eliminating the money-losing nickel also seems like a logical idea. One drawback is a practical consideration: It would be harder than you might think to make exact change. It would be easy to get exact change if your bill were $4.90. But do you really want more than a dollar in coins if the bill is $4.85? (If you gave $6, you’d get three quarters and four dimes back. Not fun.)

Alternatively, you could address this problem by rounding all prices to the nearest 10 cents. But this, too, would put pressure on the quarter, making it less useful for making change. Or it could present curious situations, like a price for $5.25 if you have a quarter, but $5.30 if you don’t. At that point, it may be easier to round every price to the nearest 50 cents.

A penny-less and nickel-less world would leave the United States with only two coins in wide circulation: dimes and quarters. That would make the U.S. quite an outlier among its peer countries, which have five (Canada), six (Japan), six (Australia) or eight (the Eurozone) commonly used coins.

Option 4: No more coins

If recent trends continue, the quarter and dime could cross from money-making to money-losing in the next 10 to 20 years. At that point, there would be a strong case to stop circulating essentially all coins.

Still, even if it stopped making coins for circulation, the U.S. Mint would still return money to the Treasury because of the other coin products in its portfolio. Last year the mint made over $80 million on its numismatic and bullion divisions (think collectible coins and investment level gold). This income, which has held steady over the last decade, is just slightly smaller than the $100 million in profits the circulating coin program returned last year.

the recycling lie

the poorer nations of the world have never stopped being receptacles for the West’s ever-proliferating rubbish. The situation now is, in many respects, worse than it was in the 1980s. Then, there was widespread recognition that waste export was immoral. Today, most waste travels under the guise of being recyclable, cloaked in the language of planetary salvation. For the past two years I’ve been traveling the globe — from the plains of Romania to the slums of Tanzania — in an attempt to understand the world trash is making. What I saw was terrifying.

rare photos

 3/2/25 - rare celebrity photos

R.I.P. 2025

2/26/25 - Gene Hackman

2/25/25 - Roberta Flack

1/10/25 - Sam Moore

1/7/25 - Peter Yarrow

Can religion make you happy?

The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, a correctional facility located on the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay, seems an unlikely place to find happiness.

But the Rev. George Williams, a chaplain there, is flourishing. He leads Catholic masses for about 200 incarcerated men on Sundays in English and Spanish and offers pastoral support during the week. Sharing his faith with inmates has been a source of joy for the bespectacled and soft-spoken priest.

“I look forward to going to work every day,” Williams, who has served as a prison chaplain for 30 years (and at San Quentin for about half that time), told me. It’s like “drinking grace from a fire hose.”

Researchers have found a strong link between faith and happiness—a relationship Williams has experienced at San Quentin as he practices his faith by serving those behind bars. In recent years, social scientists have surveyed people around the world to ask how happy they are. In many cases, they’ve found meaningful correlations between people’s self-reported rankings of happiness and whether they take part in organized religious services.

It doesn’t matter which faith. Similar correlations are found among people practicing Christianity as well as Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism and other faiths—and for people living and working in and outside of prison walls.

‘Weird’ Habits Of People Who Live To 100+ Years Old

The animal kingdom has a lot to say about the things that can keep us alive longer than we deserve. Take the story of the longest living trapdoor spider, who survived in the Australian outback to the ripe age of 43. Her secret? She stayed in her same burrow for her entire life and subsisted on an austere diet of small insects she would ambush via one of her trap door entrances.

Or, consider the Greenland shark–the longest living vertebrate known to science, capable of living up to 500 years. The Greenland shark cruises the depths of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, preferring to subsist in near-freezing waters where it can keep its metabolism slow. Its diet consists of cold water fish such as cod, herring, salmon and halibut. It has also been known to scavenge the carcasses of marine mammals, including seals and whales. Importantly, it prefers a slow and deliberate hunting style–relying primarily on its keen sense of smell–which allows it to conserve energy.

Some humans have learned to embrace the slow and simple lives of the longevity champions of the animal kingdom. For instance, the famous “blue zone” research, conducted by Dan Buettner and Sam Skemp, which studied regions with the highest concentration of centenarians (people who live to 100 or beyond), found that lifestyle plays a critical role in longevity and overall health. These areas share common habits that contribute to longer, healthier lives, including:

Diet. People in blue zones eat predominantly plant-based, with an emphasis on vegetables, beans, whole grains, and nuts. Meat is eaten sparingly, often as a small portion in meals. Foods are minimally processed and often locally sourced.

Regular physical activity. Daily, natural movement is important, such as walking, gardening, or other non-sedentary tasks. Exercise is not typically formal but embedded into daily routines.

Strong social connections. Family and community bonds are prioritized, and people actively participate in social networks that support one another emotionally and practically.

Sense of purpose. Known as ikigai in Japan and plan de vida in Costa Rica, having a reason to wake up every day contributes to mental and emotional health.

Stress reduction. People in blue zones incorporate daily rituals to reduce stress, like prayer, naps, or time with loved ones.

Faith or spiritual practices. Many centenarians belong to faith-based communities, which provide a sense of belonging and regular practices that reduce stress.

Environment. Environments in these areas encourage movement and social interaction. Access to nature and limited exposure to harmful influences, like pollution or high crime, contribute to well-being.

While blue zone research may offer longevity’s most tried and true playbook, others have found their own way to make it to 100 years old. Here are a few stories that prove that there’s more than one lifestyle that can make a centenarian.

Jeanne Calment - The World’s Oldest Person

The daily routine of France’s Jeanne Calment, the world's longest-living verified person at 122 years old, went something like this: She requested to be woken up at 6:45 a.m. each day by nursing home staff and began her mornings with prayer. Seated in her armchair, she would do light exercises, wearing a stereo headset. Her routine included stretching and flexing her hands and legs. For breakfast, she typically had coffee with milk and rusks.

She washed herself independently using a flannel cloth rather than taking a shower. After breakfast, she cleaned her own breakfast dishes before heading to lunch. She had a preference for braised beef and was not fond of boiled fish. She enjoyed dessert with every meal and often remarked that she would prefer fried or spicy foods over the plain options provided. She made her own fruit salads daily, usually with bananas and oranges, and had a particular fondness for chocolate, sometimes consuming up to two pounds in a week. Following her meal, she would have a small glass of port wine and smoke a cigarette.

In the afternoons, she took a two-hour nap in her armchair before visiting neighbors in the care home to share the latest news she had heard on the radio. In the evenings, she ate a quick dinner, returned to her room, and listened to music since her poor eyesight made it difficult to read. She ended her day with one last cigarette before going to bed at 10 p.m.

Violet Brown - Lived To 117 Years Young

Violet Brown, who reached the age of 117, was the first known Jamaican centenarian. She had six children, four of which were still living at the time of her death (Jeanne Calment had only one child). Her diet was varied but she stayed away from chicken, pork and rum–commenting in an interview with the Jamaican Gleaner, “I don’t eat dem tings.”

She also attributes her longevity to her habit of eating three eggs per day, two of them raw.

George Johnson - American, Male, 112

Leave it to an American to live to 112 on a diet that would strike fear in most nutritionists. Supercentenarian George Johnson of Richmond, California–at one point, California’s oldest living person–ate sausage and waffles everyday for breakfast and sometimes for lunch or dinner too. Somehow, all that cholesterol never caught up with him. He died of pneumonia in 2006.

3 ways to tackle a clutter-filled space

Circular

Start from one side of the room and work your way around, organizing one space before moving on to the next.  Lorie and Linda took passes at her kitchen: first using labels to decide what would go where, then moving the contents cabinet by cabinet.

Outside-In

Step one: Clear up your surfaces (counters, tables, dresser tops) to get the most satisfaction for the least effort.  Next, tidy the floors (now you can move around!).  Finally, hit your "insides" (such as drawers) -- an easier chore if there's space to spread out.

Centralized

Best for collectors like Pam, this method has you take everything out of the storage spot (cupboards, closets) and get it into one place, like the middle of the floor, an adjacent room or the top of a bed, so you're forced to think hard about each item before it goes back in.

Women's Day, June 2013 [posted 5/21/22]

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4/14/23 - Ten Genius Organizing Tips

2/12/24 - closet organizing tips (actually not just for closets)

4/3/24 - The Core 4 method

4/28/24 - Marie Kondo quotes

6/13/24 - Swedish Death Cleaning

1/4/25 - The Magic Basket method