How sweet it is! Why sugar may be killing us slowly.

According to the Canadian Sugar Institute, Canadians consume about 35 kilograms of refined sugar a year from prepared or packaged foods, accounting for more than 19% of calories a day, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. But that's not the whole story: When we add the consumption of other sweeteners, such as honey, maple syrup and corn syrup, the total jumps to over 50 kilograms per year, or about one kilogram per week! While per-capita consumption has grown throughout most of the 20th century, it has apparently leveled off in the last ten years.
So why is this important to you and me? Are excess refined sugar and sweeteners bad for our health?
The answer is clear when we look at an abbreviated list of how sugar and sweeteners can harm the human body; they can:

• Suppress the immune system
• Contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression
• Produce a significant rise in triglycerides
• Contribute to weight gain and obesity
• Reduce helpful high density cholesterol (HDL)
• Promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDL)
• Increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

According to the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation, cardiovascular disease accounts for 31% of all deaths in Canada, so it is the last item on this list that we should explore further to understand how our bodies react to the sugars that we consume.
An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body's blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat foods high in sugar, you're making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease.
I can guess that you've always wanted to know how to make sense of this, so let's have a look at the chain of events that I have summarized above:
Step 1: The blood vessel's lining (endothelium) is damaged by unhealthy conditions such as high blood levels of cholesterol or glucose (sugar), high blood pressure, or smoking. For example, excessive blood glucose can result in an excessive amount of glucose adhering to and infiltrating the vessel surface, which also activates the inflammatory response.
Step 2: The intima is the innermost muscular layer of the blood vessel wall. The inflammatory response causing the formation of vascular plaque lesions results in thickenings of the intima.
Step 3: The immune system sends platelets (blood cells that are involved in clotting) and other specialized blood cells to the site of the plaque deposit in the intima.
Step 4: As blood cells and other substances continue to accumulate, the plaque deposit grows bigger and digs deeper into the layers of the vessel wall. More immune cells are drawn to the injured vessel, fueling the inflammation process.
Step 5: Increasing inflammation can cause the plaque deposit to break apart, or rupture.
Step 6: Blood clots form on the ruptured plaque and can block blood flow to or within the heart (causing a heart attack) or brain (causing a stroke).
Now that we understand the process better, what can we do avoid this sometimes fatal chain of events? Just how much sugar is safe to consume?
Nobody really knows, however most nutritionists use 10 - 12% as a rough guide of the maximum percentage of your daily calories coming from sugars and sweeteners. This is roughly half the amount that the average Canadian consumes today.
One simple way of reducing the amount of sugars and sweeteners in your diet is to follow one rule: Avoid eating processed foods. Instead, concentrate on eating lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, lean meats, fishes and dairy products. You just may discover that healthy foods are naturally very tasty and do not need to be sweetened at all!

You are my sunshine

A recent study has shown that the incidence in skin cancer continues to rise by approximately 1.5 percent per year. Indeed it is 50 percent higher today than it was thirty years ago, with nearly 80,000 Canadians expected to be diagnosed with the disease in 2009 alone.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in Canada.
What exactly is skin cancer and what can we do to avoid joining these gruesome statistics?
In brief, skin cancer is a malignant growth on the skin. There are a variety of different skin cancer symptoms. These include changes in the skin that do not heal, ulcering in the skin, discoloured skin, and changes in existing moles. In Canada, the major cause is overexposure to radiation from the sun or from artificial UV light such as tanning beds or sun lamps.
Some other risk factors include
· light skin, eyes or hair
· skin that burns or freckles easily
· a strong family history of skin cancer
· having many moles
Why do cancer rates continue to increase despite the fact that sales of sunscreen are climbing by 2.5 percent each year, reaching over $100 million in Canada alone last year?
The answer is straightforward: Skin cancer generally has a 20- to 30-year latency period. Many instances of skin cancer in older individuals today can be traced to their behaviours as young adults in the 1970s and early 1980s. Deep tans at that time were routinely regarded as "healthy." Sunburns represented an inconvenient rite of spring or an awkward preliminary stage in the process of acquiring a "healthy" tan. Severe burns were commonplace. Today we know this approach to be reckless. The incidence rates of skin cancer today in persons over 50 years of age reflect that day's popular ignorance.
Interestingly, there are reports coming out of Australia of infants developing rickets, most often caused by a lack of exposure to sunshine due, perhaps, to their overprotective parents.
So then, how much sunshine is the right amount? There is no precise answer, but, I have always used the rule that 10-15 minutes per day is all that is needed to keep our bodies healthy. If you plan to stay outdoors longer, then simply apply a natural sunscreen on all exposed skin. The longer you plan to stay in the sun, the higher the SPF that you need to use. Because it is impractical to apply sunscreen to your head, it is wise to wear a hat or cap to protect your scalp. There is a lot of controversy about sunscreen use, but I will save that discussion for a future article.
What should you do if you do get a sunburn? Treat your skin immediately with a natural cream or gel that should contain one or more of the following ingredients: lavender oil, aloe vera, chamomile or rosehip. These are natural antiseptics, analgesics or are anti-inflammatory and moisturizing.
If you overdid it in the sun, you hopefully only have a mild sunburn. However, if you have a fever or chills or if you feel nauseous, dizzy or faint, it's probably a good idea to call your physician, as these are signs of heat exhaustion and require medical attention.
The summers in Canada are short and it's fun to be outdoors to play or relax, but we all need to have a healthy respect for getting too much of a good thing!

What would you give for a good night's sleep?

A new study reported last week at an international sleep conference in Seattle that men and women who slept six or fewer hours a night were about four times more likely to die over the course of 14 years of follow-up then those who slept more than six hours per night.
Furthermore, the National Sleep Foundation recently reported that 20 percent of Americans, up from 13 percent just eight years ago, sleep fewer than six hours a night. It said the lucky few who sleep a full eight hours or more dropped to 28 percent, from 38 percent. There is no reason to believe that Canadians are any different from Americans when it comes to our sleep habits.
Is this news really important to you and me? Are we walking zombies during the day, craving a mid-day snooze?
Here's my take: Would you believe scientists aren't yet really certain why we need sleep at all? One recent and controversial conclusion is that our immune system is being recharged while we sleep. If this were true, it is reason enough why a good night's sleep, however elusive, is most important to maintaining good health.
But we do all agree what happens when we do not get enough sleep. We have low energy, a lack of motivation, concentration problems, daytime drowsiness, headaches and/or mood changes.
What are the causes of sleeplessness or insomnia? Some of the more frequent causes are anxiety, depression, various diseases, excitement, grief, stress and stimulants such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and food.
So, what can we do to ensure that we sleep deeply and wake up refreshed and rested every day? Eliminating the root cause of the problem is a good start. But in the meantime, I have some ideas for you that have proved successful for others:
Avoid stressful situations before bedtime.
Exercise regularly, but not in the last three hours before going to bed.
Relax by reading, taking a bath, or listening to soothing music before going to bed.
Remove your TV or computer from your bedroom. Otherwise, your brain becomes used to the stimulation and starts to expect it when you are there. This makes it harder for you to fall asleep.
Establish a regular bedtime, but do not go to bed if you feel wide awake.
Avoid using alcohol in the evening. Avoid caffeine for at least four hours before bedtime. Give up smoking, because nicotine is a stimulant.
If you can't fall asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed and do a quiet activity such as reading or listening to music. When you feel sleepy, get back in bed and try again. If not successful in 20 minutes, repeat.
If you do wake up in the middle of the night, do not let that worry you. Some sleep researchers feel that waking up in the middle of the night is normal, even expected. You can decide to read or have a glass of milk to become sleepy again. Milk? Yes, that old tale of a drinking a glass of milk to help you sleep has some scientific merit after all. Milk contains a natural sleep inducer called L-tryptophan. This may help explain why babies sleep so much.
Tonight would be a good time to begin reading that book you've been meaning to start, so relax, enjoy the slower pace before bedtime, and you, too, should be able to "sleep like a baby!"

Water: It makes up two-thirds of our body weight, so it must be very important to our health, right?

"Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day."
Have you ever wondered why eight? Can eight glasses be too much for you, but not enough for me?
Even nutritionists do not know where this rule of health comes from. A cynic might say "from the bottled water companies."
So what is the correct number of glasses per day?
Here's my take: Obviously we have to replace the water that we lose daily through perspiration, etc.
Water performs various functions in the body: it carries nutrients through the system, lubricates joints, transports waste, and keeps the skin supple. And that's just the short list. For example, the brain is about 85% water, so it follows that our clear-headed thinking requires a daily supply of fresh water.
But how much water? To begin to answer this question, let's look at the two extremes.
What happens if we do not drink enough water? Our bodies react quickly to dehydration. Generally, our heart rates go up, as well as our breathing rates, our body temperature rises as we perspire less, muscle cramps and headaches set in, then we get nauseous. These are not the only effects of dehydration, these are simply the most common.
But what happens if we drink too much water? Drinking too much water may lead to a condition in which the body's electrolyte balance is profoundly disturbed. Electrolytes in our bodies consist of various elements such as sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Our bodies require a subtle and complex balance between the various electrolytes found within our cells and outside of our cells. This balance is critical for nerve and muscle function.
Now it is easy to understand why water is so important to maintaining our good health. But the question remains: How can we each make sure that we are getting all the water that we need every day, but not too much?
Fortunately, I have an answer for you: It is your thirst mechanism. All healthy people get thirsty when they begin to get dehydrated. Quench your thirst and you can be sure that you are helping your body stay out of trouble. Instead of counting the glasses that you drink or forcing yourself to drink when you are not even thirsty, allow your thirst to inform you when to drink water and you can be certain that you will be drinking just the right amount of water for your individual needs each and every day.

Are you having trouble losing weight?

Last week the the European Association for the Study of Obesity reported that over-eating, not a lack of exercise, is to blame for the American obesity epidemic. They warned that physical activity could not fully compensate for excess calories. The increase in energy intake virtually explained all of the weight gain. Separately, The World Health Organisation estimates that in 2006, about 1.6 billion adults were overweight, of which at least 400 million were obese.
So what does this new study mean to you and me? Are we doomed to be overweight even if we exercise? Have we no control over our weight?
Here's my take: It is your lifestyle that ultimately creates the set-point for your body weight. This set-point is based on only three factors: your genetic predisposition, the calories you consume, and, the calories you burn.
Let's examine one factor at a time.
We are each born with a genetic predisposition that makes it easier for some of us and harder for others to gain or lose weight. This is the hand we are dealt at birth. Ever notice how hard it is to lose weight and then to keep it off? That's because your body will do what it must to return you to your set-point body weight. Now while we can't do anything about our genes (not yet, anyway), I do have good news if you want to lose (or gain) weight: If you change your lifestyle, your body weight will change, naturally. What do I mean?
To answer this question, let's look at the second factor and the main result of the study that I mentioned. What kinds of food do you eat, generally? Does your lifestyle foster fast food at lunch, rich desserts after dinner, or snacks before bedtime even if you are not really hungry? If you change these habits, you will, without fail, lose weight. Naturally. How can I claim this? Because your body will determine a new set-point body weight for you based on your new lifestyle of eliminating fast food and rich desserts or by snacking on fruit instead of chips.
The last factor takes into account how you expend energy. What sports or other physical activities do you enjoy? If you take a walk or play tennis once a week and you increase that to four or five times a week, you will, without fail, lose weight. Again, your body will seek a new set-point body weight for you. Naturally. But has your lifestyle really changed? The answer to this important question is "that depends," and is the subject of a future article.
The study I quoted is simply telling us that, on average, we are consuming more calories than we used to, but we haven't increased our physical activities correspondingly. We each have within us the power to eat better quality food and exercise a little more often. Do this and you will lose weight and keep it off forever. I guarantee it.