Saturday, January 31, 2015

Seth Meyers hosts 2015 NFL Honors ceremony on NBC

The 2015 NFL Honors ceremony salutes the best players and plays from the 2014 NFL season, including the Associated Press awards for Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, and the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. Also announced are the inductees into the 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame class. Seth Meyers hosts the ceremony from Symphony Hall in Phoenix, Ariz., beginning Saturday, Jan. 31, at 9pm ET/PT on NBC. Full press release and details from the NFL: NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CELEBRATES SEASON WITH “4th ANNUAL NFL HONORS” SUPER BOWL EVE … Continue reading


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Carl Djerassi, Creator Of Birth Control Pill, Dead At 91

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Carl Djerassi, the chemist widely considered the father of the birth control pill, has died.




Djerrasi died of complications of cancer Friday in his San Francisco home, Stanford University spokesman Dan Stober said. He was 91.




Djerassi, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Stanford, was most famous for leading a research team in Mexico City that in 1951 developed norethindrone, a synthetic molecule that became a key component of the first birth control pill.




"The pill" as it came to be known radically transformed sexual practices and women's lives. The pill gave women more control over their fertility than they had ever had before and permanently put doctors — who previously didn't see contraceptives as part of their job — in the birth control picture.




In his book, "This Man's Pill," Djerassi said the invention also changed his life, making him more interested in how science affects society.




In 1969, he submitted a public policy article about the global implications of U.S. contraceptive research, according to the Stanford News Service. In 1970, he published another article about the feasibility of a birth control pill for men.




"The thoughts behind these two public policy articles had convinced me that politics, rather than science, would play the dominant role in shaping the future of human birth control," he wrote.




Later in life, Djerassi wrote poems, short stories and plays. He used stock earnings from the company that made the pill to help collect Paul Klee art work, which he donated to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/16cGiZB).




"Carl Djerassi is probably the greatest chemist our department ever had," Richard N. Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science at Stanford, said in an obituary released by the university. "I know of no person in the world who combined the mastery of science with literary talent as Carl Djerassi."




"He also is the only person, to my knowledge, to receive from President Nixon the National Medal of Science and to be named on Nixon's blacklist in the same year," Zare added.




Djerassi told the Chronicle last year he was tired of talking about the pill (http://bit.ly/18DVAHK).




"Carl did many things in his life — he was a true Renaissance man and scholar," Philip Darney, a contraceptive scientist and director of the University of California, San Francisco's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, told the Chronicle.




He is survived by a son, Dale Djerassi; a stepdaughter, Leah Middlebrook; and a grandson, Alexander M. Djerassi.






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Vaccine Critics Turn Defensive Over Measles

Their children have been sent home from school. Their families are barred from birthday parties and neighborhood play dates. Online, people call them negligent and criminal. And as officials in 14 states grapple to contain a spreading measles outbreak that began near here at Disneyland, the parents at the heart of America’s anti-vaccine movement are being blamed for incubating an otherwise preventable public-health crisis.



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Creepy Medical Supplies Found Amid Wreckage Of Pirate Blackbeard's Ship

Ahoy! Archaeologists excavating pirate Blackbeard's sunken ship, named Queen Anne's Revenge, recently unearthed from the wreckage various medical devices--and some of them look pretty darn terrifying.



Among the grisly finds were a urethral syringe that would have been used to treat syphilis, two pumps, and a porringer that would have been used in bloodletting, Live Science reported.



"We just have to understand that these people were suffering," Dr. Linda Carnes-McNaughton, an archaeologist with the U.S. Department of Defense who volunteered on the excavation, told CNN. "They were seeking relief for any kind of ailment, and certainly if there was warfare on the water, there were wounds among other ailments that needed treatment. It wasn't always a formally trained person in desperate times. That's probably more common than we know."



(Story continues below photos.)

blackbeard

A mortar and pestle that was likely used to grind ingredients to make medicine.



blackbeard

Supplies used to measure medicine.



Blackbeard lost his flagship when it ran aground off the coast of North Carolina in 1718. The ship was hidden by water and sand for more than 270 years until it was rediscovered in 1996. Now, the shipwreck is being closely studied as part of the Queen Anne's Revenge project of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.



Thanks to the medical artifacts found aboard the flagship, archaeologists are learning more about how Blackbeard's crew treated not only small wounds and ailments, but also chronic illnesses.



"Because his passion for piracy [sic], I think he cared very much about keeping it going, and to keep it going, he had to have a healthy, functioning crew," Carnes-McNaughton told The Washington Post.



She described the new findings at the Society for Historical Archaeology’s annual meeting on Jan. 8, 2015.



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Binge-Watching Netflix Is Making You Feel Lonely And Depressed

Settling in on the couch with a bottle of wine and an entire season of Friends may seem like a perfectly enjoyable way to spend the weekend, but regular binge-watching sessions may be a sign of mental health problems.



A new study from the University of Texas at Austin found that the more lonely and depressed people are, the more likely they are to binge-watch television.



The researchers conducted a survey on over 300 millennials, asking how often and how much they watched TV, how often they felt lonely, and examining various measures of depression and self-regulation. Those who lacked self-regulatory skills reported being unable to stop clicking "next" even though they knew there were other things they needed to do, indicating a lack of self-control. The data also showed that feelings of loneliness and depression were directly correlated with binge-watching.



Loneliness, depression and lack of self-control have also been implicated in other types of binge behavior, such as heavy drinking and excessive social media use.



"Even though some people argue that binge-watching is a harmless addiction, findings from our study suggest that binge-watching should no longer be viewed this way," study author Yoon Hi Sung said in a statement. "Physical fatigue and problems such as obesity and other health problems are related to binge-watching and they are a cause for concern. When binge-watching becomes rampant, viewers may start to neglect their work and their relationships with others. Even though people know they should not, they have difficulty resisting the desire to watch episodes continuously."



Previous research has shown this to be the case. A 2013 marketing study found that 71 percent ofge-watchers had intended to watch just one or two episodes, and then ended up getting sucked in. The research also found that more than half of binge watchers prefer to watch at home alone.



The research will be presented at the International Communication Association Conference in Puerto Rico this May.



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Here's Everything You Need to Know About What's Going on With Bruce Jenner in One Sentence

No matter how many outlets -- from trashy gossip rags to (supposedly) reputable entertainment magazines -- make claims about Bruce Jenner's current "journey," as Kim Kardashian recently put it, citing however many anonymous sources "close to the family" (even if those sources turn out to be the family itself, which can often be the case), let's remember that Jenner has said nothing about what is happening and this entire situation -- whether it's true that Jenner is transgender or not and whether it's a strategic publicity campaign or leaked info or totally untrue -- paints being trans and coming out as trans as something that's rooted in and deserving of rumors and secrecy and shame and that isn't good or helpful or healthy for any of us.



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Friday, January 30, 2015

California Measles Outbreak Grows

LOS ANGELES (AP) — More measles cases have been found in California, health officials said Friday.



Figures released by the California Department of Public Health showed there are now 91 confirmed cases in the state, up from 79 on Wednesday. Of those, 58 infections have been linked to visits to Disneyland or contact with a sick person who went there.



Mexico and at least six other U.S. states — Utah, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Nebraska and Arizona — also have recorded measles cases connected to Disneyland.



The outbreak, which originated at Disney theme parks last month, is spreading to the broader community.



Measles, which is spread through the air, is highly contagious. Symptoms include fever, runny nose and a blotchy rash.



Most young children are vaccinated against measles. But outbreaks still occur in the United States, usually when travelers pick up the virus abroad and then spread it among unvaccinated people here.



People at highest risk are those who are unvaccinated, pregnant women, infants under 6 months old and those with weakened immune systems.



Health officials have not found "patient zero" or the person who triggered the Disneyland-linked outbreak. But they think it's someone who caught the virus outside the country and visited one of the Disney theme parks during the holidays.



Last year, the U.S. saw a record 644 measles infections in 27 states after virtually eliminating the disease in 2000.



California typically sees four to 60 cases a year.



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Count Your Lucky Stars

I have been receiving emails and calls from family caregivers asking about all the recent stories they are seeing about happiness. To summarize their comments, there is a feeling that if attaining happiness, even intermittently, sounds so damn easy, then why are they having so much trouble being happy? Fair question, especially if you consider what many family caregivers deal with day-to-day.



In my opinion, being happy is not easy or hard and shouldn't be viewed with a pass/fail mindset. It's an emotional state that you can develop and incorporate into your daily life... but it doesn't just happen.



Encouraging people to live happier has been going on for quite a while. In fact, even President Lincoln got into the happiness discussion when he said, "Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be." Honest Abe's comment may have hit on something very important -- as today's science supports, for many, happiness is very much a choice!



That said, it's nonsense to suggest that all you need to do is say, "I want to be happy," and hocus pocus your spirits are soaring. However, the simple act of choosing to be happy is a wonderful first-step in the right direction on your path to happiness.



I have observed that people who are truly happy practice being happy every day. You're probably thinking, Oh, come on, Victor. I have to practice being happy? Yup, if you're like most of us mere mortals, finding happiness consistently takes focus and work until the practice of seeking happiness is as normal a part of your daily activity as brushing your teeth. We can call this practice creating a habit of happiness.



Let's be honest, we can always make an excuse to not be happy. I constantly hear family caregivers (and people in general) say, "I will be happier once my loved one is feeling better," or "I would be happier if I had more money," or "if my friends where more supportive," or "if my golf handicap was lower" (sorry I couldn't help myself). However, I am here to tell you that if outside circumstances are the prerequisite for your achieving happiness, you're going to have a long wait to feel a sense of ongoing, true, heartfelt happiness. Happiness is gained by thinking inside out, searching our personal beliefs to find those observations and self-initiated activities that bring us happiness and joy each and every day. Find what delights you, and practice, practice, practice.



To help find your happiness sweet spot, I have an easy and fun exercise, which is a pleasure to practice. I promise!



I recently read a wonderful book called What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey. In her book, Oprah describes the occurrences in her life that bring her joy. Every day, she takes an inventory of her activities and observations, and assigns one to five stars to each, five indicating the most happiness. Her goal is to experience as many four- and five-star activities in her day as possible. For instance, Oprah rates both being with a great book and speaking with a dear friend a five. Enjoying a wonderful cup of coffee earns a four. Oprah honestly admits that she gives only one star to working out. Hey, not everything is a four- or five-star happening.



I love this exercise for two reasons. First, it helps us truly think about and take notice of what does and does not bring us a feeling of happiness and joy. The knowledge of what makes us happy is so important because, let's face it, in our crazy busy days it is so easy to blur all activity and think of only the irksome things we experienced. And second, the exercise provides us with a footprint to develop the habitual practice of seeking these happiness situations and ensures that we take a few minutes each day to make the practice a core part of our lives.



The trick is to take time to understand how you feel. You deserve it. Identify those moments that truly give you an internal smile and a feeling that touches your soul, then look for those moments more often, and be grateful for them, because they enrich your life. And remember, you control this process!



Looking back, perhaps instead of titling this article "Count Your Lucky Stars," I should have titled it "Recognize and Savor Your Lucky Stars!"



By the way, if you are interested in learning more about the science of happiness and finding suggestions to help you, there are several books that I recommend: Be Happy!: Release the Power of Happiness in You by Dr. Robert Holden, Stumbling on Happiness by Dr. Dan Gilbert, Authentic Happiness by Dr. Martin Seligman, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, and What Happy People Know by Dr. Dan Baker. Enjoy!



Help Yourself. Help Others.



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Hungry Residents Often Forced To Use Malaria Nets For Fishing In Many African Nations

Billionaire Bill Gates is confident malaria will be eradicated in his lifetime. And reputable aid organizations continue to pat themselves on the backs for scaling up their efforts to provide life-saving nets to prevent the disease’s spread.



But, on-the-ground investigations have found that when people in many African countries don’t have access to food or adequate information about malaria, they’re often inclined to use those very nets for an assortment of other activities. Fishermen in several countries, including Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia, cast the nets into the water to catch food, and kids often tie them to posts to use them as soccer goals, The New York Times reported.



Malaria claims more than 600,000 lives each year, mostly children in Africa, according to the Associated Press. The disease is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito and impressive progress has been made in reducing malaria-related deaths.



According to the World Health Organization, the mortality rate in Africa was reduced by 49 percent between 2000 and 2012.



It was during that same period that nonprofits and world health leaders ramped up their efforts to put an end to malaria. A major component of the campaign was dispensing nets that protect people from mosquitoes to the most affected regions.



According to The Times, more than half a billion such nets have been sent to Africa since 2000. Nothing But Nets, a nonprofit that works with U.N. agencies and other partners, alone has distributed more than 7 million nets in areas of need in sub-Saharan Africa.



But people there say that the combination of a lack of information, and rampant hunger has led Africans to use the nets for other purposes, derailing activists efforts to curb malaria deaths.



Ernest Shauri, a medical assistant at the Kirando Health Center in Tanzania, told The Times many people fear that the nets are poisoned and can lead to impotence.



Others say they simply have no choice, because if they don’t use the nets to catch fish, they’ll starve.



"Our life is hard. We suffer a lot," Juma Saidi, a fisherman, told The Times. "That’s why we use this…to find survival here. So that we can get something to eat."



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'But Aren't All Babies High Needs?'

Many of us grow up with dreams of what life will be like with a new baby. As a child, we may have stuffed a pillow in our shirts and imagined what it must feel like to be pregnant (not me, of course, but SOME people). We pushed our baby dolls around in the stroller and picked her up from time to time to soothe her imaginary cries.



What we don't count on, however, is eventually having a baby (a real one) who doesn't settle when we hold her. Who grunts, and groans and fights her feedings. Who isn't soothed by mom or dad's cuddles or carrying. Who, by all appearances, seems to hate us; at least that's how it feels.



No, this doesn't quite fit with our childhood fantasies of parenting.



As adults, we somehow imagine that as long as we read the baby books and are loving, responsive parents, our babies will stop crying and be content.



And yet, despite our best efforts, our child doesn't always calm when we hold him. We would do anything -- literally, anything -- to get him to sleep, and yet he fights sleep harder than we could have imagined possible.



When he's awake (which is most of the time), he's grumpy, unsettled and has very clear ideas of what he wants -- or more accurately, what he doesn't want.



What calms and soothes her one day doesn't work the next. Just when you think you've figured out that one trick that will get her to sleep, that trick stops working.



Feedings are a nightmare. You always imagined sitting in a rocker with your newborn, gently rocking and feeding her until she very calmly... very gently... closed her eyes and fell asleep. The reality however, is very different. She arches her back, clutches her tiny fists and screams in between frantic sucking. She bobs off and on, and seems ravenously hungry. Yet the food seems to simultaneously nourish and pain her.



When you've finally managed to get him to sleep, he wakes up 5, 10 or 20 minutes later, grumpy as ever, and so obviously in need of sleep. And yet, because it took you an hour or more to get him to sleep, you give up on trying again.



Besides the obvious physical toll, emotionally, you're falling apart. Your family and friends, while obviously well-intentioned, make comments like:



You need to set limits now or she'll become spoiled and think she's the boss.



She's just feeding off your anxiety (because surely, it couldn't be the other way around).



She's so needy because you've taught her to be this way (through co-sleeping/baby wearing/holding her all the time).


And when you try to explain what life has been like for you... the constant crying and fussing... the unnaturally long periods of time without sleep... the emotional and physical toll parenting has taken on you....



And you try to explain to them, in the only way you know how, that your baby is 'high needs,' they tell you:



But all babies are high needs!




And all your struggles, all your frustrations and all your exhaustion are dismissed with that one, short sentence.



The natural implication is that if your baby is just like every other baby out there, there must be something wrong with YOU.



Is it that you just can't hack this parenting thing? Maybe you have unrealistic expectations of how babies behave. Or maybe everyone is right, and you've somehow made your baby this way.



The guilt and second-guessing are never-ending. Yet, deep down, you know that this isn't your fault. You noticed very early on that your baby was more particular, more sensitive and more intense than other babies. Before the effects of your parenting could possibly have 'made' her this way.



Everything you've done to this point -- the constant holding, nursing and carrying -- have been done in a desperate (yet often futile) attempt to soothe your fussy baby.



You respond with lightning speed to her cries, because you know that if you don't, the crying will just escalate out of control.



You wear her in a sling or wrap 20 hours a day, not because you love having a squirmy, sweaty baby attached to you every waking moment, but because it's the only way you can possibly get anything done.



You avoid hardline discipline strategies because you know they won't work for your spirited toddler; you're not "giving in"; you're trying to parent in a way that actually works for your child.



If you've never had a high needs baby, you may still be saying, "But, all babies are high needs!" However, if you've had a non-sleeping, grumpy, crying, discontent baby, you know that not all babies are like this.



And let me be the one to tell you that while all babies need our love, nurturing and responsive presence. NOT all babies are high needs. And it's a good thing they're not, given how many parents I talk to refuse to have any more kids following their high needs child!



You didn't make your child this way. It isn't because of anything you did or didn't do. Some kids are more sensitive, more perceptive and more intense than others.



Now it's up to you to parent in a way that respects your child's unique temperament, while also keeping yourself sane. When people criticize you or give you unwanted advice, smile and nod, and remind yourself you're doing what you need to do.



As your baby gets bigger and he learned new skills, he'll get easier, and parenting will start to become more enjoyable (trust me... it really does happen!)



In the meantime, keep soldiering on, and do what you need to do to survive!



2015-01-03-hollyandsammy.jpg







Holly Klaassen is the founder of The Fussy Baby Site, a support site for parents of fussy, colicky and high need babies and toddlers. She's also the author of Sleep Training and High Need Babies, a guilt-free guide to which sleep training/learning methods work (and don't work) for our sensitive, high need kiddos.



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Autism Without Fear: Examining the Legitimacy of 'Autism Life Coaches'

Over the last five years there's been a noticeable increase in folks with varying experience levels promoting themselves as "autism life coaches" -- people who advertise their services to adults on the spectrum, parents, or partners. A random Google search with those three words will attest to the present glut of alleged professionals.



Their growth is understandable. As someone who has always believed in the existence of an "autism market" that can be studied as its own isolated, economic entity, the disproportionately high amount of media attention the spectrum gets (when compared to other diagnoses) would dictate that a parallel number will try to capitalize on that market. That's not to say that there aren't folks who proclaim themselves autism life coaches (ALCs) because they want to do good and help others, but there's an inevitable supply and demand, social Darwinist factor here as well.



And yes -- cut to the chase -- I'm a cynic: I think the majority of so-called coaches are useless. But how do we discern the snake oil sales folk from those who actually might help someone?



First off, let's understand why some seek out ALCs, starting with folks for whom traditional psychiatric therapy did not work out.



Traditional clinical therapy is a proven plus for society, provided we have access via economic factors or through insurances. But while the efforts of LCSWs, Ph.D.s, and the like do much to better our understanding of where we are and where we come from, they fall shorter in the category of where do we go from here -- it's the difference between thought and action. Shrinks are thinkers that get us to think, but they are often not great motivators. Coaching, by definition, is about little else other than motivation. For these folks, qualified coaching could be a great supplement to traditional analysis.



But there are also those who are resistant to traditional therapy because they are unwilling to honestly examine the self. For them, a bad fall is likely in their future, with or without qualified life coaching.



While there are ALCs (often underpaid and unqualified), job coaches, and even dating coaches in the autism world, let's look at our easiest, iconic definition of what comes to mind when we think of the word "coach" -- the sports coach. While professional coaches are geared only to win, all others (youth and school) are rooted in development. Too often as a travel baseball coach* I noticed that people couldn't make up their minds whether my job was to win or to provide a fun atmosphere for my kids. To me, it was neither. My job was to ensure that the young person was simply a better baseball player by season's end, and that I increased their love and/or respect for the game.



In the business world there are "executive coaches," similar to professional sports coaches, whose job is to get their charges to win. But in every other supposedly-therapeutic, non-professional sports-related coaching, development and motivation will be the task at hand, not winning. So how do we figure out from the plethora of self-styled ALCs -- in a "field" where accreditation is sketchy at best -- which ones are the real deal that might help us?



1. Great coaches of any kind are great communicators and great teachers. Discern which ones are conveying information that resonates as authority or as new to us and which ones are (what I like to call) recycled platitude factories. One red flag herein is too much "be the best you that you can be" talk and not enough specific outlining of what they intend to do with you should you hire them. The parallel in sports is the coach who demonstrates no confidence yet will shove Vince Lombardi quotes at you ad nauseum.



2. Great coaches are also great listeners. Yes, there are times when a good coach senses you're getting too bogged down with talking about, justifying, or defending your thoughts/life thus far... and will then tell you to shut up, let the crap go, and focus on (throwing a strike to the catcher's mitt, redoing your resume, or asking someone out on a date). But if you sense that an ALC is giving you a cookie cutter sales pitch without demonstrating an understanding of where you're at, ditch them.



3. Examine their lives. Maybe the majority of the world believes that you should separate one's personal abilities from their professional abilities, but I certainly trust those who have practiced what they preach successfully more than I trust those who've herein fallen short. And in a field such as this I think it becomes a no-brainer to demand that these folks can show as well as tell (part of my cynicism is derived from too often having come across alleged coaches... whose personal and financial lives are best described as train wrecks). That said, however, we're not necessarily after a cookie cutter life from our coaches (successful romantic life, two happy kids who get straight As, a million bucks in the bank, etc.). You're after people who have made informed choices throughout their lives that have caused them to be happy and content, both personally and professionally.



4. Be wary of those offering Skype sessions. The absence of face-to-face contact allows you to be more dishonest while in session, and if they have a brain, they know that. What then, does that say about them?



I honestly think very, very few of those that advertise will pass these benchmarks. And as a result, I feel tremendously for those that come through these questions as legitimate motivators. Because in addition to their good, core work, they are probably struggling to separate themselves from all the well-meaning but laughable opportunists out there. With so many minefields containing inadequate ALCs, they will unjustly struggle for clients.



One final note: Remember that in the autism world, we struggle with mood disorders like depression at a higher rate than those that do not have autism in their lives, and depression is a motivation killer. Real depression will not be successfully addressed by an ALC, and no motivation can truly happen until the depression is addressed. So if you struggle herein, stay on "the couch" before even considering spending serious money on a coach.



* My baseball background was described in a previous, three-part post "Don't Kid Yourself, or Rob Your Kid -- Sports Matter." For Part I click here.



Michael John Carley is the Founder of GRASP, a School Consultant in Wisconsin, and the author of "Asperger's From the Inside-Out" (Penguin/Perigee), "The Last Memoir of Asperger Syndrome" (TBD), and numerous articles. He is also at work on "Unemployed on the Autism Spectrum," and "'Why Am I Afraid of Sex?' Building Sexual Confidence in the Autism Spectrum...and Beyond" (both JKP, due 2016). In 2000, he and one of his two sons were diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. More information can be found at http://ift.tt/1f1IIva




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Unhealthy Hospital Food Must Stop

The contrast has been too great. One the one hand, in Detroit last night we celebrated the phenomenal growth in 12 months of a grass roots support group started to aid community members seeking help maintaining heart disease reversal diets as taught by Drs. Ornish and Esselstyn (www.pbnsg.org). This brave group grew out of a cup of tea I had with a remarkable man, Paul, who beat the recommendation for bypass surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Rather, he embraced the research by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, shunning all animal products and oil, dropping 40 pounds and 100 mg/dl in his cholesterol, and now passing all stress tests with flying colors. Paul understood that the power of his fork was greater than the scalpel. The nutrition group is independent of any hospital (they all told us they had no interest), is influencing restaurant menus in the area including my own cafe, and routinely draws a few hundred people every month to educational meetings and small group discussions. Last night the attendance at our monthly meeting was over 900 packed into a high school auditorium to hear Dr. Esselstyn and his family speak of the hope that lifestyle change offers heart patients.



On the other hand my dear friend Allan, a podiatrist in the greater Detroit suburbs, sent me a passionate plea for help this morning. He had been following my social media health posts and decided I was on to something. In the course of nine months he lost 70 pounds by social media support and dropped his cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. He has blossomed into quite a chef and writes a blog documenting his amazing transition. His distressed call this morning was that at his morning hospital meeting for staff members, the usual fruit tray had been replaced by oily hash browns, fried eggs, and greasy bacon. Not a strawberry or blueberry in site. The fallback was nutrient-poor bagels and coffee.



How polar opposite can these two events in 12 hours be? The community group of largely non-medical individuals embraces the science that food is medicine, that disease can be prevented and reversed with whole food, plant-based menus, and chooses to shun processed foods rich in salt, fat and sugar. They understand that whole food, plant-based diets speak to our very genetic code to turn off regions on chromosomes that accelerate inflammation, vascular damage and cancer. [1] [2]



Simultaneously, hospital administrators and dietitians, including medical staff members, appear to hide behind the all-purpose shield that doctors do not receive much nutrition training during medical school and subsequent practice. This excuse is simply not tenable in an era where the information highways provides us unlimited resources.



The tragic comedy that most hospital food can promote the very diseases that medical professionals seek to treat is highlighted by the dozens of fast food establishments within hospitals. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently listed at least 20 hospitals with a Chik-fil-A, 18 with a McDonalds, and five with a Wendy's including one that I have hospital privileges at. In hospitals without fast food restaurants, the excess of donuts, cakes, cookies, fried foods, processed meats, and ice cream equals or exceeds the insult to intelligence.



Decades ago doctors made rounds with a cigarette in hand. It took years to ban this and smoke-free campuses are now the norm. We are at a point where the scientific basis that diet, no matter what title it is given, must be composed of mainly real "food, not too much, mostly plants." The dangerous excesses of salt, sugar, fat, additives, preservatives, food colorings, and chemical flavoring that describe Big Food in hospitals simply can no longer be tolerated. Medical activists must speak up and demand that junk food go the way of cigarettes on hospital campuses. I sent Allan's blog on his unhealthy hospital breakfast buffet to hospital CEOs, presidents and chairmen of the board, chief medical officers, and chiefs of staff demanding more transparent and responsible food services for physicians, nurses, patients and their guests. Change must come and it must come fast no matter what the outcry by the public and by staff. Only then can we claim the role of healers and practice the in the spirit of the ancient physician Maimonides, who advised, "No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means."



References:



1. http://ift.tt/164NpCz



2. http://ift.tt/164NpCz




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California May Set The Highest Minimum Smoking Age In The Country

California could soon have the highest minimum smoking age in the country if a bill introduced Thursday makes its way through the legislature.



Introduced by state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa), Senate Bill 151 would raise the legal smoking age in the Golden State from 18 to 21 in hopes of curbing tobacco use among children and young adults.



“Tobacco companies know that people are more likely to become addicted to smoking if they start at a young age,” Hernandez said in a statement Friday. “We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines while big tobacco markets to our kids and gets another generation of young people hooked on a product that will ultimately kill them.”



According to the American Lung Association, 36,000 California kids start smoking each year.



Given the state’s history at the forefront of anti-tobacco legislation, the bill could have serious implications if it passes. California has been considered the pioneer of smoking bans ever since San Luis Obispo became the first city in the world to ban all public indoor smoking in 1990; by 1998, the state had banned smoking in almost all enclosed workplace situations, including bars and casinos. Today, more than 22,000 municipalities, covering 81 percent of the U.S. population, have 100 percent smoke-free laws applying to non-hospitality workplaces, restaurants, bars or a combination of the three, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.



While the tobacco industry generally opposes any anti-smoking initiatives, tobacco giant Altria declined to take a stance at this point in the legislative process.



“We believe states and localities should defer to this regulatory process and give the FDA, the [Institute of Medicine] and others the time to review the science and evidence, before enacting different minimum age laws,” Altria spokesman David Sutton told the Los Angeles Times. “That being said, we review each legislative proposal on its own merits and we will do so on this new piece of legislation.”



Hernandez’s office notes that California would be the first state to raise the minimum smoking age to 21, as previous efforts in New Jersey, Utah, Colorado and Maryland have all failed.





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This Woman Is Live-Tweeting Her Quest To Have An Orgasm While On Antidepressants

Crista Anne Orenda is a blogger, mother of four and sex educator. She also describes herself as a "sex pleasurist," and she was far from pleased when she found herself unable to reach orgasm after switching to a new antidepressant.



"I came out of the womb depressed, as most of the people in my family have," the writer, who just goes by Crista Anne, told Refinery29. "Looking back, I cannot think of a time that I didn't use masturbation as a tool to fight my depression or anxiety."



In order to get back what once brought her so much relief, Crista Anne started #OrgasmQuest on Dec. 19 to document her journey to orgasm through masturbation. Friends at sexual aid companies Good Vibrations, SheVibe and Tantus offered to sponsor her by sending products they hoped would help her out.



So far, #OrgasmQuest has been successful social media-wise, with thousands of people following the #OrgasmQuest hashtag.



(Story continues below)




















She's also been somewhat successful orgasm-wise.



"I went from simply feeling pleasurable sensations but not much else, to now having the vaginal contractions and wobbly legs that I associate with an orgasm," she said. "My brain still does not recognize or experience the intense pleasure spikes I am used to, but that is massive progress!"



Crista Anne's inability to reach orgasm while on antidepressants isn't uncommon.



"You need neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin [to have an orgasm]," Lauren F. Streicher, M.D., author of Sex Rx , told the Huffington Post. "What happens is that the same neurotransmitters impact depression. So if you look at the most common antidepressants, what they’re doing is altering your body's levels of dopamine and serotonin, which has an impact on libido and the ability to orgasm."



Crista Anne has been on Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) almost her entire life. She said she started on Prozac at age 9 and has been on a new antidepressant for about three months now. While this is the only medication she's had difficulty achieving orgasm with, she says she's never been happier.



"I enjoy being alive for the first time in my life, and I'm 32. I'm happy to get out of bed, I look forward to my day, look forward to the rest of my life," she told HuffPost. "Those are feelings that I've never experienced before. I love this medication, I'm staying on it as long as it keeps working."



Streicher told HuffPost that orgasm comes back for 30 percent of people after about three or four months on antidepressants, and if it doesn't, she suggests talking to a doctor about switching to a different drug or lowering the dose.



Crista Anne hopes her quest leads to some important conversations.



"I want to shine light on these experiences. Tell the world that talking about sexuality, mental illness, side effects of medication and how all of those things impact a persons life is a valid and worthy discussion," she told BuzzFeed. "I’m seeing that happen every day and I am so proud."



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'Star Wars' Volkswagon Super Bowl Ad Will Always Be Our Favorite

And now for a quick replay of the best Super Bowl commercial of all time.



In this 2011 Volkswagon ad above, a young boy decked out in Darth Vader gear tries to use "The Force" to start household appliances and wake the family dog -- all to no avail. Finally, the boy succeeds in magically starting the car, though there happens to be a secret power at play: dad.



The ad gained traction in 2011 after it was released online before the Super Bowl, which was a new strategy at the time. And it's legacy has left a lasting dent.



"The ad’s runaway success changed how advertisers approach Super Bowl Sunday ever since," Time noted.



The spot has been watched more than 61 million times on YouTube as of Jan. 30.





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A Protein-Packed Salsa Recipe You've Got To Try (VIDEO)

If you're looking for a fresh twist on traditional salsa, this protein-packed recipe should be your new go-to. The best part? It's as simple as it is flavorful.



White Bean Tomato Salsa



white bean salsa



Serves 4



Ingredients



2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

1 plum tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

15 oz. white beans (1 can), drained and rinsed

Grated Parmesan, to taste (optional)



Directions



In a medium bowl, combine the white beans, rosemary, tomato, olive oil and salt. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan, if using.



Serve with healthy, homemade pita chips.







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Why You Should Become A Morning Person (VIDEO)

Did you jump out of bed this morning, excited to start a new day -- or did you hit the snooze button seven times, wishing you could just stay in bed? We all have our moments, but comedian Steve Harvey believes that the key to happiness and success lies in the first 10 minutes of every morning.



"When people say, 'I'm not a morning person,' that's the most ridiculous statement a person can make," Harvey says in the above "Oprah's Lifeclass" clip. "For you to wake up and lay that on your day … to pull that blanket up over your head every day is such a waste of time."



Harvey's career has reached new heights in recent years -- he's got his own talk show, a nationally syndicated radio program, a hosting gig on "Family Feud" and a series of best-selling self-help books. But he didn't always have it this good. Harvey was once a college drop-out who lived out of his car for a period of time, drifting from one dead-end job to the next.



What changed? He tells Oprah that attitude has everything to do with it. "When I wake up in the morning, I spend the first 10 minutes just thanking. I don't even address any problems and stuff I got. I'm just grateful that I'm up for this."



More: How Oprah and Steve Harvey learned to deal with haters trying to bring them down.




For 10 full minutes, Harvey says he thanks God for everything he has in life, down to his electric toothbrush. It's what Oprah calls "gratitude mediation."



"It makes your day start such a wonderful way," Harvey says. "See, when you're not grateful, it kind of blocks the rest of your blessings from coming."



Harvey says God is "real smooth in his business." "Why would he give you more stuff to be ungrateful for? He's such a gentleman. So if you're having a rough time with what you have, why would I give you more?"



You may not like your current job, but Harvey says recognizing what you already have is key to improving your situation. "So now if you're waking up miserable about your job, why would he give you another job? Why would he do that? So you can go be ungrateful for that?" Harvey asks. "You've got to thank him for the position you in and thank him for all the things that's to come."







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HIV-Related Breakthroughs, Habits and Statistics Point to Need for Preventive Medicine Education

2015-01-30-bigstockSexuallyTransmittedDiseaseW47692912.jpg



In Davos at the World Economic Forum earlier this month, Bill Gates predicted that both an HIV vaccine and cure would be available by 2030, eliminating most new cases of the deadly virus and tipping the scales in Africa in favor of higher numbers of people in treatment versus newly infected. Bill and his wife Melinda fund medical research through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates' announcement follows the recent 2014 discovery at Temple University, wherein Dr. Kamel Khalili led a team of scientists to create a protein combination that can remove HIV from a cell's DNA. This is big news for the 35 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, with 24.7 million in sub-Saharan Africa.



It is believed that at some point in 2015, 50% of the population of those living with HIV in the United States will be senior citizens, typically defined as individuals over the age of 65. Rising numbers of HIV-positive senior citizens have been attributed to not only false conceptions surrounding sexual inactivity among senior citizens, but also to the lack of sex education among the elderly. The Mirror reported the trending of bug parties, where non HIV-positive men seek HIV-infected men to have sex with in an attempt get infected with the disease deliberately, sometimes citing the thrill of the chase and a desire to "get it (infection) over with" since the danger of contracting HIV is statistically higher for gay men. The Mirror also reported that the numbers of gay or bisexual men being treated for HIV has risen 58% in the UK over the last ten years.



The endurance of high-profile celebrities such as Magic Johnson, who announced his HIV-positive status in 1991, coupled with medical breakthroughs in drugs and treatment that are keeping people alive longer have contributed to the perception that an HIV-positive diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. And while there is certainly truth to that for some, it makes light of the serious health issues, complications, lifestyle changes and healthcare costs an HIV-positive status warrants. The recent outbreak of measles at Disneyland attributed to parents' refusal to vaccinate their children demonstrates, "Vaccines have reduced and, in some cases, eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations ago...smallpox vaccination eradicated that disease worldwide." There is no substitute for accurate information.



HIV-related deaths have been among the rise among people ages 15 to 24 and are the second most prolific cause of death among young people worldwide. The solution to combatting the ignorance and rising numbers of HIV infected individuals will always come down first and foremost to the practice of preventive medicine, which begins with education. We must teach children, retirement community and nursing home populations of all socio-economic backgrounds about the choice for abstinence as well as the need to use a condom when having sex.



Admittedly, outside the US and UK there are significant cultural obstacles in HIV education, but it is only through open communication in a society that we can overcome what is feared or taboo and work to expel uninformed rumors about how HIV is contracted or what a diagnosis means. Sexual education does not lead to an increase in promiscuity. Encourage children, retirement community and nursing home populations to manage their own health through abstinence or practicing safe sex, but also by getting annual STD checks to promote their own sexual health, as well as a greater societal dialogue about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. Having an STD puts you at greater risk for contracting HIV.



In an interview for Mother Jones on his book about AIDS and Africa, Our Kind of People: A Continent's Challenge, A Country's Hope, doctor and author Uzodinma Iweala says, "The more wealthy you are the more you know because of education and access to information. That creates a different conversation. You might hear more concrete information about how you get the virus or how you treat it. In urban centers there was obviously more awareness and understanding than in rural areas. In terms of just general reaction, it's the same as anywhere...That's true whether you're rich or poor or from Nigeria, Botswana, the United States, or Europe."



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How to Deflate Your Waistline (Not the Ball) This Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday can be one of the toughest days of the year when it comes to eating. With the unlimited spread of snack foods, giant hero sandwiches, pizza, wings, and not to mention beer, it can be pretty hard to defend those resolutions that were made just a few weeks earlier. This year, however, with just a little planning, we can easily score big on taste without penalizing our waistlines.



The Game Plan



Prior to Kickoff



First, ensure that you aren't starving by the time your Super Bowl party starts. Make sure that you eat regular meals (e.g., breakfast, lunch, and a p.m. snack) before you arrive at your party so that you can perform well at game time.



The Defense


As a Super Bowl party guest, you will be playing on someone else's turf, and so you will need to be on the defensive.




  • When you get to the party, hold off on hitting the food table. Converse with the other guests, and grab a glass of water to help fill you up.





  • Allow yourself a small taste of everything at the party that you want. After that, bench the fattier options, and send in the low-cal replacements.





  • Bring something with you. Prepare a healthy dish such as a turkey chili, or arrange a colorful

    fruit or vegetable platter with a low-fat yogurt based dip.





  • Bench the high-cal beverages. Though Super Bowl Sunday may encourage loads of beer drinking, remember that one regular beer contains about 150 calories. Try water, seltzer, or diet drinks instead. If you feel you are missing out on the alcohol, try a wine spritzer (1/2 wine, 1/2 sparkling water), or even a light beer.






The Offense


If you're the one throwing the party, you have the home field advantage. Instead of putting out the usual fatty fare, surprise your opponents and slim down the options.




  • Though chili has a wonderful healthy base of beans and tomatoes, the beef, sausage, cheese, and sour cream can intercept your healthy eating plan. Try choosing extra-lean ground beef or turkey, or opt for a soy crumble. Try low-fat cheese and/or non-fat sour cream in place of the higher calorie condiments.





  • Instead of saucy, fried wings, try oven-frying some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cut the breasts into bite size pieces, dip them in egg whites or buttermilk, and dredge them in either breadcrumbs or cornflake crumbs. Bake in the oven and serve with a honey-mustard or barbecue sauce.





  • Foot-long heros may be an old standby on Super Bowl Sunday, but the high-fat and high-sodium meats, the cheeses, the oil, and the mayonnaise (not to mention the sheer quantity), can easily add up to hundreds of extra calories. Instead of buying the pre-made sandwiches, make a sandwich platter. Arrange different lean meats like turkey, chicken, and ham. Put out low-fat dressings and mayo, and loads of veggies. Provide a variety of whole grain breads, wraps, and rolls.





  • For a low-fat cornbread, use part whole-wheat flour, low-fat or fat-free buttermilk, and canola oil.





  • Bake tortilla chips or pita wedges and serve with low-fat dips that use fat-free or reduced-fat yogurt, sour cream, or cream cheese as their base.





  • Load your potato skins with salsa and a sprinkling of reduced fat cheese instead of bacon and cheese sauce. Top with a small dollop of non-fat sour cream if desired.





  • Order pizza without cheese and ask for extra veggies.





  • Put out Seasnax roasted seaweed, Good Health Veggie Straws or 479 Popcorn instead of greasy potato chips.





  • Don't forget the veggies! Put out a big vegetable platter with a variety of cut-up veggies and low-fat dip.





  • Provide other drink options aside from beer. Keep plenty of water, coffee, and diet drinks on hand.






Whether you're at home or away this Super Bowl Sunday, you are now prepared to avoid getting sacked by those extra pounds. Now all you need to do is hope that your football team is as prepared as you are.



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What's the Best Form of Cardio?

A common question I'm asked on a weekly basis is:



"Should I be doing H.I.I.T., medium intensity, or the good old steady-state cardio?"





Let's first be clear and differentiate between the three.



H.I.I.T

This style training has become huge in the community within the last decade. H.I.I.T. is short for high intensity interval training, and it is when you perform a form of exercise (such as a sprint) for a short all-out burst. In my opinion the burst should be anywhere from 5-20 seconds. I find very few individuals are able to perform 100 percent effort beyond that period of time and still be able to repeat the work with adequate technique. This is pretty much an all-out sprint effort, so you should be going hard.



Medium Intensity

This should be a fairly difficult pace held for intervals of any where around 30 seconds to as high as several minutes. It's a pace too difficult to hold for 30 minutes non-stop but can be broken into intervals such as:



30 sec on / 30 sec off

1 min on / 1 min off

3 min on / 3 min off



I can give hundreds of examples, but I think you get my point.



Steady-State Cardio

Then we have steady state cardio. For my clients, this will begin at around 30 minutes and may go as long as an ultra-marathon.



Okay, So Which is the Most Effective?

All three forms have gotten good and bad raps, but the answer is very simple. Unless you are using a program to measure readiness, I would recommend rotating the three.



How To Effectively Rotate Cardio Styles



You can determine which cardio style to engage in by measuring the following factors:



1. How are you feeling that day?

2. What is your heart rate first thing in the morning?



Try this. Begin checking your heart rate before you even get out of bed. (If you use an alarm to get up, give it a few moments after your alarm goes off as this will elevate your heart rate.) To manually find your heart rate, locate your pulse and count how many beats happen in fifteen seconds. Multiply that number by four. If your heart rate is roughly around 55 every morning, but then one morning jumps to the 60s, I would not recommend doing any H.I.I.T style training as your nervous system could be telling you something.



Or simply rotate cardio styles from workout to workout. Do a H.I.I.T workout on a Monday, medium state on a Tuesday, followed by a steady state for the next workout. This 2:1 interval to steady state ratio is effective for a few reasons:



1. It gets you training in all different heart rate ranges

2. It allows for a better recovery process

3. It adds a level of excitement and eliminates monotony (because, at the end of the day, too much of anything is no good!)



So call an audible to the plan. Play around with H.I.I.T., medium intensity and steady state. Remember to measure heart rate first thing in the morning and during the workout. Switch things up and maximize your results because -- when all is said and done -- working out is much more fun when you're seeing improvement.



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Measure Backward, Not Forward

We often measure our progress by looking forward. We set goals. We plan milestones for our progress. Basically, we try to predict the future to some degree.



We do this in business, in health, and in life at large.




  • Can we increase our quarterly earnings by 20 percent?



  • Can I lose 20 pounds in the next three months?



  • Will I be married by 30?






These are all measurements that face forward. We look into the future and try to guess when we will get somewhere.



There is an opposite and, I think, more useful approach: measure backward, not forward.



Here's what I mean...



Measuring Backward vs. Measuring Forward



Each week, I sit down at my computer and fill out a little spreadsheet to track the essential metrics in my business. Traffic, email subscribers, revenue, expenses, and so on. I have the process down pretty well by now, so it only takes about 15 minutes.



In those 15 minutes, however, I get very clear feedback on whether or not I'm making progress in the areas that matter to me. I can tell which direction things are moving. And, if the numbers in one area are moving the wrong way, I can make adjustments the following week.



Basically, I measure backward (What happened in my business this week?) and use that backward measurement as a way to guide my actions for the next week.



I use a similar strategy in the gym. I lift every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When I show up at the gym, I open my notebook and look at the weights I lifted during my last workout or two. Then, I plan my workout by slightly increasing the sets, reps, or weight from where they were last week. I go for tiny increases, of course. I'm interested in one percent gains.



In the gym, just like in my business, I measure backward and use that measurement to determine my next move. I am constantly looking to improve, but I base my choices on what has recently happened, not on what I hope will happen in the future.



The Chains of Habit



The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

-- Samuel Johnson





When it comes to building good habits and breaking bad habits, one of our greatest struggles is maintaining awareness of what we are actually doing. The more automatic a behavior becomes, the less likely we are to notice it. This helps to explain how the consequences of bad habits can sneak up on us. By the time the repercussions of our actions are noticeable, we have already become hooked on a new pattern of behavior.



However, measuring backward can call attention to these invisible patterns by making you aware of what you are actually doing. Measuring backward forces you to take notice of your recent actions. You can't live in a fairly tale world of hopes and dreams. You have to look at the feedback of what has recently happened in your life and then base your decisions and improvements on those pieces of data.



The good news is that you can now base your decisions off of what you're actually doing, not off of what you project your future self to be doing.



The Importance of Short-Term Feedback



The best way to change long-term behavior is with short-term feedback.

-- Seth Godin [1]





There is one caveat to this strategy: When you measure backward, your data needs to come from the recent past.



If I used data from two years ago to make business decisions, my choices would be off. The same is true for lifting weights or other areas of improvement. I don't want to base my actions on what I achieved a long time ago, but on what I have achieved recently. In other words, I want short-term feedback, not long-term feedback. The shorter, the better.



Measuring for Happiness



There is an additional benefit to this strategy as well. When you measure backward, you get to enjoy the progress you are making right now rather than yearn for a different life in the future.



You don't have to put happiness off until you reach a future milestone or goal. Happiness is no longer a finish line out there in the future. Focusing on how you can immediately improve over your past self is more satisfying that comparing your current state to where you hope you'll be some day.



The Idea in Practice



Nearly every improvement we wish to make in our lives requires some type of behavior change. If you want different results, you have to do something differently.



The tough question to answer is what should we do differently to get the results we want?



We often respond by focusing on an outcome and setting a goal for ourselves. Goals are good and having a sense of direction for where you want to go is critical. But when it comes to determining the improvements we can make right now, measuring backward is the way to go. Let recent results drive your future actions.



Weight Loss: Measure your calorie intake. Did you eat 3,500 calories per day last week? Focus on averaging 3,400 per day this week.



Strength Training: Oh, you squatted 250 pounds for five sets of five reps last week? Give 255 pounds a try this week.



Relationships: How many new people did you meet last week? Zero? Focus on introducing yourself to one new person this week.



Entrepreneurship: You only landed two clients last week while your average is five? It sounds like you should be focused on making more sales calls this week.



Measure backward and then get a little bit better. What did you do last week? How can you improve by just a little bit this week?



James Clear writes at JamesClear.com, where he shares science-based ideas for living a better life and building habits that stick. To get strategies for boosting your mental and physical performance by 10x, join his free newsletter.



This article was originally published on JamesClear.com.



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You Are What You Eat: Survey Reveals Americans' Diet Food Habits

Successful dieting often comes down to the food that you have to eat. That's why it's important to not only eat food that you enjoy, but also find food that's convenient to purchase and easy to prepare. Prepackaged diet foods are an option many people choose, and with so many different kinds available, we wondered what people's habits were when they bought diet food. Do they opt for meals to be delivered to them instead of buying at the grocery store? How much do they typically spend per meal?



To learn more about what choices people make when it comes to buying prepackaged diet food, we surveyed more than 500 people ages 18 and older. Check out the infographic below to find out where people buy diet food, how often they eat it, how much they spend and more.

diet food






This blog post originally appeared on NextAdvisor.com.



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Modern Medicine, Mired at the Line of Scrimmage

Modern medicine has some things in common with football -- or maybe I just have the Super Bowl on the brain. Both, it seems to me, tend to foster our occasionally-overinflated hopes, leaving us at times to contend with a relatively, well, deflated reality.






Both are team sports, advancing courtesy of collective effort. And by and large, progress in each is predicated on prior progress. There is, in football, the occasional kickoff return for a touchdown, or a Hail Mary reception -- and in biomedicine, the occasional "Eureka!" although most of those tales prove apocryphal on close inspection, Newton's apple included. But in both, advance is generally achieved one arduous set of downs at a time.






Now, imagine if instead, football were more like biomedicine. Hold that thought, please -- we'll get back to it. First, let's move the ball down the field.






There is value, to be sure, in advancing a "precision medicine" agenda, a priority affirmed in the president's recent State of the Union address, and one garnering unusual bipartisan support. The proposition seems closely related to recent press highlighting new efforts to find genes that protect us from prevailing maladies.






But I confess I had some misgivings just the same. I'm sure that every other species has substantial inter-individual genetic variation, yet we seem to bank on the biological commonality of a species in how we care for them. Dogs, for instance, get dog food; cats get cat food; and horses get oats and hay. Biological commonality at times extends well beyond the bounds of just one species. Tropical fish, for instance, are many different species; yet it's tropical fish food for the whole lot, if you happen to have them in an aquarium.






I am by no means suggesting that our interindividual variations are unimportant; their importance is self evident in innumerable ways. Nor am I suggesting reliance on standard-issue sacks of "Homo sapien" food, perish the thought. I'm not even asking us to get in touch with our inner fish.






But I am saying that we, too, as members of a common species are biologically more alike than different. And the pursuit of knowing what we can do about what differentiates among our metabolisms should not be at the expense of putting what we know about what we have in common to good use.






That was pretty much the sentiment expressed in a column in today's New York Times , written as a precautionary rejoinder to the fast-track enthusiasm for the promise of precision medicine. The author, a physician at the Mayo Clinic, suggests this enthusiasm is misplaced and apt to leave us disappointed. Certainly that proved true in the early days of the genomic era, recently subject to an about face accordingly.






This also recalls another recent column, by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, suggesting abandoning the annual physical exam. While the traditional version of the physical exam is certainly obsolete, there is a real risk in this suggestion of tossing out the baby with the bathwater -- because that encounter may be the only time for doctor and patient to meet other than at a time of crisis. Imagine, then, a world in which at such times of crisis, we have ever more perfect knowledge of a person's genome, and ever less knowledge of that genome's person. Call me a humanist, but that seems fraught with peril to me.






Precision medicine seems to call for a considerable allocation of money to learn things we don't yet know. I support that in principle; it's a classic example of investment and the promise of return.






But a case was made just this week in the New York Times that the return on investment for confronting the scourge of childhood poverty in the U.S. would be nothing short of dazzling -- and that's just in monetary terms. Poverty is a potent driver of diverse miseries, including much increased likelihood of the very diseases we would need precision medicine to treat more effectively.






Similarly, we have a robust body of knowledge about lifestyle practices consistently shown to slash rates of chronic disease and premature death by 80 percent. This reliable knowledge in no way obviates the need to ask new questions and generate new answers. But the pursuit of what we don't yet know does not preclude effective use of what we do, either.






And yet, it does seem to be playing out that way. Even as we contemplate major new financial allocations to precision medicine, childhood poverty is left to languish. My friend and colleague, Dr. Derek Yach, and his co-authors recently pointed out that preventive medicine, despite its formidable and accessible promise, garners only a tiny, non-corresponding fraction of NIH biomedical research dollars. A preferential focus on learning what we don't know does, indeed, seem to hinder action based on what we do.






Call that precision if so inclined, but it seems a lot like procrastination to me.






Or, with the Super Bowl on my mind, like a very odd game of football. What if football were more like modern medicine? Perhaps the only way to advance down the field would be to renounce all progress to date and start again each time at the 20-yard line. You never get to build on your prior gains. That seems a dubious game to me.






And yet there are signs that's the playbook of modern medicine. For instance, I conducted the following exercise for purposes of this column. I searched Pubmed, the vast, online library of peer-reviewed biomedical publications, for papers with "chronic disease" in the title. That is, admittedly, a very simplistic search -- but I thought it would suffice for my purposes. I simply wanted to see the publication trend over recent years. I used five-year increments, ending with the most recent full year, and here is what I retrieved:






1994: 575 papers






1999: 831 papers






2004: 1,430 papers






2009: 2,657 papers






2014: 4,190 papers






Taking this exercise just one step further, here is the percentage increase for each entry relative to the one before:






1999: 45 percent






2004: 72 percent






2009: 86 percent






2014: 58 percent






So, in general, not only is the fund of published knowledge about chronic disease growing dramatically, it is apparently growing, for the most part, at an accelerating rate. And yet, we have a global epidemiology study, overseen by the Lancet, and representing much the same period, showing an increasing burden of chronic disease. This isn't exactly proof of a failure to use what we know, but at the very least it makes that concern an urgent one, deserving of scrutiny.






Whatever the potential benefits of "precision" medicine -- whether we will hit the moon when shooting for it, or miss completely -- how can it make sense to hope for a possible boon in the bush while squandering the one already in hand?






Precision is good, but procrastination is not. We should learn what we don't know, but not at the expense of using what we do. Otherwise, it's a disappointing game with lots of movement, but little progress -- forever mired at the line of scrimmage.






-fin






David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP lives in New England, and is rooting for the Patriots. Just the same, he's not so sure the Seahawks should let them bring the balls, or the guacamole for that matter.






Director , Yale University Prevention Research Center; Griffin Hospital



President , American College of Lifestyle Medicine



Editor-in-Chief, Childhood Obesity

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Author: Disease Proof



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These Photos Show Liberia's Hope And Relief As Ebola Wanes

Secret to Winning the Super Bowl

Pete Carroll, head coach for the Seattle Seahawks, is no stranger to "meditation" -- in fact, he encourages his athletes to incorporate mindfulness exercises into their daily practices. I've always said that sports, as is life, is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. Meditation has been shown to increase happiness and decrease stress. By doing so it enables an athlete to get into the "zone." The zone is a place where your psychological awareness is totally focused on the job to be done. It doesn't allow for any distractions to cause you pause in completing your goal. In this case completing plays for a successful win.



While working for the Jets as their mental health clinician, I can remember riding on the family bus to Giant's stadium and everyone being happy and ready for a great day. As I looked at the team bus with the players on it, it appeared not to be as jovial. There were solemn faces, players thinking about the many films they saw that week of their opponents, hoping that they and their team mates would not suffer injury at this game. And praying that they would complete the task they've been hired and paid millions of dollars to complete. As the fans get ready for Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 1, what's happening in the minds of our players?



It's a given that all athletes are concerned about their speed, strength and endurance while playing in the Super Bowl, but all of them are very much aware that having their heads on straight that day will make or break them. Mental toughness is bigger than any physical attributes these players walk on that field with.



Meditation and the hypnotherapy I provided my players included concentration on what was important on that defining day. One down at a time, blocking out all other distractions which include, but are not limited to: the fans, their opponents, coaches, media, family, weather, uncontrollable distractions that are part of any game. They were programmed to think like a winner and maintain a positive attitude by quickly bouncing back from bad calls, bad breaks and mistakes made by them or their teammates.



Talk about stress. The Super Bowl for a player brings on the highest level of stress for any athlete. That in and of itself could destroy performance. These players are pros and their minds are adept at managing stress by staying calm and loose under the pressure of the game. They accomplish this by maintaining self-confidence, avoiding intimidation or getting psyched out and, most importantly, keeping their motivation and intensity up.



We can learn a lot from these gladiators. The obstacles these athletes need to overcome in the Super Bowl are equal to the obstacles that any one of us have in our lives, whether it be that big job we are competing for, that illness that blindsided your family, the relationship breakup that seems to have pulled the rug out from under you, or the fact that your loss of income is causing you to foreclose on your home. Winning at life requires the same mental toughness as is needed to win this Sunday's Super Bowl. Begin this year off right and learn from our modern day gladiators how to strengthen your mind through twenty minutes of meditation a day. Life is a lot like sports, be the champion you were born to be.



Sports psychotherapist, Dr. Donna Dannenfelser, as seen on the Dr. OZ Show, The Today Show, ESPN's Crowd Goes Wild, TMZ Sports, Bloomberg News, Flipping Out, and was the inspiration for USA's hit show, Necessary Roughness weighs in on social issues that raise their head during NFL season. Read more about Dr. Donna on her website at Drdonnad.com



Her meditation tools and instructions can be found at: Heartcockles.com




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4 Fs of Stress: Beyond Fight or Flight










The "fight or flight response" is routinely invoked as a shorthand way of explaining that psychological stress involves activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Too often, the explanation ends there, with the implication that this form of arousal is a bad thing.



The implications are different when the response is considered in context and in contrast to the activation of the parasympathetic division.



Both involve the release of hormones. In one case, the body is preparing to take action (e.g., an increase in heart rate, respiration and perspiration). Activation of the complementary parasympathetic division is associated with relaxation and the body's restorative functions (e.g., sleep and digestion).



What is missed in the shorthand explanation of stress is that the "fight or flight" response is also active when you ride on a roller coaster, ski down a mountain, or go surfing on Maui.



In his definitive text on the biopsychosocial complexities of stress (Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers ), Stanford Biology and Neuroscience Professor Robert M. Sapolsky explains that fast-acting, short-lasting stress hormones like adrenaline (epinephrine) are released when life is either exciting (good) or alarming (bad).



Sapolsky notes that in medical schools, this initial activation of the nervous system is described in terms of the "four Fs of behavior -- fight, flight, fear and sex."



Sexual arousal begins as a function of the relaxation response, but when it ends with orgasm, the prepare-to-take-action hormones are involved.



If fast-acting adrenaline was bad for you, then having good sex would be almost the same as being chased by a lion, in terms of stress at least. What is different is that after sex, you might relax and think about having something to eat. After being chased by a lion, you don't relax and you think about being eaten.



At a psychological level, the difference between good excitement and bad distress is a matter of perception, or how you interpret the stimulus event. In terms of your health, what matters is how much excitement you can handle.



When adrenaline is released to get you going, your body will also release slow-acting, longer-lasting, steroid-like stress hormones called "glucocorticoids." These longer-lasting steroidal hormones are the ones that do harm over time, especially if you have to run from the lion every day and think about it every night.



Persistent or chronic activation of the sympathetic division interferes with the body's homeostatic, restorative functions, and it results in a constant, rather than an intermittent flood of glucocorticoids in the body. The excitement may last for just a few minutes, but getting over it can take hours.



They say that in the jungle, "the lion sleeps tonight." The same cannot be said about those who worry about getting their head chewed off in the office everyday.



Even at the end of the day, fear, anxiety and ruminative thinking can keep the stress response active and keep the long-lasting, potentially harmful hormones flowing. In contrast to zebras and gazelles, humans tend to anticipate stressful events and to react on the basis of fear alone.



Unlike zebras, humans have the ability to control, manage and relieve stress. There are four ways this can be done:



First, we can change our perception of events. Setbacks can be viewed as opportunities, frustrations as challenges, and insults as unworthy of attention. Counting your blessings can sometimes put hardships in perspective.



Second, we can choose to change, escape or avoid the situation causing our distress. As hard as this often seems, it may take less energy than fighting the idiots or fleeing the lion.



Third, we can enhance our coping skills and ego strengths. Growth experiences of all kinds can enable us to better handle tasks, to immunize us relative to our fears, and to reduce our emotional vulnerabilities. Social support also helps us cope, so do not be afraid to make friends and to ask for help.



Fourth, we can change the way our bodies react or interrupt the stress response as it starts. When you see the lion coming, take a deep breath before you do anything else. For the rest of the time, exercise regularly, go to bed early, eat healthy, and do yoga. Engage in activities that clear your mind and calm your body.



In the stress equation, the third F (fear) reminds us that our thoughts can be just as potent as external threats.



The fourth F (fornication) accounts for the fact that not all forms of stress and arousal are harmful.



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Vegetarianism: Dirty Little Secrets

When I was 13 years old, I made a rash decision to swear off eating all animals. Forever. My epiphany was grounded in the idealistic notion that my selfish need for protein was a wholly insufficient reason to decapitate a chicken. Mind you, I grew up in New York City and had never even seen a chicken, except perhaps at the children's zoo in Central Park. My juvenile empathy did not extend to my mother, who was then burdened with making two separate dinners every evening, so that the rest of the family could continue to eat normally.



In retrospect, my true motivator may have been run-of-the-mill adolescent rebellion. After all, my health-conscious mother had sent me off to school every day with an untradeable healthy sandwich on rock hard Pepperidge Farm bread and two carrot sticks. Why wasn't I allowed to enjoy the wonderfully squishy Wonder Bread all my friends loved? My distaste for meat may have been prompted by my mother's paranoia of undercooking it, which resulted in plates of overcooked grey colored flesh with a shoe leather consistency. Can you say "yummy"?



Mom also tried in vain to ration the sweet treats every kid craves. Her strategy was to padlock the goodies away in the far reaches of the cabinet above the refrigerator. She should have known better than to try to get between kids and their favorite cookies. We evaded her well-intentioned efforts by shimmying our little hands through the minuscule opening and grabbing whatever was reachable. Skinned hands were a small price to pay to feed our insatiable sweet tooths.



For the next 14 years, no chicken, cow, or pig parts touched my lips. My diet consisted mainly of starches, high-fat dairy, and desserts. I decided vegetables were boring and ate fewer of them. Essentially, I was on the very junk food diet my mother had worked so valiantly to have me avoid. I remained blissfully unaware that my restrictive diet scored near zero on the health barometer.



Except for some leftover hippies, I was an oddity as a non-carnivore in the '70s and '80s. Many people treated me as if I was doing something quite admirable, thinking it involved a herculean dose of self-restraint. Mistakenly assuming I subsisted on raw vegetables and tasteless tofu, they expressed admiration for my purported willpower.



Once I started practicing law, I moved to Chicago, and was taken aback to discover that I was living in the meat-eater's capital of the country. Native-born residents couldn't fathom getting through breakfast without a slab of crisp bacon or a few links of Polish sausage. Things got uncomfortable when I was required to dine with law firm clients, who looked askance as I tried to make a meal out of cottage cheese and a double serving of creamed spinach. I often wondered if they were asking themselves, "Do I really want to entrust my legal problems to this non-meat-eating wacko?"



Meanwhile, I continued to get my daily fill of Dr. Peppers, Cokes, Snickers bars, Ding Dongs, and Hostess Cupcakes with squiggles on top. I made weekly forays to my local Woolworth counter to scarf down a gooey banana split. A large bowl of generously buttered popcorn was my go-to dinner.



That was my version of a vegetarian diet. And I've known many a non-meat-eater who follows a very similar diet regimen. After all, it's the perfect excuse to indulge in tasty but nutritionally-bankrupt fare. No animal ever died in the name of delectable pumpkin cheesecake, flourless chocolate cake or crème brulee. Far from depriving myself, I now realize that I was actually indulging in chemically-ladened processed garbage. So much for being holier than thou.



One day, as impulsively as I'd decided to banish animals from my diet, I reversed course and made a snap decision to revert to a normal diet. I'd gotten to the point where I realized I really didn't care that much about the stupid chickens. Off with their heads! By this time, it had also dawned on me that my non-meat-eating habits were probably not doing my body a world of good.



Once having made the call to rejoin the American way of life, I worried that when animal flesh hit my gut my body would imitate Linda Blair in "The Exorcist." I tested the waters with Chinese food, assured that the chicken serving would be garnish-sized. Much to my relief, I discovered that my body had not misplaced its carnivore digestive juices despite years of disuse.



Since seeing the error of my ways, I have gradually gravitated to a healthy Mediterranean diet, which allows for a reasonable and enjoyable life. I eat mostly vegetables and fruit, some complex carbs and small amounts of fish and chicken. Ironically, I am much closer to being a true vegetarian today than I ever was when I declared myself one as a naïve teenager.



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