Mr Golden Sun

I hope you have been enjoying the magnificent Victoria weather over the last few days but also protecting yourself from the sun. Why is it that we have to protect our skin from the sun, isn't it a 'natural' source of vitamin D? It is, but because of changes in the ozone layer, we are exposed to more UVA and UVB radiation than ever before and we have not evolved to be able to handle it... yet!

Did you know that there is a difference between sunscreen and sunblock? Most of us use the terms interchangeably but they are different.

Firstly, sun has Ultraviolet A and Ultraviolet B rays. UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin and lead to oxidative damage, skin cancer, and the visible signs of aging. UVB rays don't penetrate as deeply but are primarily what causes sunburn and mutation of DNA leading to skin cancer.

Depending on the ingredients, sunscreen deflects and absorbs UVB radiation with a chemical reaction. Some of the chemicals may include oxybenzone, octisalate, and avobenzone. The downside of sunscreen is that it does not protect against UVA radiation and the chemicals used may be potentially harmful if used on a regular basis.



Sunblock creates a physical barrier between your skin and the sun and is much more effective in protecting you from both UVA and UVB. The ingredients found in sunblock are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.


When advertising SPF protection, manufacturers are only referring to protection from UVB sunburns as it does not include protection from skin cancer and oxidative damage.

The best option is mineral sunblock because it offers the most protection with the least chemicals and it is easier to find nowadays. Another great option is high tech sun protection clothing that offers SPF protection.

~Think Vitality!~

references:
Environmental Working Group
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The Truth About Sugar

Vitality Challenge Day 7

I did my part today! After a kendo session I enjoyed an evening ocean walk at a brisk pace. Ahh Victoria! I also avoided sugar throughout the day making sure to check labels.

We all know, or are beginning to know, that we should avoid sugar in our diet. Whether it is white, brown, demerra, yellow, purple or green - sugar is sugar! It affects the body in the same way - causing inflammation and oxidation.

As part of the 30 Day Vitality Challenge you'll notice that eliminating sugar is number one on the list. Avoiding sugar can make such a huge impact on your body and your mind.

But... you don't have to take my word for it! Below is a lecture that has had thousands of views on youtube called "The Bitter Truth About Sugar." It is a little long but the main point is that modern day illnesses are largely caused by the massive increase in sugar consumption over the last few decades.




or watch here:
Sugar: The Bitter Truth



~Think Vitality!~

Rules of the 30 Day Vitality Challenge

Rules of the 30 Day Vitality Challenge

Well, this has been unexpected- there have been several people who have said that they want to join in the 30 Day Vitality Challenge. So, here are the rules that if followed will help you feel better, look better, have more energy, feel more relaxed, and even shed unnecessary body fat.

1. Eliminate all forms of sugar.
Yes, I went there! White sugar, brown sugar, honey, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, rice sugar, ‘natural fruit source’ sugars, molasses, and aspartame. If you can do just this one thing it will greatly impact your body AND mind!

2. Eliminate empty grains.
Eliminate white bread, pasta, multigrain bread, flour, baked goods, cookies, muffins, and cakes. Ultimately, we should eliminate all grains, end of story. But, if you don’t want to be too aggressive on yourself you can use a small amount of whole grain, sprouted wheat, or high fibre grains.

3. Exercise everyday.
What, every day! Yes, our bodies are designed to move. At the minimum you should walk briskly for 30 minutes. That could be 15 minutes twice a day as well. To do really well on the challenge you should aim to do moderate to high intensity activities everyday for a minimum of 20 minutes. This can be any activity as long as it gets your heart rate up and you work up a real honest sweat.

4. Mindfulness activity.
You need to do a mindful activity everyday. This could be meditation, yoga, qigong, deep breathing, writing a journal, listening to music, looking out a window, visualization, or simply being. Time required: 10 minutes.

5. Sleep well.
You should know your body well enough to be aware of how much sleep you need to feel fully recharged. This can be anywhere from 7-9 hours.

6. Infuse your diet with Nutrient Rich foods
While you should be avoiding junk and processed foods you should aim to consume lots of dark leafy greens, veggies, low glycemic fruits, lean protein, and healthy fats.

So to do the 30 Day Vitality Challenge you have to do one or more of the six elements for 30 days. For some that may take a lot of work and effort but if you can do all 6 elements you will notice a significant difference before and after. Try it and you will see!

~Think Vitality!~

Day 3 of 30 Day Vitality Challenge!

HIIT Me

Day 3

After waking up feeling muscle soreness from a good kendo session last night, doing exercise this morning was a real “character builder!” But, I still completed my good health promoting activity today by doing 20 minutes of HIIT.

I didn’t misspell HIIT, it is actually an abbreviation for the most effective method of burning calories, shedding body fat, revitalizing the immune system, revving up the metabolism for hours, and toning and strengthening the body.

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. In summary, you choose an activity and go hard for a period of time, then go easy, then repeat. You repeat the process for approximately 20 minutes. The intense intervals should be no longer then 60 seconds but if you are new to this start with 30 seconds. Your resting intervals should be no longer then 60 seconds as well. If you are used to doing much longer cardio workouts and that doesn’t seem long enough- just try it! If you make your intense intervals strenuous enough 20 minutes will seem like a very very long time!

Choose exercises that are gentle on the joints such as biking, elliptical, recumbent bike, swimming, power walking, hill walking, skipping, squats, rebounding, even jumping jacks. I would recommend not using running because it is easy to injure yourself during speed work. In fact, I see a lot of patients who are good runners but simply run too hard for their body to support it.

If you need some research to support this type of training check out: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392?dopt=Abstract

This study is based on Tabata training (developed for speed skaters) and is an effective HIIT.
Experiment with different ‘intervals’ to see what works for you!

~Think Vitality!~

Healthy BBQ Tips

Mmmm! It is the season! The warm evening sun, the chirping birds, children playing in the park, and your next door neighbour using his gas air blower at dinner time- it is summer!

If you’re like most people you might enjoy lighting the barbeque and cooking some beast over an open flame. While you’re cooking your lamb, free range beef, or salmon I would suggest grilling some veggies while you’re at it.

If you’ve ever tried slicing your zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, or peppers and laying them on the BBQ only to have them slide through the grill you could get frustrated and forget about your daily vegetable requirements.

I would suggest one of these BBQ woks or skillets. Just chop your veggies, throw them in the wok, lightly oil them, season them with fresh herbs, ground pepper/salt and put it on the barbeque over a medium high heat. I prefer having my roasted veggies slightly crunchy rather than an overcooked paste! Enjoy with your daily 10 minute dose of sunshine!

~Think Vitality!~

Summer Sunshine!

Ah yes, the summer is upon in beautiful Victoria! It has been the warmest I’ve seen here for quite some time. Today’s entry is a quick reminder to wear your sunglasses outside and while driving.

They are more than just a fashion statement, and a way to hide the fact that you are watching people! They protect your eyes from UV damage from the sun.

Studies show that unprotected exposure to the sun can lead to cataracts; which is a clouding that develops in the crystalline lens of the eye. This can lead to obscuring, then loss of vision. Think about cooking an egg white.


So grab some stylish aviators, some speedster Oakleys, or some dollar store specials and enjoy the sun!

~Think Vitality!~

The Brown Blunder

Have you ever had a luxurious latte sitting in your hand, ready for your ravenous consumption, only to be interrupted by a hint of guilt? Thinking that with all that full fat milk that was used it must be high in calories. Then, to make you feel better one might think, “Wait, I’ll make the healthy choice and use brown sugar instead of white sugar.”

Today’s little bit of health information is brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added back to it after it has been processed. Yes, unfortunately brown sugar has a minimal amount of minerals than white sugar.

Quite honestly, people do better with less of the real thing then trying to replace it with an imitation. This goes for sugar, meat, fat, chips, cookies, baked goods, pizza, fried foods, ice cream, etc.

If you just aim to have a medium instead of mammoth macchiato coffee you will feel that same satisfaction without as much of the negative health benefits. So, go forward and find an appropriate opportunity to spring out this little bit of water cooler information!!

~Think Vitality!~

Mashed Faux Tatoes

Are you going to have a massive feast this weekend for Easter but you’re concerned about packing on the pounds? If you are on the low carb lifestyle and have a terror of tubers, try Mashed Faux Tatoes to replace traditional Mashed Potatoes.

When you read the ingredient list you might think “you’ve got to be kidding me!” I have experimented with several faux potato recipes and believe it or not cauliflower makes an excellent replacement. Honestly, I think it can taste better then low nutrient density potatoes.

First, a little info on cauliflower;
· It is a cruciferous vegetable and is in the same family as broccoli.
· It is high in vitamin C: 3 florets provide you with 67% of your daily requirement.
· It is also high in folate, which helps the blood work more efficiently, tissue regenerate and repair, and prevents heart disease.
· Most importantly, cauliflower is high in indole-3-Carbinol, or I3C. I3C has recently been shown to reduce excess estrogen in men and women and can help prevent prostate issues, and breast tumours. If you have a family history of breast cancer, adding cruciferous veggies into your diet is highly recommended.

Mashed Faux Tatoes
1 head of cauliflower, with green leaves removed
½ cup of skim milk (use higher fat milk if you want a creamier texture)
1 tsp of butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg

Bring a pot to boil with 1-2 inches of water. Wash, cut, and place cauliflower in a steamer basket and cook for 10-15 minutes or until it is tender. Remove from heat and put cauliflower in a bowl with spices, butter, and milk. Use a potato masher and beat the heck out of it! I prefer to use a hand blender- it gives a much smoother texture and makes more of a mess. Enjoy!

Try it, and feel free to leave a comment!
~Think Vitality!~

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday and now that 2008 is behind us you are ready to look forward with excitement and anticipation to the New Year!

When I ask people in my acupuncture clinic if they make New Years resolutions most people say “Nah, I don’t bother!” or “Resolutions are ridiculous- if I want to do something I just do it!”

Setting goals are very important in health, relationships, career, personal achievements, learing, and life in general.If you think about it you never actually accomplish any goals if you don’t set any.

What is just as important as setting goals is to write them down. If you look at statistics people who set and write down their goals, are 70% more likely to accomplish them. You of course have to have a plan as to how to achieve your goals but it is significantly more important to determine ‘what’ exactly you are aiming for.

So today, tonight, right now grab something that you can write on- piece of paper, a napkin, or a tolerant small animal- and write down 10 goals you would like to reach in 2009. Write down what you want to accomplish and by when. When is very important!

Be specific, be realistic, and be bold! Keep the list and briefly review it once a week, and have a good look at it once a month. If you do this I can guarantee that you will be well on your way to a happy, and healthy 2009!

~Think Vitality!~

Cellular Damage

Well, it is official! The collective modern world is starting to suffer the wrath of technology and the machines are rising against us!

In a recent report California physicians have noted a sharp increase in the appearance of a one sided facial rash that extends from roughly the ear to the chin. Typical treatment includes corticosteroid creams that help reduce redness and swelling.

No, this is not the hostile takeover from super nano-bots rather a dermatitis caused by cell phone use! For some reason I find this amusing! Maybe its because of the sheer oblivion that what we are doing is actually causing harm to ourselves, or maybe because of the simplicity of the cause and the cure.

It is not known for certain but most likely the cause of the ‘cellular damage’ is the nickel used to make cell phones shiny that’s causing the problems. It won’t necessarily affect everyone but if you have skin that turns green when wearing inexpensive ‘gold’ then you may have to be careful.

What are we to do avoid using our cell phones? Well, it wouldn’t hurt to not use them directly on our faces because of EMR or electromagnetic radiation. Basically every electrical device gives off EMR and I think in the future we are going to see more complications due to it.

Try using the speaker phone function on your phone- people on the bus will love that! Better yet invest in a hands free wired headset. You eliminate virtually all of the EMR exposure by not being in contact with your phone.

Such is the case with traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture; the simpler the cure the better!

~Think Vitality!~

I should probably just take it easy?

Research has shown that if you want to get the most life out of a machine you must 1) keep it moving, 2)move it regularily, and 3)use it gently.
For example your car; if you want it to last longer than the manufacturers warranty then you must follow those three rules and you'll have pretty good results. This is true for our bodies as well... except for rule number 3.
A long term study on the wear and tear that the human body can endure has shown that we posess the unique ability to get stronger, more flexible, and more adaptive with more intense stimulation. What does this mean? Unlike machines that will break down faster if you push them too hard our bodies actually change nuerological pathways, shift metabolism, and adjust blood circulation to become more efficient to handle the load.
In our days of relaxation, meditation, and "just take it easy" showing up in every health plan we can't forget that our bodies are designed to move. While relaxtion is very important it comes secondary to our natural state of movement. So run up a flight of stairs, bolt around the block, chase your dog around the yard, or power walk to work because our bodies are meant to move!

~Think Vitality!~