Preventing and managing arthritis
In 1959, funnyman Jack Benny was appointed Chief Justice of the “Ancient and Independent Province of Beverly Hills.” He told the audience, “I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.”
No one deserves arthritis, but it’s a major cause of disability in the U.S., affecting more than 58 million people ages 18 and older, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. Osteoarthritis — a degenerative joint condition that affects hands, knees, hips, the lower back and neck — is the most common form. In the old days, it was thought of as a wear-and-tear problem, but we now know it’s an active inflammatory disease, affecting bone, cartilage, ligaments, fat and tissue lining a joint.
Obesity and unmanaged stress are major, modifiable causes — because of the inflammation they trigger. Weak muscles and a genetic predisposition can also lead to arthritis. Although more common in people over age 50, any joint injury — a torn ACL or meniscus — can progress rapidly to arthritis. Once it develops, arthritis can trigger depression and anxiety. And around half of folks with diabetes or heart disease also have arthritis, increasing immobility.
Your best solutions:
1. Physical activity — it can slash pain and increase joint function by 40 percent.
2. Taking a chronic disease self-management program. Check out eblcprograms.org/evidence-based/map-of-programs.
3. Physical therapy. It can ease pain, increase mobility and strengthen muscles.
4. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet (no red or processed meats, no added sugars or ultraprocessed foods.
5. Weight loss, if needed, and control of blood glucose levels.
You can walk away from cancer
Sylvester Stallone, age 75, works out relentlessly on weight machines, using hand weights and his own body weight. Serena Williams, 40, does an intense lineup of arm, glute and core/leg exercises, designed to increase her metabolism and endurance. Good for them. But, it turns out, such over-the-top routines aren’t necessary to reap one of the most important benefits of physical activity — preventing cancer.
A report from the American Cancer Society says 46,000 cancer cases annually in the U.S. could be avoided if folks got just five hours of physical activity a week. And we’re not talking running up stairs or bench pressing 200 pounds. What’s needed is five hours of moderate-intensity activity — brisk walking, water aerobics, riding a bike (the way most folks do it), doubles tennis, pushing a lawn mower, hiking or rollerblading.
The report, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, shows that 16.9 percent of stomach cancers, 11.9 percent of endometrial cancers, 11 percent of kidney cancers, 9.3 percent of colon cancers, 8.1 percent of esophageal cancers, 6.5 percent of female breast cancers and 3.9 percent of urinary bladder cancers are associated with lack of exercise. So, opt for working out for one hour, five days a week. But remember all activity counts — and adds up, as you aim for even more benefits from 10,000 steps a day or the equivalent.
If you can find seven hours a day to stare at a screen (that’s U.S. adults’ average), you can find an hour a day to live younger, longer, stronger.
Food choices and memory
In the 2011 movie “Bridesmaids,” when the wedding party, played by Kristin Wiig, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey, is hit with food poisoning while shopping for their dresses, McCarthy screams “What did we eat?”
If you find yourself wondering that, too — the answer may be “highly processed foods.” According to a new lab study by researchers at Ohio State University, a month of chowing down on highly inflammatory, processed foods that lack fiber and healthy fats is enough to damage memory, especially in seniors.
When older lab rats were fed a diet that mimicked ready-to-eat packaged foods, such as potato chips, frozen entrees like pasta dishes and pizzas, and deli meats containing preservatives, it damaged the memory centers in their hippocampus. That’s the brain center that processes and retrieves fact- and event-based memories and memories related to locations and routes. It also muted their response to dangerous situations (they couldn’t recall that they were in peril), and they packed on pounds.
The good news is that omega-3 DHA can help protect you from that unhealthy junk. But the study, published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity, cautions that the anti-inflammatory powers of DHA aren’t enough to eliminate the life-shortening risks of obesity. The best way to enjoy the health boost from DHA is to cut highly processed foods out of your diet completely, add in lots of DHA-rich salmon and opt for whole grains and fruits and veggies. Then you’ll be able to remember what you ate — and be glad you did!
Waist not, want not
The world’s largest waist, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was 119 inches — the circumference of a 1,400-pound man named Walter Hudson. The average adult male American weighs almost 198 pounds, is just over 5 feet, 9 inches and has a 40.2-inch waist. The average American woman’s waist size is 38.7 inches — and she’s not quite 5 feet, 4 inches and 170 pounds. In comparison to the recordholder’s girth, that sounds pretty reasonable, but think again. It actually means that half of the folks in the U.S. are above that average — in fact, 42.4 percent of men and women are obese.
When you’re overweight or obese, visceral fat is packed around your internal organs, fueling inflammation and causing insulin resistance, high blood pressure and an increased risk for heart attack and stroke, breast and colorectal cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and perhaps dementia. The best ways to trim that fat, reduce your waistline (men to below 40 inches; women below 38), and fight off aging-related health problems:
■ Resistance training two to three times weekly using your body weight, stretchy bands or weight machines.
■ Eating a fiber-rich, plant-based diet with no red or processed meats, added sugars or highly processed foods.
■ Seven to eight hours of sleep nightly — too little or too much packs on visceral fat.
■ Stress management to lower chronically elevated cortisol hormone levels that encourage adding belly fat (in case you need extra fuel to fight off an attacking tiger).
If you waste your waist, you’ll not want for anything, since you’re likely to have reclaimed your health.
Salt and battery: Stop excess sodium from damaging your health
Buddha advised, “Let yourself be open, and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.” World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Hope Solo, goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, gets to about the same conclusion her own way: “It’s all in fun. I take everything with a grain of salt.”
They’re right about how much salt to consume — and because of new guidelines, it may be easier for you to get it right, too. The Food and Drug Administration just asked (not required) the restaurant and food industry to reduce sodium in processed, packaged and prepared foods by 12 percent over the next two-and-a-half years. A corresponding viewpoint article in JAMA Network suggests “reducing sodium intake will improve health outcomes for hundreds of thousands of individuals and could save billions in healthcare related spending …”
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says the Chronic Disease Risk Reduction Intake for sodium is 2,300 milligrams, or 1 teaspoon, daily for anyone age 14 and older. You can reduce your intake, before the industry takes steps, by dodging hidden salt. Plain, frozen shrimp delivers around 800 milligrams in 3 ounces! Fresh, plain, unfrozen shrimp has only about 110 milligrams. Canned soup and cottage cheese — about 700 milligrams per serving. Other unexpected culprits: tortillas, canned vegetables, vegetable juice, grocery store bagels, even canned tuna. Better choices (but do check labels): frozen veggies, low-sodium whole-wheat bread, fresh tuna — and home-squeezed veggie juices.
Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.
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