Alternative Health Blog

It might sound too fundamental to mention, but making sure you live where there is convenient access to fruits, vegetables and other fresh foods is a health strategy not to be overlooked.  New research shows there are way too Americans who don’t have such a necessity in their lives.

There is a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, known as Austin, that has more people per square mile than most of America’s small towns. Yet you wouldn’t be able to find a supermarket in those blocks. A significant number of Americans who live in lower-income U.S. neighborhoods are less likely to have easy access to supermarkets than others who live in neighborhoods or areas in which the residents are more financially stable. This conclusion comes from a new analysis of 54 public health and urban planning studies published from 1985 to 2008.

This is simply not an acceptable situation, but it will take considerable public health advocacy to change the pattern. This phenomenon is decades old.

What’s more, Nicole Larson, University of Minnesota researcher and lead author of the meta-analysis, said these residents might be without a supermarket but they will have no shortage of choices for fast-food franchises.

"The research I reviewed suggests there is a need for new policies and other local actions to address the problem of poor access to healthy foods in many lower income, rural, and minority communities," Larson said in news reports.

Larson said “evidence is mounting” that the lack of healthful food along “income, race and ethnicity” lines is a major reason why certain demographic groups suffer the greatest health problems. 

Here’s a vital point from the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine: If low-income or minority individuals and families do in fact happen to live near a supermarket, their diets are documented as more healthy and risk-adverse. For example, the probability that African-Americans meet guidelines for fresh fruit and vegetable consumption increases by 33 percent with every additional supermarket located in their neighborhoods.

There’s more: Studies showed that people with two or more supermarkets in their census tract are significantly less likely to be overweight or obese (20 percent or more over a healthful weight), while those individuals who live near 24-hour convenience food stores (shelved with lots of junk food) are found to be at an increased risk for weight-related health issues. 

The race factors are bleak. One study showed predominantly-black neighborhoods have half as many chain supermarkets than white communities and Hispanic neighborhoods have only a third as much. In six field studies, investigators who visited actual stores found white-neighborhood supermarkets were stocked with more fresh produce, low-fat dairy products, high-fiber breads and lean meats than larger grocery stories in black and Hispanic communities. .

Of course, this is no easy problem to solve. Public health officials are exploring ways to provide financial incentives to larger chain supermarkets to locate in poor areas. There are also projects considering whether urban farming or local hands-on cooking classes can make a difference.

It seems the first step is to acknowledge not all of us live near a supermarket with healthy choices for our meals and our families—and that we can’t find that any more socially tolerable than hunger.

Here’s a bummer thought for any of us who like to keep a tidy household. A new study shows that scrubbing and other household chores might prompt breathing problems in individuals with asthma.

Talk about conflicts of interest. It might seem that keeping a home dust-free and without germs would be nothing but positive. But researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine found that exposure to cleaning agents can be a major risk for “asthma exacerbations.”

Dr. Jonathan A. Bernstein, the study’s lead reseacher, said previous findings that “cleaning as an occupation” triggered asthmatic reaction led him to investigate whether there were similar effects for the general population “who obviously clean their homes.”

In a 12-week study, Bernstein and colleagues found that female volunteers who suffered from asthma were significantly more affected than subjects with no asthmatic tendencies. Nonetheless, the researchers reported that all women in the study “exhibited respiratory symptoms in response to exposure to cleaning agents rated mild in toxicity.” They speculated that long-term low-level exposure to such household cleaning chemicals might be more problematic for personal health than, say, television commercials might allow.

Bernstein and his Cincinnati colleagues recommended that health practitioners should caution women with asthma or other respiratory challenges to be wary of all cleaning agents and extreme and/or lengthy exposure. The warning is logical, but, frankly, the Alternative Health Blog is not thinking this discussion goes on in too many M.D.’s offices.

Yet it is undeniable that America’s grocery, pharmacy and big-box store shelves are filled with potential irritants and toxins disguised at cleaning products. It is incumbent upon all of us—whether we suffer asthma symptoms or not—to be aware of how cleaning products make us feel physically while using the

Be diligent about how you feel, even 24 or 48 hours after the household dusting and spiffing. It could mean the difference between consistently knocking your immune and energy systems off balance or feeling good. You might even discover a whole new definition of being clean.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Cutting calories has been the centerpiece of pretty much every popular diet that has ever hit the bestseller list. The goal, of course, is usually to lose weight. New research suggests there might a surprising benefit: Improved memory.

A new study from German researchers said that individuals who reduce their daily intake of calories by 30 percent will perform significantly better on standardized memory test in just three months.

Think about that. Finding some way to cut out high-sugar desserts or junk-food snacks could not only make you leaner but also boost the brain. That’s what you might call food, er, less food for thought.

"Our study may help to generate novel prevention strategies to maintain cognitive functions into old age," Dr. A. Veronica Witte and colleagues from University of Munster wrote in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Earlier research has built evidence for the “caloric restriction movement” by showing that eating meals and snacks low in calories and high in unsaturated fat (think olive oil, fish, nuts) can enhance memory and overall brain function. Those unsaturated fats serve another practical purpose: You feel more full and satisfied after meals; you don’t need more calories.

In the German experiment, 50 volunteers, average age of 60, were divided into three groups. One group restricted calories by 30 percent, while a second group increased their intake of unsaturated fats by 20 percent but still at the same number of overall calories. A control group made no changes in eating habits.

Only the caloric-restriction improved on the memory tests. Another important finding: The caloric-restriction group had blood markers showing better insulin/blood sugar control and less inflammatory response. High blood sugar and diabetes have been linked in recent studies to Alzheimer’s disease.

"To our knowledge, the current results provide the first experimental evidence in humans that caloric restriction improves memory in the elderly," the German researchers wrote in the Jan. 27 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

If chronic headaches is an issue in your life—and, whoa, what an issue—you might find relief from acupuncture. That’s the conclusion of two new research reviews published by the professional clearinghouse, the Cochrane Library.

The reviews showed that people with migraine headaches experienced fewer and milder episodes when acupuncture treatments were added to existing care, which typically means medications to treat acute pain. About half of such patients said acupuncture resulted in 50 percent fewer headaches. That’s an improvement people who suffer from migraines can truly appreciate. Acupuncture therapy led to similar results among individuals with tension headaches.

In four clinical trials acupuncture was compared to preventive drugs for migraines. The acupuncture-only patients fared better with fewer headaches and side effects than a control group taking prescription drugs.

A key factor about this research: Acupuncture’s effects appear to hold for six to 12 months. Past studies have not extended beyond that time frame.

An intriguing factor about this research: The researchers found that a placebo version of acupuncture—using blunt needles that do not pierce the skin—or even needling on non-acupuncture points on the skin appears to be just as effective as acupuncture itself. Skeptics might wave off the whole concept of acupuncture reducing headaches, but the validity here is underscored by the success of acupuncture (in full form) when compared to preventive drugs.

Skepticism might be healthy at times, but migraine and other chronic headache sufferers would gladly welcome methods that prevent episodes of pain before they occur.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Here’s new warmup to try before your next workout: Perform what might be called  a cradle rock or rolling crunch. You start supine on the floor similar to an abdominal crunch. Then you gently roll or rock along the spine.

The desired outcome is to massage the spine and internal organs. It will feel so good that you likely will make a regular part of your warmup—and maybe even every day. As it turns out, the exercise doubles as a strength builder for the body core of the abs, lower back muscles and hip flexors.

If the rolling crunch sounds a bit like yoga, it makes sense to Tyler Oakley, a personal trainer and owner of Seattle-based Flow Life Fitness. Oakley uses a rolling crunch as his regular warmup and teaches a form of yoga practice to clients.

“The rolling crunch is a staple of what I do to get people started on their workouts,” says Oakley. “It takes a while to develop the proper technique. It is all about the technique.”

And decidedly not about pain, feeling the burn, soreness, stiffness, none of that stuff many of us might associate with workouts. A major indicator of fitness success, said Oakley, is “how well people are moving” both during workouts and in everyday life.

 “I want clients to work the whole body,” says Oakley. “Conventional fitness calls for isolation of muscle groups to work out [typically done with weight lifting and flexibility work]. But that’s a myth. You can’t single out muscles. Yoga and dance movements are a great way to work the whole body.”

 Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Logging seven to eight hours of sleep each night apparently in not enough. Not that any sleep researcher is proposing more hours. Instead, a new study published this month in the journal Nature Neuroscience suggests even mild sleep disturbances will lead to less deep sleep, which in turn causes memory lapse and reduced learning.

Now that will make you toss and turn. While previous research showed that missing one night’s sleep is enough to significantly reduce activation in the brain’s hippocampus, the short-term memory center, this new report indicates just getting a lousy night’s sleep is problematic. What’s more, it is common that many of us get a poor night’s sleep most very night.

Poor sleep is caused by such factors as sleep apnea, obesity, stress, environmental noise, too much ambient light or an uncomfortable bed. The study involved 13 healthy volunteers whose age was an average of 60. Subjects were tested after a deep sleep and during an induced night of shallow sleep through use of moderate but consistent beeping noises. The individuals were tested for memory recall after each night’s rest.

The researchers wrote best ways to convert shallow or disrupted sleep into a deep sleep is "avoiding caffeine from the afternoon on, avoiding strenuous work or stress or worrying in the last few hours before sleep, exercise during the day, getting enough daylight, and making sure that the bedroom is for sleeping and not for watching television or working or angry telephone calls."

To the point of how many sleep hours is enough each night, researchers had a response for that too: "A less intuitive suggestion would be to reduce the time spent in bed to the time you actually need to sleep," the investigator added. "Don't lie in bed for 10 hours thinking that at least your body will get some rest, and end up sleeping only 7 of those 10 hours."

"It is better to restrict your time in bed to 7 hours and make sure that time in bed equals time slept, rather than drifting in and out of sleep, because that causes sleep fragmentation."

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

As the weekend unfolds, you might be breathing a sigh of relief from your weekday connectivity with email and cell phones. Or maybe you are still connected by your handheld device.

That’s where swimming comes in. Even dedicated runner or group class members might want to consider adding pool work to your exercise list. What you might see as boredom could in fact be a way to escape all of those messages (well intended or not) invading your life.

In her new book, “Get Wet, Get Fit: The Complete Guide to Getting a Swimmer’s Body” (Fireside), Olympic competitor Megan Quann Jendrick offers plenty of encouragement for newbies in the lap waters. She says most of us make the same swimming mistakes over and over.

“Beginners tend to panic in the pool,” she says. “They are OK in three feet of water but panic in six or seven feet. They stop breathing and thrash a lot. It’s important to first learn how to relax in the water. You might try floating on your back to start or using a kickboard. The kickboard can really take the panicky feeling out of it.”

In simple form, Jendrick says many fitness swimmers try to both inhale and exhale when their heads come out of the water. She urges that the exhalation be performed while your head and mouth is actually down in the water. That way you get a more full breath inward when your head lifts out of the water.

“You want to blow that water out of both the nose and mouth if you can,” said Jendrick, who admitted that even she gets “a little panicky” in the first moments she gets in open water for snorkeling.

Jendrick’s comments link to what some yoga teachers will emphasize during class. “Try to make your exhale the same length as the inhale,” said one instructor during a recent class I attended. “Stretch them both out. It slows you down into a rhythm after a hectic day.”

In fact, you might try matching your “in-breath” and “out-breath” if you are stressed out, maybe even while trying to fall asleep. You will notice a calming effect within a half-minute.

Jendrick makes a point in the book that the best swimmers in Olympic or recreational pools are those who splash the least. The best swimming technique propels the body smoothly through the water. Jendrick recommended a good way to understand that physical feeling is the “streamline point” when your arms are straight up over your head and the arms are interlocked while pushing off the pool end with your legs. It’s part power and part glide.

One more thing from this Olympian, which explains the reference to a “swimmer’s body” in the book subtitle.

“There’s a common misconception that swimming as exercise doesn’t burn fat,” notes Jendrick. “Not true. Swimming burns fat but also builds leanness because you use every muscle in the body [especially the larger muscle groups]. You might notice the difference of a swimming program on the scale right away, but look in the mirror or consider how your clothes fit better. Those are the results you want.”

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Pass the tapenade. A new study from Spanish researchers shows that olive skins can protect against colon cancer. The key ingredient in olive skins is maslinic acid, which appears to cause death among cancer cells.

Many plants (vegetables and herbs) considered medicinal contain low amounts of maslinic acid, while the skin of olives appears to be highly concentrated—up to 80 percent of its total substances. Scientists at the University of Granada and University of Barcelona found that maslinic acid in the form of an olive-skin pomace resulted in an almost programmable demise for colon-cancer cells during lab tests.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, even more recent Spanish research connects high quality extra-virgin olive oil with reduced breast cancer. Researchers at the Catalan Institute of Oncology and University of Granada found the phenols in olive oil block the genetic development of breast cancer cells in lab samples.

“Our findings reveal for the first time that all the major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress overexpression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells,” says Javier Menendez, a co-author of the study.

Extra-virgin olive oil is made by pressing olives without the use of heat or chemical treatments. The oil used by the scientists was separated into “fractions” to identify which substances are most anti-cancerous. The samples with lignans and secoiridoids proved most effective against HER2 gene cells.

The study authors cautioned that more research is needed to see if lab results can be confirmed and translate to everyday consumption of olive skins and olive oil for fighting cancer cells. But the scientists added it makes sense for “humans to safely ingest” olive skins and olive oil for its health value.

And it doesn’t hurt that a handful of olives in your salad or drizzling olive oil on your baked potato double as such delicious ideas.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

One of the most successful eating strategies—to lose weight or increase energy or both—is to eat what nutritionists like to call “mini-meals.” Rather than the traditional three-square of breakfast, lunch and dinner, you will hear dietitians recommend splitting up your breakfast (part of it in the first hour you are awake) and the other half at mid-morning, plus eating a smaller lunch with a plan to eat a snack by 3 p.m. or so. For dinner the idea is to eat moderately, then finish the night with healthy snack.

You can get creative with what constitutes a mini-meal, but one important part of the more frequent/smaller meal approach is making sure you include proteins and carbohydrates along with some healthy fat. For instance, don’t just grab an apple. Cut it up and use nut butter as a dip.

“Mini-meals get people to think more about healthy options than something out of a vending machine,” says Emily Edison, a Seattle nutritionist whose practice offers nutrition counseling, personal training and fitness consulting. “Mini-meals are more like half a turkey sandwich, a tortilla rolled up with ham and cheese or soup.”

Edison said variety is best for your soup choices. You can look for soups with beans or veggies, ones that are broth-based. Minestrone is a great choice.

She didn’t rule out clam chowder: “I’m a big fan myself, so I would never say don’t have some chowder. Just not every day.”

Other ideas: Nuts with dried fruit. Or cheese and fresh fruit, maybe cheese and crackers.. A hard-boiled egg, apple and bun.

Sometimes a half-lunch doesn’t seem like enough. Make it three-quarters, that’s reasonable, just stop short of feeling stuffed. Plus, check yourself. Your need to polish off a whole lunch might occur because you are skipping a mid-morning snack.

Contrary to what some people might think—and some of us remember that actress Jan Fonda popularized never eating after 7 p.m.—Edison said there is no evidence that eating at night puts on pounds.

“It’s more that we gain weight when eating at night even when we are not hungry,” she says. “That’s why I am a huge fan of TiVO [or similar TV/video recording systems]. You don’t get in the habit of going for a snack [during commercials].”

Edison says adding protein to your snacks can lead to more clear-headedness and less thinking about being hungry. She talks regularly to clients about eating three mini-meals between a hearty breakfast and dinner featuring lean protein, a whole grain and at least two vegetables dinner.

“You probably never want to go more than three hours without some food,” says Edison. “And skip the big lunch. Unfortunately, the siesta system doesn’t really work in this country.”

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Next time you consider visiting your aging mother or dad, you might consider bringing along some seed catalogs or gardening magazines. It appears gardening has a measurable effect on elder health.

In a small study of 14 gardeners conducted by Kansas State University and published in the professional journal, HortTechnology, regular work among the flowers and vegetables resulted in increased energy, less depression and better sleep for the green-thumb participants. The gardeners ranged in age from 63 to 86 years old.

There is no denying that regular physical activity helps older adults remain independent and less vulnerable to falls. Those effects are documented in research. Same goes for holding off weight and feeling happier. What might cast doubt is whether gardening can provide such a physiological boost.

The Kansas State researchers write that there is no argument that gardening activity can provide moderate-intensity workouts, especially in the spring and early summer months when considerable digging and weeding is required.

The K-State authors found the elder gardeners worked with plants and soil an average of 33 hours during a typical week in May, and 15 hours each week during June and July. What’s more, throughout the spring and summer months the gardeners met or surpassed the federal government’s recommendation of engaging in 30 minutes of moderate physical activity all or most days of the week.

Along with charting garden time (at home or community-share sites), the researchers monitored heart and breathing rates for the elders.

The Kansas State researchers called for a larger, multiple-location study to confirm their findings. They speculated that “physical activity prescriptions” might be one outcome, as health practitioners urge patients to do some planting and cultivating.

But the Alternative Health Blog asks, why wait? You can seize the moment—and our aging parent’s health—by planning a garden with Mom or Dad this coming season. Then family visits can focus on work in the garden rather than sitting in front of the TV.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

If you are looking to lose a few pounds in 2009, maybe it’s time to get on the phone or jump online. Really.

A new study from Dutch researchers shows that weight management counseling by telephone or email can help individuals who might otherwise be reluctant to engage in face-to-face visits. Researchers at VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam evaluated 1,400 overweight workers.

The volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups: One received phone counseling, a second received similar encouragement by email exchanges while the third received no counseling as a control group.

Phone and email advice was simple yet positive: Take a walk a lunch, eat breakfast, look for ways to eat less at one time, get a good night’s sleep. There were no specific weight-loss goals set for any participant.

After six months, the phone group lost three pounds more than the control group. The email group lost about a pound more, on average, than the control group.

Those amounts might seem modest but the Dutch researchers point to research that shows losing even just six or so pounds per year can have a significant impact on personal health. They speculated that a bit more structure and goal-setting in phone and email sessions could provide even more dramatic results.

What seems to work is the feeling of accountability to another person. This hypothesis stands up to health habits and positive change research by such scholars as James Prochaska at the University of Rhode Island, who has a six-step change model that includes the “important step” of telling someone about your plans to, say, quit smoking or work out three times per week.

"If you talk to someone, people feel a bit more pressured to make the change," says Marieke Van Wier, one of the study’s co-authors. "It is modest weight loss but the key is we didn't pressure people to make big changes.”

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Here’s news you can use. Well, news we can all use.

New research published in the professional journal Pscyhosomatic Medicine shows couples can reduce individual stress by being more physically affectionate with each other. The primary form of reducing stress and improving the personal health of your partner is touch.

Volunteers couples in the Brigham Young University study participated in “warm touch enhancement” training and practiced the technique in their homes. The recommended home time involved three to four 30-minute sessions each week for a month. What the BYU scientists found is the simple-touch method increased levels of oxytocin, known in popular media as the “love hormone” while reducing levels of alpha amylase, a marker for high stress. Both oxytocin and alpha amylase can be measured with saliva samples.

The simple-touch method used in this study, says lead author Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, is "non-sexual, caring physical touch, such as hand-holding, hugs and sitting or lying 'cuddled up.’ ” Now, what needs to be added here at the Alternative Health Blog is nobody is saying there is anything unhealthy about marital sex (of course not), just that if any of these hugs, cuddling or holding of hands leads to sex, great and, if not, great too.

The couples in the study were divided between a “Couple Contact Enhancement” group and a control group only monitored for stress levels while keeping mood journals. The enhancement group learned about "listening touch." In this technique—are you listening, guys?—you increase awareness of your partner’s mood by touching her neck, shoulders or hand. The couples also learned neck and shoulder massage, which seems like a pretty good place to start your own couple enhancement program.

After just one week, the couples in the simple-touch group showed increased oxytocin levels compared to no change for the control group and the elevated status stayed that way over four weeks. Plus, the group members’ stress hormone measure was significantly lower than the control group participants over the four weeks.

Interestingly, blood pressure for men in the touch group was reduced for men (no significant difference for women) compred to males in the control group. The BYU researchers wrote "our data suggest that partner contact may be particularly cardioprotective for men."

Now that’s getting to the heart of the matter for cuddling up on the couch this winter.

Bob Condor blogs for American Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

One of the most successful eating strategies—to lose weight or increase energy or both—is to eat what nutritionists like to call “mini-meals.” Rather than the traditional three-square of breakfast, lunch and dinner, you will hear dietitians recommend splitting up your breakfast (part of it in the first hour you are awake) and the other half at mid-morning, plus eating a smaller lunch with a plan to eat a snack by 3 p.m. or so. For dinner the idea is to eat moderately, then finish the night with healthy snack.

You can get creative with what constitutes a mini-meal, but one important part of the more frequent/smaller meal approach is making sure you include proteins and carbohydrates along with some healthy fat. For instance, don’t just grab an apple. Cut it up and use nut butter as a dip.

“Mini-meals get people to think more about healthy options than something out of a vending machine,” says Emily Edison, a Seattle nutritionist whose practice offers nutrition counseling, personal training and fitness consulting. “Mini-meals are more like half a turkey sandwich, a tortilla rolled up with ham and cheese or soup.”

Edison said variety is best for your soup choices. You can look for soups with beans or veggies, ones that are broth-based. Minestrone is a great choice.

She didn’t rule out clam chowder: “I’m a big fan myself, so I would never say don’t have some chowder. Just not every day.”

Other ideas: Nuts with dried fruit. Or cheese and fresh fruit, maybe cheese and crackers.. A hard-boiled egg, apple and bun.

Sometimes a half-lunch doesn’t seem like enough. Make it three-quarters, that’s reasonable, just stop short of feeling stuffed. Plus, check yourself. Your need to polish off a whole lunch might occur because you are skipping a mid-morning snack.

Contrary to what some people might think—and some of us remember that actress Jan Fonda popularized never eating after 7 p.m.—Edison said there is no evidence that eating at night puts on pounds.

“It’s more that we gain weight when eating at night even when we are not hungry,” she says. “That’s why I am a huge fan of TiVO [or similar TV/video recording systems]. You don’t get in the habit of going for a snack [during commercials].”

Edison says adding protein to your snacks can lead to more clear-headedness and less thinking about being hungry. She talks regularly to clients about eating three mini-meals between a hearty breakfast and dinner featuring lean protein, a whole grain and at least two vegetables dinner.

“You probably never want to go more than three hours without some food,” says Edison. “And skip the big lunch. Unfortunately, the siesta system doesn’t really work in this country.”

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

That resounding whoosh you hear? Our exercise programs getting away from us with busy schedules at home, work or both.

But you can fitness can be part of every day. Make it a point to practice good posture. Think of it as standing up for yourself.

“Posture is such a great place to start,” said Steve Barbuto, a physical therapist and certified athletic trainer at Olympic Physical Therapy, which has numerous locations in the Seattle area. “You don’t develop bad posture overnight, so you won’t fix it in a day or two.”

Even so, you can do yourself a lot of good by embracing a personal posture campaign. And you don’t have to make it obvious—“oh, excuse me while drop and do 20 pushups.

“The one thing I would recommend for any of us who stand for any extended period is to find some way to lift up one foot,” said Julie Gudmestad, owner of the Gudmestad Yoga Studio in Portland, where she teaches classes and serves clients as a physical therapist. “Get one foot onto something, like the rung of a chair, a step, a curb, something. Just doing that will lengthen the back and cut down on pain.”

Note that Gudmestad is not suggesting we keep a rigid form and that the knees are never locked.

Gudmestad writes the popular and informative “Anatomy of a Yogi” column for Yoga Journal magazine. She is happy to focus on small changes that can make a big difference during the holidays and beyond.

“Another good thing to do if standing for long periods is to clasp your hands behind you at tailbone,” she said. “Straighten your elbows and that pulls the shoulders and chest back and down. I call it the ‘chest opener.’ “

For his part, Barbuto said “lightly engaging your abdominal muscles but not 100 percent” can change your daily stress levels for the better. He likened your abs to “marathon muscles” best worked a little bit at a time over a long time rather than more intense, shorter bursts.”

“We stabilize our bodies from the inside out,” he said. “Abdominal muscles stabilize us, provide more balance and support. Most other muscles are there for movement. The abs support all of that movement.”

One common mistake we make, said Gudmestad, is moving our heads too far forward as we stand. The result is we slump, rounding our backs from the tailbone to the elbows. Taking occasion to clasp your hands behind the tailbone can offset that posture snafu.

As for sitting, Gudmestad said most people tend to “slide their butt forward to the front edge” of a chair, which bends the back into a C-shape. Her posture remedy is making it a point to sit on the front edge of your chair but sitting tall rather than leaning or scrunching forward. You can employ the hands-to-the-tailbone clasp to further enhance your posture break.

When eating, remember to sit back fully in your chair. If possible, place a small pillow or folded sweater behind the small of your lower back. This lumbar support doesn’t have to be much thicker than three to four inches to boost posture and prevent backache.

“Do the same thing while you drive too,” said Gudmestad.

“Ideally, that pillow or sweatshirt or towel behind your back will push the hips forward to line up just above the knees,” said Barbuto.  “The support back there is a great reminder to keep upright.”

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

As medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic at Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Dr. Ben Danielson offers a credo for kids and parents alike: Listen to the body.

“And don’t put earmuffs on the stomach,” added Danielson in between patients last week.

Danielson explained the stomach and digestive tract lining or gut has a “mind to interpret how food can be used by the body.” Studies indeed show that neural cells in the digestive lining are remarkably similar to neural cells in the brain. Some researchers even refer to the gut as “second brain.”

Seems there is something to the concept of following your gut instinct.

I will admit to a gut instinct about the recent Food and Drug Administration announcement that the pharmaceutical drug Nexium—you might know it from TV ads as the “purple pill”—has been approved for use among children one to 11 years old. Nexium was approved a few years ago for kids 12 and up who suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.

The news makes me wince. Whether adult or child, taking any drug for GERD is not intended to be an early treatment. But let’s face it: Some doctors and patients (and now, potentially, parents) are quick to seek out a pill that will “solve” the digestive problem.

GERD is caused by weakening of a muscle or sphincter in the lower

esophagus. The sphincter typically contracts to prevent stomach content (with strong acids) from backing up into the esophagus. Some foods and medications can act to inadvertently relax the sphincter.

Nexium is designed to heal the esophagus. Opponents of the approval quickly point to reported side effects such as diarrhea, dizziness, headaches, nausea and vomiting.  It should be noted the new FDA approval is for short-term use of time-delayed capsules or liquid at about half the teenage dose.

 “While Danielson endorses a “step-wise approach” that shelves Nexium until all other options are exhausted, he does recommend parents taking a child to see the doctor if digestive problems or symptoms are persistent.  Severe abdominal discomfort, lower chest pain, heartburn, hoarseness, unexplained vomiting, anemia, respiratory symptoms and the sensation of food backing up into the mouth or getting stuck in the throat all formidable reasons for a physician’s visit.

“Reflux has an emotional and stress element to it,” said Danielson. “Stress can trigger reflux in a child just as much as an adult.

 “Like any medical condition in children, it always makes sense to look for the simplest, most natural and feasible treatment,” said Danielson. “Before medications or chemicals or even radical changes in lifestyle, you want to look the simplest adjustments in diet, sleep and exercise.”

Research shows caffeine leads to an increased risk of miscarriage and prompts more questions about coffee drinking for obstetricians like Dr. Susan Harvey.

“This week and forever,” said Harvey.

Harvey has been part of the Seattle Obstetrics & Gynecology Group for nearly 20 years. Her coffee advice to patients, who mostly deliver at Swedish Medical Center, hasn’t changed much during her tenure.

“There was a large study published about 20 years ago that showed caffeine in large amounts increased a woman’s risk of miscarriage,” says Harvey. “Of course, back then, a large amount equated to a pot of coffee. These days we drink lattes.”

Either drip or espresso, Harvey and her colleagues have long recommended that pregnant women “limit exposures” to avoid any increased possibility of miscarriage.

Recent studies, for the first time, have controlled for the morning sickness factor or the symptoms of vomiting and nausea that lead many women to avoid coffee altogether in early weeks of pregnancy.

“Lots of women don’t feel that well during the first two to three months, so they don’t feel like drinking coffee,” said Harvey. “They opt out by choice.

Findings arguably represent a stronger precaution against caffeine intake from all sources—including coffee, tea, sodas and chocolate—because the pregnant participants kept their daily coffee habits as usual. Those habits ranged from none to moderate to heav

Dr. De-Kun Li, a caffeine and miscarriage researcher, has said the “main message” is pregnant women should consider stopping caffeine consumption during pregnancy and that sodas, tea and hot chocolate can have a similar negative effect as coffee. She said caffeine crosses from the placenta to the fetus, and that the fetus has a underdeveloped metabolic system that struggles to process the caffeine. There is also some scientific evidence to suggest caffeine disrupts healthy cell development and decrease placental blood flow to the baby.

Other risk factors such as smoking, certain infections and a mother’s advancing age (35 and older) are more strongly linked to potential miscarriage than caffeine intake.

Beauty and related surgery is in the eye of … the women’s magazine reader? Well, yes, if a recent University of British Columbia study is your source. 

Researchers from the top university in Canada’s most scenic province published a paper showing that women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan and O: The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, describe cosmetic surgery as a potential physical risk but in the end worth it emotionally. 

Here at the Alternative Healtb Blog let’s call that highly debatable. And that’s just for starters. 

What’s more, the UBC study showed that male opinions about female beauty and attractiveness is routinely used by women to justify cosmetic survey. A content analysis of the magazine show a disproportionate amount of articles about breast implants for women 19 to 34 years old.

"Women's magazines present co smetic surgery as a normal practice for enhancing or maintaining beauty, becoming more attractive to men and improving emotional health," says Andrea Polonijo, who conducted the research at UBC. She focused20on Canada’s five most popular health and beauty magazines read predominantly by women: Cosmo, O, Chatelaine, Flare and Prevention. 

Polonjo says the lack of editorial discussion of emotional downsides to cosmetic surgery is perhaps most troublesome. Only one in five articles pointed out any possible emotional fallout. Research shows anxiety and depression are not uncommon among cosmetic surgery patients.

UBC co-author and sociology profession Richard Carpiano adds that two distinct ideal candidates emerge in the cosmetic surgery stories. One is the “unhappy, insecure, lonely woman looking to boost self-confidence and self-esteem” while the other type is a “successful, attractive, confident woman with high self-esteem” who seeks the procedure to maintain perfection.

"These two profiles represent extremes of a wide range of attitudes, for which many women may view themselves as being somewhere in-between," says Richard Carpiano. "This potentially allows for cosmetic surgery to be presented as an option for many women regardless of their preoperative emotional state."

The researchers didn’t write to this factor, but it’s clear that women’s magazines influence young females to a deep extent. The subject of cosmetic surgery, like it or not, is a logical topic for these publications. There’s no denying that and readers will simply look elsewhere for information if a magazine took a stand to the contrary. 

But writing about the possible emotional downsides is not asking too much—of editors or for their impressionable readers.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

It’s possible you are walking right past a highly effective health therapy every time you visit a fitness club or gym. Those saunas, steam rooms and hot tubs in the locker room are proven allies for your immune system and circulation

And there is research to prove the point.

“Anyone who does a search of the European research literature will discover lots of studies to show the health benefits of saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and other forms of hydrotherapy],” said Paul Anderson, a naturopathic physician and core faculty member at Bastyr University in the Seattle area.  “You will find a good number of German studies and even more from Nordic countries. Plus, there is considerable Asian research.”

What the peer-reviewed science shows is that heating up the body’s core temperature brings s primary benefit of increased blood flow.

“That means more oxygen and fresh nutrients,” said Roger Herr, a spokesman for the American Physical Therapy Association based in Washington, D.C. “This leads to more healing, whether it’s to recover from an injury or soothe your sore muscles.”

Anderson said your time in the sauna, steam room or whirlpool will “dilate the peripheral arteries” or those closest to the skin for a more full-bodied heat. With it, two positive and practical things occur.

“For one, the heat forces the body into a different state,” said Anderson. “As more blood moves around, it dampens down your blood pressure a bit. The arteries are more open.”

The second result is “the heat itself relaxes your skeletal muscles so you are less tense and tight,” said Anderson. “You are less stressed out.”

One caution from Anderson: If you have a cardiovascular condition, especially blood pressure irregularities, don’t establish a sauna, steam or hot tub habit without supervison by your physician. The heat might cause your blood pressure to drop too rapidly.”

You can enhance the health boost of saunas and such by alternating hot and cold exposures. Herr said he frequently recommends “contrast baths” to his clients. This approach works particularly well for individuals who tend to re-injure or chronically aggravate the same joint or muscles.

Herr said he recommends soaking in hot water for 10 minutes or so, then switching to a cold bath for the next 10 minutes.

That’s if you can stand it. The cold water bath is sort of an acquired tolerance. You might find that your cold bath lasts half as long as the hot bath. But the more you can equalize the two, the better the outcome.

“The contrast allows you to get the benefits of the heat but not to overheat,” said Herr.

Anderson said European and Asian doctors routinely prescribe this hot-cold alternating to go through three cycles each. You end with the cold.

“If you just do the heat, your body is stagnant,” said Anderson. “You open the blood vessels but feel sort of ‘blah.’ The heat-only might be good for sore muscles but your immune system gets the better boost from the hot and cold.”

What’s more, Anderson said the hot-cold cycle achieves a “pumping action” that lasts in the body for up to hours beyond the time in the sauna, steam or hot tub.

Just how long you need to spend in the heat and cold varies by practitioner. Anderson said even a few minutes in each temperature will work if you can get the body suitably heated. Some tips: Hot tubs will warm up you faster than the sauna, while steam rooms sit in between. In the sauna or steam, moving a bit can help wrachet the heat.

“The hot tubs will dry out your skin more than the other two,” he noted. “You have to re-moisturize or run the risk of drying out and aging your skin faster.”