One Hundred and Twelve Days

How times have changed.  My previous daytime best reading was:

• '09/09/2013' 122/75

Then, 194 days later, I went hypertensive.  I've just performed a BP test and got:

• 120/72

Since my first hypertensive reading ('22 March 2013'), it has taken 112 days to get a lower daytime reading ('12 July 2013').  I have had other readings almost as low and I've had several very low readings at night - but the significance of a work-time reading like this is tremendous!

Sleep; the Great Healer! Oh, and pretty much only one coffee a week (if at all)!

Gluten Intolerence

New Scientists today suggest gluten intolerence is for most people, 'all in the mind'.  I'm not so sure but I liked this paragraph,

• Accepting a psychological explanation of gluten intolerance is especially difficult because food aversions often turn into a way of life. Like religion, avoiding gluten requires personal sacrifice. Gluten intolerance creates communities, which, like religious communities, share stories of suffering and redemption, and share meals made special by the presence of a food taboo. It's no wonder people take offence at the suggestion that gluten intolerance could be psychological – after all, who wants to have built their way of life on a "mere" trick of the mind?

Not sure I will return to mainstream grain-based food just yet!

Omega 3 and Prostate Cancer

Apart from magnesium, potassium and D3 (during winter), I am not that big a fan of supplements.  I prefer to get what I need from food.  It seems to me that supplements are sold on the promise of a solution in a pill.  But there are two sides to such reductionism.

It seems that high levels of O3 can increase risk of an aggressive form of prostate cancer according to HuffPo (I couldn't see any hard numbers so although this is an increased risk, total risk may well be quite small - Examine digs further about the quality of this research),

• Writing in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the scientists said the evidence suggested that the fatty acids played a role in prostate cancer development. People tempted to up their intake of omega-3, particularly by means of supplements, "should consider its potential risks".
  Omega-3 fish oils are one of the most fashionable and popular supplements on the high street.
  They are said to have a plethora of health benefits, including protection against heart attacks and strokes, staving off arthritis, boosting brain power, and preventing behavioural disorders in children.
  Each year Britons reportedly spend around £116 million on fish oil supplements. Globally, omega-3 sales run into billions. In 2012, supplements accounted for 10% of the world-wide retail market for omega-3 products, valued at 33 billion dollars (£22 billion).

Looks like this *might* be a good enough reason to vary your food sources and add a seasonal element - but above all, eat real food.  Sound familiar?

Supplements

David Colqhoun on Nutriprofile: useful aid or sales scam? http://www.dcscience.net/?p=221

Follow the money...

Paleo Properties

I was thinking about how you'd define paleo food in just a few words.  It is tricky as paleo is evolving as a concept.  As with all movements it is splintering as it moves to the mainstream.  For many now, dairy is 'in' as are (traditional) grains when prepared in traditional ways. 

So what does this leave us with?  How would we define paleo foods?  Some ideas include:

• Could be hunted with a stick or foraged for.
• Can be eaten raw.
• Can be eaten after modest processing (soaking and cooking)
• Has an indigenous name in a native tongue amongst several cultures.
• Has a short shelf life.

How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety

From the NYT:

• "...other studies “show that physical exercise reduces anxiety in humans,” suggesting that similar remodeling takes place in the brains of people who work out.
  
  “I think it’s not a huge stretch,” she concludes, “to suggest that the hippocampi of active people might be less susceptible to certain undesirable aspects of stress than those of sedentary people.”
  
  
  

Jim Kelly

Sad to hear news of the passing of a great martial artist. RIP.