Study Links Processed Food to Depression

A team of researchers from the University College of London said in their study that eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression compared to people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish.

The study was made by splitting 3,500 participants into two different types of diet. One group had a diet based on whole foods, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish. Another group ate mainly processed food diet such as fried food, processed meat, sweetened desserts, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.

A significant difference in depression risk with the different diet were established after factoring in the gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic diseases of the participants.

It was found out that those who consumed mostly whole foods had a 26% lower chance of having future depression compared to 58% higher risk of depression for people eating diet high in processed food.

The British Journal of Psychiatry reported that the study is the first done that looks at the UK diet and depression.

Margaret Edwards, head of strategy at the mental health charity SANE, said: “Physical and mental health are closely related, so we should not be too surprised by these results, but we hope there will be further research which may help us to comprehend more fully the relationship between diet and mental health.”

Has The Fountain Of Youth Been Discovered?

Imagine that someone told you that the fountain of youth was discovered and all you have to do is put up forty bucks and you can have a jar of it to drink or eat. I’m sure you wouldn’t fall for that obvious line of baloney but you hear it all the time. But unfortunately many people do fall for this sort of stuff. Most people are like goldfish. Not that they have fins and swim around in a fish tank but because goldfish have an attention span of only three seconds. That’s right, only 3 little seconds!

This means that fish are slow learners. After all, what can possibly be learned in just three seconds? So if they eat a small disgusting worm that makes them sick, three minutes later they will eat another one and get sick again. Yes they will eat another tiny slimy worm and get sick all over again. So what happens after they give the salesman forty dollars for that fountain of youth in a jar and it doesn’t work? They forget all about the first sale and in a few seconds just like the goldfish that at ate the worm they give another forty dollars to the next salesman claiming the exact same thing. So to comprehend this, even though there is no fountain of youth in a jar, there are three important things to take into consideration that can make you live up to twenty percent longer and look years younger.

First is having a positive mental attitude. That’s right, positive thinking actually makes you live longer. In fact, a study done at the Mayo Clinic revealed that optimists lived 20% longer than pessimists! Imagine that looking on the bright side and cracking a smile every once in a while may put 10 or 15 years on your life. There’s another interesting side note to optimists. They have more friends!

The second thing to consider is exercise. Of course you’re aware that everyone is always talking about how good exercise is. You work hard at the gym and you run circles around the race track and maybe you live an extra year from doing this. Of course it may be the last year when you’re too old to care about it anyway. Well, it gives me great pleasure to tell you just how wrong you are when considering this. A groundbreaking study published in JAMA in 1994 showed that the bodies of forty postmenopausal women became fifteen to twenty years more youthful after the women lifted weights twice a week for a year.

Lifting weights twice weekly certainly is not slaving away in the gym. This is something you have to understand to get the full grasp of it. That’s something anyone can do to look years younger and feel great. I know it’s not quite as intriguing as the fountain of youth and may take a little more time but it really does work.

And here’s another interesting exercise fact, exercise can even overcome bad genes which most people thought was unthinkable. In a study of sixteen thousand sets of healthy twins, researchers kept track of their lifestyle for two decades. At the end of the study, they discovered that those who exercised regularly and at thirty minute intervals twice a week cut their risk of dying nearly in half when compared to their sedentary sibling that did not exercise.

This brings us to the third and final reason. It is reducing free radicals to avoid damage. most experts disagree about exactly what causes our bodies to become damaged and age quicker than others, one of the leading theories attributes it to damage caused by free radicals. These molecules that are missing an electron, bind with healthy cells in our body and wreak havoc on those cells’ ability to function. According to this theory, the most optimal approach to slowing the aging process is to provide the body with plenty of ammunition against free radicals. You can do this by increasing your intake of antioxidants and other healthy nutrients. Our bodies produce many antioxidants to counteract the damage, but if there is not a huge enough supply in our body, cellular damage may not be repaired and sooner or later, we become very ill.

Forget for a few moments about carbohydrates, protein and fat. Instead focus on food as a source of antioxidants for your health. The most powerful food sources of these all-important nutrients are vegetables and fruits, so those should be the greatest portion of things on your plate. Round out each meal with whole grains, like brown rice, whole wheat bread, cereal and pasta, plus low-fat dairy products and lean meats. Sugar and fat should be the smallest category.

The National Cancer Institute did a study that shows how powerful a diet of this kind can be. It is the key to great health. Researchers examined eating habits of over forty five thousand women and found that those who ate a diet high in fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy and lean meats cut their risk of dying from disease by thirty percent. This is an outstanding finding.

So there are multiple ways to drink from the fountain of youth! These are maintaining a positive mental attitude, exercise regularly, and eat a proper diet can keep you happy and healthy as you become older and much wiser! And hopefully you will enjoy the process of growing older with that life has to offer.

You're reading The Healthy Boy, a living well series from Adam Reynolds. We'll be following along as Adam eats and exercises his way through a healthier lifestyle, providing fitness tips, delicious recipes, and nutritional advice.

Do you love to bite your choppers into a big juicy hotdog, soaked with mustard, ketchup and wedged between a juicy white bread bun? Maybe you are slightly health conscious, or avoiding carbs, so just opt for the meaty wiener instead? Well as it turns out, neither option is a particularly healthy one and once you have a read this post, you may just want to want to by-pass the hot dog stand at the ballpark or on the corner of 42nd Street altogether.

Personally, I never really craved or sort out hot dogs as a snack or comfort food. Sure, growing up in Australia I would have the occasional one at a barbeque or at a children’s birthday party, but I personally always tripped over any unsuspecting kid for the sugar-laden cupcakes or bowl full of m and ms.

But for those of you who enjoy the occasional hot dog, it’s probably wise that you know exactly what goes into your favorite tail wagger. Whilst this post is by no means saying you should never have a hot dog again, it will provide you with accurate information so you at least make wiser decisions in searching out healthier options and / or alternatives.

So what is a hot dog exactly? According to Wikipedia “A hot dog (also known as a frankfurter, frank, wiener, or weenie) is a moist sausage of soft, even texture and flavor, often made from advanced meat recovery or meat slurry.” Yep, you read it right, meat slurry. Sounds tasty right? Two words that just make you feel all warm and cozy inside. Lets talk about what that is exactly.

In an ideal world, when you order or buy a pork hot dog or sausage, you think you are getting pork meat and nothing else. Same goes with beef hot dogs, chicken etc. But the reality is manufacturers throw a whole variety of other things into their products to fill up their hot dogs, fill up your stomach, and consequently fill up their wallets.

The good news is there are laws in the United States that regulate hot dogs. Manufactures have to distinguish on their package what is (or isn’t) in their product. All Beef or Beef hot dogs must contain beef with no fillers or by-products. Wieners normally are a combination of beef, pork and chicken. And frankfurters? They can consist of meat, meat by-products, and fillers. Lovely ingredients that can not only derail any diet or healthy eating plan, but can make you begin to resemble the four legged creatures these items are derived from.

So what are these elusive meat by-products? You may see statements on the packaging such as “made with variety meats”, “includes meat-by products” or “contains MSM” (MSM stands for mechanically separated meats). This basically means you are eating parts of the animal, but not the parts you would like to be consuming, or like to know you are consuming. Parts often include heart, kidneys, and liver, not to mention blood clots, snout, connective tissue, lips…and hair. The FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) classifies MSM as "a paste-like and batter-like meat product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible meat, under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue”. Mmmmmmmm, yummy.

Now you might be saying “Sure, they contain animal products, I knew that. But are they healthy?" Well let’s take a look at this from a different health perspective. A hot dog is considered processed meat, which as mentioned above isn't from a single part of an animal (as say chicken breast is from chicken or filet mignon from cows for example) and they typically contain high amounts of saturated fat, nitrates as preservatives, and high levels of sodium.

Nitrates found in hot dogs are suspected carcinogens and several studies show a direct link to cancer. Consumption by children have also been directly linked to childhood cancer rates. A study in Los Angeles by Peters et al. found that children eating 12 or more hot dogs per month had over nine times the normal rate of developing childhood leukemia. Other studies show that people who eat processed meats including hot dogs have a 67% increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Nitrates aside, these popular stadium treats are not one of the most nutritionally balanced meals. They can contain anywhere of up to 30% fat with he majority of that being saturated, which is solid at room temperatures. Saturated fat is like that ex we all have: You know they bad for you but can't stop yourself from going back for more. Sure you wont be drunk dialing that hot dog at 3am on a Saturday morning (or maybe you do?), but it needs to be avoided at all costs due to its ability to clog up your arteries and increase your blood pressure.

Hot dogs and sausages can also contain anywhere from 80-130 calories a link, which would require over 30 minutes in an aerobics class or close to an hour of brisk walking to burn off.

But are all hot dogs the same? Absolutely not. Being a consumer you have an incredible power to choose the products that you buy, and all you need to do is look for a few simple things to make more informed decisions and avoid any snout and nitrates in your dinner;

1. Avoid any hot dogs that contain Sodium Nitrate on the ingredient list.

2. Look for labels such as “Kosher”, “fat free” or “All Beef”. These contain the best quality cuts of meat (no pork in the kosher) and are the lowest fat. I recommend Hebrew National Kosher 97% Fat Free Beef Franks.

3. Read the nutritional panel on the back and avoid any hot dogs that contain large amounts of saturated fat. It is recommended that saturated fat should not exceed 7% of your total calories per day.

4. Read the ingredients list! It only takes a second to flip over the package and read what’s actually contained in the product. Pay attention to the first three ingredients; these are what makes up the majority of your product. If it contains any of the above mentioned meat by-products or terms, or any chemicals that you cannot pronounce, then don’t buy it.

5. Also continue to be mindful of vague and misleading statements on packaging. Did you know that “All natural casing” really means “Made from pig intestines”? Really makes you want to lick your lips.

Hopefully you have found this information helpful and it had given you some more insight on how to make more informed decisions when you are choosing your hot dogs. You can still enjoy the occasional wiener. Just remember to consider the points above and you can be rest assured that you are doing your body a favor. And do try to avoid those 3 am drunken dials, or it won't just be all those condiments slathered on top of your frankfurt that are considered messy.

Sparks Coach Jennifer Gillom has an unanticipated issue.

Over the past week at training camp, she said almost every player has exceeded her expectations.

"It's hard to say who's going to be on this team and who's not," said Gillom, a former assistant for the Minnesota Lynx who's in her first season as the Sparks head coach. "It's making my job harder."

With many of the veteran players still overseas, some less familiar faces came through in a big way during the team's 78-58 preseason victory over the China national team on Saturday.

Rookie Rashidat Junaid, who averaged only 5.7 points this past season at Rutgers, led all scorers with 15 points, training camp invitee Aisha Mohammed had 11 points and 12 rebounds and rookie Andrea Riley added 10 points.

"You look and see what these girls are doing," Gillom said, "and if they're your bench, man, you've gotta be happy."

The Sparks' first regular-season game is May 15 at Phoenix against the Mercury.

Taking on many roles 

Ticha Penicheiro, a 12-year veteran who the Sparks acquired in February, knows her role on the team extends well beyond being a point guard.

To Gillom, she's an assistant coach on the court. And to Riley, she's a mentor.

After the team's first practice on April 25, Penicheiro pulled Riley aside and said, "When you're a point guard, you're not a rookie anymore. That title goes out the window."

Penicheiro wants to help the nation's second leading scorer from Oklahoma State take on her newfound responsibility — but she also wants Riley to know that she doesn't have to do everything.

"When I was younger, I'd put too much mustard on the hotdog," Penicheiro said. "I'm here to help her."

Two-a-days are cold

When practice ended this afternoon, guard Noelle Quinn wrapped her legs in ice from the bottom of her shorts to the top of her shoes.

"I'm feeling a lot better than I look," Quinn said.

Gillom is hoping that Quinn has a breakthrough season this year and said that her performance thus far in camp has been outstanding.

"She's been consistent more than any player out here," Gillom said.

Even though the past week of two practices a day has been grueling, Quinn acknowledged that her wind is improving and the team is bonding.

But before she goes to bed, she said, "my body feels like I'm 60-years-old."

– Melissa Rohlin