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Crimes of the Heart

And the heart attacked themed restuarants.

What was the sexiest thing you were hiding under your clothes this Valentine's Day? How about a healthy heart? We knew that's what you were thinking.

But customer service can be pretty sexy too, and nothing tells your patrons you love them like a) offering a monstrosity called the Quadruple Bypass Burger and b) suing another restaurant for offering heart-stopping food with a hospital theme that's too similar to your own.

Yeesh.

Remember, when it comes to your heart, exercise and Omega-3 fatty acids, good; Quadruple Bypass Burger and stress from lawsuit over the rights to the Quadruple Bypass Burger, bad.


But here's some news that will get the blood flowing again.

Two recent studies have shown meditation can play a role in lowering blood pressure and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. That's right. A consistent practice of sitting, breathing, and listening to the beat of your own heart could lead to it ticking away a few years longer.

One study, published by the American Heart Association, looked at the effects of meditation on high-risk people, many with already established coronary artery disease.

"After following about 200 patients for an average of five years, researchers said, the high-risk patients who meditated cut their risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from all causes roughly in half compared with a group of similar patients who were given more conventional education about healthy diet and lifestyle.

Among the roughly 100 patients who meditated, there were 20 heart attacks, strokes and deaths; in the comparison group, there were 32. The meditators tended to remain disease-free longer and also reduced their systolic blood pressure by five millimeters of mercury, on average."

The other study, published by the American Journal of Hypertension, was geared towards college students. The findings?

"Students who were at risk of hypertension and practiced meditation reduced systolic blood pressure by 6.3 millimeters of mercury and their diastolic pressure by 4 millimeters of mercury on average."

Dr. Theodore Kotchen, associate dean for clinical research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, thinks both of these studies go back to managing stress. "Hormones, neural hormones, cortisol, catecholamines - all tend to be elevated in stress," he explains. Kotchen is not alone in thinking these elevated chemical levels have a direct link to cardiovascular disease.

One more, slightly more provocative study, suggests that there might be a way to test your heart health right here and now.

Sit on the floor, extend your legs out, and try touching your toes. If you're flexible enough to touch your toes, your cardiac arteries are probably flexible as well.

What? Flexible arteries? Who cares?! The New York Times describes arterial flexibility this way: Supple arterial walls allow the blood to move freely through the body. Stiff arteries require the heart to work much harder to force blood through the unyielding vessels and over time could, according to Kenta Yamamoto, a researcher at North Texas and lead author of the study, contribute to a greater risk for heart attack and stroke.

What the researchers found in this study was a clear correlation between inflexible bodies and inflexible arteries in subjects older than 40. Adults with poor results on the sit-and-reach test also tended to have relatively high readings of arterial stiffness. In short, the study concluded that "a less flexible body indicates arterial stiffening, especially in middle-aged and older adults."

Some stiffening of the arteries happens naturally with age, and just because you've got tight hamstrings does not mean a heart attack is imminent. The good news is that even if your arteries have already started to harden, that stiffness may not be set in stone. A study at the University of Texas in Austin, also outlined in the New York Times article found that a group that stretched consistently over 13 weeks increased the pliability of their arteries by more than 20 percent.

So while time may be the only thing that can heal a broken heart, if your heart is merely stiff, try going to a yoga class!




Heart health lines up with the idea of whole person wellness. There's not just one pill you can pop, one veggie you can eat, one exercise you can do that'll guarantee a strong heart--it's the combination of lifestyle choices.

So from the bottom of our Recess lovin' hearts, we wish you a happy healthy, and stress free Valentine's Day weekend. And while you may want to consider going easy on the ooey gooey desserts, we're all about the red wine, for the sake of your heart's health, of course.


Find less stress and more flex with Recess! >>

Soda's Slippery Slope

It's not like it'll kill ya...right?

In a recent New York Times article, Mark Bittman, otherwise known as "The Minimalist," draws some scary parallels between the big guys pushing sugar-laden juices and sodas and the tobacco industry of several decades ago. Think marketing to children, making dubious health claims, lots of lobbying power in their corner...sound familiar?

The soda industry claims that moderate amounts of soda are fine, but moderation is not really America's strong point at the moment. Bittman cites the average soda consumption at 50 gallons per person, per year. 50!

While studies continue to link increased soda consumption to growing diabetes and childhood obesity rates, and while the industry continues to refute these studies, saying that other lifestyle factors are the main cause for disease, let's step back a sec and take off our scientist hats and put on our common sense caps:

Which body is going to be happier and healthier over a year? One that has to process 50 gallons of high fructose corn syrup-laden goop or one that gets 50 gallons of water?

The latter option is also, of course, cheaper. We love it when things work out that way.

Better than a sugar high, and without the crash! »

Don't Let the Summer Sneak Up on You!

Sign up for Recess Health Immersion Today! We all know it's true. Portland summers are too short and too beautiful to spend inside. Join us for eight weeks this summer to skip, stretch, cook, crunch, and karate chop your way to better health. Recess Health Immersion is open to anyone and everyone. All athletic abilities embraced! Dates: July 10 - September 4 Mon & Wed, 6:15-7:30 p.m. Sat 10:00-11:00 a.m. The program includes: * Pre and post body composition/fitness assessment * All of our personalized reports * Seminars on nutrition, cooking, exercise and integrative arts like yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Budokon, etc. * A cool group of "campers" and Recess instructors * Participant-only web portal access * Goodie bags and prizes worth over $200 Cost: $250 a month Discounts? Oh yeah! Have you heard about our early bird special? Sign up before April 1st and we'll take 20% off the cost of the entire program. That's a $50 savings! More questions? Email Alison at alison@recesswellness.com Sign up today for your best summer yet! >>

Do You Think This Needs Salt?

Maybe it's time to switch to pepper.

Here's a a health tip to take without a grain of salt: a recent study reports that a little less sodium could save a lot of lives.

The study, conducted by scientists at University of California San Francisco, Stanford University Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center, estimates that, "If everyone consumed half a teaspoon less salt per day, there would be between 54,000 and 99,000 fewer heart attacks each year and between 44,000 and 92,000 fewer deaths."

The biggest culprit for excess salt? Processed food.


In summary, if it's salt of the earth, score; if it's salt of the of the sauce made in a chemical processing plant; reconsider.

Add flavor to your wellness routine!>>

Don't Let Summer Sneak Up on You!

Sign up for Recess Health Immersion Today!

We all know it's true. Portland summers are too short and too beautiful to spend inside.

Join us for eight weeks this summer to skip, stretch, cook, crunch, and karate chop your way to better health. Recess Health Immersion is open to anyone and everyone. All athletic abilities embraced!

Dates:
July 10 - September 4
Mon & Wed, 6:15-7:30 p.m.
Sat 10:00-11:00 a.m.

The program includes:
* Pre and post body composition/fitness assessment
* All of our personalized reports
* Seminars on nutrition, cooking, exercise and integrative arts like yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Budokon, etc.
* A cool group of "campers" and Recess instructors
* Participant-only web portal access
* Goodie bags and prizes worth over $200

Cost:
$250 a month

Discounts?
Oh yeah! Have you heard about our early bird special? Sign up before April 1st and we'll take 20% off the cost of the entire program. That's a $50 savings!

More questions?
Email Alison at alison@recesswellness.com

Sign up today for your best summer yet! >>

Change is in the Air

In everything from food labels to thoughts on vitamins

Do you find yourself in need of a makeover this New Year? If you happen to be a food label, the answer is yes!


The Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling out the FDA on some of their tricky labeling antics. When Froot Loops are given a "Smart Choice" check of approval, you know something has got to be up. The CSPI thought so too. They imagine nutrition labels free of false claims and a clearer ingredient list: "For foods with several forms of sugar scattered around the ingredients list, those sugars would be combined so that they would show up higher on the list of ingredients. Percentages of key ingredients would be disclosed."

You can see a suggested version of the CSPI label at the New York Times Health Blog.

Still confused by all those numbers and strange chemical names? Eat more foods that eschew labels all together--fresh fruits and vegetables!





And speaking of looking at labels...

Do you ever find yourself deciphering the labels of vitamins, trying to decide which ones are best for you? You're not alone--but whether or not people understand what is in those daily tablets they take, sales of vitamins are going up by about 4% annually over the last decade. This New York Times article predicts that this year, with folks trying to save on medical bills and take their health into their own hands, vitamin sales will grow by 8%. That's a total of $9.2 billion. Spent in one year! On vitamins!

But are all these vitamins really working any wonders? Or forget medical miracles--are they doing anything at all? A slew of recent studies suggest that certain vitamins may not live up to all of their claims. Hmm, sound familiar?

An 8-year-long study by the Women's Heath Initiative, "provided convincing evidence that multivitamin use has little or no influence on the risk of common cancers or total mortality in postmenopausal women."

In another long-term study by JAMA, "neither vitamin E nor vitamin C supplementation reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events. The data provide no support for the use of these supplements for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older men."

So what do the experts think you should do?

You're never going to believe what Eric Rimm, associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health says. "The evidence shows that a healthy diet and exercise are the best way to ward off disease; a vitamin cannot replace those benefits."

But doesn't healthy food contain some of the same components as in vitamins? Yes, but it may be that attempt to isolate the good stuff that's causing the vitamin-related shortcomings. The health aspect of health food comes from eating the whole fruit or vegetable.

As Dr. Peter H. Gann, professor and director of research in the department of pathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago puts it:

"There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for the health benefits. Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?"

All of this uncertainty surrounding vitamins and supplements is one reason you'll never find Recess hawking any kind of powder or pills. We're all about creating "happy, peppy people," but without the mysterious side effects...



Plus, with money you save by stepping away from the supplements, you could do something that actually makes you feel good. Massage, anyone?

Here's to a happy and bountiful new year filled with smart choices for you and your health. Froot Loops need not apply.


Feel better, no supplements necessary ! >>