Home General Health Senior Health A little exercise goes a long way, especially in seniors

The word exercise often induces images of sweat and labored breathing, discouraging many people. Exercising on a regular basis helps us stay healthy and maintain our weight when combined with a balanced diet. Despite knowing this, many people go without regular exercise.

This is very apparent in the senior population, where dependent behavior is actually encouraged. Perhaps it is due to their perceived frailty. But according to new research, this perception may be doing our elderly a great disservice.

Home care aides provide seniors and older adults with services and personal care to individuals that can no longer take care of themselves. While making sure they dont overexert themselves is of great importance, a study was done to see if using this method of senior care was best for their overall health.

The study investigated homebound seniors taking part in three low-risk, gentle exercises as part of a program called Healthy Moves for Aging Well. These included a seated step-in-place, arm curls, and an ankle point-and-flex. All exercises were guided by at home aides, making sure that participants were performing the exercises safely. Encouragement was also given to the older adults to complete exercises on a daily basis, and they were frequently reminded of their health goals.

A total of 54 subjects took part in the study, ranging in age from 63 to 101. For a total of four months, seniors were asked to perform these at-home exercises.

The researchers saw significant improvement in the participants ability to perform basic activities such as getting to the toilet, pouring a drink from a carton, preparing meals, and doing laundry.

He continued, few physical activity programs targetolder adultswho have difficulty with basic activities, such as standing and walking. Programs that do so effectivelythrough physical or occupational therapy, for exampleare often too expensive for wide dissemination among this group of people.

Overall function and health outcomes saw an improvement, and satisfaction with the program ranked high with 98% of participants.

The researchers are quite happy with the outcome of this study. They want to get more home care aids to develop and become involved in a sustainable health promotion program such as this.

Related: Seniors who feel close to God have improved well-being through prayer

Related Reading:

Combination exercises beneficial for seniors

Seniors, stay strong with these tips

https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/geront/gnx101/3869650/Promoting-Seniors-Health-With-Home-Care-Aides-A?redirectedFrom=fulltext

See the rest here:
A little exercise goes a long way, especially in seniors - Bel Marra Health

Unlike cetaceans, sharks seek no connection with us. A whitetip reef shark in the Indian Ocean.

A shark on a Spanish beach is a vividly terrifying image. The holiday idyll threatened by a sharp-finned deputation from the deep. This is no snakes on a plane fantasy. Potential disaster looms. There are children out there, for Gods sake. In a resort where the sand may be raked daily, and where a margarita is never more than a few euros away, such disruptive visions seem all the sharper.

Cant somebody do something about it? The animal was eventually captured and was found to be already wounded. It is a parable in a meme (to mix narrative metaphors): our infantile fear for our infants becomes the innocent animals death. In this case, via a harpoon administered either before or after its visitation.

For beach-goers used only to virtual, CGI terror, glimpsed on their blue screens, the reality out of that ultimate blue-screen sea is actually somewhat pathetic. A thrashing fish, tomorrows steak, taking a long time to die, paying for its mistake in coming into contact with a predator it wasnt expecting. I predict that we are only days away from reports of great whites off Cornwall which usually turn out to be basking sharks, whose appetites extend to nothing bigger than plankton. How strange we are, faced with our fleeting pleasures, that they must be tinged with mortality.

The summer sees us reconnect to the sea, an element on which we usually turn our backs either out of ignorance or trepidation. But we are not stupid. Our fear is not unfathomed. Beyond the possibility of drowning, and below that evanescent medium, any manner of terrors might lie from stinging jellyfish to ferocious apex predators.

I swim every single day in the sea throughout the year in the murky Solent under the shadow, not of a beach umbrella, but an oil refinery. I like the juxtaposition. It conjures up images of the days before package tours when Greenwich and Tower Bridge boasted Thames-side beaches, and Hampton Court claimed to be Londons Riviera.

Wading out in the dark before dawn, as I did this morning, I often get bitten by fish. A nip on the ankles from a bass is no Spielberg scenario. No ones going to need a bigger boat. But youd be a fool not to take a shark seriously.

This same sublime ocean is now poisoning those monsters. There will be more plastic than fish in it by 2050

Unlike cetaceans, their rivals for apex position in the sea, sharks seek no connection with us. Ive never felt so safe in the water as I have done when swimming near whales. Even when a pod of marauding, transient orca drove me out of the water in Sri Lanka earlier this year (after ramming and attempting to overturn our fishing boat), I could rationalise their behaviour as mammalian, sentient. Admirable, even. With sharks, it is a different matter.

Recently, a TV company from Barcelona thought it would make a good sequence if I swam in the citys aquarium in the company of its sand tiger sharks. With whales and dolphins, one senses a mutual curiosity. But these creatures, sliding by, looked at me through glaucous, reptilian eyes. There was no focus there, no reaction. I felt that the only interest they had in me was in the paltry mouthfuls with which my puny, bony body might supplement their diet. Last summer in the truly, rather than mimetically deep waters of the Azores, from the prow of a Zodiac, I saw a hammerhead shark twisting and turning in the sea below me. Even though I was safely above, I felt an atavistic frisson, as if it might yet leap up at me.

It is our imagination never less than a glorious thing that is at work here. But also, perhaps, a subconscious sense of guilt. This same sublime ocean, always so out of our reach, is now poisoning those monsters. There will be more plastic than fish in it by 2050. Our only resident pod of orcas have been unable to rear a healthy calf for 23 years because of PCBs and heavy metals in the seas. And last week came the news that a rare Cuviers beaked whale stranded on the Isle of Skye an image replete with so many levels of purity was the first cetacean death to be definitively due to plastic: 4kg of ziplock and carrier bags.

Meanwhile, anthropogenic noise in an environment that for almost all of its existence knew only the cracking of pistol shrimps or the echo-locating clicks of cetaceans now drowns out all else: diesel-powered freight, seismic surveys for oil, military sonar. When the shipping lanes from the US east coast to Europe were closed in the days after the 9/11 attacks, scientists studying right whale vocalisations realised their subjects had stopped shouting.

There are deep irreconcilables at work here: what we want the sea to be (a resort for our dreams, the edge of otherness) and what we have turned it into (a cistern for our sins). Any water is a mortal place as the families who lost their young men on Camber Sands last year know all too well. But the water is an immortal place, too, a place of magical transitions, for all species.

The dark shark slides into the clear warm water, laden with all of our presuppositions, all the vital disconnections between us and the rest of creation. It is dumb, stupid, dull-eyed, to our minds. But perhaps, in its dim, antediluvian memory, which predates ours by 400 million years, it thinks the same about us. And as fearful as we may be of it, our fear of its illimitable domain reminds us that we are still alive and kicking.

Philip Hoares RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR is published by Fourth Estate on 13 July

See more here:
Our fear of sharks is tinged with subconscious guilt - The Guardian

What happens when the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet meet? The MIND diet, a combination worth considering to help you stay mentally sharp as you get older.

If the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet had a baby, it would be the MIND diet. If you want to up the odds of staying mentally sharp as you get older, its a way to eat thats worth considering.

The Mediterranean diet has a well-established track record of promoting overall good health while reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet is a similarly healthy eating plan that is effective for lowering high blood pressure.

While both of those ways of eating have been shown to have benefits for brain health, reducing the risk of cognitive decline from dementia and Alzheimers disease, the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet is tailored to fit the current science, taking the best of both diets and going a step further. It was developed by Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center, through a study funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Theres no cure for Alzheimers disease, and even the approved treatments are not all that effective, so this really points to the importance of prevention, said Fran Grodstein, ScD professor of medicine at Brigham and Womans Hospital at Harvard Medical School, speaking at the Nutrition & Health Conference in Phoenix in May. If we can make some changes at the earliest stages [of Alzheimers], we dont need to worry about treatments or cures.

The most significant shifts the MIND diet makes are in its recommendations for vegetables, fruit and fish. For the effects of fish on brain health, the biggest difference is between people who eat no fish and those who eat at least one serving per week especially among those at high risk of Alzheimers. Research shows that eating a lot of vegetables especially green leafy vegetables is associated with slower cognitive decline, but when it comes to fruit, researchers only saw a difference with a few servings of berries each week.

Higher intake of fruit wasnt bad, but it wasnt providing any substantial benefits in terms of memory, Grodstein said. Blueberries and strawberries to a lesser extent differ because they are rich in anthocyanins, a type of phytonutrient that has positive effects on the areas of the brain that affect learning and memory.

What I love about the MIND diet is that its simple, attainable, and a promising way to keep the brain healthy, said Maggie Moon, MS, RDN, a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian nutritionist and author of the book The MIND Diet. There are no outlandish foods or overly restrictive rules. Its actually simpler than either the DASH or Mediterranean diets. And at the end of the day, its heart healthy and provides good nutrition for just about anyone.

Moon said that while the Mediterranean and DASH diets appear to reduce the risk of Alzheimers disease only if followed strictly, the MIND diet was effective even when followed less closely. Following most guidelines cut the risk of Alzheimers disease in half and kept the brain 7.5 years younger. Following about half of them still reduced the risk by 35 percent, she said. A randomized clinical trial is underway that will directly test the effects of the MIND diet compared with a standard control diet, based on the following 15 guidelines.

10 food groups to include more of:

Green leafy vegetables: Six or more servings per week

Other vegetables: Seven or more servings per week

Nuts: Five or more servings per week

Berries: Two or more servings per week

Beans: Four or more meals per week

Whole grains: Three or more servings per day

Fish (fin fish, not fried): One or more meals per week

Poultry (not fried): Two or more meals per week

Olive oil: Use as primary oil

Wine: 1 glass per day

Five food groups to include less of:

Red meat: Less than four meals per week

Butter and stick margarine: Less than one serving per week

Cheese: Less than one serving per week

Pastries and sweets: Less than five servings per week

Fast food: Less than once per week

So what can you do today to make your meals more MIND-worthy?

Double down on dark green leafy vegetables. Keep greens like kale, arugula, collard greens and spinach washed and ready to go so you can enjoy some daily.

Keep fresh or frozen blueberries on hand. Toss some fresh blueberries and walnuts on an arugula salad for a brain-boosting trifecta. Add them to oatmeal or smoothies.

Plan at least one fin fish meal for this week. Fish with fins especially salmon, sardines and anchovies are rich sources of brain-healthy (and heart-healthy) omega-3 fatty acids. If you enjoy shellfish, have it in addition to not instead of your one fin fish meal.

Cook a batch of whole grains and a pot of beans (drained, rinsed canned beans are OK, too) and use them in meals throughout the week.

Have a serving of nuts for a snack or sprinkle them on one of those leafy green salads.

I love that you can take the concepts of the MIND diet and apply them to any global cuisine, Moon said. Korean bibimbap made with fish, Mexican bean salad, Japanese buckwheat soba noodles with poached chicken. If you want to know more about the science behind the MIND diet, along with practical tools, check out Moons book, which includes 75 recipes, along with seasonal food guides, preparation tips, menu planning work sheets, and scoring sheets. Moon also puts her culinary school training to good use by posting new recipes on MINDdietmeals.com.

Read more:
Boost your brain health with the MIND diet - Seattle Times

kgw.com

A Diet For Your Pet? America's Cats and Dogs Are Getting Fatter kgw.com People aren't the only ones gaining extra pounds. Angeli Kakade (@angelikakade) has the scoop. KGW 4:48 AM. PDT June 27, 2017. SPONSOR CONTENT. Direct Expose · Elizabeth Shue Was Gorgeous in the 80s.. But What She Looks Like Today is ...

More:
A Diet For Your Pet? America's Cats and Dogs Are Getting Fatter - kgw.com

If youre looking for a quick and effective way to lose weight, chances are youve heard about the hCG diet. The three-week crash diet promises to help people drop large amounts of weight with the aidof injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone produced by cells formed in the placenta during pregnancy that issaid to help reduce feelings of hunger, thus allowing people to eat very little.

The hormone is also said to keep dieters from losing muscle while calorie-cutting, despite their being unableto exercise during the diet, due to low energy levels. This is one reason for the hCG diets prominence, as muscle wasting is a common side effect in crash-diet weight loss. Supposedly, hCG helps to elevate levels of other hormones in the body, including testosterone, creating an anabolic (muscle-building) state to counteract muscle loss.

In other forms of the hCG diet, people use over-the-counter products such as drops to ingest the hormone. These products are illegal, however, and are not proven to raise blood levels of hCG, thus leaving dieters feeling hungry.

Critics argue that the 500-calorie-per-day intake is responsible for the drastic weight loss associated with the diet, not the hCG hormone itself. The diet requiresthat those 500 calories consist of only one vegetable per meal, prohibit the use of oil, and adhere to low-fat macronutrient ratios.

Dieters prepare with two days of fat loading and then cut out most fats, and they lose several pounds per day over the course of the diet. Despite the supposed metabolic reset that the diet claims to stimulate, dieters often report feeling weak while cutting calories and then struggling to maintain their weight loss after the diet ends.

Still, the hCG diet has gained cultlike support from people who lose large amounts of weight in very little time. Blogs with tips for effectively dieting using hCG and weight loss success stories nurture a community of fanatical dieters who swear by the hormone. Perhaps the most prominent of these blogs is writtenby Rayzel Lam, better known as HCG Chica, who lost more than50 pounds usinghCG injections and created a program to help people maintain their weight loss post-hCG diet.

To me, the hCG protocol is an extremely efficient use of your time and energy, Lam tells Yahoo Beauty. You focus on your weight loss for three to six weeks; then you can move to a maintenance level of eating and go back to focusing on the other important things in your life. If I can spend three to six weeks focusing on this weight loss and then go back to a maintenance level, rather than undereating for, say, six months to one year to lose that 15 to 20 pounds, for me this is a much more realistic approach psychologically.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSCJklpXk/?taken-by=hcgchica&hl=en

Indeed, Lam admits that hCG fits the dictionary definition of a crash diet. The purpose of those who embark on this protocol is certainly to achieve rapid results, and it accomplishes that for most who do it, she says. The question is: Is that a bad thing?

Many health professionals would argue that crash dieting is indeed a bad thing. Aside from impacting your blood sugar and insulin levels in a negative way, the method of bingeing and skipping meals will also affect your mood, energy levels, and put you at an increased risk of getting headaches and dizziness, registered dietitian-nutritionistBeth Warrentells Yahoo Beauty. The eating behaviors also contribute to a poor relationship with food and promote bad eating behaviors that, over time, will contribute to weight gain and a greater difficulty in future weight loss.

Proponents of the diet are the first to admit that hCG is physically and emotionally draining, though. This protocol is difficult and can be taxing on the body, especially if done in an unwise way, says Lam, who used hCG injections without her doctors supervision. For instance, doing multiple rounds of the diet back to back without giving your body a nice break in between to balance out and normalize, or staying on the diet for too long a time.

Author, blogger, and registered nurse Lynette Sheppard agrees, explaining, There was one woman who was a cop who stopped after three days because she had brain fog and she suffered from really not feeling well. She had to be on top of it, shes a cop, so she had to stop.

Read More

Despite using the hCG injections instead of the homeopathic drops that reportedly do not curb hunger, Sheppard felt physically drained throughout the diet, but not hungry. Its an easier diet to do if you work at home or you can take some time off. Some people feel great, they feel almost euphoric on it, but I did not. My holistic physician and his wife said they felt really great. I did not feel really great. I felt fine, but I didnt feel great, and I felt tired every afternoon. Sheppard, as a nurse, was able to administer her own injections with the approval of her doctor.

Still, Warren argues that too many doctors are willing to prescribe hCG without sufficient knowledge. Im seeing more often doctors that do not specialize in weight promoting the hCG diet and prescribing the shots. This is as unsafe as going to anyone who does not have the expertise and background in diet and weight loss, says Warren. The public should only seek out medical professionals, such as registered dietitians, who are experts in the weight loss area to ensure you reach your weight loss goals in a safe and sustainable manner. Just because a doctor has the ability to prescribe medications doesnt mean he or she has the qualifications necessary to do so.

And while many dieters report weight gain after returning to normal eating habits, some, like Lam, are certainly able to keep the weight off. I am approaching my five-year anniversary of maintaining my weight loss from hCG injections in November, says Lam. I have not done any diets since I finished losing that weight in November of 2012. I make small corrections of two to three pounds here and there when needed; that is all. I dont care what diet you research or how healthy the mainstream media thinks such a diet is, it is not common to find individuals who have been maintaining their weight loss this long. Lam also argues that injecting thehormone helped her to prevent muscle wasting during her weight loss, a theory that Warren does not believe is possible.

Sheppard did not have such luck with maintaining her 15-pound weight loss, though. I kept it off for a few years and then went to France. And you still need to eat properly afterwards; you can eat but you have to avoid a whole bunch of things like sugars and refined flour, she says. So yes, I put the weight back on. The next time she attempted to lose weight, she decided to forgo the hCG diet in favor of the Fast Metabolism diet, which she calls much more humane.

Still, Sheppard believes in the metabolic reset that the hCG diet is said to spur, though shes not convinced that it can help maintain weight loss in the long term. I think that any diet can actually reset your metabolism if you follow it as its designed, says Sheppard. I dont think its unique in that. I think it probably did do a reset, but does that reset last? That depends on how you eat after that, how you keep up with your exercise, and on a whole bunch of factors, she says.

But Warren insists that following the hCG diet as its designed is unsafe, and she believes that it actually slows the metabolism. The only way to make this diet healthier is to increase calories to a safe level, at about 1,200 per day. The hCG isnt shown to add benefit of causing any more weight loss than an otherwise balanced diet of a safe calorie restriction. In other words, to make the hCG diet safe, you will in essence not be doing the actual protocol.

And despite testimonials of success, Warren is not convinced that hCG can healthfully foster long-term weight loss. She says that hCG is not only an ineffective way to lose weight over time, but due to its muscle-wasting results and decrease in metabolism, it is dangerous and can be life threatening. Whether it be the unknown combinations inside the supplement [Ed. note: Saidsupplements are illegal], the heavy calorie restriction, the eating behaviors and foods recommended, or the overall diet, the hCG is one of the worst diets out there.

Extreme weight loss like Rayzel Lams speaks volumes about the power of calorie restriction, but the jury is still out on whether hCG injections and the entire hCG protocol are safe or effective.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and@YahooBeauty.

Visit link:
Could the hCG Diet Be 'Life Threatening'? - Yahoo Health

Portioning your weekly meals into plastic or even BPA-free containers packs some major risks. Among them is weight gain.

If your Sunday nights are dedicated to meal prepping for the week ahead, youre part of a mighty group of health nuts.

The planning ahead of meals is a main tip of weight loss coaches, food bloggers and nutritionists.

Indeed, meal preppings popularity has exploded on social media. On Instagram alone there are 5.5 million photos tagged #mealprep and 1.1 million tagged #foodprep.

While perfectly portioned-out food for seven days does make for the perfect #foodporn snapshot, meal preppers are onto an idea that at least in concept is good for your diet, according to research.

People who spend more time preparing meals are more likely to have healthier diets, according to a 2014 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

They eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

They also eat at fast food restaurants only half as often as people who only spend less than an hour each day prepping and cooking their meals.

In addition, they spend less money on food.

More recently, a 2017 study of 40,000 adults in France found that people who meal prepped at least a few days at a time were less likely to be overweight and stuck more closely to nutritional guidelines.

The survey also found that meal prepping led to more food variety over the week.

Portion control is one key way food prepping helps people maintain a healthy weight or lose a few pounds.

A review of several studies around the role of portion control in weight management showed that eating the appropriate amount of food is directly linked.

One component of portion control that researchers stress is choosing the right portions of water-rich foods, like fruits and vegetables, and eating less energy-dense foods like most fast foods and candy.

If you prep your food, its easier to not only eat the right amount, but to avoid foods that are bad for you but oh-so-tempting.

However, if youre portioning food out into plastic containers, all of that healthy preparation could actually create a new barrier to staying trim.

Dr. Aly Cohen, a rheumatologist, as well as an integrative medicine and environmental health specialist who is on staff at the CentraState Medical Center, explained.

An effective diet is not just about healthy eating, managing sugar and carbohydrates, and exercise, she told Healthline. Reducing chemical exposure is also key because many of these chemicals can disrupt normal hormone function, impede weight loss, and even cause weight gain. Just because chemicals may not have an obvious effect, like causing a rash, doesnt mean they arent tinkering with your body.

Whipping up a big batch of healthy chili, scooping it out into several plastic containers, and quickly reheating it in the microwave come mealtime is one example of how a healthy meal prep turns into several dinners brimming with the harmful hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA).

BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic (plastic #7) and canned food linings, as well as many other things that we touch every day including our smartphones.

Most human exposure to BPA is through ingestion from canned products, but BPA can also be absorbed by touching paper that uses BPA to seal ink onto its surface [e.g., receipts, airplane and parking tickets, currency] and then touching your hands to your lips. BPA can also be absorbed in smaller amounts through the skin, Cohen said.

Cohen noted that BPA is pervasive 8 billion pounds of BPA are made every year since its one of the cheapest ways to make packaging.

BPA and if your plastic container is marked BPA-free similar, sometimes more harmful chemicals are lurking in your plastic food storage set of containers.

Heating up plastic containers by putting hot food in them or microwaving them can draw out BPA right into your food.

BPA was first discovered in 1891 and then rediscovered in 1936, according to Cohen.

It was used as an estrogen replacement drug for women, and it was also used to fatten poultry and cattle. In the 1940s it was discovered that linking the molecules together created a hard, clear, glass-like plastic, she said.

BPA can confuse the endocrine system, which regulates hormones, by mimicking estrogen.

Were regularly ingesting BPA, and therefore continually disrupting the messages that help our bodies function properly. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 90 percent of people have detectable levels of BPA in their systems.

To date, nearly 100 studies have been published tying BPA to various health problems, from diabetes and cardiovascular disease to infertility, according to the Endocrine Society and IPENs Introduction to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.

Some other effects of too much BPA exposure are directly contrary to weight loss and healthy eating goals.

BPA passes through a persons system fairly quickly, but detoxifying still isnt easy.

Despite the fact that BPA has a short half-life of six hours, which means an exposure will wash out over a day or so, people continue to have high blood levels, Cohen noted.

There are two problems with BPA, added Laura Vandenberg, PhD, a spokesperson for the Endocrine Society, and an assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. One is that we are constantly exposed in our environment, so the levels never really seem to drop. Even in people that have been fasting, metabolite levels in urine are still detected. The second problem is that, if exposures occur during a vulnerable period of development, like fetal development, the effects can be permanent even if exposures cease.

For adult meal-planning fanatics, constant re-exposure to BPA may mean that meal prepping is actually sabotaging your diet.

BPA is so ubiquitous, that humans are continuously exposed, making BPA pseudo-persistent, Cohen said. Whats interesting in terms of weight is that BPA can turn stem cells into fat cells and make fat cells turn larger. Thats not great news for our waistlines let alone our overall health.

A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2015 was the first study to prove that BPA-glucuronide (BPA-G), which accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the metabolites your liver produces when processing BPA, doesnt just get excreted from your body.

The researchers showed that BPA is an active agent that can prompt cells to become fat cells.

Thats not the only proven way that BPA exposure can interfere with your weight goals.

A recent study published in Endocrinology found that BPA exposure makes it much harder for you to feel full.

While meal prepping helps with portion control, the BPA in the plastic food storage containers may ironically be causing people to want to eat larger portions.

Even buying plastic containers marked BPA-free doesnt protect you from the harmful effects of plastic.

Some BPA-free products can actually release estrogen-simulating chemicals that are more potent than BPA.

Many products are now labeled BPA-free. However, BPA is often replaced with bisphenol S [BPS] and bisphenol F [BPF], which are less studied but appear to have similar hormone-disrupting effects, Rebecca Fuoco, MPH, director of Health Research Communication Strategies, told Healthline.

That means scientists and activists that study toxic chemicals like BPA and push to remove them from everyday products often end up spending a lot of time trying to figure out whats in the new compound.

When a chemical is found to be harmful, manufacturers change the molecule ever so slightly and put it out to market again, noted Cohen. From BPA came BPS, BPF, and BP-FB, which are molecules that have been found thus far to have more harmful effects than the chemical they were designed to replace also known as regrettable substitutions. Researchers are essentially playing whack-a-mole, because plastics and their ingredients are proprietary and considered trade secrets, so the recipes and ingredients are not shared with researchers or consumers.

In 2012, 4.7 million metric tons of BPA, valued at about $8 billion, was estimated to have been produced, according to GlobalData.

And reports of the harmful effects arent slowing production. The demand for BPA has risen 6 to 10 percent annually.

Oleoresin is a vegetable-based alternative that can add about two cents to the cost of manufacturing of cans, according to Cohen.

So far, it has only been used in a small percentage of cans on the market.

Our government has given more priority to manufacturers than to consumers. The vast majority of food packing ingredients are going out to market without ever being tested for toxicity, Cohen said.

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still considers BPA to be safe, stating on its website that their research has showed that BPA is rapidly metabolized and eliminated through feces and urine.

On the other hand, regulatory agencies in Europe have recently re-evaluated BPA. Last week, there was widespread agreement by countries in the European Union that this chemical should be labeled a human endocrine disruptor.

For Americans, though, toxic chemicals like BPA remain a concern.

We shouldnt expect individual consumers to have detailed knowledge of chemistry to make safe decisions for themselves or their families. Safety decisions should be made by regulators using the best available evidence. I will continue to push for improved regulations that use modern data to protect public health, Vandenberg told Healthline.

Even though BPA-riddled plastic containers are out there, Vandenberg and Cohen noted that people can still make small changes over time that add up.

Here are some ways to ensure your food containers arent keeping you from losing weight.

Meal-prepping in plastic is still better than no meal prepping at all, if it helps you eat healthier.

These chemicals are ubiquitous theyre everywhere. You should do the best you can. Cutting chemicals out of your life is a journey, not a race. Every day I learn something new and try to add it into my life, Cohen said.

This story was originally published on Healthline.com.

Read more here:
Meal Prepping May Actually Be Sabotaging Your Diet | HuffPost - HuffPost

BERRIEN SPRINGS MDOTs plan to put M-139 on a road diet didnt go over well with residents Monday afternoon duringan open house at Oronoko Township Hall.

Michigan Department of Transportation officials announced the lane reduction plan earlier this month. Theyll decide later this summer whether to move forward with the project.

An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety. You need an online service to view this article in its entirety.

Need an account? Create one now.

kAmr@=@>2 %C2?DA@CE2E:@? $6CG:46 r6?E6C |2?286C !6E6 !6:776C D2:5 |s~% H:== =@@< @G6C 4@>>6?ED 7C@> C6D:56?ED 2?5 564:56 E96? H96E96C E@ AFCDF6 E96 AC@;64E[ 82E96C >@C6 :?AFE @C 232?5@? E96 A=2?]k^Am

kAmpD 56D4C:365 E@ C6D:56?ED |@?52J[ E96 A=2? 42==D 7@C C65F4:?8 E96 ?F>36C @7 =2?6D @? |`bh 7C@> 7:G6 E@ E9C66 😕 E96 D64E:@? 4C@DD:?8 @G6C E96 &]$] b` 7C66H2J[ 36EH66? {6>@? rC66< #@25 @? E96 D@FE9 2?5 #65 qF5 %C2:=^t586H@@5 sC:G6 @? E96 ?@CE9]k^Am

kAm%96 2C62 92D 366? E96 D46?6 @7 ?F>6C@FD 244:56?ED @G6C E96 J62CD[ 6DA64:2==J H:E9 A6@A=6 4@>:?8 @77 E96 D@FE93@F?5 &]$] b` 6I:E 2?5 ECJ:?8 E@ 4C@DD E9C66 =2?6D @7 EC277:4 E@ 9625 D@FE9 :?E@ q6CC:6? $AC:?8D] %96C6 92G6 2=D@ 366? 244:56?ED 2?5 EC277:4 56=2JD 2E |`bh 2?5 #65 qF5[ H:E9 A6@A=6 ECJ:?8 E@ EFC? @?E@ E96 9:89H2J 😕 3@E9 5:C64E:@?D]k^Am

kAmx> 962C:?8 A6@A=6 D2J =62G6 E96 =2?6D 2=@?6 2?5 255 2 =:89E 2E #65 qF5[ !6:776C D2:5] (6 H:== 4:C4=6 324< ?6IE >@?E9 E@ 564:56 :7 H6 H2?E E@ AFCDF6 E96 A=2?[ 86E >@C6 :?AFE @C 232?5@? :E]k^Am

kAm!6:776C D2:5 E96 E9@F89E 369:?5 C65F4:?8 E96 ?F>36C @7 =2?6D 7C@> 7:G6 E@ E9C66 😀 E@ D=@H 5@H? EC277:4] w6 242<6 EC277:4 >@C6 4@?86DE65 😕 E92E 2C62]k^Am

kAmr@=@>2 |s~% EC277:4 2?5 D276EJ 6?8:?66C v2CJ {@J@=2 D2:5 |s~% 😀 4@?D:56C:?8 7:G6 @AE:@?D 7@C E92E D64E:@? @7 |`bh[ H:E9 E96 7:CDE 36:?8 5@:?8 ?@E9:?8] ~E96C @AE:@?D :?4=F56i C64@?7:8FC:?8 E96 ?F>36C @7 =2?6D 7C@> 7:G6 E@ E9C66[ 492?8:?8 E96 42FE:@? =:89E 2E |`bh 2?5 #65 qF5^t586H@@5 E@ 2 C68F=2C EC277:4 =:89E[2?5 255:?8 2 EC277:4 =:89E H96C6 D@FE93@F?5 &]$] b` EC277:4 4@>6D @?E@ |`bh] %96 7:7E9 @AE:@? 😀 E2<:?8 @?2== E9C66 492?86D C64@?7:8FC:?8 =2?6D 2?5 492?8:?8 E96 EH@ EC277:4 =:89ED]k^Am

kAm{@J@=2 D2:5 E96 C64@?7:8FC2E:@? @7 =2?6D 4@F=5 92AA6? 2D 62C=J 2D E9:D 72==[ 56A6?5:?8 @? E96 564:D:@?] w6 D2:5 E92E D64E:@? @7 |`bh 6?565 FA H:E9 E96 6IEC2 =2?6D 3642FD6 :E >2C<65 E96 ?@CE9 6?5 @7 E96 &]$] b` 7C66H2J 7@C >2?J J62CD F?E:= E96 7C66H2J H2D 6IE6?565 ?@CE9H2C5 😕 E96 62C=J a___D]k^Am

kAm|@DE C6D:56?ED 2?5 E@H?D9:A @77:4:2=D 😕 2EE6?52?46 |@?52J H6C6 D<6AE:42= @7 E96 A=2? E@ C65F46 E96 ?F>36C @7 =2?6D]k^Am

kAmx 5@?E E9:?< A2:?E:?8 =:?6D H:== 5@ :E[ q2C3 s6{@?8 D2:5] %96J ?665 2 EC277:4 =:89E] *@F 42??@E EFC? =67E 7C@> E96 7C66H2J E@ 8@ :?E@ E@H? Wq6CC:6? $AC:?8DX] x 86E @77 2E $?@H #@25 2?5 4@>6 :?E@ E@H? E92E H2J]k^Am

kAmx 5@ ?@E =:<6 E96 :562[ y@p?? w@@G6C D2:5] x7 E96J 4FE 5@H? E96 =2?6D[ H96C6 42? A6@A=6 >6C86n xED 92C5 E@ EFC? @?E@ |`bh 😕 E96 >@C?:?8 2?5 2E E96 6?5 @7 E96 52J] x E9:?< 92G:?8 =:89ED H@F=5 H@C< 36EE6C]k^Am

kAmp?:E2 2?5 s2G:5 {6H:D =:G6 @? {6>@? rC66< #@25 ?62C #65 qF5 %C2:=] %96J D66 2== E96 EC277:4 @? #65 qF5 2?5 5@?E E9:?< C65F4:?8 E96 ?F>36C @7 =2?6D @? |`bh H:== H@C<]k^Am

kAmx =:<6 E96 :562 @7 2 DE@A=:89Ej 2?JE9:?8 6=D6 E96J 42? 5:D42C5[ p?:E2 {6H:D D2:5]k^Am

kAmq6CC:6? $AC:?8D~C@?@<@ %@H?D9:A !@=:46 r9:67 !2F= %@=:G6C D2:5 96D 8@:?8 E@ H2:E 2?5 D66 H92E |s~% 564:56D]k^Am

kAm%96JC6 ECJ:?8 E96 =62DE 6IA6?D:G6 H2J E@ D66 :7 5C:G6C 3692G:@C 42? 36 492?865[ 96 D2:5] x? E96@CJ[ D=@H6C EC277:4 H:== >62? =6DD 4@?86DE:@? 2?5 244:56?ED] (6 92G6 925 D@>6 D6C:@FD 244:56?ED E96C6[ 6DA64:2==J 😕 E96 H:?E6C]k^Am

kAmq$~% u:67r9:67 qCF46 $E@G6C 2=D@ 92D 4@?46C?D 2?5 4@F?ED 9:>D6=7 2>@?8 E9@D6 H9@ FD6 E96 $?@H #@25 6I:E @77 E96 7C66H2J E@ 4@>6 :?E@ E96 G:==286 E@ 2G@:5 E96 AC@3=6> 2E |`bh]k^Am

kAmx7 E96J 42? D=@H EC277:4 5@H?[ :E D9@F=5 >2<6 :E D276C[ 96 D2:5[ 3FE H6 H:== 92G6 E@ D66 :7 A6@A=6 H:== 7@==@H E96 =:?6D]k^Am

kAmx> 😕 E96 D<6AE:42= 42>A[ ~C@?@<@ %@H?D9:A $FA6CG:D@C |:<6 w:=563C2?5 D2:5] x 5@?E 36C @7 42CD E96 D2>6 2?5 4FE E96 ?F>36C @7 =2?6D] %96 H:?5@HD E@ EFC? H@F=5 36 6G6? D>2==6C] x5 =:<6 E@ D66 2 DE@A=:89E 2E #65 qF5^t586H@@5] %96C6 2C6 `ad A6@A=6 H@C<:?8 2E w@?@C rC65:E &?:@? W@? t586H@@5X] (6 H2?E E@ 8C@H E92E 2C62 2?5 >2<6 :E 36 D276]k^Am

More here:
Residents object to M-139 'diet' plan - Herald Palladium

Mobile commerce is changing how retailers interact with consumers.

Shutterstock / GaudiLab

The online shopping space has become a complex paradox that fluctuates immensely between overstocking, price inflation and reactionary, constricted sales a method that few retailers and brands have mastered. This has created a market thats left even the heaviest hitters posting huge losses and in some cases shuttering hundreds of locations.

Though some are undeniably focused on how to navigate the future, theres a resounding, collective whiplash regarding how the retail market dug itself into this fiscal hole in the first place. Adobes May 2017 Digital Price Index for the apparel category draws a picture of the e-commerce space not only as the go-to for consumers, but also one that bloats prices and then constricts quickly. Its a crash diet of pricing and consumers are eating it up, much to the detriment of merchants that are facing a gap between online and in-store sales that's taking on black hole levels of enormity.

View post:
Crash Diet Pricing: The E-commerce Path to Success - WWD

You are what you eat, and what you put in your mouth can affect your brain.

The same foods that are making Americans obese may also cause them to develop Alzheimers disease, according to a new study published in the journal eNeuro, the latest to explore the relationship between weight and memory loss.

Researchers at the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology studied the effects of a poor diet on mice. They found that a diet high in cholesterol, fat and sugar may increase likelihood of Alzheimers onset for those with a genetic risk.

What happens to you in life is a combination of the genes that you have, the environment and behaviors, such as diet, said Christian Pike, the lead author of the study and a USC Davis professor, in a press release. Our thinking is that the risk of Alzheimers associated with obesity is going to be regulated to some degree by the genes that we have.

Pike and his colleagues studied people with the ApoE4 and ApoE3, two gene variants for the protein apolipoprotein E. The protein binds fats and cholesterol and transports to the brain, among other systems. Previous research has linked the ApoE4 variant to increased inflammation, Alzheimers and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers put the mice on a diet for 12 weeks. Mice with ApoE4 were placed on a control diet that was 10 percent fat and 7 percent sucrose while another group of mice ate a Western diet that was 45 percent fat and 17 percent sucrose. A similar test was run on mice with ApoE3.

Mice with the variants that ate unhealthy diets gained weight and became pre-diabetic. Those with the ApoE4 variant on the Western diet developed the signature Alzheimers plaques. Mice with the ApoE3 did not see dementia symptoms worsen.

Here is the original post:
Genetic risk and poor diet could lead to memory loss - i Advance Senior Care