These are super foods that probably never reach the inside of your shopping cart. I know there are a couple on this list that I’ve never seen. In my last post I wrote about what you needed to do to stay healthy as you got older. Basically it was eating right and staying active.

In this post I want to describe several super foods that will help you with good nutrition.

Beets. They are first on my list because I am seeing more ‘roasted beet’ salads on restaurant  menus.  I happen to like beats and that’s a good thing because they are outstanding sources of folate and betaine. These two nutrients work together to lower your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease.  I have never eaten the stems and leaves but others say they are good in salads or you can cook them as you cook spinach.

Purslane. This food has never been in my shopping cart either. I’m told you can find it at some Farmer’s Market and at some Whole Food stores. Interestingly, the FDA classifies purslane as a broad-leaved week but it’s a popular vegetable and herb in China, Mexico and Greece. It has the highest amount of omega-3 fats of any plant and has 10 to 20 times more melatonin, an antioxidant that may inhibit cancer growth, than any other. It’s eaten as a salad green.

Swiss chard.  I see this in my food market. It is slightly bitter and salty and native to the Mediterranean. It’s cooked as spinach. Cooked Swiss chard provides a huge amount of lutein and zeazanthin which are carotenoids. Carotenoids protect your retina from the damage of aging.

Cinnamon. I started taking cinnamon supplements about a year ago after I figured out I couldn’t get enough from graham crackers. Cinnamon helps control blood sugar which helps you maintain a healthy heart. There is also some conversation that cinnamon helps to reduce blood sugar levels in type-2 diabetes patients.

Dried plums or prunes. Restaurants serve them for breakfast. They are very sweet and usually linked to growing old and bathroom habits. I happen to really like them as I do enjoy almost all dried fruits. Prunes are especially healthy because they are very effective at combating a particular free radical that can damage to your cells. I like to eat them out of the bag or box but they are sticky so don’t drive while you eat them. Your steering wheel will be a mess.

More super foods for your healthy aging in my next post. In the meantime put these five on your shopping list.

Let me know if you have any good recipes for these. Write a note in the comments and I’ll email you for the recipe and share it with our readers.

To your healthy aging.
Ruthan

Ruthan Brodsky
Health & Business Writer
Content Marketer
http://ruthanbrodsky.com
http://fromretirementtocareerchange.com

Aging well is a science as well as an art carefully blended with a bunch of common sense. That’s my take on these later years. The more I think about it as the older I become, aging well is more than trying to look 10 or 15 or even 5 years younger than how you look.

Anti aging is all about wrinkle creams, Botox, fillers and plastic surgery. Read the rest of this entry

Sometimes  it is helpful for me just be aware that the holidays can make me stressful and sad despite the glitter and jingle and holiday spirit. My expectations aren’t something then that are impossible. And if I want to find reinforcement that I’m okay about the way I feel I bet I can tune in on a program of Dr. House around the holidays or watch one of the day time soap operas to find the televised fiction version of the same sad feeling.

As I wrote in my last post, I do have some strategies that help me get through this time so I can truly celebrate it with family and friends. This next strategy is mine. The others are ones that a friend and a reader suggested. Read the rest of this entry

We’re making plans to visit our daughter and family for Thanksgiving and I already noticed the fleeting moments of stress and negative thinking. The thoughts are not about anything concrete – merely anxious moments about what might happen. This post is a reminder to me to manage my stress and a heads up for those of you who sometimes find the holidays difficult

First of all keep in mind that heavy meals and constant snacking will take a toll on you physically. Add stress to that and you will feel tense. The chances are good you aren’t on any sort of schedule so exercise may move to the bottom of your priorities especially if you are spending time visiting and not getting much sleep.

Then there’s the time pressure of how do you visit with everyone in the short span of time that you’re in town or when they’re visiting you. Time pressure, stress, lack of exercise and overindulgence in good and drink – enough ingredients to make a perfect recipe for a holiday season sick in bed.

The good news is you can pre-empt holiday stress and blues. Read the rest of this entry

One of the best known of a group of chemicals called fruit acids or alphahydroxy acids (AHA) is glycolic acid. It’s derived from sugar cane so it’s considered a natural product just as citric acid from oranges and other citrus fruits.

Most of us know glycolic acid for its cosmetic purposes as a natural skin exfoliant and moisturizer because of its high acidity. What you may not know is that industrial uses for the product include rust removal and degreasing but that’s in concentrations of 70% or better which would be extremely dangerous to anyone exposed to the ingredient. In fact, the government considers any product with a concentration of glycolic acid over 10% to be a hazardous material which is why your cosmetic products usually offer less than a 10% glycolic acid concentration.

Glycolic acid works as an exfoliating agent because of its high acidity but is easily soluble in water.  When you put an exfoliating cream or gel on your skin, the glycolic acid goes under the upper layers of skin and destroys the material which holds dead skin to the surface. This dead skin is chemically burned off, the other ingredients in the acid carry the individual flakes away and a rinse with water neutralizes the remaining acid. All of which results in a much smoother skin surface and more youthful appearance.

Another benefit from glycolic acid is its ability to draw moisturizers into the newly exfoliated skin surface. That is why you will often find a complete system of skin care sold with a glycolic product because the other products contain moisturizers and neutralizers to counteract the more corrosive actions of the glycolic acid.

You need to be careful of exposing yourself to the sun even when you use the cosmetic version because the glycolic acid leaves the skin especially sensitive to the sun. You should be using sunscreen as part of your daily routine, but when you used a winkle cream with glycolic acid you can actually damage your skin.

Customers who want a more complete exfoliation often opt for what is called a chemical peel. Usually a chemical peel involves a scrubbing of the skin followed by an application of a powerful AHA such as glycolic acid. Concentrations of glycolic acid may be as high as 50 % or more.  As a result, a patient will look like he has a sunburn after a chemical peel.  It takes a couple of days to recover completely which means staying out of the sun for that time. Most patients say they have little discomfort and the results are worth the inconvenience.

Still another use of glycolic acid recommended for some is to prevent skin cancer. Glycolic acid peels are taken on a regular basis to exfoliate the actinic keratosis, a scaly patch of skin usually caused by too much exposure to the sun and considered a precursor for basal cell and squamous skin cancer.

As with any other acid, glycolic products should be kept in the correct storage conditions and kept somewhere where kids can’t get to them.

Some consider glycolic acid a miracle ingredient and the next best thing to the Fountain of Youth. Do you have any thoughts on this? Have you used products with glycolic acid. I welcome your comments.

To your success at healthy aging,

Ruthan

Anti wrinkle Skin Care Secrets
http://ruthanbrodsky.com
http://fromretirementtocareerchange.com

Spending money on products that you believe will help you look younger is an expense for both women and men. If you haven’t thought much about your skin and the wrinkles around your mouth or the crow’s feet near your eyes, but now you’re looking to re enter the work force, chances are you will start paying attention to those battle scars of getting older.

I love listening and watching the ads on TV informing us about this or that product that promises to make us look 20 years younger. I still can’t figure out how a cream can get rid of the jowls under your chin or the loose skin around your neck.

To determine whether a wrinkle cream works, you first have to ask yourself what are your expectations for the cream? If you think the cream will get rid of all your wrinkles, the product is not going to work for you.  No cream can do that.

If you’re looking for a face lift in a bottle, that’s not going to happen either o matter what the ads read.  However, the research does suggest that you may slightly improve the appearance of your skin depending upon how long you use the product and the type of the active ingredient in the cream.

Retin-A

Retin-A is probably the best thing you can do for your skin, no matter your age, along with using a reliable non-allergic moisturizer.  It happens to be a prescription medication for retinoic acid which has few side effects, up or down.

Retin-A accelerates the natural removing of the outer layer of your skin. Your skin is constantly turning over. Cells migrate to the top and then are eventually shed. It’s those cells at the top layer that give your skin the older and weather beaten look. Retin A removes that layer so that the next layer of skin shows which is smoother and doesn’t have the characteristics of older skin such as those aging brown spots. Retin a should be used nightly and covered with a moisturizer because the ingredient does dry out your skin.

Retinol is a vitamin A compound and is the first antioxidant used in a nonprescription wrinkle cream. Antioxidants are the substances that neutralize free radicals such as unstable oxygen that breaks down the skin cells and cause wrinkles. Retinol is less potent than the vitamin A derivative tretinoin, which happens to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating wrinkles.  Tretinoin, however, is only available in prescription.

Your next line of defense is the exfoliants which are not prescriptive. More about  those in my next post.

What do you think about wrinkle creams? Do you think they work? Type your answer under comments and let me know if you want me to share them with the other readers.

I recommend reading and using the information in this book if you’re interested in a more natural way to improve the appearance of your skin: Leon’s Anti-Aging Beauty Secrets

To your success at healthy aging,

Ruthan

http://ruthanbrodsky.com

http://fromretirementtocareerchange.com

Most of us believe that the older we are the more tired we will be.

News Flash!  Lack of energy is not necessarily a normal part of aging.

Feeling tired all the time can be a sign of serious health problems, however. The fact is if you are tired all the time so that you spend most of your day sitting on a sofa you need to see a doctor and let her tell you why you’re tired.

I learned this fact when I did my course work in gerontology. So much of those studies did focus on health issues and explanations of what was fact and what was pure myth. There have been studies throughout the years that repeatedly support this fact, the latest one taking place at Columbia University Medical Center and published in the July 2008 issue of Journal of Gerontology.

Here are other conclusions reported by the study:

• Fatigue or anergia as the medical term is noted is more common in women than men.

• It is more common in unmarried men and women.

• Patients who reported lack of energy had more impaired functions such as being more depressed, in pain, hearing problems, dizziness and isolation.

Part of the problem is that patients usually tell their physician that they don’t feel well and they don’t have much energy rather than describing any possible underlying causes. It is up to the physician to ask questions and determine if anergia is the result of a heart or kidney dysfunction, arthritis, lung disease, anemia and depression. It may even be a side effect from a medication.

What is probably the most important symptom for me is that 40 percent of adults with heart failure report anergia as a symptom of heart failure. It is also a major symptom of depression for people of all ages.

If you respond yes to these statements, my advise is to make an appointment with your doctor:

• I haven’t had much energy recently.

• My slowness is worse in the morning.

• I wake up feeling tired.

I nap more than 2 hours during the day.

You may want to make the same suggestion to your friends and family if they seem to be constantly tired.

To your success at healthy aging.

Ruthan

Ruthan Brodsky
Copywriter & Content Marketer
Freelance Business & Health writer

http://ruthanbrodsky.com

http://fromretirementtocareerchange.com

Researchers are just beginning to figure out how thousands of different compounds in one plant may interact with each other and with other plants. They are also learning how the concentration of a particular plant chemical affects its potency. For instance, peppermint tea is safe to drink, but peppermint oil, which is used for irritable bowel syndrome and indigestion, can be toxic if taken in high doses.

Some of you may also realize that the potency of wild plants varies even among themselves which is why many researchers are growing their own plants for study.  In either case, Consumer Lab tests supplement brands for quality and says it finds problems with 25% of all supplements especially with herbal products that ingredients from overseas. The difference is herbal and other supplements don’t require regulatory approval like prescription drugs which need to be tested in clinical trials and approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.

Now the federal government is stepping up research into the safety and effectiveness of a wide range of over-the-counter supplements. The purpose is to understand how compounds in the plants affect health and to help consumers make better educated decisions about supplements which can interact with their prescription drugs and cause serious side effects.

One of the problems is because they are natural, people feel supplements must be safe. Many use supplements for which they weren’t intended after diagnosing themselves for a certain condition. For instance, a current concern is the heavy use of black cohosh used by women to treat menopause. The problem is not enough is known about the herb even though it has been linked in some patients to liver damage.

This August the National Institutes of Health awarded grants totaling about $27 million to five dietary supplement research centers expanding the program that was already receiving  $250 million since 2002. The NIH is also funding research into botanical products through the National Cancer Institute which wants to find out how herbal ingredients can increase or decrease the risk of cancer.

A few of the recent findings from all this research:

• Chamomile capsules may help reduce anxiety compared to a placebo;
• An extract from the milk thistle plant can interfere with the life cycle of the hepatitis C virus;
• Ginkgo biloba does NOT prevent heart attack, stroke, or cancer or stem memory loss;
• St. John’s wort is no better than a placebo in treating symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and teens.

There is so much we have to learn about what nature has provided us. It promises to be an exciting journey.  In the interim, let’s all become better informed consumers and learn what we can about supplements before taking them. So much of our food is already fortified with vitamins and minerals we could be over dosing one or two vitamins without knowing it. More importantly, if you’re on medication, check with your physician to make sure that the supplement you want to take doesn’t interfere with your meds.

To your healthy aging,

Ruthan

Ruthan Brodsky

http://ruthanbrodsky.com

http://fromretirementtocareerchange.com

Contaminants, such as trace amounts of lead, were found in most of the dietary supplements tested in a Congressional investigation this past May.  The investigators also found that some supplement sellers also made illegal claims that their product cures cancer and other diseases.

The investigation was part of the effort of several consumer groups to get a bill through congress that would toughen the regulations of supplement manufacturers. The levels of heavy medals, such as mercury, cadmium and arsenic, did not exceed levels considered dangerous.

The bad news, however, is that 16 of the 40 supplements tested contained pesticide residues that did exceed allowable levels. For some of those found, the amount was not known to be dangerous or not because the government hasn’t set down the allowable levels of those pesticides since there isn’t enough research.

Investigators also found that 9 or 10 of the products made illegal health claims including a product containing ginkgo biloba that was labeled as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. There was also a product containing ginseng that was labeled as a treatment to prevent diabetes and cancer. The investigators also told of a salesperson at a vitamin store who told them garlic could be taken in place of her blood pressure medication.

The point here is that products are considered to be drugs if they claim to treat, cure, prevent or improve treatment. Every drug must go through strict regulatory reviews and tests.

The supplement industry has strong and powerful lobby groups which are working to dilute the bill if not cancel it altogether. Keep in mind that dietary supplements are a big business amounting to over $25 billion a year in revenues. At least half of the US adult population takes some type of dietary supplement. This amounts to $1100 a year spent on supplements by every American.

It is up to the Food and Drug Administration to oversee that supplements are safe and health claims substantiated. In spite of recent report by Consumer Labs which reported that more than 25 percentage of supplement manufacturers had quality problems ranging from inadequate quantities of the ingredients that are listed and many contained heavy metal. It was also reported an increase in the amount of imported supplements from China spiked with illegal drugs.  In spite of this information, the FDA reassures us that the trace amounts of minerals are not unsafe and everything is okay.

A representative of a trade association representing the dietary supplement industry responded that is was not surprising that herbal supplements contain trace amounts of heavy metals because they are found in the soil and plants.

More about herbal supplements facing renewed scrutiny for my next post. I welcome your comments.

To your successful healthy aging,

Ruthan

Ruthan Brodsky
Copywriting & Content Marketing
Freelance Health & medical Writer
http://secretstohealthandaging.com
http://ruthanbrodsky.com

Supplements that claim cures should be raising red flags on your computer.
You already know the dance: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

It is so easy to assume that any product that promises to help you lose weight, relieve cold symptoms, boost your immune system or reduce your joint pain has been approved by federal regulators just like prescription drugs. The occasional headline s in the last 2 years tell you differently.

In May 2009 the US Food and Drug Administration or FDA announced a recall of 14 diet aid products because of reported liver damage and one death in 2007 associated with the dietary supplements. That was the Hydroxycut brand. In April that same year the FDA warned to stop using Zicam intranasal cold-remedies because there were 130 reports of people losing their sense of smell. It had to do with the products containing zinc because zinc can be toxic to nasal nerve receptors.

If you believe that being a savvy consumer is important to where you are now in your life then you should know this regulation distinction about supplements although it may surprise you.  Diet pills and other dietary supplements, ranging from ordinary vitamins to herbal mixes are governed by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of DSHEA of 1994.  Treatments such as Zicam, on the other hand, are treated as homeopathic drugs under the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.  In both cases, however, and unlike prescription drugs, manufacturers are responsible for insuring that their products are safe. The government does not review the products’ claims before the packages hit the shelves.

That means when something goes wrong there is a huge impact because the product is on the shelf already. For instance, regulators didn’t know about the man who died in 2007 from the diet pill until 2009. Reporting any incidents is strictly volunteer. What’s more, supplement producers aren’t required to give the FDA precise ingredient formulas so if someone dies no one know if it were one ingredient or a combination of ingredients.

Until 2007 over-the-counter product and dietary supplement manufacturers were not required to report the adverse events to the FDA.  Zicam cold remedies settle 340 lawsuits in 2006 from people who claim loss of smell.

Part of the problem is that people who do suffer side effects tell their physicians or the manufacturer of the product rather than contacting the FDA. My advice if you’re interested in making  your adverse effect count. You can use the agency’s on line MedWatch reporting system at
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

In the meantime part of the new regulations is that supplement producers are now required to test all their dietary ingredients in their products to make sure they are not contaminated. Based on recent headlines, that’s not working so well either.

Mind you, I’m not advising to stop taking supplements. I am recommending that you stay updated with what is going on in the supplement industry.

More on supplement contamination in my next post.

To your healthy aging,

Ruthan

Ruthan Brodsky
Copywriter & Content Marketer
http://ruthanbrodsky.com