Famous Five fight dementia

 

Not an original headline – but a good one!!

 The Sunday Times tells us that until we know any different the best strategy for keeping Alzheimer’s at bay is to stick to the Famous Five –

·         Stop smoking

·         Keep alcohol intake down

·         Eat healthily

·         Exercise

·         Use your brain

 

Not rocket science and to be fair, its what we bang on about all the time!

So come on – get into the gym, check your diet (ask any of us in a Forefront Fitness gym – we can give you pointers in the right direction) and just keeping learning!

You can do this!!

Come along and find out how with us!

Dementia

Do you ever worry about developing dementia? 

Worried that your brain may become incapable of doing what you need it to do? 

Worried that even the simplest task will be beyond you? 

As we live longer there are more of us living with dementia.  There have been a variety of drugs that have tried to help – but reports show that there has been limited success with this – but what we do know is that what is good for your heart is good for your brain – and yes … you’ve got it – regular exercise can help to reduce the risk. 

 The recommendation is 30 minutes of brisk (get your heart beat up) exercise 5 times a week.  Combine this with healthy eating so that your weight falls within acceptable limits and you increase your chance of keeping your mind clear.  Of course, ‘use it or lose it’ is equally powerful for brain tissues – so that daily crossword is not a waste of time – and why not stretch yourself with a bit of serious reading? 

Gym number 2

We were having a staff meeting last week – our first ever ‘full team meeting’ – very exciting as we were discussing what we all bring to the business and our plans moving forwards.  In the middle of our afternoon we got a call to say that the planning permission for Willingham had been approved.  So even more excitement!  All the carefully laid plans will now swing into action.  The plan is for inductions and ‘show rounds’ from 9^th Dec and fully open from the 6^th Jan.  Membership prices the same as Bluntisham (but completely separate memberships).  We are creating the same atmosphere – friendly, accessible and non threatening.  There is more equipment as there is more space, but its only more of the same.  The top weight on the dumbbells is the same (25kgs) and there are two cable machines as this is a very popular piece of kit.   We will post pictures as we progress. 

There are many circuit classes planned – including TRX (suspension training) and Sexycise (which will also be available at Bluntisham) – we will post full details once the schedule is finalised.

We don’t have a phone line in yet (Neil, the manager is bracing himself to tackle this!) so any enquiries to Bluntisham please (numbers on website).

So – if you live in or around Willingham – here’s your New Year resolution sorted out!  Come along – you will be very welcome.

Get a microlife

I went to see my GP last week (routine check – no drama) and he talked about ‘microlives’.  Fascinated, I went back to do my research – a Professor of Biostatistics (!) David Spiegehalter, suggests that we could divide our lives into 30 minute segments, or microlives and that 57 years contains 1M microlives.  He also has come up with a currency of microlives.  So, just one alcoholic drink ‘gives’ you a microlife, but smoking takes away 10 microlives for every 20 cigarettes smoked.  You will be delighted to know that 20 minutes of moderate exercise will give you 2 microlives, but that an extra two alcoholic drinks can take away a microlife.  Good news – a diet including fresh fruit and veg, - 4 microlives (I am guessing every day).

I could go on – but the principle is important – maybe not the detail.  The research is simply saying that eating healthily, not smoking, keeping alcohol intake low and exercising will increase your life expectancy (and a combination may well improve your quality of life as well), guess we already knew that – but I like the idea of microlives – they seem quite real to me!

‘Its in my genes’

Best excuse ever for being obese – ‘I can’t help it – its how I’m made’ – well, there just might be some truth in that!

Cambridge scientists have found that there is a very specific genetic mutation in some people that can increase appetite and slow metabolic rate – bit of a double whammy there.  So far they have studied people who are obese in childhood, but the lead researcher is wondering if there is a chance of a wider application.

But I don’t think we are going to be able to blame weight gain on our genetic make up (or get the necessary genetic treatment to rectify the problem).  So, enticing as it is, we can’t slink back into the settee with an excuse – we need to carry on with our healthy food intake and be as active as we can – back down the gym – not off to the GP to check your genetic make up!

Smoothie or coffee?

Dr Michael Mosley talked about smoothies v coffee in terms of health benefits

Why do we think that drinking coffee is ‘bad’ for us in the first place – well according to Dr M its because the studies that have been done compare coffee drinkers to non coffee drinkers and apparently coffee drinkers are more likely to have other ‘bad habits’ eg smoking and drinking alcohol.  However, a different type of study which looked at the coffee drinking habits of 130,000 people over 20 years showed that drinking coffee is not such a bad thing after all – in fact it suggested that moderate coffee drinking is mildly protective of our health

Another study even showed that those who drank 2 to 4 cups of caffientated  coffee a day were half as likely to commit suicide that those who drank decaff or less than two cups a day!  This was a large longitudinal study so should have some credibility.  Coffee may be a mild antidepressant as it increases levels of neurotransmitters in the brain which are known to improve mood.  (By the way, we are talking ordinary coffee, not high calorie cappuccinos etc!)

So, why not smoothies?  Lots of fibre is lost in the peeling and smashing up, leaving you with a sugary drink. It has been found that eating fruit cuts your diabetes risk but drinking it increases the risk.  And bits get stuck in your teeth so your dentist may not be keen.

Similarly, eating fruit is better than drinking it when it comes to colo rectal cancer.

So – some coffee and some fruit – that’s got to be better than no coffee (or loads of coffee) and too many of those high sugar, low fibre smoothies!

Is butter best?

So, yet another study, yet another bit of advice – today we are told that its fine to have butter – in fact its more than fine – butter is better than margarine for us. 

Dr Malhotra writes in the BMJ that there is too much focus on the fat content of foods and too little emphasis on the amount of sugar.

Dr Malhorta tells us that a Mediterranean diet of olive oil, nuts, oily fish, plenty of fruit and veg and a moderate amount of red wine – after a heart attack is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as a statin. 

However, the British Heart Disease says that reducing cholesterol through drugs or other means does lower heart risk.

So, how do we decide what advice to follow?

I suggest we use the ‘moderation in all things’ approach.  A small spread of butter on a piece of wholemeal probably won’t be a calamity, a thick spread of marg and several slices of white bread won’t do much good at all!

And check those low fat yoghurts, you will often find that there are way more calories in the low fat variety (because they needed lots of added sugar to make them palatable.  One small, plain basic yoghurt may be no worse than a low fat with added sugar complete with a sugary lot of fruit to add as well.

Some of the best things we can do to keep our hearts healthy is to take regular exercise, keep our weight down and not to smoke.  And of course, to eat a healthy, balanced diet – and if that includes a little butter – that’s probably OK.