Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Dr. Tom Potisk, the Cool Old Guy who in known as “the down to earth doctor” because of his holistic lifestyle and practical advice on healthy living, joins TJ on this COG Radio segment. Dr. Tom has tips about whole health healing, chiropractic care, vitamins, and healthy foods including a “secret” snack that is great for a COGs prostate. Dr. Tom knows about “Whole Health Healing”…after all, he wrote the book on it.  Program length-17:50

Dr. Tom Potisk, speaker and author of “Whole Health Healing” which is packed with practical advice and he offers a FREE download for Cool Old Guys at http://thedowntoearthdoctor.com

There are over 650 muscles in the human body, and we have all heard the old saying “use it or lose it” regarding muscle conditioning. In fact, our muscle mass will atrophy at a rate of about one half pound per year, after we turn thirty. Great news for use Cool Old Guys!

If you agree with the scientists, we only use 10% of our brain. Think about that. The brain weighs less than two percent of our body weight and contains over 100 billion cells. (Take into consideration the loss of brain cells due to “exercising” them too much at parties, which may result in your specific number of cells being somewhat less.) And yet, the brain controls everything we do.

As we get older, the brain and our muscles need to exercise. Research has shown a likely cause of Alzheimer’s Disease is the neurochemical factors in the nerve cells of the brain. It is also known that if we exercise our brain, we “fire” these nerve cells in unique and healthy ways. This is where I need to say, I think researchers know very little about the brain. None the less, it is widely held that exercising your brain produces results that will make you feel and act more alert (and may help you remember where you put your car keys.)

Here are a few things experts say will help exercise your brain and keep us COGs healthy:  

PLAY: Play games and work with puzzles. Crossword and jig-saw puzzles are good and so is my favorite, Sudoku. Now the really good thing about Sudoku is, if dementia has already set in, just get one puzzle and make lots of copies, you’ll never know the difference! Card games and even video games can also work your brain in different ways.

CREATE: Write your own biography or family story. As you reflect on your life, with a few enhancements, it might be good enough to turn into a novel. Just ask James Frey and Oprah.

EXPERIENCE: Go someplace you have never been. Try a unique restaurant or grocery store. Take day trips to places you’ve never been. Even something as simple as walking the opposite direction you normally do in the grocery store will use your brain (just remember to go back a get the ice cream last.)

SHARE: Join a book club or civic group. Interact with others and share perspectives and experiences. Share your expertice with other Cool Old Guys.

READ: Read novels, biographies, history, even business and self-help books. Read something out of the ordinary, it will make you work your brain harder. Spend some time every day reading and listening to articles on CoolOldGuys.org.

The brain is like a muscle, if you don’t use it you will lose it.

TJ Wisner is a performance improvement expert and Cool Old Guy that helps individuals and organizations learn more and earn more. Contact TJ at tj@coololdguys.org  

The development of penicillin was rightly seen as a great breakthrough in medicine. Fatal infections could now be treated with a “silver bullet However in nature nothing is static.  Bacteria have been around for longer than humans and have survived by being able to adapt.

In the 1970’s a term, antibiotic induced diarrhoea was coined-describing a form of diarrhoea that followed a course of antibiotics. This was caused by a bug, resistant to antibiotics called Clostridium difficile as it was difficult to treat.

The problem has gotten worse.

A report in 2009  estimated that there are over 350,000 cases and up to 20,000 deaths from this infection each year in the USA.  The rate of infection doubled between 2001 and 2005.  Almost all of these will be after a course of antibiotics for another reason or were contracted in hospital.  In fact the chance of getting this outside a health care setting is low.

Herein lies the issue with our silver bullet and bacteria, which are smaller than us but not as stupid as we thought.  We overuse antibiotics particularly in illnesses like colds flu’s, sinus and upper respiratory infections.  Many of these are caused by viruses which don’t respond to an antibiotic anyway and others would be adequately dealt with by our immune systems –if we gave them the right support and a bit of time.

Many people believe an antibiotic will reduce time spent off work. This is rarely the case.  Some feel better after the first tablet which is nice but has nothing to do with the antibiotic.  Some feel that last time they got sick an antibiotic worked so they must need it again.  The chances are that they got better anyway rather than due to the tablets.

Both the medical profession, and public need to take responsibility for this. Doctors have been too willing to prescribe.  However   there is a contribution from people “demanding” antibiotics when the doctor feels it isn’t needed.  Please note – your children don’t need an antibiotic any more than you if they have a cold.

So what can you do to strengthen your immune system?

1. Eat a balanced diet with adequate fruit, vegetables and essential fatty acids such as fish, olives (or olive oil), linseed or nuts.
2. Many benefit from vitamin supplements, particularly antioxidants such as vitamins A C and E, which help the immune system.  Zinc, Vitamin D and Folate supplements may also have a role.
3. Drink 35ml/kg of (preferably) filtered water each day.
4. Make sure you get enough sleep as this is the bodies, recharge the battery time.  When ill, people will rest and reduce their load – just what the body needs.
5. Most importantly examine your workload and stress levels and take steps to reduce them before they reduce your immunity to illness.

A strong immune system is your best defence against all forms of infection. Consider it like your roof protecting your house against the rain. Check there are no holes in it before the rain season starts. If you need to, fix any holes that you find by applying the principles described above.

Dr. Joe is a COG from “Down Under” and a regular contributor to our community. Check out his other articles and pod-casts or better yet, visit him on his website at http://DrJoe.net.au and be sure to sign-up for his newsletter.

Here’s the deal…we want to create a “COG Cookbook” that is packed with recipes Cool Old Guys love and want to share with other Cool Old Guys.

The catagories thus far are: Main Courses (Entries), Desserts, Snacks, BBQ, Sides, Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Beverages

…but you can send us anything you think other COG’s would find enjoyable.

Just like submitting any article, send them to tj@coololdguys.org in a Word.doc and feel free to include a picture, but it’s certainly not necessary.

NOTE: If you know a COG that isn’t an official member but a darn good cook…he can send along his favorite recipe too.

Questions???

One of the trends over the last thirty years has been to look outside ourselves for solutions. Whereas once people’s self reliance was seen as a virtue, there has been an increasing tendency to look to government to solve issues. Some of this came, quite reasonably, from a desire to ensure that those who genuinely could not look after themselves were cared for and not left by the wayside. Like all pendulums though, things can swing too far. 

When it comes to health, governments will never be the solution. Our health is in fact our own responsibility. What we choose to put into our mouths, whether we choose to exercise or not, whether we choose to drink enough water are choices we make each day. The presence of drive thru and advertising does not absolve us of our responsibility.

In other words the choices we make are our own and so are the consequences. The great part of that is of course that the power to be healthy is within your own hands too. Disease is not random. Rather than view yourself as a potential victim, see yourself as being in charge of your health. Understand that what you do each day matters and that how you look after yourself today will directly affect how you feel tomorrow. The power is in your hands-use it wisely.

Dr Joe is a Doctor who actually talks about health and a cool old guy who lives in Australia

You can find more health info at his website www.drjoe.net.au and be sure to sign-up for his free newsletter.

Here is some interesting information to keep that cool old guy body in good mental and physical shape. . An analysis from Oxford University published in The Lancet showed a direct correlation between body mass index (BMI) and longevity.

The researchers followed nearly one million people in The USA and Europe for between 10 and 15 years and found that the greater the BMI, the shorter the life expectancy.  Those with a BMI of 30-35 died 3 years earlier than otherwise expected. Those with a BMI over 40   “lost” 10 years off their expected life span. The main reasons for this were heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.

These studies always rely on statistics and methodologies can always be questioned. However even if you halve the figures it is still significant. The “benefits” of pharmaceutical agents are studied and promoted intensively less research is done on vitamins and other natural products like spices and herbs. Part of the reason for this is that there can be no patent applied to something found in nature.

Yet there are many health benefits from naturally occurring substances particularly plants. Curcumin, the component which gives the spice turmeric its yellow colour has been shown to have an anti inflammatory effect in the body. It reduces the production of and activity of some enzymes involved in inflammation.

The likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s disease can be reduced by 40% according to research from the University of Illinois, by simply eating “brain food”.  This means foods with antioxidants and colour such as blueberries, red grapes and the spice turmeric. These foods contain antioxidants like vitamin C and E and also folic acid. Exercise both physical and mental was also important.

We know that many chronic diseases including heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and some cancers are the end result of slow inflammation. New research is going to be done looking at the use of turmeric to prevent Alzheimer disease.

You don’t need to wait for the results .Colour in the diet is really important   Fruit vegetables herbs and spices add colour and variety to our diets. Often the components which provide the colour are the active component that helps our bodies. In addition to this herbs and spices add flavour to food.
The ancients actually knew more about this than our modern scientists

Living longer and keeping your mental facilities going is as simple as putting the rights sorts of fuels into your body and keeping yourself active.

Dr Joe is a Doctor who actually talks about health and a cool old guy who lives in Australia

You can find more health info at his website www.drjoe.net.au

Here is some good news. Cool old guys are going to be increasing in numbers and sticking around for longer. The life expectancy of humans has been increasing at a steady rate of about ¼ of a year life expectancy per year, for a bit over a century.  The graph is not showing signs of plateauing. 

 The fastest growing sections of the population in the developed world are the over 90s and centenarians (albeit percentage increases are greater coming off a low base).

There are two vital things that cool old guys need to do as they get older. One is to maintain their health and the other is to have enough money to live on. There is currently little debate on either of these two issues at government levels.

The article from the Economist (see link) discussed retirement age and how pensions are going to be funded. In 1950 the OEDC average of people working to those over 65 was 7 to 1. Now it is 4 and the projection for 2050 is 2 to 1. Also in years gone by life expectancy was lower so the number of years on a pension was less. Today a person retiring at 65 may have easily another 15-20 years to live.

So what has all this got to do with health you may be wondering? Pillar 8 of DIY health is fun and purpose. As my friend George Helou says, “If you are looking forward to retirement you are in the wrong job”. When you look at those who have been highly successful in their business, often they are the same people who continue to work long past “retirement” age. Rupert Murdoch is one who comes to mind. Donald Trump is not yet 65 but there is no way he will retire at that age. Like them or not these are two very cool old guys.

Successful business people could most easily afford to retire but don’t. It is not because they need the money. It is because they enjoy what they are doing. In my upcoming book Dr Joes DIY Health-Putting you in charge of your health I write about the importance of Authentic Happiness. This is defined (by Prof Martin Seligman) as fun, challenge and purpose.

What we do needs to be fun but eventually lying on the beach will get boring. We need a challenge because that stimulates us and we need to feel that what we do matters, that there is purpose in what we are doing.

People doing jobs, which provide none of these factors, will be hanging out for the next holiday and certainly looking forward to retiring. Those whose work (and it can be voluntary work or other pursuits such as writing) still enjoy a break but don’t want to stop, because they love what they do.

In my book I wrote, “We all like to feel that we matter and what we do has some relevance.  This may be at the family level, at work or at a broader community level.  One level is not particularly higher or lower than the other.  Purpose relates to your desire to contribute and be part of something that is bigger than yourself.

This connects us to our fellow human beings, be they in our family, business or community. Purpose is related to challenge in that having purpose is setting about obtaining a goal.  This could be building a house, raising a family, starting a new business or doing voluntary work.  Each person has unique skills and talents and deep down, we all feel that those skills and talents are meant for a purpose.”

When we are doing what we enjoy then retirement is not on the radar. We are having too much fun and don’t want to stop. In turn when what we do is of value then there will be an energy (money) flow and reliance on a pension becomes a non issue.

Do what you love and love what you do-fun and purpose is pillar 8 of DIY Health.

Dr Joe is a Doctor who actually talks about health and a cool old guy who lives in Australia
You can find more health info at his website www.drjoe.net.au

Earlier this year an Australian town made headlines by being the first to ban the sale of bottled water . This was done on the basis that water comes in plastic containers that “pollute” the environment.

Now the health of the planet is important. So is the health of the cool old guys who live on it.     The second pillar of Dr Joes DIY Health, is water.The body is comprised of 70% water and to work at its optimum, water in the body needs to be turned over regularly.

There are different recommendations for how much water people should drink each day.  The standard recommendation is 2 litres per day.  Another recommendation is to drink between 30-35ml per kg of bodyweight per day.  So, a cool old guy who weighs 70kg will need 2.1 to 2.5 litres.  This is the amount of water that is required to turn over just for day to day normal activity.

Some of the roles of water and hydration in the body are, transportation of nutrients, elimination of wastes, lubricating the joints and tissues, facilitating digestion, aiding concentration, keeping the skin looking younger and more vitality.

If you are doing any physical activity, then you need more water.   If you work outdoors on hot days you may require four, five or six litres of water per day.  Researchers have questioned the need for this amount of water each day, but there is not really any need for researchers to tell us the body needs water.  To illustrate why the water in the body needs to turn over and move, think about a stagnant pool and a flowing river.  A stagnant pond doesn’t sustain life because it has no energy about it.  A flowing river sustains life and has a tremendous energy about it.  The molecules of water are the same, but the difference is the molecules are moving in the case of the river and not in the stagnant pond.   Water needs to move through and not stagnate in the body.  

Now an argument put up for the bottled water ban is that you can get water from the tap. That is true and whilst tap water is OK, have you ever seen what a water filter looks like after a few months use?  We put one in at home and I was stunned when it was changed to see the amount of sludge and crud on the filter.  Ordinarily my family would have consumed this. The filter picked it up and we didn’t.  Bottled water is filtered and is better for us, even though tap water is OK and certainly is better than other beverages for hydrating the body.

Some say they don’t like the taste of water.  Overcome this by squeezing lemon or orange juice into the water. If you’re not used to drinking much water, every time you have one glass, have a second.  Or, to start more gradually, have an extra half glass when you have one full glass of water and build it up from there.  The aim is to get this to a stage where you actually miss your water if you don’t have it.

Cool Old Guys who spend much of their lives in a slightly dehydrated form don’t have a comparison. Common symptoms of this are tiredness headaches and problems concentrating.  Once your body is hydrated, you will notice when your body is getting slightly dehydrated. This will send you running to replenish.  When you are at this stage you have reached sustainability. 

The body is 70% water and like a river the water needs to flow. It is easy once you get into the “flow” of it. Water-the second pillar of DIY Health

Dr Joe is a Doctor who actually talks about health and a cool old guy who lives in Australia You can find more health info at his website www.drjoe.net.au

We, as a society have still not learned that what we eat is the fuel for our bodies and that if we don’t use it, we lose it. 

Americans continue to imbibe ourselves with junk, adulterated, processed foods, high fat, high sugar foods, fast foods and generally poor nutrition.  On top of it, when it comes to “losing weight”, most people will turn to nutritionally limited and/or calorie restricted diets. This can be especially detrimental if you’re a COG.

What goes into our bodies is essentially the same as what goes into our cars or trucks.  FUEL.  Would you put kerosene into your vehicle?  It would be able to run and rather smoothly.  But what would the results be? There would be poor engine performance, engine wear at a much faster rate, continual breakdown and problems, and, a much shorter life-span for the engine.

Your body is not that much different.  Poor nutrition, as we have begun to see with the explosion of chronic conditions, results in poor performance (a lot of which goes un-noticed, internally), constant problems and generally functioning at less than optimum.  In short, eating poorly results in ruining your health, and, quality and quantity of life in the long run.

Proper nutrition is just so easy and simple it’s laughable.  But it seems continues to evade us COG’s…and this evasion can be overcome. 

It all comes down to CHOICE.  If we as COG’s continue to make poor nutritional choices, then we will end up plagued by chronic digestive and other nutritionally associated illnesses/conditions.

The other habit-pattern that gets factored into the equation for COG’s, is exercise.   Again, availability of information is widespread, and it all comes down to CHOICE.

That old saying, “if you don’t use it, you lose it” is so very true.  Maintaining physical activity levels, i.e., exercise four to five times each week goes a long way in keeping us healthy.  The facts on this have been in myriads of studies over the last decade.

Quite frankly, it would appear that to choose poor nutrition and avoid regular exercise is “self-abuse”.  Why do things that are going to be detrimental to our body and health?!  This is the quintessential question that many in the fitness and nutrition professions have been asking for decades.  It’s truly amazing the health situations people get themselves into because of their CHOICES to eat garbage and not exercise.  As COG’s, these factors are essential in keeping us healthy or being a primary ingredient in our dis-ease.

Granted, these are only two factors in the equation of good health, but they are, in my professional opinion, two of the most important, and, bluntly, two of the easiest to achieve.

Let’s run through a quick program, just for the heck of it.

Breakfast:  whole grain oatmeal with soy or skim milk, whole wheat toast with peanut butter, 12 ounces of water, 1 cup of coffee/tea.

Lunch:  tossed salad with egg OR lean meat sandwich on whole grain bread with lettuce and tomatoes OR low sodium/fat soup; 12 ounces water.

After-work fitness:  Hit the fitness center for a full-body circuit training set 2 days each week and on the alternate days, 3 days each week, do 30 minutes of cardiovascular/aerobics in your target heart zone.

No fitness center?  Hit the road!  Walking that is.  Get out there for 60 minutes and pump those arms.  Do body weight strength training:  push-ups, the plank, pull-ups, chair dips, etc.  Use the same schedule as above.

Dinner:  Keep it real. Lean meats with whole rice/grains or whole potatoes, veggies, salad, water and only do desert 3X each week.

Don’t forget to add in a multi-vitamin, multi-mineral, whole green foods supplement each day.

WOW!  That took all of 13 minutes to pound out on the key board!  And it will take as little time to make it a part of your daily “habit-patterns”.

Is it all worth it?  That’s another CHOICE.  The way I look at it is, we as COG’s should not make excuses, justification or rationalizations for avoiding these healthy habits.  Our lives are a one-way ride.  Let’s make the best of it in these near-antique “models” with optimum performance and optimum health for optimum quality and quantity of life!

COG, Dr. David Robinson is a former Chiropractor, a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer, author and freelance writer. He may be reached through www.DrDavidRobinson4Health.com

There is a tendency for things in health to be made far more complicated than they need to be. Coupled with this is the tendency to look for answers in just about every place but the one where it lies. Rather than ask which sweeteners to use (there is a “battle” raging ) ask should I use sweeteners at all?

There has been much debate over the role of high fructose corn syrup in the development of obesity and diabetes. A study at University of California  showed that consuming beverages with high fructose syrup increased the levels of LDL or bad cholesterol in the blood stream more than those sweetened with glucose thus linking it to an increase in risk of heart disease. As a cool old guy, you don’t want heart disease slowing you down.

The study was small and preliminary.  It seems that it is the amount of fructose, which is the key.  Hence eating fruit (which contains fructose) is not a problem. The concentrated form in processed foods is and especially if consumed often.

The other report is about stevia the new artificial sweetener derived from a South American shrub. Whilst it is “natural” as against aspartame and saccharin, it is still processed before being used. The FDA has declared it “generally recognized as safe.”

There is some argument as to whether it is linked to cancer or not.

This is, surprisingly, beside the point.  The issue with any sweetener artificial or “natural” is that it can lead to obesity.  The body associates sweetness with energy (calories.)  When they don’t arrive you remain hungry.  This is particularly the case with low calorie sweet drinks.  Sweet taste with no calories will make people hungry and hence they eat.  Sweeteners may also affect our natural gut “good” bacteria.

Here is the thing about any sweetener.  There is no need for them. They are not cool. It is much better to have real sugar but just not that much of it.  There is no need to drink zero calorie sweet beverages when the best zero calorie beverage is water.  The answer to the issue of obesity is not to consume “low calorie” sweetened processed foods.  It is to consume “real” food, which will give your body the energy, and nutrients it needs.

A cool old guy wouldn’t dream of pulling up at the gasoline station and deliberately put fuel unsuited for his car or tank.  So why would you put food not suited to your body into yourself.  Eat a diet based on real food – food that was until recently moving around or growing somewhere.  Food, which will have to be thrown out next week if not eaten.  Food, which has no numbers on the label.  Food, which your great great grandparents would recognize as food.

When you do this the merits or problems of fructose, corn syrup or stevia becomes irrelevant.  You will have the right fuel in your body and your health will be better for it.

Now that’s being cool.

Dr Joe is a Doctor who actually talks about health and a cool old guy who lives in Australia

You can find more health info at his website www.drjoe.net.au