Just the facts, ma’am”

Sergeant Friday, from the Dragnet series, was careful not to get derailed in getting to the bottom of a case. He was only interested the facts. So, here are just a few facts – see if you can figure out the identity, of the offender. The facts were recently released in a World Health Organization report.

Here are the clues. What is it?

• The world’s third largest cause of disease and disability
• The cause of almost two and a half million deaths per year
• The cause of over one in five cancer deaths
• The leading cause of death in men from age 15 to 59
• The cause of 30% of deaths from injuries

This offender can make you permanently stupid, or in medical jargon cause

neuropsychiatric dysfunction.

Have you guessed yet? The cause of this destruction and a real poison to our health, is the abuse of alcohol.

Is it a growing problem? In AZ it is. Newsweek recently reported that binge drinking is up 74% in AZ, in the last decade.

However, because alcohol is addicting and getting smashed is somehow cool, such facts alone are unlikely to change risky behavior. But there comes a time when people decide enough is enough.

So if alcohol is disrupting your life or the health of your relationships, there is no better time than now to begin the process back to normal. Call 866-407-4380, to assist you in getting started, whether for you, your family, or a friend.

Healthy Yuma 2011 is a year for the citizens of Yuma County to join together to get healthier, a time to pitch in, to make a better community. What do you plan to do?

This is Dr. Carl Myers for Healthy Yuma 2011.

Avoid the Salt Assault

We vastly underestimate the health risk of a high salt diet. It is estimated that

150,000 lives could be saved every year if Americans cut their salt intake to the

recommended amount.

To put that into perspective: In just two years, as many Americans die from a high salt diet as died in combat during all of World War II.

Here are five facts you should know about salt:

1. Excessive salt raises blood pressure, wrecking havoc with one’s

cardiovascular system and kidneys.

2. After one high salt meal one’s arteries are inflexible for hours

3. Only 6% of our salt comes from the saltshaker; the vast majority comes from

processed foods and restaurant meals

4. Salt is listed as “sodium” on food labels. If the sodium number (in milligrams) is bigger than the number of calories per serving, it is a high salt food.

5. The average American eats over 3600mg of sodium per day which is double

the recommended amount

At first it might seem hard to cut back on salt, but in just six weeks of eating a

normal amount of salt, your taste buds become more sensitive. Foods that were

bland in the past become flavorful and foods that you once craved taste too salty!

Adding fruits and vegetables to your day are a great way to start. They are very

low salt - just one of the reasons they are the best foods on the planet!

So if you’d like to enjoy your food more—and perhaps tack a few more years onto your life - cut down on your salt intake.

Don't waste your willpower

We all know about willpower. It’s that grit inside that gets us to do what we should when it’s not easy. But often our willpower is not up to the task. As Mae West quips, “I generally avoid temptation, unless I can’t resist it.”

No one denies that willpower is key when choosing a healthier lifestyle. But why can’t we just choose a plan of action and then do it? How do we strengthen our gumption? The answer - use willpower wisely.

Most of us tend to overestimate the strength of our willpower. We sit in front of the TV with a bag of potato chips and expect that with a new diet plan, we will stop at 50 calories. Yeah, right.

Science calls this misplaced hutzpah “restraint bias”. Although we might think

we can do it, when staring down our main attraction (chocolate, cookies, heroin -whatever) with willpower alone, nine times out of ten, we will fail. This waste of willpower over time creates a habit of failure.

Instead, use your willpower to prevent major confrontations with temptation in the first place:

- Use a grocery list and only buy what’s on it

- Don’t go to the grocery hungry

- Just say “no” to stopping for a beer after work and schedule a walk with a friend instead

- Take your lunch to work and put an apple on your desk

- Never have a cigarette in the house or in the car

Look for creative ways to use your gumption to avoid that duel on Main Street in the first place.

Using willpower wisely strengthens it so that when you do have to face temptation directly, you’ll be able to walk away with a smile as you create a habit of success.

The transforming power of inner motivation

In his recent bestselling book, Drive, Daniel Pink discusses how

incentives can actually block the results they are designed to achieve.

Studies show that the more we are motivated from outside forces, the

more we act in unethical and addictive ways. On the other hand, the

more our motivation comes from within, the happier and more honest

we become.

The last time that I was a guest lecturer in Professor Lhotka’s AWC

Comparative Religion class, we explored the question of motivation.

During the discussion, one student expressed a philosophy that gives

her a strong sense of purpose. I asked the class, “Can we adopt her

statement for ourselves?” There was lively dissent, focusing on the

students’ widely differing perspectives on life.

I suggested that as a group they try to develop a common purpose. In

two minutes there was consensus - “Life’s purpose is to help others

without hurting them and to do the same for oneself.”

The clarity of this statement created a significant effect on the students.

They began expressing honest concerns that their actions were not

consistent with their ideals, admitting that in their experience it seemed

easier to “do bad things than good.”

This classroom experience has direct application to addictions, which

persist because addictions sap the energy to close the gap between

one’s actions and one’s aspirations. As the students clarified their

purpose, they immediately had energy to examine their actions.

This is precisely what Pink’s studies showed – as one taps into one’s

internal motivation, one finds a strong desire to help others. As the

students demonstrated, this desire quickly evolves into an honest

evaluation of one’s actions and a desire to act more consistently with

one’s higher aspirations. What more can we ask for?

Getting enough vitamin X

As essential as it is for good health, scientists have yet to be able to put vitamin X in a pill. It relieves depression, decreases diabetes and heart disease, increases energy, improves sleep, and keeps one slim. Maybe you have already guessed that Vitamin X is exercise! The next question is - how much Vitamin X do you need?

Studies have shown that 30 minutes of moderate exercise three times a week has major health benefits. Moderate exercise is defined as the level of exercise achieved by walking 90-100 steps per minute.

Would more exercise lead to greater benefits? Yes, more exercise leads to more benefits. But public health experts are concerned that advocating too much exercise will discourage people from even getting started. One practical answer to the exercise dilemma of “how much” is to adopt the following two-tiered approach;

Tier I - No matter what, commit to 30 minutes of exercise 3 times per week. If you need to work up to that level, use the next 6 weeks to get there.

Tier II – At the start of every month, decide whether you will go beyond 90 minutes of exercise per week. Then do whatever you can to reach this level, but if you fall short, that’s ok. However, don’t ever let your level of exercise fall below the Tier I minimum. Then when the next month begins, decide your new target level.

No one else but you can provide your Vitamin X. If you have had difficulty starting or maintaining an exercise program, try the 2-tier method. It is a great tool for success.

Getting started when it isn't easy

About halfway through the Welcome and Celebration Rally, I was struck by the
immensity of the Healthy Yuma 2011 goal - not just the milepost goals of 140 tons of weight loss and 3 million miles walked - but the transformational goal of becoming a less addicted community.

At the rally, I talked with several people who had already made successful
transformations – alcoholics who had been sober for years; a healthcare
professional who made it through a major meth relapse; and two women who had each lost over 60 pounds. Two themes emerged: people wanted to share how good it feels to be clean and how deluded they had been under the spell of drugs, junk food, or alcohol.

Not one said that it had been easy, but they all realized that not a day went by
without knowing it was worth it. Besides feeling happier, they found relationships much more satisfying without the uppers, the downers, and the binges.

When asked what had been their “aha” moment, their answers were uniquely their own. However, despite the uniqueness, the conclusions were the same – “First I had to admit I had a problem, and then I needed to realize how much I wanted to change.”

Whether addiction has created major havoc in your life or your current challenge is the butter pecan ice cream in the fridge, positive change comes in the form of a question and a statement. The question to ask is, “What is a skillful action, right now?’ The statement is, “Then that’s what I’ll do.”

Our habits make this difficult, but what I learned from my new friends at the rally -it’s worth it.

The meat in the pictures from VegNews

I usually try to stay away from the slings and arrows of the media du jour, but I feel compelled to weigh in on the recent blowup with the pictures at VegNews. Of course, I wish that they had used strictly vegan pictures. However, when compared to the problems arising from eating meat, the infraction seems minor.

What are the important facts to keep in mind?
- The obesogenic properties of meat are key factors making us fat
- The atherogenic properties of meat are major risk factors for heart attacks, stroke, and impotence
- The carcinogenic properties of meat are major risk factors in colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia and multiple myeloma
- The antibiotics fed to animals cause widespread antibiotic resistance
- The hormones given to animals are ingested with the meat and milk, causing an increased risk in breast cancer and early sexual maturity in girls
- Well over 90% of the 10 billion animals slaughtered annually in the U.S. lived under horrific factory farm conditions
- Animal agriculture is the largest contributor to water pollution
- Animal agriculture produces a staggering 300 tons of untreated animal manure in the U.S. per year, a huge environmental and health issue

The magnitude of these issues and our ability as a society to sweep them under the rug is mind-boggling. Showing pictures of dishes with meat in them next to recipes that have no meat is disingenuous, but the outrage seems overdone. Where is the outrage when photos of burgers are enhanced with shoe polish or mashed potatoes act as stand-ins for ice cream that doesn't melt on camera? (If anyone knows the answer to this dichotomy, please let me know.)

For over a decade VegNews has promoted an appealing lifestyle with a conscience that is compatible with healthier lives and a healthier planet. On balance, major kudos to them! I for one will remain a loyal subscriber.

Expressly yours,