Survival strategies

Eat Yogurt

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Higher intakes of yogurt were associated with a 30 percent reduction in risk of myocardial infarction among the Nurses’ Health Study women and a 19 percent reduction in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study men.

In both groups, participants consuming more than two servings a week of yogurt had an approximately 20 percent lower risks of major coronary heart disease or stroke during the follow-up period. When revascularization was added to the total cardiovascular disease outcome variable, the risk estimates were reduced for both men and women, but remained significant.

Higher yogurt intake in combination with an overall heart-healthy diet was associated with greater reductions in cardiovascular disease risk among hypertensive men and women.

Read the source article here.

 

Consumption of ultra-processed foods and cancer risk: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort

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Conclusions – In this large prospective study, a 10% increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet was associated with a significant increase of greater than 10% in risks of overall and breast cancer. Further studies are needed to better understand the relative effect of the various dimensions of processing (nutritional composition, food additives, contact materials, and neoformed contaminants) in these associations.

We categorized all food and drink items of the NutriNet-Santé composition table into one of the four food groups in NOVA, a food classification system based on the extent and purpose of industrial food processing.94243 This study primarily focused on the “ultra-processed foods” NOVA group. This group includes mass produced packaged breads and buns; sweet or savory packaged snacks; industrialized confectionery and desserts; sodas and sweetened drinks; meat balls, poultry and fish nuggets, and other reconstituted meat products transformed with addition of preservatives other than salt (for example, nitrites); instant noodles and soups; frozen or shelf stable ready meals; and other food products made mostly or entirely from sugar, oils and fats, and other substances not commonly used in culinary preparations such as hydrogenated oils, modified starches, and protein isolates. Industrial processes notably include hydrogenation, hydrolysis, extruding, moulding, reshaping, and pre-processing by frying. Flavouring agents, colours, emulsifiers, humectants, non-sugar sweeteners, and other cosmetic additives are often added to these products to imitate sensorial properties of unprocessed or minimally processed foods and their culinary preparations or to disguise undesirable qualities of the final product.

Read the BMJ study here.

The Effect of Animal Protein on the Kidneys

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About one in eight of us now has chronic kidney disease—and most don’t even know it: About three-quarters of the millions of people affected are unaware that their kidneys are starting to fail. This is “particularly worrisome given that early identification provides an opportunity to slow the progression and alter the course of disease.”

Read Dr. Michael Greger’s entire article here.  You’ll find plenty of links to other educational articles on this topic.

Drink More Green Tea

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Conclusion

This study suggests that the consumption of green tea ≥2 times/d is associated with a reduced risk of COPD in Korean populations.

Consuming Green Tea at Least Twice Each Day Is Associated with Reduced Odds of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease in Middle-Aged and Older Korean Adults

Drink more green tea.

Especially if you’re an older Korean.

Eat More Cashews

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Conclusion

Cashew nut supplementation in Asian Indians with T2DM reduced systolic blood pressure and increased HDL cholesterol concentrations with no deleterious effects on body weight, glycemia, or other lipid variables. This study was registered at the clinical trial registry of India as CTRI/2017/07/009022.

Cashew Nut Consumption Increases HDL Cholesterol and Reduces Systolic Blood Pressure in Asian Indians with Type 2 Diabetes: A 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial

This explains why cashews are my favorite nut.

I’m the guy who picks out all of the cashews in a bowl of mixed nuts.

Work From Home? Join the Club

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FlexJobs just did a state-by-state analysis of telecommuting based on Census data and found that Colorado, Vermont, and Oregon continue to top the list, as they have for the past five years.

Graphic courtesy of flexjobs.

i-1-these-are-the-states-where-the-most-people-work-from-home.jpg

In May 2018 I will have worked from home for 12 years.

The laundry is always caught up, someone is home for the service calls, and dinner is on the table at a reasonably normal hour.

The Importance of Doing Absolutely Nothing

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Having too much to do is a national epidemic and, in many ways, a status symbol. Americans work more hours than citizens of any other developed nation in the world, according to the International Labor Organization. On average, we annually work 137 hours more than the Japanese, 260 hours more than the Brits, and 499 hours more than the French. We’re so busy that many of us don’t even take time for vacation. According to a study by the US Travel Association’s Project Time Off, 54 percent of Americans didn’t use all of their vacation time last year, resulting in 662 million unused vacation days. “We are working more and more,” says Katie Denis, Vice President of Project Time Off. “Being the last car in the parking lot is no longer the metric. Now it’s who answers email fastest and latest.”

I am actually quite good at doing nothing.  Read the entire article here.

The Great College Loan Swindle

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America as a country has evolved in recent decades into a confederacy of widescale industrial scams. The biggest slices of our economic pie – sectors like health care, military production, banking, even commercial and residential real estate – have become crude income-redistribution schemes, often untethered from the market by subsidies or bailouts, with the richest companies benefiting from gamed or denuded regulatory systems that make profits almost as assured as taxes. Guaranteed-profit scams – that’s the last thing America makes with any level of consistent competence.

Going to college doesn’t guarantee a good job, far from it, but the data show that not going dooms most young people to an increasingly shallow pool of the very crappiest, lowest-paying jobs. There’s a lot of stick, but not much carrot, in the education game.

An interesting point of view and well worth reading.  Click here for the full Rolling Stone article.