Join the 2% for Better Health, Eat 30 Plants a Week, Noses Are For Breathing
Lightbulbs & Pearls | 008
Join the 2% for Better Health
Without hesitation, when given the choice I invariably opt for stairs over an elevator, even if I’m carrying several bags of groceries. It’s my mindset. Apparently, according to Michael Easter, I am in 2% of the population. 2%! I find that unbelievably low number astonishing, but it may not entirely be our fault. The theory goes back to our hunter-gatherer days; when food was at a premium, humans preserved precious energy. All these millennia later, expending less energy remains our default position, but sadly to our detriment. Unlike our ancestors, whose mere existence hinged on their physicality, we now have to purposefully move...but most of us don’t.
Can a few stairs seriously make a difference? Yes, indeed. A recent study from Canada found that “brief, intense stair climbing is a practical, time-efficient strategy to improve CRF (cardiorespiratory fitness) in previously untrained women.” Mind you, this was only 1-3 minutes of stair climbing, and yet CRF improved 7% over a 6-week window. That’s astoundingly significant. Add in a few more periods of brief, high-intensity movement throughout your day—a practice that’s come to be known as “exercise snacks”—and you create a meaningful impact with minimal time.
According to the Canadian scientists, “(our lack of physical fitness) has greater consequences than hypertension, smoking, obesity, and hyperlipidemia in terms of risk for adverse health outcomes.”
30 Plants a Week for a Better Gut
We’ve heard the idea of eating the rainbow, but Dr. Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London and author of The Diet Myth, has raised the bar with his 30 different plant challenge. I first heard him discussing it with Max Lugavere on The Genius Life episode 199 and his rationale made so much sense that it spurred me to become much more mindful of what I ate. (I tend to fall into deep ruts and stay there… “creature-of-habit” doesn’t even begin to accurately describe me!)
His thesis centers on the importance of a diverse and healthy gut microbiome—accomplished through an equally varied diet—which affects every aspect of our health…including long-term conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Science is now linking a diverse microbiome rich in beneficial bugs—fueled by prebiotics contained in plants—to a better functioning and more resilient gut, thus leading to a longer and healthier life. On the flip side, processed food creates destructive bacteria that produce toxins that harm the gut.
Although 30 different plants a week might sound intimidating, it’s easier than you think. Dr. Spector’s plant list includes vegetables, fruits, legumes, herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, and some whole grains. Even different colors within the same family—such as yellow and red bell peppers—count as two different plants. (Yay!) Spread out over a week, with this huge pool to choose from, it’s easy peasy to consume the requisite optimal number of different plants.
Noses Are for Breathing
A while back I was listening to a burly-men round table (sorry, I can’t remember exactly who), and they started discussing how they tape their mouths when they work out to force themselves to breathe through their noses. Seriously? Hmmm. That’s interesting. Then I see movement guru Julie Angel post a wake-up routine and she begins by taking tape off her mouth. What? Lastly, I was casually chit-chatting with a dear friend and discovered that he also tapes his mouth when he sleeps. What’s going on here? I need to learn about this.
While I have heard that mouth breathing can change the shape of your jaw, the lightbulb went on when Dr. Michelle Jorgensen of Living Well posted a “Why it’s important to breathe through your nose” video. Although I never really thought about it before, there are substantive health benefits to nose breathing:
• Natural Air Cleaner: Nasal hairs naturally filter out dust, allergens, and pollen from entering your lungs.
• Humidifier: Your nose warms and moisturizes the air as you inhale, bringing it up to body temperature and making it easier for the lungs to use.
• Improves Overall Circulation: As we inhale air, nitric oxide—a vasodilator—is released, widening the body’s blood vessels, which improves oxygen circulation throughout your body.
These actions lead to many health and longevity benefits such as increased oxygen, improved lung capacity, a stronger diaphragm, a lower risk of allergies and sleep apnea, and a bolstered immune system.
Mouth breathing, on the other hand, comes with a whole set of downsides none of us want including asthma, tooth decay, gingivitis, snoring, sleep apnea, and the aforementioned jaw abnormalities. Who knew?!
This is a big subject worthy of its own post and a possible experiment with mouth tape...stay tuned!
Snapshot of Serenity
Though it’s hard to recall during the dog days of summer, central to our great room is a fireplace that is used nearly every day in the cold months. It isn’t an overstatement to say our family loves our fireplace. It functions not only to take the chill out of the house but also to warm our hearts and bring us together. I believe there is a deep yearning in our DNA to gather around the fire to eat and commune.
A while back I noticed that we hadn’t cleaned it since the last use. Ack. Gotta get to that. Later. And then it started nagging at me. Something that brought me great comfort was now causing anxiety. One morning, this alarm rang too loudly in my mind and I finally—finally—carved out ten minutes to clean out all the ashes and remnants of burnt wood, and then constructed a teepee of fresh logs on the grate, ready for the first cool evening of fall. Ahhh…the contented anchor of our home.
Two things struck me about this unremarkable event. Number one, it took me way too long to do a task that only took 10 minutes to complete. Note to self, I really need to work on procrastination. Number two, even though I intuitively know it, I’m still amazed at the level of angst visual chaos imparts.
In the past, I’ve written about the role of beauty in our lives. Beauty is harmony. Harmony is calming. Mounds of ash and haphazard remnants of charred bits of wood were not beautiful and far from tranquil. This snapshot of disorder incrementally added to the stress of life, which I was able to eliminate in 10 minutes and replace with a peaceful image.
That morning, as I stood back and marveled at the welcoming and hopeful picture of our fireplace, it was a small but mighty reminder about the power of beauty to promote a sense of calm and restore equilibrium—an essential component to living well, aging great.