Princeton Longevity News

Working out in the pool provides resistance as well as provides a great cardiovascular exercise.  The water is easier on the joints but will still enable you to work on your balance, strength and endurance.  Below are 5 great exercises to do in your pool this summer!

1.  Water Jogging.  Jog for 1-3 minute intervals.  You can either jog at a waist high depth, or jog across the pool at a deeper depth making it more difficult since you will not be able to touch the ground.

2. Wall Climbs.  This will incorporate core balance, leg and back strength.  You will need to stabilize your body using your arms in a back and forth motion almost like treading water with your hands.  You will then walk your feet up the side of the pool at least 4 steps and back down.

3.  Planks.  You can do planks in the pool as long as you have a noodle or board.  You will press it into the water with both hands and keep it below the water.  Try to stay stable for 1-2 minutes.

4.  Leg Raises.  Holding on to the noodle or the side of the pool, raise leg straight to the back to work the hamstring and glutes, raise it to the outside to work the inner and outer thighs and lift the leg to the front to get a quad workout.  The water will act as resistance to make it more difficult.

5. Squat Jumps.  This will be the same as on land, but again, the water will provide more resistance to make this exercise more difficult.  Squat all the way down and then jump up and out of the water.

As the weather gets warmer, take a break from your normal indoor routine and take your workout outside.  Using nature and the resources around you, a total body routine can be accomplished!  Below are some example of different ways to workout outdoors!

Using a Park Bench:

1. Tricep Dips

2. Box Jumps

3. Decline Pushups

4. Single Leg Step Ups

5. Elevated Leg Lunges

6. Calf Raises

Using a Playground:

1. Pullups

2. Hanging Leg Raises

3. Supine Rows

4. Monkey Bars

You can also run sprints, bike ride, walk, roller blade, stand up paddle board or hike among many more fun outdoor activites!

By John A. Rumberger, PhD, MD, FACC
Director of Cardiac Imaging
The Princeton Longevity Center

The answer is Yes and NO, but it depends on a number of factors. Atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries” occurs when certain substances build up in your artery walls including cholesterol, calcium, blood cells, and muscle cells. The causes of plaque build-up include age, sex, genetics, environment, lifestyle, smoking, cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. For reasons not totally clear, these factors combine to cause a major inflammatory reaction in the artery wall which brings in more cholesterol, calcium, and blood/muscle cells, actually setting up repeated episodes of inflammation that can “percolate” years before any heart or vascular symptoms.

Your goal is to stop additional plaque build up and/or significantly slow down the ‘natural progression’ of plaque as we all age. It is unlikely that it will ‘all go away’ but possibly some of it can be removed over time.

The best way to lower your heart/vascular risk is to retard or stop the growth of further inflammation and plaque build-up in the walls of the arteries. Studies using the HeartScan [64-slice CT as we use at PLC] have shown that people who slow down or even stop calcified plaque progression cut their risk of a heart attach by 50%!

There are many things for you and your physician to help slow down plaque progression. These include working on altering the risk factors that we can control. Such as: quitting smoking, having a proper diet low in carbohydrates and high in lean sources of protein with goals for achieving an ideal body weight/composition, adequate and frequent exercise, proper vitamins/antioxidants, daily aspirin, control/lowering of cholesterol and use of the proper prescription cholesterol lowering medications to reach new goals, treatment of diabetes and control of blood sugar and blood pressure. Since you now have a baseline coronary calcium score you have the ability to repeat the scan at a later date to measure whether your plaque has stabilized or even regressed.

Your first repeat HeartScan should be in one to three years, depending on the baseline coronary calcium score and location of plaque. It is very important that you work with your doctor to stabilize plaque disease. Calcium score progression [i.e. additional plaque build-up] at or below about 15% per year indicates that your prevention program is “right on target”. Plaque build-up at between 15% and 30% per year indicates that your prevention program is having some success, but needs to be re-evaluated by you and your doctor to see if further steps can be taken to improve your program. Plaque build up at more than about 40% per year indicates that your prevention program needs to be carefully reviewed and that further steps are needed to slow the disease process.

By Staci O’Connor MS, RD, CLC, CDN

We all have very busy lives and because of this some of us either forget to eat or grab the closest food item from a vending machine or fast food restaurant. If you know that you will be traveling, plan and prepare healthy snacks that you can bring along with you. Here are a few quick healthy snacks that can be prepared ahead of time and easily transported.

I. Trail Mix

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole shelled (unpeeled) almonds

1/4 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped pitted dates

2 ounce dried apricots, or other dried fruit

Preparation:

1. Combine almonds, peanuts, cranberries, dates and apricots (or other fruit) in a medium bowl.

Nutrition:

Per serving: Per serving: 156 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 21 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 4 g protein; 3 g fiber; 0 mg sodium; 247 mg potassium.

II. Kale Chips (Makes 4 servings, about 2 cups each)

Ingredients:

1 large bunch kale, tough stems removed, leaves torn into pieces (about 16 cups; see Note)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

1. Position racks in upper third and center of oven; preheat to 400°F.
2. If kale is wet, very thoroughly pat dry with a clean kitchen towel; transfer to a large bowl. Drizzle the kale with oil and sprinkle with salt. Using your hands, massage the oil and salt onto the kale leaves to evenly coat. Fill 2 large rimmed baking sheets with a layer of kale, making sure the leaves don’t overlap. (If the kale won’t all fit, make the chips in batches.)
3. Bake until most leaves are crisp, switching the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through, 8 to 12 minutes total. (If baking a batch on just one sheet, start checking after 8 minutes to prevent burning.)

Tip:

• If you decide to make these ahead of time store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
• Choose organic kale when possible since nonorganic can have high pesticide residue.

Nutrition:

Per serving: 110 calories; 5 g fat (1 g sat, 3 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 16 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 5 g protein; 6 g fiber; 210 mg sodium; 642 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (767% daily value), Vitamin C (192% dv), Calcium (20% dv), Potassium (18% dv).

III. Granola Bar (makes 16 bars)

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats, quick cooking or old fashioned
• 1 cup shredded wheat cereal
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups dried fruit (combination of your choice of dried apricots, dried plums, dried cherries, and dried cranberries)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 ° F. Lightly oil or coat an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place the oats, cereal, walnuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped (the dried fruit should be the size of a dried pea or lentil).

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, and vanilla. Add the oatmeal mixture and chocolate chips and stir to combine. Transfer to the baking pan and flatten down gently with the back of a spoon or spatula to spread evenly.

4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until the edges turn golden brown and the bars are done. Let bars cool completely in pan before slicing and serving. 

Nutrition

1 bar: 170 calories, 7g fat (1.5g saturated, 0.7g omega-3), 85mg sodium, 26g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 3g protein

By Debbie Jeffery, RDN LD

The question, “Can What You Eat Affect Your Mental Health?”, is the title of an article that appeared in the Health and Science section of the Washington Post on March 25, 2014. Recent research results have answered this question with a “yes” indicating a link between diet quality and mental health. Whether the impact food has on the mind is as powerful as the influence it has on the body is an area that scientists have recently begun to explore. In several studies, researchers have found lower rates of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders among those who ate a traditional diet of meat and vegetables compared to those who consumed a modern Western diet which was high in processed and fast foods.

How diet relates to mental health is unclear. One theory is that mood disorders change how and what people choose to eat. A second theory is that certain foods or their absence may contribute to poor mental health. For example, studies have shown a link between zinc deficiency and depression.   The lack of strong evidence and well-designed studies plus the fact that mental health is still not well understood has created skepticism in the research and medical community about the diet and mental health connection. However, more studies are beginning to stimulate an interest and some clinicians are advocating diet changes along with more traditional treatments as part of an integrative approach to treating depression. The entire article can be read here.