Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2014 i Prevention

Welcome to Prevention ’s annual Love Your Age issue (starting on p. 75), where we get up close on a subject most of us would rather ignore. After all, who wants to age? Who even wants to “age gracefully”? Not us! We are way too busy gathering huge handfuls of rosebuds while we may. We are the generation that is “aging with a vengeance,” as actress and humorist Annabelle Gurwitch says in this issue. To fuel that vengeance, sure, we must pay attention to our bone strength, microbiome diversity, and telomere length. But the real secret to smart aging? Faith, hope, courage, and a huge dollop of attitude. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter (@PreventionMag) to celebrate that spirit on October 1, our annual #LoveYourAge day. See you there! Editorial Director…

3 Qs About the New Pelvic Exam Guidelines On our radar: two drugs that could stop the hurt before it happens. The meds, which are injected, use antibodies to block the pain signals and abnormal dilation of blood vessels that can lead to migraines. In one trial, biweekly injections erased attacks in a third of people and cut frequency in half for 70% of them. Per the researchers, these new potions could be out in 3 years. We’ll be impatiently waiting. Source: David Dodick, professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine What new guidelines? The American College of Physicians no longer recommends annual pelvic exams—when your doc manually checks you inside and out—unless you are pregnant or have new symptoms. Then why is my gyno still doing them?…

Vegetarians score yet more points for their health and the planet: A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 5 years’ worth of data from thousands of adults and found that vegetarians enjoyed a mortality rate 16 to 17% lower than nonvegetarians, not to mention a 29% lower greenhouse gas emission rate. But you don’t have to give up that juicy hunk of meat every time. Eating an omnivore’s diet emphasizing plant-based foods was associated with similar perks. For a handy steak swap to get you started, visit prevention.com/cauliflower-steak.…

When vegetables help your body flush out toxins— measurably!—you know you’re in clean-food territory. Behold the power of broccoli: In a recent experiment, men and women living in one of China’s most polluted regions drank half a cup of fruit juice mixed with broccoli-sprout powder. Compared with peers who sipped the beverage sans broccoli, they excreted 61% more benzene, a human carcinogen. That’s because broccoli compounds produce sulforaphane, which makes enzymes that help give toxins the boot. Peace out, pollutants.…

Barnana Organic Peanut Butter Chewy Banana Bites Peanut butter, banana, and no chance of bruising— what’s not to love? They taste more like candy than a healthy snack, but rest assured, they’re packed with potassium. ($5; barnana.com) NUTRITION (per serving) 180 cal, 4 g pro, 21 g carb, 2 g fiber, 19 g sugars, 8 g fat, 5 g sat fat, 2 mg sodium Skout Organic Raw Pumpkin Seeds With 10 g of protein, these tasty seeds will power up any exploration. For a spicy kick, try Jalapeño or Black-Pepper BBQ flavors. ($4.50; skoutorganic.com) NUTRITION (per serving) 190 cal, 10 g pro, 5 g carb, 2 g fiber, 1 g sugars, 17 g fat, 3 g sat fat, 250 mg sodium Sun Seasoned All Natural Chocolate, Almond, Coconut Kale Chips…

Gluten-Free Flour Are you allergic or sensitive to gluten or baking for someone who is? Celiac’s in the house! GF all-purpose flour is often a mishmash of flours: chickpea, sorghum, rice, potato starch. But you can’t swap it evenly for flour in every recipe. That cool? I’m all for intellectual baking! Hoping for extra health benefits? Shocker: GF flour may pack more carbs than wheat does. Obviously. I’m under no illusion that flour’s a health food. Darn it. I was hoping that nixing wheat would justify my pancake addiction. No, I just love that it’s trendy! Whoa, nobody mentioned math. Some brands require experimentation to get measurements and textures right. Sound like too much work or don’t bake? Don’t bother. There’s likely no advantage to going gluten-free if you’re not…

1. Fall Apart Midlife isn’t a number, says Jett Psaris, an Oakland, CA, therapist and author of Taking the Midlife Leap, One Step at a Time; it’s the onset of the feeling that nothing is working anymore. Participants in her workshops often arrive because a pileup of challenges—health problems, job loss, retirement—has stripped away their identities, so they simply can’t be the people they were before. It’s alarming, says Psaris, but for those who can give in to it, breakdown clears the way for deep change like nothing else can. 2. You Don’t Need a Passion—Just Do Something Passion is a buzzword of the reinvention movement, but having a rigid idea of what your passion is, in the abstract, can actually hurt you, because it may not translate into something…

Go to prevention.com/thrive for pain-fighting, agedefying workouts that make 40+ feel pretty darn amazing. “Are you feeling any pain?” I’m lying flat on my belly on a gym floor covered in Astroturf, and peering down at me is a bicepsendowed trainer who is becoming famous in the wellness world for exposing the hidden old person in you. His name is Bruce Mack, and for this part of his assessment, he’s positioned me at the bottom of a pushup— legs straight behind me, palms by my chest with elbows bent—and asked me to quickly lift my body off the floor and into a plank. If I can do this simple move smoothly—and feel no pain in my shoulders or back—then I get a score of 3. Too low a score on…

Lena Ordaz HIDDEN PROBLEM: HORMONE IMBALANCE “I knew my hair would change a little bit with age, but after I had my daughter about a year ago, I lost a lot of it, and what was left went from curly and full to flat and lifeless. The constant dyeing and highlighting I was doing to hide my grays left it a thinning, damaged, tangled mess. After my Prevention makeover, my hair feels 10 times healthier than it did before—I’m going to keep it this way.” 1 LIFE-ALTERING CHANGES Your knees aren’t all that’s still smarting from that halfmarathon training a few months back. If you’re losing more than the usual 80 to 100 hairs daily, keep in mind that any prolonged physical stressor—whether it’s a sudden, sustained uptick in exercise,…

You take glucosamine for your achy joints and sip chamomile tea for your jangled nerves. But who knew remedies like these could work the same magic on dogs and cats as they do on humans? It’s all about choosing the right stuff, so we asked holistic vets which products they’ve found work best on their own pets. FOR EASING ACHY, AGING JOINTS Glucosamine/chondroitin. This combo can help protect and repair cartilage around joints and, unlike the prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that vets often use to treat pets’ arthritis, poses a low risk of side effects. Be patient—it takes about 30 days for the supplements to start working, says veterinarian Patrick Mahaney, founder of California Pet Acupuncture and Wellness in Los Angeles. Tips: Choose products formulated only for pets and made…

Vitamin D is a hormone the body produces through sun exposure. Most adults don’t get enough of it, but research suggests that D helps protect against serious diseases. One example is breast cancer, in which it curbs abnormal cell growth and the formation of blood vessels that feed tumors. Adequate levels at the time of diagnosis could affect prognosis and alter the disease’s course, potentially reducing the risk of recurrence, spread, and death. To get a safe amount of sun, estimate how long it would take for your skin to tan slightly. Reduce that time by half if you have fair skin or one-quarter if you’re darker, and try to get that much exposure a few days a week. I also recommend that everyone take at least 2,000 IU of…

We admit it: Half the reason we hike is for the trail-mix breaks. But this protein-packed snack is more than delicious, especially if you load it with nuts and berries. A recent review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that these two foods may boost memory and fight depression. The bonuses were most evident in older adults—good news in the fight against cognitive aging. Eat half a cup of nuts and 1 to 2 cups of berries daily, advises study author Peter Pribis. Fresh or frozen are best, but about ½ to 1 cup dried berries are good, too. So go ahead, spill that mix. Your Taste Buds on Stress Stress doesn’t just trigger the munchies—it can change how food tastes! A new study has found that receptors…

Whether we complain to our girlfriends or suffer in silence, about one in four of us has experienced that embarrassing Um, did I just…? moment while coughing, laughing, sneezing, or exercising. The main culprit: a weak pelvic floor—something a little yoga could help fix, according to new research. Women who participated in a yoga-therapy program for 6 weeks experienced a 70% decrease in their incontinence frequency. Try these simple moves, making sure to relax the pelvic floor on each inhale and contract it on each exhale. “It should feel like you’re doing Kegel exercises that are linked to your breath,” says yoga teacher and physical therapist Bill Gallagher. Source: Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery Malasana Stand with feet about mat-width apart, toes off mat and heels on it. Bend…

Turns out you can’t pack away sun concerns with last season’s swimsuit. Incidental sun exposure—the kind you get when leaf peeping and apple picking— accumulates year-round and can lead to redness-causing inflammation and thick, hardened skin. It’s also linked to squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most-common type of skin cancer. But new research in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology reports that spirulina—a freshwater algae full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals—may (in addition to its immune-boosting powers) reduce skin damage caused by UVB exposure. Pump up your fall smoothies with a scoop, or get a healthy dose of the antioxidant-rich green stuff in this pesto recipe from Candice Kumai, a chef and the author of Pretty Delicious. SPIRULINA PESTO 3 c fresh basil 3/4 c whole raw almonds 1 Tbsp spirulina powder…

Simmer sauces make ethnic easy. The three we like most right now pack less than 400 mg of sodium per serving. Saffron Road Korean Stir Fry Pear and toasted sesame oil create a kicky simmer. ($3–$3.50; saffron roadfood.com) Maya Kaimal Goan Coconut Indian A rich South Indian sauce ideal for bathing simmering shrimp. ($3.50; mayakaimal.com) Saffron Road Harissa We’re seriously sweating this African spice. ($3–$3.50; saffronroad food.com) Chef at Home Rick Bayless, chef, restaurateur, and Top Chef Master What’s the one thing you always have in your fridge? My secret weapon is roasted garlic mojo. To make a jar, mash 4 heads roasted garlic with 2 cups olive oil, ½ cup fresh lime juice, and 1 tsp salt. Spoon over roasted vegetables or toss with pasta for a quick sauce.…

When I started covering alternative medicine nearly 20 years ago, I could count on one hand the number of MDs who practiced with herbs and supplements. To do research on the subject, I had to walk on the wild side: I’d wander Chinatown’s backstreets to poke around exotic-smelling herb shops, schlep to flower-powery conferences (complete with drum circles) at far-flung wilderness retreats, trek through Costa Rican rain forests to observe turmeric farming, and wing off to Berlin to meet German-trained docs for whom herbal medicine was a science, not some weird sideline. Back in America during those days, everything that wasn’t mainstream medicine was cast aside as “alternative,” and physicians who practiced alt med were dismissed as a bunch of unhinged hippies by, well, practically everyone in the medical establishment.…

What you’ll need: Masking tape, a 4-foot dowel (a broomstick works), and a doorway (32” to 36” wide) How to do it: Follow the directions for each fitness screening. If you can do the move correctly, and without any pain, you pass that test. For each screen that you flunk, add 3 to 5 years to your current age to get your “movement age.” Start here, then go to prevention.com/thrive for the full, 7-move assessment. 1. Deep Squat Place strip of tape on floor in middle of door frame. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing straight ahead and in line with tape. Hold dowel overhead. Descend into full squat. Return to starting position. You pass if… You can lower into a deep squat (thighs parallel to floor) while keeping…

DRY SHAMPOO Typically used to absorb oil, dry shampoo like L’Oréal EverStyle Energizing Dry Shampoo ($7; ulta.com) doubles as a volumizer, giving hair texture and body, says Los Angeles dermatologist Jessica Wu, who also suggests avoiding serums and heavy conditioners. MICROFIBER TOWEL To reduce damage and frizziness, gently blot hair dry with a microfiber towel. Earth Therapeutics Quick Dry Hair Towel ($17; earththerapeutics.net) absorbs water quickly. THICK, NO-SNAG ELASTIC Skip the skinny hair bands, which put tension on the scalp, and go for a thick, no-snag elastic like Goody Ouchless Elastics ($3; drugstores). VOLUMIZING MOUSSE When your hair is feeling flat, try a volumizer applied only at the roots. Kérastase Densifique Densimorphose Mousse ($42; kerastase-usa.com) amps up hair, thanks in part to alcohol, which helps absorb oil on the scalp,…

Make Your Life Matter Diana Ross, 65, knows better than anyone that adversity can be one heck of an opportunity. She beat breast cancer as a single mom in her 30s, and lost her sister to the same disease this year. Yet those bumps in the road introduced her to a new calling—teaching restorative yoga to breast cancer survivors—and connected her with a few kindred spirits. “With yoga, these women regain range of motion postsurgery, reduce anxiety, and keep their delicate lymph systems healthy,” says Ross. “Not to mention, it’s like they’ve found their tribe and I’ve found mine.” Ross, an enthusiast of Native American herbs, also formulates organic teas to help her often-chemoexhausted students sleep better, de-stress, and quell nausea. “When you get to be my age,” says Ross,…

Battling stress is an art—literally. Painting and drawing improve the brain’s ability to bounce back under pressure, even if you’re no Picasso, according to a study from University Hospital Erlangen in Germany. Newly retired adults who blocked off time to paint or draw once a week for 10 weeks demonstrated greater psychological resilience—labspeak for that roll-withthe-punches cool we all dream of having in the face of stress (read: not yelling at your spouse when you’re frustrated about something else). Creating visual art improves the connection between brain regions associated with resilience, likely because it’s an activity that calls for integrating cognitive, motor, and creative skills, the study authors say. Pass the paint, please.…

2,000 This is the number of steps in a mile for the average person. 6,000 A multicenter study zeroed in on this count as the minimum to ease—and prevent—knee pain in osteoarthritis sufferers. 14,000–18,000 That’s the average number of steps Old Order Amish men and women take per day. 5,000 Walk less than this and you’re considered sedentary. 7,500 Women who tally at least this many each day have a 50% lower incidence of depression. 10,000 This daily total is associated with lower blood pressure and reduced risks of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Source: Catrine Tudor-Locke, director of the Walking Behavior Laboratory PEDOMETER 2.0 The Moves app for iPhone and Android uses your smartphone’s motion sensors to determine how many daily steps you take—just keep your phone in your pocket or purse and it does…

Well-Oiled Joints Achy joints, meet your match: A daily dose of monounsaturated fatty acids—found in olive oil, avocados, and nuts—could help you overcome rheumatoid arthritis. In a recent study, MUFA consumption was a predictor of remission in patients with RA. Your best bet: Sub in anti-inflammatory MUFAs or omega-3s for saturated fats, which have been linked to joint cartilage damage. Source: EULAR 2014 viscous fiber | 'vis-kəs 'fi-bər Dietary fiber that develops a thick, gel-like texture when mixed with liquid, causing it to take up more space in the stomach and intestines. This creates a feeling of fullness and, according to a new study, may be what gives hot oats a satiating edge. But oatmeal’s not your only option: Barley and apples, plus seaweed for you adventurers, are rich with…

If chapped lips have you avoiding color as the air gets colder, try the new crop of ultramoisturizing shades. “Hydrating lipsticks are now full of rich, exotic oils and emollients,” says Ron Robinson, a cosmetic chemist and the founder and CEO of BeautyStat.com. He recommends looking for nourishing ingredients such as coconut and avocado oils and shea butter. Think of it as a treatment balm—just in a really nice package. Try YSL Rouge Pur Couture ($35; yslbeautyus .com), Jane Iredale PureMoist Lipstick ($25; janeiredale.com), or Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge ($30; lancome-usa.com).…

Shop Smarter • Get Slimmer • Simmer Dinner Proof that soup du jour is also a clean-diet staple: A study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that participants who reported eating soup in the previous 24 hours weighed less, inhaled fewer calories per day, and had smaller waists than those who didn’t spoon the stuff. But there’s a catch: Soup eaters also had higher intakes of sodium. Look for a lower-sodium version in a can, or whip up this slurp-worthy version yourself. Soup’s on! Easy Kale-and-Cauliflower Soup Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add 1 diced onion and cook about 5 minutes. Add 1 clove minced garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add 4 cups lowsodium chicken broth and 2 cups cauliflower florets and cook until soft,…