Page 18
il!‘ ^Jortlanb (.Observer
F a B living
W/ REBEKAH STAR
I’ll toast to that!
O ne o f m y favorite past tim es is
reading. I enjoy gathering inform a­
tion and sharing it w ith friends and
fam ily. N ot to persuade, but to in­
form . A s I read through m y favorite
m agazines, I enjoy the stories o f
di I ferent m en and w om en who have
changed lifestyle habits that lead to
great long term benefits. R ecently,
alcohol consum ption has been one
o f those. O ften, if you are a regular
drinker, cutting alcohol consu m p ­
tion dow n or out com pletely leads
to a great deal o f im m ediate w eight
loss. A nd since a w hopping 67 p er­
cent o f A m ericans are overw eight,
I’m sure m ost o f us w ould 1 ike to lose
a couple o f pounds. T here are a
num ber o fw a y s drinking habitually
helps us and som e w ays it hurts.
W e all know that m ixed drinks,
beer, and som e w ines are high in
calories. So w eight gain is an o b v i­
ous side effect. But excess drinking
can also lead to other health d an ­
gers such as alcoholism , high blood
pressure, obesity, and even cancer.
H ealth experts say it also can inter­
rupt y o u r sleep pattern. I’ve noticed
in a n um ber o f different studies that
lack o fsle ep sets o ff a chain reaction
that causes y o u r body to slow dow n
it’s natural ability to fight stress,
fatigue, inflam m ation, infection, get
rid o f w aste and so on. It a vicious,
vicious cycle that w e all need to be
aw are o f and correct for o u r health!
I adm it those are those nights
that I like to go out, have a couple o f
drinks w ith friends, have som e good
food- or even attend tasting parties
(as discussed last w eek). I had a
great tim e at last First T h u rsd ay ’s
event w ith T one and O .G O ne. You
should all attend the next one in
A pril. It w as a great m ix o f p rofes­
sionals, m usic, and o f course, for me
w ine! I decided m y lim it w ould be
tw o glasses as I have read it should
be. A nd that w as perfect! It w as a
very tasty C abernet and by the tim e
I was ready to leave I w asn ’t w orried
about the long drive hom e, yet a n ­
o th er benefit o f lim iting yourself.
M e n ’s H e a lth M a g a z in e a ls o
suggestss m aking the second drink
the last call for alcohol. In a land­
m ark study published in the N ew
E ngland Journal o f M edicine, re­
searchers found that one or tw o
d rin k s a day actu ally d ecreased
blood pressure slightly. Three drinks
o r m ore a day, how ever, elevated
blood pressure by an average o f 10
points systolic and 4 diastolic. The
type o f alcohol d o e sn ’t m atter. O r­
der a Screw driver, Incredible H ulk,
or a glass o f wine! B u tlim ity o u rse lf
to tw o drinks.
Know what to drink- And
what not to for weight loss:
W e like beer, w e like w ine- gin
and tonics too! A ccording to the
b o o k ‘The ABS D iet1, there are health
March 10, 2010
benefits to having one or tw o drinks
a day, but there are m any w ays that
alcohol can get you into trouble.
M ost im portant, alcohol, like soda,
adds calories that a re n ’t recognized
by o u r brain, they are em pty c alo ­
ries. W e d o n ’t end up full o r satis­
fied, so it actually leads to excess
eating. In fact, research also show s
th a t a lc o h o l c o n s u m p tio n a lso
m akes you eat m ore and en co u r­
ages y o u r body to b u m less fat.
W hen Sw iss researchers gave eight
healthy m en enough alcohol to ex ­
ceed their daily calorie requirem ents
by 25 percen t(eq u iv alen t to five
beers for som eone w ho consum es a
3,000 calorie diet), they found that
booze actually im paired m e n ’s ab il­
ity to b u m fat by as m uch as 36
percent. B ooze also m akes you store
fat! Y our body sees m ost a lc o h o la s
poison and tries to g et rid o f it. Y our
liver stops processing o th er c alo ­
ries until it has dealt w ith the a lco ­
hol. So anything else you eat likely
turns into fat. I d o n ’t know about
you, but I d o n ’t w ant any o f my
o rg a n s to sto p p ro c e ssin g a n y ­
thing! A nd if y o u ’re on a serious
w eight loss plan, m ost studies I ’ve
seen suggest that it’s best ju s t to
NEW
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r f a v o r it e n e i g h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s t o r e n o w d e liv e r s
g r o c e r i e s r ig h t t o y o u r h o m e o r o f fic e .
cut out alcohol com pletely. I know -
E asier said than done!
Something to Wine
about...Red wine that is:
• C o n su m p tio n o f red w ine on a
reg u lar basis m ay be a preventative
against co ro n ary heart disease.
• W ine drinking correlates w ith a
low er risk for A lzheim er's disease.
• R esveratrol (and ingredient found
in w ine) can reduce y o u r risk o f
heart disease. W ine also can raise
y o u r body's levels o f H D L (good
cholesterol), increasing heart health
and can thin blood, d ecreasing the
risk o f blood C ots.
• T h ep h y to ch em icals in w ine, spe­
cifically flavanoids and resveratrol,
are an tioxidants that act to prevent
against cC lu lar dam age w ithin your
b ody.
• T w o g la s s e s o fre d w in e (2 5 0 m l),
taken together w ith the m eal, low er
post-m eal blood pressure in h y p er­
tensive persons.
• Red w ine intake reduces the risk
o f kidney stone form ation.
G o ahead, grab a friend and open
a bottle! L e t’s toast to great health!
Your questions and comments are
truly appreciated. Please contact
me on our Facebook page “FaB
Living w/Rebekah Star ”, or send an
email to RebekahLiv@yahoo.com.
Until next week- Live Fabulously!
Toxins
Pollute
Fish Catch
P u b lic H e alth o ffic ia ls a re u rg ­
in g p e o p le w h o e a t fish fro m the
C o lu m b ia S lo u g h to lim it th e
a m o u n t th e y eat.
T h e a d v iso ry c o v e rs th e full
le n g th o f th e w a te rw a y fro m the
m o u th o f F a irv ie w L ak e o n the
e a st to th e W illa m e tte R iv e r on
th e w est.
"W e w a n t p e o p le to be a w a re
th a t th e re a re c e rta in fish th a t live
th e ir w h o le liv es in th e C o lu m b ia
S lo u g h an d w e k n o w th a t th e se
re s id e n t fish h av e h ig h e r a m o u n ts
o f to x in s in th e m ," said B arb ara
S tife l, an O re g o n P u b lic H e alth
e n v iro n m e n ta l h e a lth sp e c ia list.
A stu d y fo u n d e le v a te d le v els
o f p o l y c h l o r i n a t e d b ip h e n y ls
(P C B s) in carp . A s a re su lt, h e alth
o ffic ia ls are a d v isin g p e o p le to
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
you click, we deliver, (or pull up for pick up)
e at no m o re th an tw o p o rtio n s p e r
m o n th fro m the C o lu m b ia S lo u g h ,
an d to p re p a re th e fish in a w ay
th a t e lim in a te s m o st o f th e fat,
w h e re to x in s su ch as P C B s c o n ­
c e n tra te .
PC B s can harm a baby's d ev elop­
ing brain o r nervous system . T h ere­
fore, it is especially im portant for
w om en ages 18 to 45 and children to
follow this advice, said Stifel.