A New Delicacy, Thanks to a Bunch of Baboons

February 2nd, 2012

Source: Flickr - jessicafmWe happened across this engaging story and thought we’d share. It’s about how animals recently led farmers to discover a new variety of oranges.

More specifically, it’s about how a troop of baboons led one farmer to discover a promising new cultivar of Minneola tangerines, those deep-orange, knobby-ended, delicious tangerines available for just a couple of months each year.

Here’s the story: An annual mystery baffled South African fruit farmer Alwyn van der Merwe. In June, when his oranges began ripening, a troop of baboons would descend from the mountains around his farm in the Western Cape and target one particular tree among thousands. The animals would feast until the tree was stripped of all its oranges.

Eventually the farmer decided to inspect that tree and discovered that it was a different variety from the others. Its fruit was sweeter and ripened three weeks earlier. “We couldn’t believe it. The one tree was different from the thousands of others, and the baboons knew it,” he told the Christian Science Monitor.

Laboratory testing confirmed it was a new variety of Minneola orange. Van der Merwe grafted shoots from the tree onto standard stocks, and they are now regularly cultivated and grown.

Because the new cultivar ripens earlier, it will extend the farmer’s growing season.

“It hasn’t got a name, and they said we could choose it—maybe we should call it the ‘baboon Minneola,’ ” he says in the CSM’s story.

[Read more details behind the story.]

Fascinating! Remember, the Akea Food Matrix suggests one to three servings of fresh fruit every day. (Buy organic whenever practical, and buy fresh-frozen fruit when fresh fruit is limited or looking peaked.)

Tangerines are one delicious way to get a good dose of vitamin C, fiber, and the phytochemical benefits fruits offer. Check for Minneolas and other varieties of tangerines in your local store.

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Why pasta is not a health food (much as I wish it were)

January 31st, 2012

–by Sally Beare

It always interests me to see how much pasta people eat. As a recovering pasta addict who will never fully recover, I know the appeal only too well. It’s easy, it’s cheap, it isn’t meat, it’s delicious, it’s filling, it’s nice and chewy, it goes with so many sauces, it’s kind of romantic in a way because it comes from Italy, and you can get it in all those great shapes. But will pasta keep YOU in great shape?

As far as I am concerned the answer is a resounding ‘no’. If you are on a mono-diet of pasta, pasta and pasta, you’ll feel a lot better if you give some of those alfabeto and strangolapreti (meaning ‘priest strangler’ – I know, they even have great names) to the kids to glue onto paper and fill the empty space in your life with something else.

Pasta comes from refined flour, so it is a starchy carbohydrate which won’t do your blood glucose or insulin levels any good (I always thought that was why Tony from the Sopranos got so aggressive). It has had its nutrient-containing fibrous part removed, making it a nutrient-robber, unless you eat whole wheat pasta. Pasta does have some kind of mistaken ‘health food’ identity, but that’s because it’s a vegetarian food and because it comes from Italy, where people are famously long-lived (although that’s really due to other aspects of the Mediterranean diet, such as fish, tomatoes and olive oil).

In Campodimele, they do eat pasta, home-made and irresistible with roasted red peppers, wild boar and tomato sauce or in a succulent bean and pork soup. However, pasta isn’t over-eaten and it is used as part of a balanced diet which is high in vegetables and not too starchy overall. If you love pasta, think of it as a treat to have with a favourite sauce rather than a staple; a lover rather than a spouse.

There are plenty of alternatives to pasta out there if you want to wean yourself off it and get the benefits. Quinoa, a venerated grain from the Andes, is light on the digestion and is a complete source of protein, containing all eight essential amino acids we need daily. It is quick to cook and goes well with sauces and casseroles or in salads. Buckwheat, which has nothing to do with wheat, is great for making wraps, pancakes, and blinis. There are also some excellent brands of non-wheat pasta made from brown rice and other gluten-free grains on the market; the brown rice ones look and taste almost like the real thing. For more about grains and what to cook with them, have a look at the information here. Ciao pasta, I’ll always love you but you know it’s better this way.

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Let’s Kick the “Mid-Life Crisis”

January 27th, 2012

Whether you believe it's psychobabble or a natural part of adult life, the midlife crisis is getting a new look from psychologists.

What does a midlife crisis look like? Is it a man who hits his forty-somethingth birthday and suddenly drives off towards the sunset in a new sports car, a twenty-something girl in the passenger seat?

Is it the woman who surprises longtime friends by treating herself to an all-new new wardrobe, hairstyle, and hobbies such as exercising like mad?

Although psychologists originally used the term "mid-life crisis" to describe a transitional stage in adult development, today there are questions about its authenticity. Is it a myth? An excuse for atypical—even bad—behavior?

Or is it a real, natural life stage that would benefit from a new name?

Let's do a short history of the mid-life crisis…

  • First used in 1965, the term "midlife crisis" became popular after it began to be used by Freudian psychologists. Carl Jung, for example, described it as a normal part of adult maturation—a time during which people took stock of themselves.
  • Erik Erikson, the theorist known for creating the Eight Stages of Development, explained it as a transition during the stage he called "middle adulthood" — when people naturally struggle with questions about their meaning and purpose. With necessary adjustments made at midlife, he believed, people could achieve long term satisfaction by the last stage of life, called "late adulthood."
  • Today mainstream psychologists believe a midlife crisis often starts with an overwhelming moment of crisis when we first become aware that life is passing us by. If you've made dissatisfying life choices, you might feel a harsh sting—the thought there's not much time left to accomplish or become what you'd once imagined.

But certainly those crises of realization can happen at any time in life. So, recently, researchers have questioned the validity of a true midlife crisis. They name three main reasons to rename the midlife crisis…

Today's longer life span. Jung placed midlife crisis at about age 40, which at the time was considered halfway between adulthood and the end of life. Since then, life expectancy has shifted from 55 to 78, meaning midlife today would hit closer to age 55 or 60.

Yet those crises and questions that fuel the traditional midlife crisis still occur in the early to mid-forties, when we first encounter signs of aging.

Changing expectations of happiness. People today generally have higher expectations for personal happiness—we tend to think we deserve happiness beyond the satisfaction of being in a good career, good marriage, and raising children well. We also have many more options available as far as where and when we work, whether or not we marry (or stay married), and whether or not we raise children. Sometimes the range of choices can seem overwhelming, or even lead to remorse.

Changing social roles. On a related note, about 25 percent of wives today earn more than their husbands. Clearly, some women can now afford the kind of life changes only their male counterparts once could. Plus, many men are more involved in parenting today, some even choosing to be stay-at-home dads. As the linked article states, these are not the kind of men who run off for a midlife adventure without great misgivings about separating from their kids. Social and familial roles do not break along the same strict lines as, say, in the 1950s and 1960s.

Some psychologists today suggest a new name for the midlife crisis: the emerging maturity crisis.

Whatever its name, you can learn ways to mitigate the effects of the "midlife crisis," thanks to the Akea lifestyle.

Keep your nutrition—and therefore your wellness and energy—at optimal levels by eating well and taking your Essentials.

Keep your body and mind well-tuned through regular movement.

Build your social networks and community, and nuture your sense of purpose.

Make relaxation and ample sleep part of your daily life.

What's your take? Do we need a new name and new approach to these times of personal crisis? Have you successfully navigated such a crisis? And did Akea help you? Comment and share, if you will.

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What’s getting under your skin (Part 2) … some natural beauty products

January 24th, 2012

–by Sally Beare

There are plenty of high-quality skin care and other beauty products on the market containing only safe, natural substances – it’s no coincidence that most of them are edible – and a quick browse of the internet or your local health food store should provide you with what you need. Look for some of the following ingredients:

Almond oil
Easily absorbed, preserves moisture, contains antioxidant vitamin E to protect skin cells, antimicrobial (so helps prevent acne), good for dry or irritated patches.

Aloe Vera
Soothing, good for sunburn or irritated skin, helps support the water balance of skin.

Apricot kernel oil
Rich in omega 6 essential fats and vitamin E, apricot kernel oil is a favorite of the lustrous-skinned women of the Longevity Hot Spot, Hunza, in Pakistan. Apricot kernel oil penetrates the skin without leaving an oily feel and boosts elasticity. It has also been found to be beneficial for eczema and dermatitis.

Avocado
Contains beneficial, moisturizing fats and vitamin E.

Calendula
Soothes burns, diaper rash and other skin irritations.

Honey
A natural humectant which holds moisture and hydrates skin; antibacterial.

Lipoic acid
Recycles ‘spent’ antioxidants.

Olive oil
Contains vitamin E and monounsaturated fats.

Shea butter
Rich in moisturizing fats; has a healing effect on burns and other skin conditions.

Tea tree
Anti-bacterial so can be useful as a topical treatment for acne.

Vitamin E
Antioxidant so helps protect skin cells from free radicals from pollution and toxins.

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What’s getting under your skin? … a guide to nutrients and toxins in your skin cream

January 20th, 2012

–by Sally Beare

If you are a woman (and, increasingly, if you are a man) chances are you apply a moisturiser to your skin every day. But do you ever wonder what’s actually getting under your skin?

The average woman absorbs almost 5 lbs. of chemicals through her skin each year, according to biochemist Richard Bence, who spent 3 years studying the ingredients in skin cream. Bence, whose 2007 report was published in trade magazine In-Cosmetics, warns that these chemicals can get straight into the bloodstream, which may make them even more hazardous than actually ingesting them through the mouth, since they cannot be broken down before reaching the blood.

Bence also claims that some of the chemicals present can actually cause damage and premature aging to skin. He also warns against the ‘cocktail effect’ of harmful chemicals, in which mixing them can cause extra damage in a toxic synergy effect. Taking into account other beauty products as well as skin creams, it’s quite a cocktail, since according to the UK campaign group Chemicalsafeskincare, women apply up to 175 chemicals to their skin daily from different beauty products.

So what are the potentially harmful chemicals in beauty products? Here are some of the most common and most toxic to look out for on labels:

  • Parabens – mimic estrogen and may therefore increase the risk of breast cancer as well as causing hormone imbalance which may interfere with fertility and cause other problems such as endometriosis
  • Cocamide MEA (used to bind ingredients) – can irritate skin
  • Benzyl alcohols (used for scent) – can irritate skin
  • Propylene glycol – linked with cancer; penetration agent which allows other chemicals to penetrate deeper into the skin thus making them more likely to enter the bloodstream
  • Petroleum distillates – possible carcinogen
  • Coal tar – known carcinogen
  • Phthalates – reproductive/developmental toxin
  • Toluene – reproductive/developmental toxin
  • Sodium lauryl sulfate – foaming agent in shampoos and shower gels – can irritate skin
  • 1, 4 Dioxane – a known carcinogen and possible kidney, neuro and respiratory toxicant
  • Petrolatum – clogs pores and is frequently contaminated with carcinogenic PAHs

Check Sally’s blog next Tuesday for information on natural beauty products…

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A Group to Keep You Honest

January 17th, 2012

Simply because you're part of the Akea community, it's likely you set goals for yourself—and are fairly determined to realize them.

There are so many ways the Akea lifestyle can help you in that endeavor, from helping you feel better and more energetic to nurturing the support of your social network.

Here's a tool you might want to add to your arsenal. As part of your social community of family, friends, and other supporters, consider forming an accountability group.

What's that?

An accountability group is a subset of your community and social network. They are people you meet with regularly to voice your goals (be they personal or business) and map your road to achieving them. The group listens to everyone's input and contributes equitably to helping each member. Along the way, each member not only receives specific advice, but also absorbs the lessons inherent in the experiences of the other members.

Accountability groups aren't like the average book club or bridge group—though those groups certainly provide social benefits! Because they are more businesslike than social, accountability groups follow strict rules, such as…

  • Be on time
  • Be committed
  • Be honest
  • Be supportive
  • Be creative
  • Be an active participant
  • Don't be embarrassed
  • Don't be afraid to share
  • Don't hold back
  • Don't judge
  • Check your ego at the door
  • Everything must be held in strict confidence
  • Each member must be accountable to the group
  • Expect greatness from each other

The idea is that by meeting regularly and following rules and agendas, you and the other members of your accountability group—whether they are friends, associates, or like-minded new acquaintances—can support each other through the challenging process of identifying and achieving goals.

This notion works beautifully within the Akea BluePrint for Life, which recommends nurturing and leaning on your networks of social support. Another key to the BluePrint is nurturing your sense of purpose—and what better way to explore and enhance your purpose than though the support and close connections of your social network? (And what better group to expose to the benefits of Akea?)

Remember the importance of nutrition, movement, and relaxation. All of these key areas work together to your best benefit. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Have you tried working with an accountability group, or a similarly structured group? How was your experience? Would accountability groups help you structure and achieve more with your own Akea business? Comment here and let us know your thoughts!

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Posted in Connection, Hot Spot Healthy Living | 1 Comment »

Why we should switch off at bed time

January 12th, 2012

–by Sally Beare

Sleep is essential for keeping us healthy and helping us age at a sedate pace. Since it is estimated that up to 70 per cent of Americans have chronic sleep deprivation, that means that most of us are probably aging faster than we would if we could get an hour or two of quality zeds more every night.

Two of the biggest enemies of sleep, other than stress, children, and partying, are the computer and the television. According to research presented at Sleep 29, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, watching television is one of the most common culprits in eating away at valuable time we should be spending in bed with the lights out, thus contributing to the national ‘sleep debt’.

It’s so easy to while away the hours channel-surfing and internet browsing – it feels sort of relaxing and sort of as though you are doing something at the same time. Yet these activities quickly become ways of killing time – and killing sleep. And that can kill the pleasure of the next day, and ultimately it might even kill us. Using this time to sleep instead is not a waste of time, so long as we do not exceed 7-9 hours per night, since it makes us more productive the next day and may help us to live longer.

Watching TV and using the computer late in the day overstimulate our systems and interfere with production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Experts recommend that, in order to set a healthy melatonin-producing rhythm in our bodies, we have an ‘electronic sundown’ at or before 10pm most evenings, which means turning off all the glowing electronic appliances in the room in which we are going to sleep or where we are winding down before bed. The TV, the computer, the DVD player, the charging cell phone – either turn them off, or make sure they are in another room. If you want to read, use a soft glowing lamp rather than bright lights. Switch off to switch off, and hopefully you’ll get a refreshing night’s sleep, ready to switch right back on again next day.

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Why we age and what we can do about it (Part 2)

January 10th, 2012

–by Sally Beare

What can you do to slow down aging?

To age more slowly, we need to protect our soma cells and their DNA. And that happens to be just exactly what they do in the Longevity Hot Spots. So here's what they do – and what we can do, too.

Antioxidants to the rescue!

They eat lots of antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables, which help prevent free radical damage to cells and DNA.

Not too much

They don't overeat, and thus they avoid the excess free radical damage to cells and DNA which comes from burning calories.

Avoid AGEing

They avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates, which lead to the production of Advanced Glycosylation End-products (AGEs), which cause aging to cells and DNA.

Avoid inflamm-aging

They avoid excess inflammation, which is extremely pro-aging, by getting lots of anti-inflammatory omega 6 and omega 3 essential fats from nuts, seeds, and oily fish. They also have low levels of pro-inflammatory insulin due to their low-sugar diet.

The right protein

We need around 1g of protein per kg of body weight daily. This is crucial for steadying blood sugar and for the manufacture of hormones, protein bodies, immune bodies, cell repair, and for making DNA-binding proteins. In the Longevity Hot Spots, they eat plenty of protein from a range of sources including nuts, beans, fish, eggs, and lean organic animal produce.

A glass of wine

Red wine and red grapes, as enjoyed in the Hot Spots, contain the powerful antioxidant resveratrol which has been found to increase the activity of an anti-aging gene called Sir2 in mice which is also found in humans.

Plenty of water

We need water to ferry those nutrients into the cells to protect them and to carry the toxins out, so drink plenty of it – independent needs vary, but 6-8 glasses spread through the day is a rough guide.

Rest and relax

Avoid stress if you can, since this leads to excess amounts of pro-aging cortisol.

Walk it off

Regular moderate exercise aids the circulation so that nutrients can get to cells, helps lower cortisol levels, boosts immunity, and reduces inflammation. In the Hot Spots they are active all day long, but they take moderate rather than high-stress exercise and they rest during the day too. It's an ideal combination.

Posted in Longevity, Sally Beare | No Comments »

Rockfish don’t get wrinkles – why we age
and what we can do about it (Part 1)

January 6th, 2012

–by Sally Beare

Why do we age? That's not a rhetorical question. It's an actual question which can be answered. And answering it gives us the power to age more slowly if we choose to do so.

Aging more slowly means being more likely to stay sprightly into old age, with body functions as well as marbles intact. It means feeling better when we are younger and younger when we are older, just as they do in the Longevity Hot Spots.

Some species don't age. It's true! If you never want to see your cheeks start heading for your neck or your behind for your knees, you made a mistake being born a mammal. Certain reptiles and amphibians, for example, keep on breeding and growing new sets of teeth or limbs ad infinitum and only die because they outgrow their habitat or get eaten by something bigger than them. That's why most people can't tell the difference between a young adult rockfish or turtle and an old one – they all look the same.

We know that, biologically speaking at least, most of us humans are only really here to reproduce. Even those of us who find a higher purpose in life (being an opera star or the Pope, perhaps) can't deny that things start to fall apart after reproductive age – in other words, once our bodies aren't needed any more by evolution. It takes a while to fall apart completely, which means most of us get to see our kids through college or to write our magnum opus or take up several hobbies or whatever it is we choose to fill all those decades with, but the fact is that the risk of illness starts to increase sharply once we are in our 40s.

The 'we fall apart after we've reproduced' theory is backed up by the fact that our germ-line DNA, the DNA in the egg or sperm cells which combines with the DNA of someone we fancy to make a new human, is very well-protected in the cell, so that we can create nicely-made new humans who can then themselves pass on that DNA intact. In fact, our germ-line DNA hasn't changed that much since we were simple bacteria. Our soma cells and their DNA, on the other hand, which is what the rest of our bodies are made of, is much more subject to the ravages of time since it is only needed once (unless you get cloned).

Check this blog next Tuesday to see what you can do to slow down aging…

Posted in Longevity, Sally Beare | No Comments »

Happiness: How does yours stack up?

January 3rd, 2012

Meet Alvin Wong. He's the happiest man in America—or so says a new statistical analysis of happiness.

According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, the happiest person in America is…

  • tall, Asian-American, and a male 65 or older
  • a resident of Hawaii
  • married with children
  • religious (observant Jews score highest)
  • a business owner who earns more than $120,000 a year.

Those qualities fit Alvin Wong exactly. He's a lifelong resident of Hawaii who owns a successful health care management business. He says the everyday stresses of being an entrepreneur sometimes get to him, but that he finds the upsides to business ownership are worth the worry.

The new Gallup-Healthways index is one of the first statistical analyses of happiness to take into account social and emotional aspects of happiness—qualities Akea names among its pillars of the BluePrint for Life. You simply can't separate having a strong social network, a sense of community, and a personal sense of purpose from the overall picture of health and well-being. The Akea Community proves that's true every day.

Here's more on happiness from John Harris, the vice president of Innovations at Healthways…

A person fitting the happiest profile is likely to have high optimism, good emotional health with little anger, depression, and stress, and no underlying chronic illnesses. This person is likely to eating right and exercise regularly, while working in a supportive environment with good access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, a safe place to exercise, and good access to health care. The person is also likely to be older and better established with enough money to live comfortably," said John Harris, vice president of Innovations at Healthways.

Interested in finding out where your health and happiness rank? Think you can match Mr. Wong? Follow the link to the Gallup-Healthways Index to try it out for yourself. Or, for a wellness-centered quiz, try taking the Akea Self-assessment.

Health, happiness, and well-being are inextricably linked. Take steps today to give yourself a bit more of all three. You'll feel better—and happier—for it.

How do you keep yourself happy? Comment here to let us know.

Posted in BluePrint for Life, Hot Spot Healthy Living | No Comments »

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