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Health Tips from the Okaloosa County Wellness Committee

Lobster, T-Bones, and Your Knees
Love Friday night surf and turf at your local pub? Got a bum knee or foot that often flares up on weekends? There may be a link.

Eating foods that are high in a protein called purine -- such as a seafood and steak dinner washed down with a cold beer -- can bring on gout, a particularly painful type of arthritis that primarily attacks leg and foot joints. If family history makes arthritis a potential hazard, turns out you can slash your risk of gout by eating more low-fat dairy foods (string cheese, yogurt, milk) and less surf and turf.

An overload of foods high in purine is a requirement for gout. Your body converts purine into uric acid, a waste product that's normally eliminated through your kidneys. But when there's too much uric acid in your system, it forms tiny, sharp crystals that take up residence in the lower leg and foot joints (the big toe is a favorite site), causing intense pain, redness, and swelling. People with certain inherited characteristics linked to rheumatoid arthritis are prone to uric acid buildup and gout.

Although gout is on the rise, in one study, men who ate the highest amounts of low-fat dairy had a 44 percent lower risk of the condition compared to men who consumed the least. What else can you do? Watch your weight -- extra pounds stress joints -- and avoid high-purine foods, including steak, lobster, and liquor.

Is Your Skin Stressed Out?

All that tension inside you? It’s on the surface, too.

When your life is a pressure cooker, your skin pays the price. Stress throws off the skin’s ability to recover, so scratches or scrapes stick around longer. And your skin may be more easily inflamed by scratchy wool sweaters, adhesive bandages, cold weather, or dry, itchy skin conditions like psoriasis or eczema. What unknots you on the inside helps calm your skin side too -- a quiet walk, a little yoga, soothing music. 

Stress appears to interfere with the normal barrier function of skin, making it more susceptible to skin disorders. This response was noted in a study on skin irritation, in which sticky tape was applied and then removed from the forearms of participants. The skin of people who were highly stressed took longer to recover than the skin of people who were not tense. That's a good reason to find a mind/body relaxation method that works for you -- whether it's meditation, knitting, or rhythmic running.

Feeling Wimpy?

Finding it harder to do what you once did easily? Check your multivitamin.

If your arms start to feel like wet noodles after carrying groceries, pushing the vacuum, or doing a normal workout, you may be low on magnesium. Your muscles require this mineral to function properly, yet two-thirds of us don't get enough. Meet your daily intake with whole grains, nuts, leafy greens, and a multivitamin/mineral supplement that includes magnesium.

Your body needs magnesium to power your muscles (and your heart, nerves, and bones, too) and when you don't have enough, it shows. In one study, older adults who had the lowest magnesium levels also did the worst on strength tests, a risky combination that invites accidents and threatens the heart. The reason? Without enough magnesium, your body struggles to carry out physical tasks, which pushes up your heart rate and can leave you gasping for oxygen. Gaps in your diet are largely to blame.

Here's what you can do about it: On your next trip to the supermarket, fill your basket with bran or shredded wheat cereal, brown rice, nuts, whole-grain breads, and leafy greens -- all are rich in magnesium. And to back up your improved diet, take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains at least 100 milligrams of magnesium.

Plum Crazy

Go a little plum crazy in the morning for a big antioxidant boost.

Plum pancakes? It may sound peculiar, but plums are a rewarding addition to your breakfast choices. Berries may boast the most antioxidant power, but plums win hands down over grapefruit, oranges, and even purple grapes. Toss a handful of dried plums onto your cereal or into your pancake batter before cooking and enjoy with a glass of orange juice. The vitamin C in the juice will help you absorb the iron in the plums.

After berries, plums are one of the fruits that have the highest levels of antioxidants -- about 23 milligrams (mg) per half cup. A half cup of cherries serves up the same amount. And plums offer up additional nutrients, such as potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber, and vitamin A.

Your body uses antioxidants to neutralize nasty molecules that contribute to aging and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. You can get antioxidants from a variety of fruits, vegetables, beverages, and even dark chocolate. In this study, coffee and black and green teas also were found to have high levels of antioxidants.

Watch Your Walking
What's better than climbing 150 stairs or taking 997 steps? Watching the time.

The best way to measure your walking workout is with a watch. The time you take to walk -- at least 30 minutes each day -- is much more important than how many miles, steps, or blocks you've walked. That's because monitoring time is convenient and can be measured anywhere, and you're less likely to under- or overdo it.    Using a watch to measure your walking progress can help keep you from cheating. That is, if you measure by some other means -- distance, for example -- and have a lot of time on your hands, you may opt for a slower pace. If you walk for at least 30 minutes a day, you may find yourself getting farther and farther in that amount of time, and that feels like progress. So just put 30 minutes of walking on your schedule, and then do it at a pace that feels good. Can't do it all in one stretch? Get a watch with a cumulative stopwatch function, and keep track throughout the day until you patch together at least 30 minutes.

Coffee Graduates to Health Food Status

Your favorite morning brew has a surprising new perk.

Good news for the 80 percent of Americans who down an average of 3.2 cups of java a day: Your liver loves it. And because the liver is your body's vital detox center, that's a big health plus. It's not the caffeine. Apparently, it's the antioxidants or other compounds in coffee that keep your liver humming. So if you were just thinking you could do with a cup of joe, go for it.

The liver is a major multitasker. It's a housekeeper: It filters toxins from the blood, cleaning pollutants, alcohol, useless residues, nicotine, and other garbage out of the body. It's also a stock clerk: It keeps extra carbohydrates on hand and releases them when blood sugar levels are low, plus it warehouses fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K for future use. It's a body builder, too: The liver makes proteins to build muscles, and it produces bile, which is needed to digest fat.

Evidence that coffee takes some stress off the liver was discovered when scientists determined that coffee lovers have fewer liver enzymes in their blood than do coffee shunners -- and that's a good thing. Liver enzymes are an indication of liver damage. What's more, coffee's protective effect was even more pronounced in moderate to heavy drinkers, even though alcohol can be particularly taxing on the liver (however, there's no way coffee can make up for the damage that long-term heavy alcohol consumption does to the liver). Ready for a refill?

Make Friends with Your Body

Name one thing that would definitely make you like your body better.

No, it's not liposuction. It's weight work -- and that boost to your body image happens no matter what size or shape you're in. Strength training doesn't just make you feel stronger, it also makes you feel good about yourself. Even better, you only have to do it a few times a week to get body-loving -- and age -- benefits.

 Whether you work out in your living room with resistance bands or go to a gym with all the latest equipment, regular strength training can make a happy difference in your self-image. A study found that even women whose weight slightly increased during a 12-week weight-training program emerged feeling much more confident about their bodies. And that gave them a more positive emotional outlook overall. So don't let the possibility of minor weight gain scare you away from weight workouts. Remember, muscle is denser than fat, so even if the numbers on the scale climb a little, your body will be leaner and meaner if you strength train regularly.

Make Every Step Count
Is your pedometer lying? You may be walking that extra mile without even knowing it.

Pedometers can be an inspiration. These fitness gizmos count your daily steps as you strengthen your legs, lungs, and heart. And every step, including those to and from your car, adds up -- or should. But researchers have found that so-called bargain pedometers vary wildly in reliability. To accurately log your fitness progress, spend $15 to $30. Pedometers in this price range proved most accurate in a recent study.

Inexpensive pedometers tend to overestimate the number of steps you've taken. In a new comparison study, only 25 percent of a super-cheap model called the Stepping Meter turned out to be accurate; some were off by as much as 50 percent. Brands widely recommended for their accuracy included Yamax and AccuSplit.

Once you've got a good pedometer attached to your waistband, work up to walking 10,000 steps a day, which is about 5 miles. Many corporate health plans offer 10,000 Steps programs, and they're all over the Internet as well; but if you're motivated, you can do it on your own. Just try these strategies:·       Take walking lunches.

• ·       Always park in the least convenient spot.
• ·       Turn get-togethers with friends into walking sessions, not coffee breaks.
• ·       Skip elevators and escalators; take the stairs instead.
• ·       On weekends, if you’d rather bike, row, or swim, you can still keep counting; just convert every 15 minutes of biking and rowing into 1500 steps and convert every 15 minutes of swimming into 1800!

Happy as a Crab
Shell out. It's good for your heart.

Need an excuse to splurge on crab legs, crab salad, or a cold crab cocktail on a hot summer night? How about avoiding heart disease and cancer? Crab meat in general, and crab legs in particular, are loaded with zinc, a powerful antioxidant that's just been found to help ward off both health threats.

All About YOU: 3 Myth-Busters About Cancer
Test yourself: Which of these three cancer myths is a fact?

Cancer is not contagious -- myth or fact? Some cancer is caused by contagious viruses, like HIV. So in a way, you can catch cancer. You can't directly swap cancer through bloodstream, saliva, or germs, but you can pass along some of the organisms that could cause cancer in a roundabout way. This is especially true for cervical and liver cancers, as well as some lymphomas.

Benign tumors should always be left alone -- myth or fact? Benign tumors don't have cancer cells, but they can still be dangerous. That's because tumors can grow large enough to block the pathway of important nutrients, or put pressure on critical organs. For example, even though many brain tumors will never spread, they are still removed.

Remember Not to Forget
Where did you put the remote? A bad memory may not be the problem.

Instead of remembering too little, you may be remembering too much. All that information -- especially the useless kind -- can clutter up your brain. The real key to a good memory is being selective: retaining the relevant and discarding the unimportant. Whether you can actually retrain your brain is unknown, but don't forget to give it a try!

Small Attitude Adjustment, Big Life Savings
Don't take a wait-and-see attitude toward sudden numbness or dizziness.

It could cost you life or limb. Those two symptoms are among the warning signs of stroke, especially when they occur on just one side of the body. The others: sudden weakness, difficulty speaking or hearing, confusion, loss of balance, and splitting head pain. You may need clot-busting drugs, and fast. Don't wait and see. Call 911 immediately.

Heart Attack Warning Signs

Some heart attacks are sudden and intense—the "movie heart attack," where no one doubts what's happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren't sure what's wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:

• Chest discomfort.Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body.Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath.May occur with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs:These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.

If you or someone you're with has chest discomfort, especially with one or more of the other signs, don't wait longer than a few minutes (no more than 5) before calling for help. Call 9-1-1... Get to a hospital right away.

Calling 9-1-1 is almost always the fastest way to get lifesaving treatment. Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive -- up to an hour sooner than if someone gets to the hospital by car. The staff are also trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped. Patients with chest pain who arrive by ambulance usually receive faster treatment at the hospital, too.

If you can't access the emergency medical services (EMS), have someone drive you to the hospital right away. If you're the one having symptoms, don't drive yourself, unless you have absolutely no other option.

Preventing A Heart Attack!!!!

Stop smoking. If you smoke, quit. If someone in your household smokes, encourage them to quit. We know it’s tough. But it’s tougher to recover from a heart attack or stroke or to live with chronic heart disease. Commit to quit. We’re here to help if you need it.

Reduce blood cholesterol. Fat lodged in your arteries is a disaster waiting to happen. Sooner or later it could trigger a heart attack or stroke. You’ve got to reduce your intake of saturated and trans fat and get moving. If diet and exercise alone don’t get those numbers down, then medication is the key. Take it just like the doctor orders. Here’s the lowdown on where those numbers need to be:

Total Cholesterol – Less than 200 mg/dL
LDL (bad) Cholesterol – LDL cholesterol goals vary.

• Low risk for heart disease – Less than 160 mg/dL
• Intermediate risk for heart disease – Less than 130 mg/dL
• High risk for heart disease including those with heart disease or diabetes – Less than 100mg/dL

HDL (good) Cholesterol – 40 mg/dL or higher for men and 50 mg/dL or higher for women
Triglycerides – Less than 150 mg/dL

Lower high blood pressure. It’s the single largest risk factor for stroke. Stroke is the No. 3 killer and one of the leading causes of disability in the United States. Stroke recovery is difficult at best and you could bedisabled for life. Shake that salt habit, take any medication the doctor recommends exactly as prescribed and get moving. Those numbers need to get down and stay down. Your goal is less than 120/80 mmHg.

Be physically active every day. Research has shown that getting 30–60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week can help lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and keep your weight at a healthy level. But something IS better than nothing. If you’re doing nothing now, start out slow. Studies show that people who have achieved even a moderate level of fitness are much less likely to die early than those with a low fitness level.

Aim for a healthy weight. Obesity is an epidemic in America, not only for adults but also for children. Fad diets and supplements are not the answer. Good nutrition and physical activity are the only way to maintain a healthy weight. Obesity places you at risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes — the very factors that heighten your risk of cardiovascular disease. Your Body Mass Index (BMI) will tell you if your weight is healthy.

Manage diabetes. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of diabetes-related death. People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease due to a variety of risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity and lack of physical activity.

Reduce stress. Some scientists have noted a relationship between coronary heart disease risk and stress in a person's life that may affect the risk factors for heart disease and stroke. For example, people under stress may overeat, start smoking or smoke more than they otherwise would. Research has even shown that stress reaction in young adults predicts middle-age blood pressure risk.

Limit alcohol. Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure, cause heart failure and lead to stroke. It can contribute to high triglycerides, produce irregular heartbeats and affect cancer and other diseases. It contributes to obesity, alcoholism, suicide and accidents. The risk of heart disease in people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol (an average of one drink for women or two drinks for men per day) is lower than in nondrinkers. However, it’s not recommended that nondrinkers start using alcohol or that drinkers increase the amount they drink.

Official: Secondhand smoking is a health hazard –

Breathing any amount of someone else’s tobacco smoke harms nonsmokers, the Surgeon General declared Tuesday – a strong condemnation of secondhand smoke that is sure to fuel nationwide efforts to ban smoking in public. “The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard,” said U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona. More than 126 million non-smoking Americans are regularly exposed to smokers’ fumes – what Carmona termed “involuntary smoking” – and tens of thousands die each year as a result, concludes the 670-page study. It cites “overwhelming scientific evidence” that secondhand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer and a list of other illnesses. Daily News / Wednesday, June 28 – Page A3.

Hog “diet” leads to leaner meat, rivals chicken

The pork industry says hogs have been on a “diet” for more than a decade, and new government research shows that Americans are getting a much leaner product because of it. The National Pork Board announced Monday that feeding and breeding techniques over the past 15 years have led to cuts of pork that rival skinless chicken breasts – often revered as the leanest of meats. A 3-oz serving of cooked pork tenderloin, at 2.98 grams of fat, is as lean as the same size serving of skinless chicken breast, which weighs in at 3.03 grams of fat. The tenderloin had 120 calories for the 3-oz serving, while skinless chicken breast contained 140 calories. It’s certainly going to put pork in a very good advertising position against chicken – which has always been pork’s #1 competitor. Daily News / Wednesday, June 28 – Page C8.

Slow Down to Stay Strong
Think your immune system's not tough enough? Try tai chi.

When it comes to health, the slow, graceful movements of this low-impact exercise are deceptively powerful. The latest benefit: improved resistance to viruses, such as the one that causes painful shingles.

Watch people doing tai chi -- you've probably seen them in the park -- and it's instantly obvious that the deliberate, fluid moves work on balance, body alignment, and concentration. But multiple studies also have linked tai chi to better cardiovascular function, lower blood pressure, and improvements in energy, stamina, and healing. What's more, the researchers who uncovered tai chi's immune-boosting effects also found that people with physical limitations (such as heart or hip problems) made startling gains in their overall physical functioning after doing tai chi 3 times a week for 15 weeks. Study participants practiced a Westernized form known as tai chi chih, a variation that involves 20 relaxed, continuous movements.

If you're interested in tai chi, books and tapes are available to guide you through the motions, and classes are offered at a variety of places, from the local Y to upscale gyms.

Three things you should feed your heart every day.

Nuts -- eat at least a handful a day. Nuts are an excellent source of healthful fats and protein. In the Iowa Nurses Study and three other studies, an ounce a day cut the incidence of heart disease by 20 percent to 60 percent. The best nuts (those highest in omega-3 fatty acids) are walnuts, but all nuts are good for you.

Eat more heart-smart foods:
Olive oil -- be sure it and other healthy fats (like those in nuts) make up about 25 percent of your daily calories. Olive oil contains monounsaturated fats, which raise your HDL ("healthy") cholesterol. This good cholesterol actually helps clean out your arteries as it moves through your body. That's why when it comes to HDL, higher is better.

Flavonoids -- get 31 milligrams a day. What are flavonoids? Powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatories that occur in many plant foods, including -- yes, nuts -- plus tea (any kind), red wine, grapes, berries, cranberry juice, orange juice, onions, tomatoes, and tomato juice. You can get your daily dose by drinking two-and-a-half glasses of cranberry juice or several cups of tea.

Take Your Heart for a Walk

Wondering if your walking routine is robust enough to really help your heart? Wonder no more.

Research has revealed that walking can do as much to keep you out of heart trouble as more vigorous forms of exercise, such as running, playing tennis, or doing pretty much anything that makes you break a sweat. In one study, women who walked briskly for 2.5 hours per week reaped the same heart disease protection benefits as women who did more intense exercise for the same amount of time.

Skinny Quiz
Who has the slimmest waist? Meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians, or vegans?

According to a new study, vegans do. Vegans are vegetarians who not only forego eating meat, fish, or fowl but also all foods derived from animals. However, the reason vegans tend to be slimmer may lie in what they do eat: fiber. Lots of it. And that's a habit you can easily duplicate. Fiber makes you feel full longer, and it seems to inhibit fat absorption. Broccoli pizza on whole-wheat crust, anyone?

Shake It Up

Now you can sip your favorite shake -- and feel berry good about it.

Looks like the calcium and phosphorus in milk and yogurt may offer some protection against colon cancer. Both minerals help keep benign tumors from turning malignant. Blend together half a cup of low-fat yogurt, half a cup of nonfat milk, half a cup of frozen berries, and a splash of orange juice for a fruity, frothy summer treat. Salud!

Some benign colon tumors can become malignant, so reducing that likelihood is critical. In a 2005 study, women who consumed more than 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium and more than 1,600 mg of phosphorus each day had the lowest risk of developing benign tumors and the lowest incidence of colon cancer. Hooray for cows!
The combination of milk and yogurt in our tasty shake gives you 400 mg of calcium and 300 mg of phosphorous. That's a great start! Add a multivitamin (it'll add at least 100 mg more of each mineral), snack on some almonds, or enjoy a meal that includes lentils, beans, peanut butter, or peas and you'll be in great cancer-fighting shape.

Focus on the Big 5

It's no surprise that five key health factors that make your real age older also steal late-life independence.

Which risk factors are they? Not cancer. Not cholesterol. The top five health factors that increase the likelihood you'll need help caring for yourself when you're older are smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and inactivity. Luckily, regular exercise can help take care of four of those risk factors. And if you don't smoke, you'll be able to exercise even more.

Sweet Tooth and Belly Ache

The dog days of summer may have you reaching for lots of cold drinks. But could this habit leave you doubled over in pain?

Yes, if you're unlucky. For some people, drinking just a can of soda or a bottle of lemonade can lead to abdominal cramping, bloating, pain, and diarrhea. It's not the temperature or the flavor. It's the fructose -- a sweetener found in many drinks and foods -- that some people can't digest properly, especially on an empty stomach. If a sweet treat leaves you with sour regret, check the label -- fructose may be the culprit.

Why does fructose cause abdominal distress? Sweet foods and beverages that contain fructose as the main sugar can speed through the digestive tract too quickly to be thoroughly digested. What isn't absorbed ends up in the colon, feasted upon by bacteria, which produces excessive acid and gas and may lead to diarrhea.

In fact, more than half of the participants in a recent study exhibited symptoms of malabsorption after drinking fructose in amounts equal to the regular intake of many Americans. Participants reported having gas and diarrhea, and breath tests revealed excess hydrogen, a factor in gassiness.

Pep Up Your Health with Peppers

Love sweet red, green, and yellow bell peppers? Know which are most healthful?

The red and yellow ones -- they have almost twice as much vitamin C as their green siblings. And getting an ample supply of C is credited with reducing the risk of stroke, one of the most common causes of death and disability in Americans.

All About YOU
How young is your brain? Try this self-test.

Stand on one leg and close your eyes. The longer you can stand without losing your balance, the younger your brain is -- 15 seconds is very good if you are 45 or older. Have someone spot you if there's any chance you might not recover your equilibrium in time to avoid a spill. 

To help keep your brain young and prevent memory loss, avoid living on autopilot -- doing the same things day after day. If you stretch yourself mentally, you'll actually avoid brain shrinkage. The classic way to do that is to learn

 Cheese: Healthier Than We Think?
If you eye the rolls and butter at a buffet, reach for cheese instead.

Although too much saturated fat isn't good for anyone -- especially people with high cholesterol -- it looks like all saturated fats may not be created equal. There's growing evidence that cheese raises cholesterol less than butter does. So when you're debating what to add to your plate, slice into the cheddar instead of loading up on croissants. 

Slow and Steady
Do you huff and puff your way through workouts -- and hate every gasp?

Then slow it down, especially if weight loss is one of your goals. New research shows that lower-intensity exercise may help you shed more pounds than a faster-paced activity -- as long as you burn enough calories from it. So get out of the high-speed lane. Walk, don't run.  Jog, don't sprint. Skip the spinning class and pedal an exercise bike at a comfortable speed, all the while chanting: Do less, lose more.

Something to Relish

Three foods your arteries can't get enough of: onions, celery, and parsley.

Whether you add them to soups, relish dishes, sandwiches, or salads, improving the health of your arteries may be as simple as munching on these flavor boosters. People who eat more flavonoid-rich veggies like these cut their risk of hardening of the arteries -- especially in the legs -- in half.

Vacuuming: Nothing to Sneeze Over

You bought the best HEPA-filtered vacuum money could buy -- and you're still sneezing.

Your problem may be dust mites, not allergies. Vacuuming actually stirs up dust mites. Although HEPA vacuums can be your best friend if you're allergic to pollen and ragweed, if dust mites are the "achoo trigger," a HEPA-filtered machine might not be any better than a standard one. Time to get someone else to take over this chore, while you take a walk.

The Quickie Workout

Is your 30-minute workout always last on your to-do list? Here's help.

Whether you're constantly time-crunched or just exercise averse, it's possible to get many of the same health benefits without freeing up a full half hour. Research consistently shows that three 10-minute sessions are as effective in many ways -- including controlling cholesterol -- as a solid 30-minute workout. So even if you're stretched thin between work and home, you can still make fitness a top priority.

Got Healthy Bones?

Even if you're good about drinking milk and taking calcium, your bone future might not be as bright as you think. What's missing? Try folate.

Folate is a B vitamin -- and one of the major good guys when it comes to stopping bad things. This vital nutrient reduces homocysteine, an amino acid with three black marks against it: It's already been strongly linked to heart disease and Alzheimer's -- and now it's tied to bone thinning in women.

Membership Optional

It's one of the fastest-growing groups around, but you don't want to be a member.
Nearly 21 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, and the number continues to climb. What's the fast track to joining the ranks? Weight gain, particularly around the middle. An expanding waistline -- 35 inches or greater for women, 40 and over for men -- is a red flag. What can you do? Get active for at least 30 minutes a day, and shun foods high in saturated fat, white flour, and sugar.

About a third of those who have type 2 diabetes don't know they have the disease. Getting diagnosed is essential; treatment can help delay damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and brain.

Risk factors include high blood pressure; a poor diet -- one high in fat and sugar but low in nutrients; a family history of the disease; long hours spent on the couch; smoking; and a high body mass index (BMI), which is the gold standard for height/weight ratios. A BMI of 30 can up your risk of type 2 diabetes by 10 times; a BMI over 35 makes it 80 times more likely that you'll develop diabetes than someone with a BMI of 22 or less.

Although the type 2 diabetes rate continues to climb, you don't have to become a statistic. If you suspect that you are vulnerable to developing the disease, even modest lifestyle changes -- taking daily walks and cutting back on fat -- can significantly reduce your risk.

Make Some Rich and Powerful Friends
Start with your grocery store's produce manager.

Not only will he give you a heads-up about the special on kiwis and help you pick the ripest melons, he also can introduce you to his rich and powerful friends. He knows all the colorful fruits and veggies that are rich in carotenoids -- those brilliant red, yellow, and orange pigments with potent disease-fighting properties. These antioxidant compounds can help cool the inflammation in your body that, among other things, contributes to heart and blood vessel disease.

Inflammation isn't always harmful. Sometimes it's just a sign that your immune system is working well, like when your thumb turns red and swells after you slam it in a drawer. However, chronic internal inflammation can harm healthy tissue, and a sign of that damage is a high blood level of C-reactive protein (CRP), a substance strongly linked to heart disease.

Enter fruits and vegetables. Lots of them. In a recent study, people who ate 8 servings a day of produce -- carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, radishes, red bell peppers, spinach, red cabbage, corn, peaches, apples, pears, kiwis, cherries, strawberries, nectarines, and more -- kicked up their carotenoids and significantly cut their CRP levels.

Now That's Just Sad
No one likes feeling down. But down and like a dim bulb? That's just adding insult to injury.

Yet new research suggests this may be exactly what happens to some people. When depression -- even moderate depression -- is combined with aging, it increases the risk of mild cognitive decline in just a few years. And half the cases of mild cognitive decline develop into full-blown dementia. Which underscores why persistently feeling "just a little down" should always be treated, not shrugged off.

Roll Up When You Fill Up
Filling up your gas tank is painful enough. Now it looks like the fumes could hurt you, too.

The next time you stop for fuel, stay in your car and roll up the windows while the meter spins madly. A common gas additive known as MTBE (for methyl tertiary-butyl ether) may be carcinogenic when inhaled. Ironically, MTBE is designed to cut air-polluting emissions. Many petroleum companies are phasing it out in favor of more environment-friendly ethanol, but there's still plenty of it in circulation. Check for info at your fill-up station

Good Moves for Bad Knees

Knees can end up Tin Man creaky or Bionic Woman supple. It's your choice.

The secret to avoiding knee arthritis: Don't sit on the sidelines. Just ask a group of midlife adults who already had knee problems -- a virtual invitation to osteoarthritis. After doing basic weight-bearing exercises 3 times a week for 4 months, they'd squatted, lunged, and stepped their way to real rewards. The evidence: fewer aches, stronger muscles, and measurably healthier cartilage.

Working Off Belly Bulge

If you haven't lifted anything heavier than the TV remote in months, listen up.

Here's some much-needed motivation for even the girliest of us to hit the weight room: Working muscles can reduce hard-to-budge abdominal fat -- in just two strength-training sessions a week. Even better, building muscle and losing fat have hidden effects on body chemistry that may help fend off both breast and colon cancer.

Healthy Waistline, Healthy Brain

There's already pretty much nothing good to say about obesity. Now factor in Alzheimer's.

It turns out that being seriously overweight not only translates into a greater risk of heart attack, stroke, and a host of other life-threatening conditions, but recent findings indicate that it's bad for the brain as well. Especially if the weight is concentrated around the middle, because it's associated with the brain changes linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Although the waist is one of the riskiest places to gain weight -- abdominal fat has long been associated with heart disease -- the Alzheimer's connection makes an ever-expanding middle a dire double whammy. Fortunately, the news isn't all bad. One of the things that's been shown to reduce the risk of dementia also pares off pounds: your old friend, exercise. Becoming more active, step by step is one of the simplest, surest ways to keep your gray matter in good working order -- and get your waist back, too.

Are Your Feet Telling You Something?

Know anyone -- maybe you -- complaining about a painful Achilles tendon? A foot checkup and a cholesterol test may be in order.
Achilles tendonitis -- a painful, chronically inflamed Achilles tendon -- can happen if you overdo it on the treadmill or the hiking trails. But it also could be a sign that you have an inherited high cholesterol disorder. The condition -- known as heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia -- produces cholesterol deposits that wreak havoc with corneas, eyelids, and certain tendons. It also dramatically increases early heart disease risk.

That Morning Caffeine Fix? Consider It Health Care

Here's another plug for green tea -- and coffee, too.

A large Japanese study has found that sipping away on six cups of green teaeach day may shrink type 2 diabetes risk, especially among women and overweight men. Why? Researchers aren't sure yet, but caffeine may play a role. Even though green tea's not loaded with the stuff, other studies have found that the caffeine in coffee seems to guard against diabetes.