Mental Weightlifting

Mental illnesses such as depression, dementia and alzheimers disease are growing at an alarming rate. Many people are terrified of these diseases, probably because they fear there is nothing they can do to avoid them. While your genes and environmental factors such as aluminium might be a factor (I certainly don't risk it by cooking in aluminium) fortunately there is plenty you can do to look after your mental health. The secret is to feed, exercise and rest your brain. Hmm sounds like your your physical health doesn't it! Just like your body, your brain follows the law of "Use It or Lose It!"

Our brain produces a chemical called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). This chemical reinforces what we learn by strengthening the new connections in our brain. Babies have lots of BDNF, which activates the nucleus basalis and keeps it on, allowing them to download and store everthing they experience. As adults we can only activate this part of our brain, and learn something new, if it's important, surprising, novel, or when we pay close attention.

Imagine the scenario of someone who has worked in the same job for 30 years. Chances are they would get pretty good at it and could largely do it on auto-pilot. They don't need to learn anything new, and essentially they lose the ability to learn. Fortunately this can be reversed, even in old age, with specific mental exercises such as:

Keep Learning

• Learning a new language in midlife is an excellent way to maintain your brains adaptability
• Learn to paint or draw.
• Learn about a topic new to you.

Exercise Your Musical Side

• Play and listen to music, sing and dance. Processing music in our brains involves memory, learning and emotions.
• Learn to play a (new) musical instrument.

Puzzles and Games

• Crossword puzzles
• Sudoku
• Solitare
• Board games like chess and checkers.

Memory Games

• Simon
• Memory
• In researching this topic I came across the website lumosity.com, which looks to have lots of great brain exercises.

Like physical exercises, mental exercises work best with intensity and repitition. So concentrate hard and do them daily.

Of course don't forget that your diet, physical evercise, and what you watch, read, play, and listen to can also positively or negatively affect your brain's health.

Some basic points are:

• Eat a mainly raw vegetable based diet
• Get enough sunshine to keep your vitamin D levels at its optimum (about 15 minutes per day should be enough). I'm reading so much good stuff about vitamin D at the moment expect to see an article devoted to it soon!
• Reduce your sugar intact.
• Regular physical exercise releases BDNF in rats so there is a good chance it will in you too.
• Severely restrict your amount of time watching tv and computer screens. TV hijacks the attention systems and turns off the critical thinking parts of your brain. (Explains why people can watch Big Brother doesn't it!)

And remember to get lots of rest. While we are resting that our brain is processing what we learnt that day and makes sense of it all. Sort of like defragging your brain.(Sorry for getting all geeky)

Finally, make sure you reward yourself for a job well done. Rewards promote the release dopamine in your brain and assists your motivation and helps rewiring your brain.

The Classic Memory Game "Simon"

Memorise the pattern played then copy it by clicking on the lights with your mouse.

Simon made by Neave Games

Cloey's Crumble and Yoghurt

We currently have this 'special' breakfast once or twice a week when the whole family can sit down and enjoy it together around the table. By default, all ingredients should be organic wherever possible...

• 4 or 5 large granny smith apples;
• Some rhubarb. This is really good for you, and easy to grow in your back yard, but you might have to start with small quantities to get kids accustomed to it;
• Some lemon zest, I use a potato peeler to take off two curls of rind, which are then easily removed before baking;
• A tablespoon of Honey.

Chop the apple and rhubarb up into bite-sized pieces and place all ingredients into a large saucepan with just enough (filtered) water to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cook slowly until tender. Strain, remove lemon rind and place into a pie-dish. I usually do this step the night before, while dinner is cooking.

• 1/2 cup of wholemeal plain flour;
• 1/2 cup of rolled oats;
• 1/2 cup of lightly crushed almonds;
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut;
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds;
• 1 tablespoon of rapadura, muscovado or at least organic raw sugar;
• 4 tablespoons of butter.

Mix together the dry ingredients, then rub in the butter until the crumble starts to come together into bread-crumb

consistency (although a few chunkier bits are a treat!) and spread evenly over the top of your apple mixture. This can

also be done the night before, and then placed into the fridge over night.

When you get up in the morning, flip the oven straight on to about 200 degrees Celsius. I usually put my crumble in

cold at this stage and set the timer for 35 mins, which works for my oven, but yours will probably heat up at a

different rate ... as a proper rule cook your crumble from room temperature on 200 degrees for 25 minutes, or until

top starts to brown.

Serve topped with some yummy Paris Creek Yoghurt, our favourite is the Bush Honey and Vanilla!!

I hope you enjoy!!

Clo.

Chocolate Milkshake...

This is different every time I do it, but it always tastes good and keeps me going for the whole morning. So quantities are negotiable...

• 1/2 an avocado (or a banana, or both);
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa (raw, organic & fair trade);
• A handful or three of baby spinach leaves;
• 'Milk' of your choice ... dairy, soy, rice, oat, almond etc. to make up the quantity and consistency you choose;
• Optional extras: berries, honey, yoghurt, oats...

If you want it CRUUNCHEE then add some raw nuts and enjoy the extra protein boost.

Blend and enjoy!

Just like a Chocolate Milkshake only CRUUNCHEE!!

When I was growing up Coco Pops were "Just like a chocolate milk shake only crunchy". Today they are marketed as full of essential vitamins and minerals that your growing kids need and love to eat. This type of marketing is really aimed at relieving parents stress and reservations about giving their children sugary, nutritionally deficient foods.

Looking up the ingredients list of coco pops on the Kellogg's website, I found this:

"Whole white rice (59%), sugar, cocoa (3%), salt, minerals (calcium carbonate, iron, zinc oxide), flavours, barley malt extract, dextrose, vitamins (vitamin C, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folate)."

So lets have a look at the ingredients individually.

Whole white rice

I'm not quite sure what's 'whole' about white rice. White rice is basically brown rice with the husk, bran and germ removed, all the parts of the rice grain with the vitamins and minerals. White rice has far less fibre, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folacin, potassium, magnesium and iron than brown rice. The crazy thing is white rice is then often fortified with some of these nutrients synthetically to make it "healthy". The benefit of using white rice is that it keeps longer. Apparently even the bacteria know it's not as good for you.

Sugar

Notice how they forgot to include how much sugar is in coco pops. That's because they are 36.5% sugar. So 1/3 of your breakfast is sugar. Not all sugars are bad though. Muscovado or rapadura sugar, which are simply dehydrated sugarcane juice, still contain many of the nutrients which keep the plant alive, ie phosphorus, calcium, magnesium potassium and iron, and can be good for you. The sugar in coco pops refers to white sugar, or sucrose (fructose and glucose - so also see dextrose below), which doesn't have any of these other nutrients... Noticing a theme yet?

Cocoa

It may surprise you that cocoa can be considered a health food. Cocoa has very high levels of flavonoids, which are very good for your cardiovascular system, and three times more antioxidants than green tea. Cocoa also contains magnesium, iron, chromium, vitamin C, zinc and other minerals. So what's the catch? Well these health features of cocoa refer to raw cocoa since heating and processing any food reduces the nutrient levels of that food. And before you reach for that chocolate bar what else does it have in it? Even just the addition of milk to cocoa negates many of these benefits.

Salt

Table salt, Sodium Chloride, is essential for human life. We need between 500mg and 1000mg of sodium per day. A 30 gram serve of coco pops (and I'm pretty sure kids eat more that that) contains 238mg's. Too much sodium can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke. Sea salt is obtained by evaporating seawater and also contains magnesium, sulfate, calcium, and potassium, and is therefore better for you.

Minerals

These are all good, but wouldn't it have been nice to have got them from the actual food?

Flavours

I can't tell you anything about these because the food flavouring industry is shrouded in lots of secrecy. They could be natural or synthetic, but my guess is synthetic because it is much cheaper and easier to control. Unfortunately Australian food labelling laws don't really empower us to make the healthiest choices in this respect, something the big food manufacturers are very happy to maintain.

Barley Malt Extract

Barley malt extract is a common flavour used in breakfast cereals, and adds soluble fibre to the food, which is a good thing. It can make you gassy though.

Dextrose

Dextrose is a form of glucose, more sugar. Our bodies use glucose as a primary energy source. When we have too much in our blood our pancreas releases insulin and the glucose is converted to glycogen and stored in the in the liver, fat cells and muscle cells. Unfortunately if you have too high a level of insulin for too long the body starts to ignore

it and your pancreas produces more and more insulin. Eventually the pancreas becomes worn out which is called diabetes type 2, a very bad outcome. It is a good idea to limit your intact of glucose.

Vitamins

Obviously vitamins are extremely important to to our health and that is why they are added to coco pops. Food scientists believe that because the chemical structure is the same, whether natural or man-made, the health benefits are the same. I, disagree. Foods grown in nature (I know that is an absurd statement, how can food not be grown in nature?) have a perfect balance of nutrients that have evolved with humans over thousands of years. I find it extremely arrogant to believe that we know enough to be making food healthier than what nature can provide. For example the list of discovered beneficial phytochemicals (plant chemicals) is growing.

Now I know that I have picked on coco pops here but I have just used them as an example on why it is important to read the ingredients label and ignore the nutritional label. At least coco pops don't have preservatives, hydrogenated oils,

or any of the thousands of other "numbers" that are added to many processed foods.

Healthy Breakfast Choices

While coco pops might be a nice monthly treat, although I can think of better ones, don't be fooled into thinking it is a nutritious breakfast. Here are some healthy breakfast options you can enjoy.

• Fruit
• Homemade smoothies
• Porridge
• Weetbix (with fruit on top)
• Apple Crumble and Yoghurt
• Or even a Chocolate Milkshake

Our cash wasted on unproven medicine

Last week The Advertiser published the article "Our cash wasted on unproven medicine" http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25681119-5006301,00.html. I was quite disappointed to read the the comments by Professor Rob Morrison, someone I looked up to as a child growing up with the Curiosity Show. Apparently, "Medicare was funding treatments from chiropractors and acupuncturists that "don't really pass muster".

The truth is Medicare funds short trials of chiropractic care for people with chronic conditions. Lynton Giles, a chiropractor and researcher based at the Townsville General Hospital, found in his 1999 study that, "in patients with chronic spinal pain syndromes, spinal manipulation, if not contraindicated, results in greater improvement than acupuncture and medicine."

I wonder where Prof. Morrison and Dr Andrew Lavender, state president of the AMA are getting their information. Wow, I feel so much better after that rant, thanks for listening.

Now you proably don't need extra proof that chiropractic works but I have put together a snippet of the research out there showing chiropractic helping people with other conditions. You can download it at - http://www.paradechiropractic.com.au/research/chiroforothercomplaints.pdf

Hippy Surfers and Neuroscience

Who would have thought that a some hippy surfers from the beaches of California could have such a strong understanding of neuroscience?

A couple of years ago my wife bought me a pair of "Sanuks" as a Christmas present. The label had a blurb about how wearing shoes was bad for our health and we need to go barefoot or wear flexible sandals to be more in touch with nature.

Turns out research by Dr Michael Merzenich, also from California and one of the worldwide leaders in neuroplactic research, supports that idea. Through his research, Merzenich discovered that when we stimulate nerves simultaneously those nerves make connections in the brain, or to put it the nerdy neuroscientist way "nerves that fire together, wire together".

When we wear hard soled shoes and walk on flat surfaces we stimulate the whole of our sole at once, and the "brain map" of our sole becomes wired together.

In effect, we decrease our two point discrimination, or our ability to feel the difference between two points on our feet. The information we get when our feet when contact the ground helps us walk without looking down at the ground constantly.

As we age we compensate for this loss of feeling in our feet by using our eyes and looking down. Merzenich believes that if we maintain the sensitivity in our feet, instead of using our eyes to compensate, we will maintain our brain's alertness and mental health. As well as reducing our chance of falling over. This can be summarised as “use it or lose it”.

This theory might explain the results of the 2005 study by the Oregon Research Institute which showed that walking on cobblestones significantly reduced blood pressure in adults 60 and over. I wonder how much time those Californian surfers have spent in Dr Merzenich's lab?

This also supports the chiropractic idea that spinal subluxations (stuck spinal joints), which aren't stimulating the brain through normal movement, can lead to poor health. As if you needed more convincing that regular chiropractic care was good for you.