DrMindBodyIsIN

• Title: DrMindBodyIsIN
• Address: drmindbodyisin.com
• Author: Howard Koseff, M.D.
• From: Carlsbad
• Blogging since: September 2011

Title: “A” is for Arsenic, not Apple.

Date: December 6, 2011

In what looks like a fairly comprehensive study, Consumer Reports details arsenic levels in the juices that we and our children are drinking. Basically, what is emerging is that the apple concentrate used in juices is purchased in China, where pesticides contain inorganic arsenic. The levels in some juices are higher than those permitted in tap water and the concern is that children ingesting these drinks over a long period of time are at risk for chronic arsenic exposure…. Unfortunately, our food supply chains have become so far removed from us that we are at the whim of a mass production industry which worries more about the financial bottom line than your or my health.  Pay attention to what you put into your body!

Title: Social Un-Networking

Date: November 25, 2011

Slowing down is perhaps one of the most crucial things we can all do… Ever get the feeling that life is racing by? Try a few days of no TV, less radio and no newsprint. Try cutting your texting and email time in half. See how you feel!

Date: Thanks and Gratitude

Date: November 23, 2011

One of the secrets of the happiest people I know is gratitude. They tend to be happy with the simple things in their lives, and they are thankful for what they have. They tend to take joy in simplicity. They tend to live within their means, without cravings, and they don’t envy what others have.

Title: Crazy for Curry

Date: November 18, 2011

What gives a traditional Indian curry its yellow color? Curcuma longa, commonly known as turmeric. This root, formerly known as Indian saffron, has a tough brown skin and dark yellow orange flesh, and is native to southern India and Indonesia, where it has been harvested for thousands of years.

Turmeric’s active ingredient is curcumin, which has been shown to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The dried root of turmeric normally contains from 3% to 5% curcumin. In animal studies, it has been shown to slow the spread of some cancers; and in the laboratory, it has inhibited cancer cells.

For hundreds upon hundreds of years, turmeric has been used in Asian culture as a textile dye, and in traditional medicine for wound infections, colds, conjunctivitis, parasite infections, diarrheal illnesses, arthritis, and kidney problems. Lately, it is being promoted as a natural cholesterol lowering agent and as a preventative supplement for cancer.

Turmeric has been used for thousands of years to both color and flavor food, and any Asian food lover will attest to turmeric’s taste-enhancing powers. For me, as with garlic, turmeric is best consumed with food. Two meals a week with a couple of teaspoons of turmeric should give your immune system a good antioxidant boost and your taste buds a real treat.

Title: Be in the Moment?

Date: November 17, 2011

David Eagleman, in his book Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, describes an experiment in which he gets test subjects to fall from dizzying heights and records their experiences.

Wanting to test the theory of why time seems to slow in near fatal accidents, he outfitted his students with a perceptual chronometer to see if, in the panic of falling 150 feet, his subjects’ brains would be able to see very fast flashing numbers that we usually can’t.

What did he find? When you’re falling, you don’t actually see in slow motion, but when you perceive a serious threat, your memory becomes super acute, and you pay attention to thousands of details that you normally wouldn’t register, details that may very well save your life. We perceive the slowness because our brains are trying to compute so much data.

What really strikes me here is that it usually takes an impending accident or life-threatening event to get us to pay attention. A heart attack, the diagnosis of cancer or severe pain will bring us to the present. But being in the moment during routine daily life is usually more difficult.