Staying Healthy Archive

You can get some of the same benefits of a low-glycemic-index diet by avoiding highly processed foods.

The glycemic index is a number that indicates how rapidly the body digests a particular type of food and converts it into blood sugar (glucose). Some studies suggest that lower-glycemic-index diets may offer important health benefits for men—like a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Eating whole grains may benefit your heart and lengthen your life. 

Grain foods made from the hard, dry seeds of plants have been a nutritional basic for thousands of years. When you eat a whole grain, you're getting more than just the fiber from the seed's outer layer. You also get all the vitamins, minerals, good fats, enzymes, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that are stripped away when grains are processed.

Adding an avocado a day to a healthy diet may lower harmful LDL cholesterol levels, according to a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Forty-five overweight or obese volunteers followed three different cholesterol-lowering diets, each for five weeks. One diet had 24% of calories from fat; the other two were 34% fat, one of which included an avocado per day. While participants were on the avocado diet, their LDL levels dropped an average of 13.5 points—nearly twice as much as when they were on the other two diets.

Hass avocados (the type used in the study) have bumpy, greenish-black skin. The creamy flesh is rich in monounsaturated fats, which help lower LDL cholesterol when swapped for saturated fat. But other compounds in avocados, such as fiber and plant sterols, may also contribute to their healthful benefits, say the authors. Avocados can be sliced into salads, spread on sandwiches, or mashed to make guacamole. Just be sure to go easy on the high-calorie, salty corn chips often served with the latter.

Tried-and-true methods, plus the latest electronic reminders and gadgets.

Q. My wife says I should slow down and retire, but I hope I can work forever. What's your take?

A. It's a question I get asked a lot, from boomers and pre-boomers, and one I've asked myself.

A youthful attitude may lead to better eating and exercising habits.

Plenty of research shows that we tend to exhibit the health behaviors of people around us, and that partners can influence each other's behavior. The influence carries even more weight if an unhealthy partner is making a change for the better. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine Jan. 19, 2015, found that men and women were much more likely to make positive changes if their partners also changed their health behavior during the same period. The influence on a partner was significant: 67% of men took up physical activity if their wives did, but only 26% became active if their wives did not. The take-home message: get your partner on board if you both need to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Image: Thinkstock

Even an hour's exercise a day won't protect you from an earlier death, if you spend most of the rest of your day sitting. That's the verdict of Canadian researchers who pored over data from 47 studies on the effects of sedentary behavior. When they combined the results of all the studies, the researchers found that regardless of their levels of physical activity otherwise, people who sat for long periods had an increased risk of developing a host of diseases. People who sat the longest had a 24% greater risk of dying, an 18% greater risk of heart disease, a 13% greater risk of cancer, and a 90% greater risk of diabetes. The results were published in the Jan. 20, 2015, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

A study published in the Jan. 27, 2015, issue of The BMJ challenges the longstanding notion that weight gain protects against postmenopausal fractures. Data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) indicate that weight gain, as well as weight loss, is associated with increased risk of fractures in postmenopausal women. The analysis also suggested that which bones were most likely to break depended on whether women have gained or lost weight.

WHI researchers analyzed data on over 120,000 healthy postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 at the start of the study. Each year, participants were weighed and asked to report fractures of their arms, legs, hip, pelvis, and spine.

Mobility relies on the body's two largest joints, the hips and knees. We ask a lot of both these joints: they must bear our full weight and coordinate movement over a lifetime of standing, walking, running, dancing, and sports. Not surprisingly, hip and knee pain are common complaints, and nearly everyone who lives into old age can expect some trouble with these joints. But taking care of your hips and knees and managing any pain that arises will help you avoid losing mobility as you age.

Try these self-help measures when knee or hip pain strikes: