Boost of Protein for middle-eged men and other words of wisdom

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Hitting 40 marks a turning point for many men and their health.

Their metabolism slows, leading to the dreaded belly and the first signs of aging and long-term disease — raised blood cholesterol and high blood pressure — begin to appear.

Increased body mass index (BMI) and heightened sense of mortality is often enough to kick start a new regimen, which usually means choosing low-fat foods and taking up jogging as an obvious health choice.There are strong indications that such diets for man in their fifties and up could be making their long-term health worse.Why? Low fat diets are usualy high in sugar and carbs - upto 67%.

Men heading toward the big 6-0 want to keep or build muscle mass, they need to increase the amount of protein they eat - especially after each resistance workout. One study found that doubling intake from 21 grams to 42 grams of protein is optimal for building more muscle fibers and keeping a toned physique. But no one should get all that protein from fatty meat.

For every meal, energy should, instead, come from protein (in the form of meat, fish, eggs and cheese) and a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and salads.

When we consume proteins, the body breaks them down into amino acids, which are absorbed through the wall of the bowel and form skin, bones, muscles, tendons, and all the organs such as the brain and the heart.

Consider grains and vegetables: beans, lentils, brown rice and our favorites - almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews and pine nuts. spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chia, tofu and tempeh are also rich source of proteins.

Here are some more key recommendations from Dr Clark author of the book "Health Revolution For Men".

Forget the jogging if you are overweight with poor muscle tone, jogging is a fast track to ruining your hip and knee joints and put unbearable strain on your heart and lungs.

Instead, start exercising slowly and build up your fitness gradually by walking for 20 minutes five times a week, and adding some gentle muscle-building exercises (such as lifting light weights) and stretching.

Exercise your smooth muscle
To ‘exercise’ the smooth muscles, you need roughage (such as green vegetables). This stretches the muscle fibres and helps to press food through the bowel. If you don’t have roughage in your diet, the bowel isn’t stimulated and it becomes dormant — a major cause of bowel cancer.

Water is also vital — drink regularly, not just when you feel thirsty. This keeps the bowel’s contractor muscle moving, prevents constipation and prevents many of the typical diseases that occur in middle age such as cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis and peptic ulcers.

De-stressing is vital: eat healthily and at regular intervals (hunger and poor diet put extra stress on the body), get plenty of sleep and exercise, and try relaxation techniques and deep breathing exercises.

Drink alcohol with moderation. Drink eight to ten cups of water a day. fruit juice is ‘far too high in sugar for general consumption’, coffee causes dehydration and should be restricted to two cups a day, tea to three cups (herbal tea is unlimited), but alcohol is allowed, in moderation.

‘Beers have high carbohydrate content and therefore a greater likelihood of promoting the development of diabetes than those drinks with a low carbohydrate content, such as red wine,’ says Dr Clark, recommending alcohol consumption is limited to two small glasses of red wine per day.

Save your sex life

Testosterone levels naturally fall with age (at a rate of 1-2 per cent per year after the age of 40), but a dwindling libido can also be a symptom of excessive stress and poor diet. Poor nutrition causes physical and mental fatigue, leaving little left over for social interest, let alone sexual activity. Obesity itself also limits libido. In one French study, obese men were 69 per cent less likely to have had more than one sexual partner in a year than men of normal weight.

Another problem at this age can be impotence, which can be an early sign of coronary heart disease and diabetes. It can also be due to atherosclerosis, a systemic condition where plaque builds up inside the arteries, leading to restricted blood flow in the penis.

So how to resolve a flagging libido? Once again the process is simple, says Dr Clark: Reduce refined carbohydrates, reduce stress levels and take more exercise. 
All will help ensure the body is working at optimum levels.


Adapted from
1.Health Revolution For Men by Dr Charles Clark and Maureen Clark © 2012 Dr Charles Clark and Maureen Clark
2.Sources on Internet

The case for nuts: Healthiest snack in the cupboard

By Grant Cochrane/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Almonds, cashews and walnuts have many benefits for your body and brain, research shows.

Almonds: A handful of almonds a day will keep the cardiovascular surgeon away. The lowering of LDL cholesterol, known as the mother of all evil cholesterol, is essential for routine heart pump maintenance. In fact, in those who are at risk of heart disease, the aggressive lowering of LDL cholesterol is necessary. According to the nutty professors at Harvard who study these things, a daily handful of almonds can lower LDL cholesterol enough to reduce cardiovascular disease by a whopping 20 per cent! In some cases, a handful of almonds may be used instead of cholesterol-lowering medication. Almonds are also rich in folate, a vitamin important in keeping hearts, fetuses, bone and brain healthy.
Cashews: Gesundheit. These luxurious nuts are nothing to sneeze at. Cashews are rich in selenium, a mineral shown to protect against prostate cancer. Cashews, like most nuts are best eaten unsalted and raw while the oil is fresh. Like almonds, these nuts are loaded in monounsaturated fats, which is good fat. If “good fat” makes as much sense as “slumber party” or “cat owner,” realize that, like good cholesterol, unsaturated fat acts biochemically to reduce the risk of cancers and coronaries.
Walnuts: Rich in omega 3 fatty acids, walnuts are, like fish, beneficial in lowering cholesterol. They are also rich in arginine, an amino acid important in the synthesis of nitric oxide, which helps relax tense blood vessels.
Pistachios: Pistachios are an excellent source of copper and manganese, and a good source of phosphorus. They’re also an excellent source of vitamin B6 (offering 20 per cent of the daily value per serving) They’re high in fibre, too. A serving of pistachios delivers three grams of dietary fibre (about 12 per cent of the daily value of fibre).
However, these nuts have been known to cause an unfortunate disease known in the medical field as “pistachio nail.” Wrestling vigorously to get at a pistachio may cause scrapes under the tender thumbnail skin, which when further irritated with salt will cause its victim to insert the injured thumb into the mouth.
Peanuts: Peanuts are not your normal nut. In fact, they are legumes. But as we can salt them, roast them and sell them in bulk-food containers, let’s consider them nuts. Peanuts are high in fibre, niacin and a powerful antioxidant called Resveratrol, the same flavenol that gives red wine its reputation as a protector of hearts. Same benefit, less hangover.
While a corn doodle or other empty-carb snack leaves the snacker hungry again in 30 minutes, a handful of nuts satisfies hunger pangs for several hours. Nut snackers actually eat less, lose weight and have less diabetes. Satisfying, high-fat, tasty and highly nutritious.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/health/case+nuts+Healthiest+snack+cupboard/7797133/story.html#ixzz2Hbnhm71P