There is something new under the sun
In 1973, when John Denver sang “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy,” he was exactly right but probably didn’t know the science behind that feeling. Since then, research has found that getting a good dose of sun on your skin in the early morning and without wearing sunglasses can help you sleep better, increase your ability to shed fat and reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, which is associated with Type 2 diabetes. That should make you happy.
One study in the journal Cell found that two kinds of fat cells that provide energy to the body are regulated by light exposure. The researchers concluded that getting a dose of morning sunlight may shrink fat cells below the skin, promoting weight loss. In another study, women ages 65-plus with higher vitamin D levels (sunlight builds vitamin D) were less likely to gain weight. And a study in PLOS One, looking at the impact of early-in-the-day light exposure on weight, found a 34 percent difference in weight between folks with regular early light exposure and those with little or lateday exposure.
Tune into the power of 10-30 minutes of sunlight daily to help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight and overcome insomnia by regulating your circadian rhythm.
Packaging matters
It comes as no surprise that pregnant women
— and all the rest of us — should avoid ultra-processed foods that are loaded with unhealthy fats, excess salt and sugar and a slew of coloring, preservatives, texturizers and other additives. But there’s a new twist from researchers at the University of Washington. In their study published in Environment International, they’re sounding an alarm about the dangers posed by the phthalates in the plastic packaging that most highly processed foods come in.
Turns out phthalate-containing plastics can leach into food from the wrapping and packaging and even from plastic gloves worn by fast-food handlers. The phthalates then travel through mom’s bloodstream into the fetus.
The researchers tracked more than 1,000 pregnant women for five years. They found that, on average, ultra-processed foods made up more than a third of the participants’ diet and every 10 percent greater amount of ultra-processed foods that a pregnant woman ate led to a 13 percent higher concentration of one of the most common and harmful phthalates in a pregnant woman’s urine.