Good cheer boosts health
Q: I’m done with partying: hanging with friends, drinking and spending more than I should. I want to get healthy again. What now? — Willie F.
A: Hold on a minute, before you give up too much! Hanging with friends, drinking (in moderation) and being generous are actually good for you! And if you want to get healthy, they’re a pretty good place to start.
Seeing friends regularly for a walk around the neighbourhood (make a pact to do it three days a week) or enjoying afternoon tea together actually makes you healthier. Feeling connected boosts oxytocin levels, and that builds bonds. Plus, the release of oxytocin is contagious, so you spread the cheer. That reduces your responses to stressful events and builds a network of support that’s key for emotional health.
Having a drink or two most days benefits your cardiovascular system (if alcohol isn’t risky because of a preexisting condition or alcoholism). Men 29 to 69 who are moderate drinkers (two a day) lower their risk for heart disease by 30 per cent — and women who are moderate drinkers (one a day) also protect their heart and are less likely to be overweight than non-drinking girlfriends. Plus, it boosts immune strength (at least it did in a study of rhesus monkeys, which have immune systems similar to humans).
And throughout the year, keep your generous impulses going. It doesn’t cost anything to help a neighbour or volunteer in a soup kitchen. You’ll reduce your stress responses, have a more optimistic outlook (known to boost healthy decisionmaking) and live better and longer. Q: Is there a probiotic that I can take to help me lose weight and get other health benefits too? — Katie J. A: We wish there was a simple “take this, get that result” answer! But we do know that gut bacteria influence weight and many other aspects of your health.
Probiotics, health-promoting bacteria that populate your gut, help protect your immune system, process glucose, shepherd nutrients into your bloodstream and do things we don’t yet know. Other gut bacteria (should we call them conbiotics?) contribute to insulin resistance, fuel immune dysregulation and may promote depression, dementia, heart disease, strokes and cancer.
Altogether, pro and con bacteria compose your gut biome, which changes in response to what you eat, your exposure to antibiotics and encounters with bacteriarich environments (both good and bad).
Recently, researchers found identical twins — one fat, one not — and extracted samples of their gut biomes. Then they injected those bacterial pools into normal-weight mice. The ones receiving the fat twin’s biome grew fat, the ones with the thin twin’s stayed normal-weight.
Even more astounding: Mice that became obese stopped gaining weight if they lived with mice who’d received the “stay thin” biome transplant. Seems “lean bacteria” — groups of organisms called the bacteroidetes(ph) — migrate into the “obese biome,” because there are job openings for healthy bacteria that the body is eager to have filled.
However, researchers also found that if the “obese biome” mice ate a high-fat, low-veggie American-style diet while living with the “stay thin” mice, the fat mice stayed fat.
So what can you do to control your weight? Ditch red meats; avoid saturated fats, all trans fats, all added sugars and syrups; and opt for 100 per cent whole grains and fruits and veggies (nine servings a day).
Within three to four days, that diet will fuel reproduction of healthy bacteria in your gut, and will help suppress those that cause trouble. We also like taking daily spore probiotic supplements containing bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 and lactobacillus GG.