Could Fried Food Be Healthy?

By Denise Foley for Completely You

Wish you could enjoy fried food, without feeling guilty? Go ahead! A recent Spanish study found it might not be all that bad for you after all.

Of course, there’s a caveat. (Isn’t there always?) The frying has to be done with olive or sunflower oil. With this kind of oil, according to the study, eating fried foods won’t up your risk of heart disease or premature death. At least, that’s what the researchers found in a group of more than 40,000 people between the ages of 29 and 69 whose cooking habits were surveyed over 11 years.

But don’t yank that deep-fat fryer out of storage just yet. Another caveat: The type of food you fry might make a big difference. The Spanish people who took the survey ate a lot of fried fish -- not French fries -- and so they were getting a healthy dose of heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids. Was it the fish or the oil that counted? The researchers couldn’t be sure.

But one thing is certain: Whenever you cook with oil -- whether you fry or roast -- you must never let it reach its smoke point. That’s the temperature at which the oil starts to burn (although it might not actually give off smoke), destroying the healthy fatty acids and producing harmful molecules called free radicals. Oil that’s reached its smoke point also doesn’t taste as good.

Smoke points can vary based on both the purity and age of the oil, so most are estimations. In general, the less refined an oil is, the lower its smoke point is. For example, extra-virgin olive oil starts to smoke at only 375 F, but refined extra-light olive oil (the light refers to the taste) starts to smoke at 468 F. So save the good stuff for salads.

Sunflower oil also has a high smoke point (around 440 F), so it might be the best choice for your homemade sweet potato fries or fish and chips. Look for high oleic acid versions, which are higher in healthy monounsaturated fats. Compare these both to butter, which smokes at only 300 F and contributes saturated fat.

And yes, one more caveat: Oil, no matter where it comes from, is fat, and fat can be fattening if you don’t practice moderation. One tablespoon of sunflower or olive oil is 120 calories. Remember: Overweight and obesity are also risk factors for heart disease and a shortened lifespan.

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Photo: @iStockphoto.com/TheCrimsonMonkey
Denise Foley is Completely You’s “News You Can Use” blogger. She is a veteran health writer, the former deputy editor and editor at large of Prevention, and co-author of four books on women’s health and parenting.

Can You Wash Away Your Troubles?

If someone had slipped Lady Macbeth some hand sanitizer, she might have been a much happier person. At least that’s the suggestion of a new study that found that washing your body can help you “wash away your sins.” Literally. People who physically wash themselves wipe the slate clean of guilt, fear and even doubts about past decisions. Next time you tell a lie, you may want to wash your own mouth out with soap to avoid the guilt.

University of Michigan researchers Spike W. S. Lee and Norbert Schwarz looked at dozens of studies that linked the idea of “moral cleanliness” with physical cleanliness. In one study, for example, people who were asked to recall an immoral act they’d committed felt less guilty about it after they were given an antiseptic wipe to use. In another, people told to tell a lie wanted either mouthwash or hand sanitizer afterward, depending on whether they had told or typed the lie. (Apparently, we need to cleanse the appropriate body part or it doesn’t work.)

So what sent researchers down this particular path of inquiry? “Many psychologists will tell you it has something to do with my mom,” laughed Lee, a doctoral student. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds.”
You see, Lee’s mother in Hong Kong is a clean freak. “If you get more than 2 feet into her apartment without taking off your shoes, she’s ‘No, no, no!’” he says.

Lee thought of her when he read a 2006 scientific paper that describes the psychological link between physical and moral cleansing, a nearly universal element of religious ceremonies for thousands of years. Researchers refer to this as the “Macbeth effect,” named after the aforementioned Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare fame, who tried to assuage her guilt at the wash basin (“Out, damned spot!”) after encouraging her husband to murder King Duncan. [Read a synopsis of the scientific paper here.]

No, Lee’s mother hasn’t done away with any royalty. But thanks to her, he did become intrigued with how we think about cleanliness and the ways in which that may have had some evolutionary advantages. “Think about what elicits the strongest disgust reactions in humans -- bodily fluids, feces, which are also harmful to us,” he explains. “If you touch them, you definitely want to purify your body so you wouldn’t be contaminated.” Making the metaphorical leap to include what we see as unclean acts came later.

Lee admits his main interest is in how humans think -- and behave -- metaphorically. And the metaphors we use aren’t limited to cleansing. “When we say ‘He is a very warm person,’ we don’t mean he has a high body temperature. We mean he’s psychologically social, cheerful and generous. When we say ‘We’re pretty close friends,’ we’re not talking about physical distance. We use the word ‘seeing’ as in ‘I see what you mean’ to mean understanding. On the average, people unconsciously use four metaphoric expressions a minute.”

In other words, studying the psychological effects of cleansing is a way to “see” how humans think and why they behave the way they do (so appropriate in an election year).

And our cleansing metaphor, rather than just giving us a physical way to get rid of guilt, helps us become better people, says Lee. “Cleansing plays an important role across all religions and cultures. It signals a new phase of life, like a reborn Christian, which gives you a new moral self-image to live up to.”

So if you’re feeling bad about something and want a clean slate, you may want to start with a shower.
Here’s how to wash away germs. (What you do about your guilt is up to you.)



Like this post? Comment below or connect with us @Completely_You
Denise Foley  is Completely You’s “News You Can Use” blogger. She is a veteran health writer, the former deputy editor and editor at large of Prevention, and co-author of four books on women’s health and parenting.

Blog

Prescription Drug Abuse out of Control

By Denise Foley for Completely You

There was a drug raid in my house last week. But it was me -- not the Drug Enforcement Administration -- who was confiscating the controlled substances.

In my medicine cabinet, I found narcotics such as Vicodin and oxycodone, prescribed, according to the labels, for dental pain. In one case, the bottle was full; apparently the dental pain hadn’t been that bad. And I found two lonely and long-expired Xanax -- remnants, I guess, of someone’s anxiety crisis. I tossed them all.

But in many households across the country, women are tossing them back -- along with antidepressants, antianxiety drugs, and ADHD medications. They’re all prescribed, all legal, but, in many cases, reflecting the new face of substance abuse: working women and mothers. Not your usual drug addicts.

A report released late last year from Medco Health Solutions, the pharmacy-benefit manager, produced some alarming statistics. Analyzing data from 2.5 million insured Americans from 2001 to 2010, the study found that 1 in 4 women is prescribed medicine for mental health conditions. Antidepressant use is up by 29 percent, and women are using antianxiety medication at twice the rate seen in men. Although ADHD drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall are more likely to be prescribed more for boys than girls, more adult women use these stimulants than men do. And their use of the drugs had more than doubled since 2001.

Most surprising, there’s been a rise in the use of antipsychotics, once only prescribed for schizophrenics. The number of adults taking them is 3.5 times higher than it was in 2001 and, again, more women than men are popping these 21st century versions of “Mother’s Little Helper.”

It’s been a tough decade, starting with the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York and inching painfully through two wars and a recession. But that bad? For answers, I turned to Karen Dodge, director of research at the Hanley Center, a leading nonprofit addiction recovery center in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“I’ve been in this business for more than three decades, and I’ve seen more prescription drug abuse today than I’ve ever seen,” Dodge told me. “Heroin abuse stayed steady from 2002 to 2009. However, the nonmedical use of psychotherapeutics really escalated as did the use of pain relievers. The use of OxyContin and oxycodone escalated five times.”

The reasons are complex, of course. When they’re feeling bad, women are more likely to seek help -- and to seek it from a mental health professional -- than men are. But the problem may be when they don’t go to a psychiatrist. “A lot of antidepressants, for example, are being prescribed by nurse practitioners or general practitioners,” says Dodge. “Psychiatrists go crazy when they hear this. They tend to be more careful in diagnosing and prescribing medication than a GP. And today, you have gastroenterologists prescribing psychotherapeutic drugs off-label for colitis, and rheumatologists prescribing Seroquel, an antipsychotic, for lupus.”

Many of these drugs can be habit-forming. Even antidepressants that have become household names -- such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil -- can have withdrawal symptoms. “Maybe you got a prescription for a pain reliever innocently, but they can be so addictive,” says Dodge. “You build up a tolerance to it and you need more and more to get the same feelings. You can’t go back to your doctor, so you go doctor-shopping or you buy it online, where there’s no quality control, so you can’t even be sure if what you’re getting is genuinely the pharmaceutical.”

It may also take some time before women realize they’re addicted. A suburban mom may think she has nothing in common with the junkie on the street corner. People just don’t consider prescription medication in the same way they do street drugs. “After all,” says Dodge, “the doctor prescribed it.”

If you think -- or know -- that you have an unhealthy dependence on prescription drugs, there’s help out there.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has a website filled with resources on both addictions and mental health problems, including a searchable mental health services locator and facilities finder. You can even locate centers that specialize in particular addictions, such as opioid abuse. They’re testing a system that allows you to locate a facility by texting your zip code from your cell phone.

Narcotics Anonymous is a 12-step program like AA. On their website, they can help you find a meeting or a hotline in your area.

And finally, there’s the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). Because it can really get that bad.

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Denise Foley  is Completely You’s “News You Can Use” blogger. She is a veteran health writer, the former deputy editor and editor at large of Prevention, and co-author of four books on women’s health and parenting.

The Fertility Diet for Guys

The Fertility Diet for Guys

By Denise Foley for Completely You


Looking to become a Daddy? You may want to skip the beer, give up burgers, lose some weight and eat what your sperm considers to be the breakfast of champions: a bowl of whole-grain cereal and fruit.
Those are the findings of a recent Brazilian study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The researchers at the Fertility-Assisted Fertilization Centre in Sao Paulo looked at the eating and lifestyle habits of 250 men who, with their partners, were undergoing fertility treatments. They compared that information with an evaluation of the men’s semen.

The men whose sperm were at the lowest concentrations and sluggish -- potentially too lethargic to make it to the egg meetup -- were fatter (as measured by their body mass index or BMI) and more likely to smoke, drink alcohol and eat red meat. Men who were on a weight-loss diet also had poorer-quality sperm.


Had this been a study on women’s fertility, it might have provoked a ho-hum. Previous studies have found that obesity, the habit of smoking, and the consumption of meat and alcohol also lower a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant. For example, in one large study looking at the lifestyles and eating habits of 18,555 nurses, the women who ate the most animal protein had a 44 percent greater risk of being infertile than the women who ate the least. (The link: Meat eaters may be heavier -- fat contains more calories per ounce than carbohydrates -- or, as one controversial 2007 study suggested, it may be the steroids fed to cattle to help them bulk up faster for market.)

So What Should You Be Eating to Procreate?
Whether you’re a man or a woman, get more complex carbs into your diet. Simple carbs are things like chips, cookies and white bread -- yeah, that’s right, what you probably ate during the Super Bowl. Complex carbs are vegetables (hey, carrot sticks dip just fine too), fruit and whole grains. They have loads of fiber, which another study reveals is part of the best baby-making diet. That research also identified foods that are high in folate (fortified breakfast cereals, spinach and beans), vitamin C (citrus fruits and juices, red peppers, broccoli and Brussels sprouts) and lycopene (tomatoes).

Add a little candlelight and sweet talk, and you’re all set.

YouTube.com
Check out restaurant maven Gordon Ramsay talking to a fertility expert about the link between diet and male fertility.


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For more great health & lifestyle information, visit the parent site of my blog, Completely YouPhoto: @iStockphoto.com/Alllex

  

About Denise Foley:

I’m Completely You’s “News You Can Use” blogger. A veteran health writer, I’m also the former deputy editor and editor at large of Prevention, and co-author of four books on women’s health and parenting.