That's Fit

Did you know that fiber can help you breathe easier? A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that fiber increased lung capacity.

Specifically, folks who took in at least 27 grams daily had a larger lung capacity than did those who consumed fewer than 10 grams. Additionally, the group that consumed more fiber were found to be 15 percent less likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The author of the study, Stephanie London, M.D., Ph.D., said, "The fiber found in cereal and produce may reduce tissue inflammation that can damage lungs." There are plenty of ways to get fiber, and it's good for you in so many ways, you really have no excuse!

'I'll take you on vacation if you quit smoking,' I told Jon a few months ago. An incredibly stressful situation at work lead to him taking up the habit again, much to my chagrin. And I've been doing what I can to get him to quit again, but to no avail. 'Thanks, but I have to do it for myself if it's going to last.' he tells me.

And the infuriating thing about it all? He's completely right. According to recent research, bribing smokers with incentives and prizes if they quit doesn't work, especially in the long run. So what does work? Social support, buddy systems and nicotine replacement therapies all have better success rates.

What made you quit? Or what's kept you from quitting?

I spent an hour sitting and visiting with a neighbor the other night, a neighbor nearing the end of her life, thanks to stage IV breast cancer that has spread to both lungs. We talked about all sorts of things -- how she should have been more vigilant about mammograms, how it's nice for her to know exactly what it is that will take her life, and how she can eat just about anything she wants now. We also talked about exercise.

My neighbor, who is in her early 70s, said she was in the marching band in high school. But ever since that time in her life, she's never really exercised. In her day, she said, exercise was about vanity. Women worked out to achieve a certain figure, to look good. There was very little talk about the benefits of exercise on overall health. And since she didn't buy into the gotta-look-a-certain-way mentality, she'd didn't buy into exercise either. In hindsight, she wishes she would have.

This thread of our discussion really makes me think. It makes me mostly think how lucky the young people of today are to know the health merits of exercise, to realize that while it can make a body look good, it's also a life-saving venture. It makes me feel good that my kids, now seven and five, will likely always know of exercise as a health measure. I'm not even sure they realize it can be used to achieve a certain appearance. Lucky for them.

Clearly, exercise is about wellness. Now, in her unwell days, my neighbor knows this. There's just very little she can do about it now. Unlucky for her.

A woman almost sent me to the hospital last night because of her overuse of perfume. I was walking down an aisle in Target, when I completely lost my breath! She must have poured half the bottle on her, and I swear I didn't respond so strongly when I was gassed in a Paris subway ten years ago. What is up with that?

I literally had to sprint away from the woman to escape suffocation. It was an obnoxious example of odor abuse. I feel like more and more people are abusing their fragrances every day. Now is this such a big deal? Yeah...Kinda!

Not to sound hyper-critical, but it absolutely amazes me how many people still smoke. Not only do anti-smoking ads point to the dangers related to inhaling toxins directly into your lungs, but the tobacco companies themselves have even put forth evidence that their products are known killers. Nevertheless, the puffing continues.

But, what happens when you stop? Even for a short while? Amazingly, your body kicks right into high gear, endeavoring to repair the damage you have caused your lungs up until that very point. Here's a quick look at just how fast your body begins to heal as soon you quit smoking.

In 20 Minutes: Your blood pressure and heart rate begin to slowly drop

In 12 Hours: Carbon monoxide in your blood gets back to normal

In 3 Months: Lung function increases and circulation improves

In 1 Year: Risk of coronary heart disease is cut to that of what it was for you while you were still smoking

In 5 Years: Your risk of stroke is reduced to that of a non-smoker

In 10 Years: Your chance of dying from lung cancer is cut to half of what it was while you were smoking

For some inexplicable reason, however, people will still continue to smoke, even knowing full-well that it may eventually kill them. Many point to the comfort in constantly taking a drag. To that I say: Your breath smells, your teeth are browning more and more each day, your clothes reek, your phlegm coughs are disgusting, and your fingernails look like the Crypt Keeper's - How comforting is that? Others go for the pity approach; claiming that it's far too difficult to quit. To that equally as poor excuse I say: You're a human being ... you're built and wired almost exactly the same as others who have walked on the moon, cured infectious diseases, invented the automobile, and climbed Mt. Everest - So, I think you're more than capable of quitting a meaningless habit.

So the Body Mass Index (BMI) may not be the best indicator of obesity. It only accounts for height and weight and gives a whole host of other factors (muscle mass, for one) no attention at all. There's also the skin fold test, or pinch test. I called my local health and fitness center to inquire about this option -- I'd really like to see where I fall on the body fat spectrum after losing some weight -- and I was told it's not all that accurate either. Since the skin is pinched and measured using calipers, it's difficult to grab the same fat each time it's done. Obviously, this can skew results. So where do I go now for a precise evaluation of my fat?

I could go for a waist-hip ratio -- a tape measure is used around the waist and hips -- but this won't tell me exactly how much fat I'm carrying around. That leaves one method -- hydrostatic weighing. It happens to be the only route recommended by the fitness trainer I spoke with on the phone, and it involves a whole lot of water and a whole lot of exhaling.

Hydrostatic weighing works like this: After expelling all of the air from the lungs, a person is repeatedly submerged in water for five to 10 seconds. It's a very reliable measure, the gold standard really for assessment of body composition. It can be scary for those who fear the underwater world, but it works and is available at various health and fitness centers.

What do you think -- would you get dunked to capture the essence of your own body fat?

Some people experience it more than others, but I think most of us have gone through it at some point in our lives: that frustrating inability to get a deep breath when you're really nervous or anxious about something. This article I came across was published awhile ago, but it's got a great set of tips (complete with stick man illustrations!) on how to "reboot" your lungs and get over that annoying shallow breathing pattern we sometimes get stuck in.

If nervous breathing happens to you often how do you deal with it?

When I'm filled with anxiety, panic, or worry, exercise usually helps. It allows me to clear my head, focus inward, and collect a fresh perspective. There's nothing groundbreaking about my strategy. It helps loads of people who find themselves in all sorts of stressful scenarios.

Health experts have long recommended 30 minutes of moderate daily exercise to relieve stress. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia agree. But they've got an even better recommendation. They say studies show high-intensity workouts pack a much bigger punch against stress than any other form of exercise. Why? There are several theories. We know intense aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and lungs, and these two vital organs bear the brunt of the body's stress response. So the more we exercise, the better these organs respond to negative emotion. Another possibility: Vigorous workouts require major concentration and limit the ability to obsess about weighty matters. It could also be that this type of exercise increases the release of endorphins, our feel-good hormones. The harder we work, the better we feel.

I guess it doesn't really matter why strenuous activity does the trick. It just does. And that's reason enough for me to keep at it.

According to new research smokers need to be especially conscious of knee pain, as it could be an early indicator of lung cancer. In a small study looking at patients with both knee inflammation and pain, a small percentage (only 2%) were also found to have non-small cell lung cancer. Now that may sound like an extremely small number, but consider this: of that 2% that had both knee pain and cancer all of them were smokers.

Non-small cell lung cancer is very difficult to treat unless it's caught in the early stages, so getting this clue that knee pain could be an indicator could really help save lives.

If someone asked you to list the health dangers of loud music you'd probably come up with things like hearing and ear damage, and maybe safety related to being distracted. But lung collapse? Wouldn't have crossed my mind, not until I read this article anyway, which reports on cases where loud music caused a pneumothorax (lung collapse) in several young men. A few of the cited cases happened at concerts, and 1 was of a guy in his car listening to his 1,000 watt bass system. Experts are guessing it's the vibration of the bass in the loud music that can cause the problem -- essentially the lungs start to vibrate along with the beat and end up rupturing.

Something to think about the next time you head to a concert -- don't stand too close to the loudspeakers!

If traditional methods like nicotine gum and the patch aren't working when it comes to keeping your "I'm gonna quit smoking" mojo, maybe wearing this Smoking Jacket every time you step outside for a smoke will. As you puff, the "lungs" on the jacket fill up with the exhaled smoke -- gradually turning darker and darker over time and representing the damage you're doing to your body as you continue with your bad habit.

But summer's almost here, so a jacket isn't really practical. But I wonder if they make a tank-top version?

Here in Florida, we're dealing with some nasty forest fires that are filling our air with smoke. In fact, I believe the nearest actual fire to me is about 20 miles away, but I literally have ashes falling on my head as I step outside, and the smoke is so thick you can't see more than a couple of blocks away. If you're in a similar situation I have one suggestion for you. Stay inside as much as possible!

My son has asthma, and we are allowing him exposure to the elements as little as possible. If you care for someone with respiratory issues, keep them inside as well. It's startling to walk outside and have to squint to see. I personally don't have any particular health concerns, but as I briefly walked to my car from a friends house I grew an instant headache and sore throat.

Pay attention. No exercising outdoors. Keep your windows rolled up, and if you have asthma or care for someone with it......keep that albuterol handy. Take care.

Deli meats causing problems in the lungs, of all places, seems like an unlikely truth. But according to recent research it does seem to be the case. When experts looked at the connection between a diet including cured meats such as deli meat, hot dogs, and bacon and the development of COPD later in life, they found what looks like a direct link: the more cured meats in a person's diet the higher the risk for COPD.

They are quick to point out, however, that this study by no means proves anything. In fact, they aren't even recommending that people stop eating cured meats, just that they consider cutting back a little.

I think we all already know that fresh is always better, and it's not just for fruits and vegetables.

We've all seen the horrible pictures of smoker's lungs compared to non-smoker's lungs -- the sticky looking black soot in place of healthy clean airways...not a pretty picture!

So if you are looking to quit, but are having trouble holding on to your motivation, maybe ashing into the Lung Ashtray by Finding Cheska will do the trick. It's actually kinda pretty (when it's clean), so sprinkling ashes and rubbing out your cigarette butts on the nice white "airways" really makes a statement, not to mention gives a nice visual reminder of what's happening to your insides with every puff.

After being diagnosed with cancer I read everything that I could about the disease and what contributes to it. The word "steroid" was implanted in my mind as a big "No No" that contributed to certain cancers. Six years later one of my medical doctors studied all of my medical reports even as far back as childhood, when I had a high ANA reading on a blood test. She immediately referred me to a Rheumatoid specialist to determine if I had lupus. Sure enough I was diagnosed with lupus and one of the first things he mentioned was steroids for the inflammation. I threw up my arms in an "X" as if to ward off the medications that could bring more cancer back into my life. He set me at ease a little bit on the various types of steroids and why I needed them to control the inflammation in my joints, pleurisy (inflammation around lungs), and pericarditis (inflammation around heart).

Both alone and in combination, the powerful steroids estrogen and progesterone and their synthetic equivalents (estrogen derivatives and progestins) can cause breast cancer. The dangerous performance enhancing steroids taken by athletes are male steroid hormonal drugs that build muscle. One of their risks is liver cancer. Corticosteroids are different from the "anabolic steroids" that weightlifters and other athletes sometimes take illegally to increase strength and do not cause cancer. Prednisone is the synthetic corticosteroid preparation most often used in the treatment of lupus. And in some instances to help with inflammation in cancer patients to control pain. Those individuals with organ-threatening diseases like heart, lung, brain, kidney, and liver, usually need corticosteroids in order to prevent loss of function in the organ. In addition to prednisone, some other cortisone derivatives include hydrocortisone, methylprednisolone (Medrol), and dexamethasone (Decadron).

Some of the more common side effects of steroids include changes in appearance such as acne, development of a round or moon-shaped face, and an increased appetite leading to weight gain. Steroids may also cause a redistribution of fat, leading to a swollen face and abdomen, but thin arms and legs. The skin becomes more fragile, which leads to easy bruising. An increase in susceptibility to infections may occur with high doses of steroids. Prednisone may also aggravate diabetes, glaucoma, and high blood pressure, and often increases cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. Steroids also can suppress growth in children.