After much research and personal experimentation, I am more than convinced that the key to longevity, vitality, and aging gracefully is through the proper balancing of the body’s alkaline and acid pH levels. 

Here are what some of the experts say:

Writer Sang Whang in his book “Reverse Aging” proposed a Theory of Aging: we age because we gradually accumulate organic acid wastes. These wastes show up as uric acid, urate, sulfate, phosphate, kidney stones and other organic wastes often surrounded by cholesterol. Cellulite is a gel-like substance made up of fat in which are trapped acid wastes in pockets below the skin.

Dr Robert Young, author of “The pH Miracle” has been saying for years that “Obesity is an acid problem, the fat is saving our lives.” Why? Because the body creates fat cells to carry acids away from your vital organs, so these acids literally don’t choke your organs to death. Read more here.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that alkalizing diets improve bone density and serum growth hormone concentrations; the acidosis resulting from acidic diets contributes to bone and muscle loss.

Why? Because calcium is the body’s most potent alkalinizing agent. When you drink an acidic soft drink, for example, the body reacts swiftly by drawing huge amounts of organic calcium from the bones and teeth and pouring it into the bloodstream to neutralize the excess acid so that it can quickly restore alkaline balance. 

So how do you change your body’s pH? It’s all in what you eat and drink. Big culprits are things most people consume everyday: coffee and sodas. Here is a list to print out and keep on your refrigerator. It shows which foods have an alkalinizing or an acidifying effect on the body. If you want to stay fit and healthy in your thirties, forties, and beyond, you will do it easily by eating from the left side of this chart as much as possible! And if that list doesn’t seem user friendly to you, here’s another chart.

Bariatric surgery has become very popular among those people with large amounts of weight to lose. A new study out of Sweden now finds that cancer risk among women who do, is lowered by 42%!!! Read the article on HealthNews here.

When I was in sixth or seventh grade, the most popular girl in school, T____ who got all the boys’ attention, started to have to share the limelight when a new, equally pretty girl named N____ came to school mid-year. Feeling the lapse in attention didn’t make T feel good, and in an effort to bring the focus back on herself, she started resorting to extreme, attention-grabbing measures. She’d wear flashy clothes and when that didn’t steal N’s thunder, she’d break out the dramatic makeup look - you know the one- the blue shadow and Tammy Faye mascara.

Before too long, the school’s attention turned to a canned food drive, and with everyone engrossed in their own struggles to get ahead in the contest to win an ice cream party, less attention was payed to the girls. Soon, both girls were desperate to recoup their audience.

It was like a bad episode of The Facts Of Life with dueling popular girls competing for the number one spot on their peers’ radar with Mrs. Garrett playing referee. N would show up Monday with a crazy hair do, and by Friday, T would counter with a half-shaved head. N sported a fake tattoo of a butterfly, T responded with double-pierced ears and big hoop earrings. 

Now, imagine the girls as magazines named Time and Newsweek. The playground is the news stand. The boys’ roving eyes are the diverted attention from magazines onto electronic media. The other peers in the school are all of us, called potential readers. The canned food drive distraction is today’s poor economy (causing attention and expendable income to be drawn away from the dueling mags). Instead of Mrs. Garrett as referee, it is the rest of the media. (Today Show mentions Time magazine article- 2 points! Larry King mentions Newsweek article - 3 points!). And of course, the flashy glitz and glam getups of the dueling girls are equivalent to overblown or sensationalized controversial stories about two of the most popular “kids” (topics) in “school” (America), pushed out by skilled marketing and PR teams. 

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Here’s the scene: Boy meets girl. Boy asks girl out. Boy and girl go to a nice Italian restaurant. (Or, since the boy is on a budget or thinks Olive Garden is a nice Italian restaurant, they go to Olive Garden.) They view the menu. Girl really wants to order the creamy, cheese stuffed ravioli and instead, when the waiter arrives to the table, she orders the low calorie chicken marsala. Why? Because she doesn’t want to look like a pig. Or, she at least wants to appear to be somewhat health conscious.

We’ve all done it. Don’t pretend you haven’t. And now there is a study that proves that to be true, and confirms what we already knew about men - they eat whatever the hell they want regardless of who they are with - male or female.

Here’s the study in a nutshell: Meredith Young, PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior, studied students at three universities in natural eating environments in cafeterias. All cafeterias had a wide variety of food and companion options. 

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A couple of new studies seem to confirm what has been rumored in the past - that chewing is more than just a mechanical process necessary for satisfying hunger and filling our bellies.

The first study involves gum. And yes, it was funded by Wrigley, but it was done at Baylor University and seems to be legitimate. We’ve all heard that chewing gum may be a good dieting strategy because it can keep you from putting, other, more fattening things in your mouth. But the study seems to prove that it’s not just an issue of keeping the mouth busy, chewing gum seems to actually remove your craving for snacks. 

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This study will probably make some of you cry. I am sure some of the monkeys wept a bit too. But it has a happy ending, so fear not.

Some of you are in the camp of people who want to  maximize your time here on earth regardless of what sacrifices it entails. Others of you probably would rather kick off a bit sooner if it means you get more enjoyment out of life, and some of us equate that enjoyment with food. 

So, whichever group you are in, you will probably find this study about aging and calorie consumption interesting. Although conducted on monkeys and not humans, it seems to indicate that all things being equal regarding quality of diet, with the only difference being fewer calories consumed, the monkeys eating less, lived longer with fewer major diseases. You can read all of the details in this New York Times article.

Certainly, the fact that the results show less diabetes, heart disease and cancer should make up for not getting that second helping at each meal, right? You decide.

You have probably heard that oil and vinegar dressing is a better dieting choice than Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing. Like me, you probably assumed it was better for your weight loss efforts because of a lower fat content. Well, that may be true, but new evidence from Japan also gives you another reason to top your salads with the dynamic duo.

Vinegar, long used in folk medicine internally and externally, contains acetic acid, which is now believed to help break down fat accumulation. In a study just published in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, (you didn’t know such a Journal existed, did you?), a guy named Tomoo Kondo seems to have proven that a component of vinegar might be your friend in the war against fat.

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Why do people sometimes judge harshly men and women whose list of required attributes in a long term partner includes a fit, healthy body? Not long ago, a friend accused me of being a female version of the movie character Shallow Hal when I refused her attempts to set me up  with a heavyset male friend of hers. “Yes.” I said. “And you know what “Hal” is short for? Hallelujah! Because I’ll be with someone who can keep up with me!”

She didn’t think it was funny. “You’re too picky.” She told me.”  To which I replied, “Comparing me to a movie character won’t make me more open to dating a guy whose activities, energy level, eating habits, overall lifestyle and health for raising future kids are so drastically disparate than mine.” Besides, I had tried overlooking things like that in the past, and knew from personal experience that it just doesn’t work for me.

“By the way”, I went on to explain, “Shallow Hal desiring the more svelte version of Gwynyth Paltrow, as opposed to the obese version, is not a critical flaw in a man, because brain biology compels men to desire those women who are more capable of reproducing and perpetuating the species!”

This is the same brain biology that causes women to seek out, and be attracted to, men who would be good providers. Sure, she gets labeled as a gold digger, in much the same way that Hal is labeled as “shallow” for wanting the healthiest fertile female to bear his children, but in essence, “gold digging” is rooted in her brain biology. And how can you blame a woman for wanting to choose a man who would best be able to provide for their future offspring?  But I have long maintained that fertile women especially, also have a biological need to be concerned with a man’s physicality just as he is with hers. 

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You all know my favorite three *f.a.t. topics in the world are sex, men, and hormone health, so it shouldn’t surprise you that after a posting hiatus of a week or so, I’m chomping at the bit and jumping back in with an article that covers all three in one! 

So, ladies, since it’s not all about us all the time, let’s talk about our men. You love yours, I love mi….I mean, if I had one, I’d love him. In fact, I’d love him to pieces and wouldn’t want any bad thing to befall him. But since I don’t have one, let’s talk about yours. Assuming you aren’t living your own version of Sleeping With The Enemy, I’m sure you want the best health possible for your husband, boyfriend, object of desire, Neanderthal-like animal creature you call significant other……you get the idea. 

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We’ve long known that folate helps reduce the risk of birth defects in babies, but now there is evidence that it also cuts the risk of premature births, which come with a host of health risks for the baby. It is important to note that the results were dependent on the mother supplementing with folate for at least a year prior to conception! The important take away is that ALL women of childbearing age, whether they intend to become pregnant or not, should be taking a multivitamin with folate in it. And women who do intend to become pregnant, would be wise to plan further ahead - nutritionally - than most women do. Read the full details here.