Will We Live Longer if We Think Younger? - Healthy Life 14

Fig 01- Flowers with violet color

Time fly so fast for some people, but not for others. Busy without stress persons tend to think what was happen 10 or 20 years ago like just yesterday.

Luckily if the people keep their mindset or feeling like they are young or feel forever young, then will obtain many advantages compare to the same age people, but feel they are older.

Scientists from German Centre of Gerontology (News Release from American Psycological Association, 6 May 2021) said that there are a lot of benefits to feel younger, especially for old people.

Yes, this is a “subjective” feeling, but effect is very positive. Several health (physical and mental) gains include:

- less visiting to the hospital
- stronger thinking skills
- less inflammation
- improving well being
- longer lifespan

Fig 02- Sky at night in Baton Rouge, LA

Fig 03- Red flower, illustration only

We might wonder why there is connection between feeling younger and live healthy (longer)?

First, scientist found that stress people, especially to middle age and older persons tend to decline their health.

Then, declining process can be reduced if persons feel they are younger than their true age.

This subjective feeling give some degree of protection and be a kind of stress buffer.

Hence, let’s think younger to live longer and healthier!

Lobsters have Good Nutritional Values for Health – Healthy Life 13

Live lobster with a price tag

When I come to ethnic groceries or Asian shops, I always find live lobsters sold in the aquarium with quite expensive price for me.

Include shell and wet body, the grocery sells US$ 9.99 per-pound or more than US$ 20 per-kg with sale tax.

It is mean that there are plenty consumers for these crustaceans.

Since the groceries do business every day, it may have highly market demand for lobster.

The highly demand is main factor why the price so expensive compared to other seafood.

Then, we might have a question: Is lobster good for health?

In respect to nutritional values, yes, lobster contains of:

- mineral
- vitamins (vitamin B12 and vitamin E)
- and omega-3 fatty acids.

Lobsters, ready to cook

Lobster’s minerals include:

- copper
- selenium
- zinc
- phosphorus
- and magnesium.

However, lobster does contain cholesterol. Lobster have 124 mg cholesterol in 85gram meats.

If we have 1.5-pound lobster means that there is around 170-gram meat. Thus, 1.5-pound lobster would have 248 mg cholesterol.

It is allowed to consume 300 mg cholesterol daily for healthy people. Highly healthy for people even to eat 1.5 pound lobster per-day (if they wish to).

In addition to mineral and vitamins, lobster is source of protein. It is good for diet too, since its contain lower fat and lower calories.

# Previous posts:

- Important of Microorganisms in Food Industry – Healthy Life 1
- What is Coronasomnia? - Healthy Life 2
- Can Six Dolar Drug Kill Covid 19 Virus? - Healthy Life 3
- Which One Has Vitamin C more - Red Bell Pepper or Orange? - Healthy Life 4
- First Important Step to Know Mental Illness - Healthy Life 5

Do you know about E. coli Bacteria? - part 2 - Healthy Life 12

No Spaghetti with Ground Beef Today.

Please read the previous post (part 1):

- Do you know about E. coli Bacteria? - part 1 - Healthy Life 12

HUS is a disorder that characterized by acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia syndrome.

There are some points from CDC that I can keep in my mind to prevent from E. coli  bacteria:

- Cook ground beef thoroughly
- An internal temperature to cook ground beef is 160˚F
- Avoid to eat raw or under-cooked ground beef
- After cook ground beef do not forget to refrigerate within 2 hours, then can be used within 3 to 4 days
- Wash hand with soapy water after touching ground beef
- Clean utensil, counter-top, and cutting board thoroughly with soap and hot water or using bleach solution.

Wild flowers, just for illustration.

The most important is never eat recalled ground beef.

I am not going to take a risk.

It will be awful to have diarrhea and stomach cramps that cause me back and forth to toilet or restroom.

This infection also leads to hemolytic uremic syndrome which is so painful. I just avoid the ground beef in a while.

So my spaghetti have no sauce today.

It turned into spaghetti with shrimps, and I added some asparagus, lemon juice, and sprinkle Parmesan cheese.

Do you know about E. coli Bacteria? - part 1 - Healthy Life 12

3D Escherichia coli (Photo Credit: (Illustrators) Alissa Eckert

and Jennifer Oosthuizen/CDC.gov)

I was thinking about to cook spaghetti sauce with ground beef, added some button mushrooms and basil for my supper, and I need to go buy those stuffs in grocery store.

A couple minute in my way headed to the closest grocery store in my neighborhood, I remembered that the local radio talked about recalled ground beef that suspected has been contaminated with the E.coli.

E.coli infection occurs in 10 states and there are about 190 cases. Thanks Lord, no one get killed.

So far, the ground beef from two companies have been recalled because laboratory testing of ground beef from these companies spotted the outbreak strain of E. coli O103.

This strain is acquired Shiga-toxin.

Shiga toxin-producing E. coli can cause a person get sick, usually for three to four days after intake the contaminated food.

A cooked food, just for illustration

The symptoms are watery diarrhea that often with:

- blood (hemorrage colitis)
- severe stomach cramps
- little or no fever
- vomitting
- and may lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

# To be continued to part 2

Measles Outbreak in a Recent year – Part 2 – Healthy Life 11

Koplik 's Spots or small red spots in the soft palate mucosa

(CDC/ Heinz F. Eichenwald, MD)

You might not read the previous post:

- Measles Outbreak in a Recent year – Part 1 – Healthy Life 11

Koplik Spots

Two or three days after initial symptoms, the small spots with white in the centers appear in the inside of the cheek or soft palate.

These spots look like grain of salt with red color as their background (reddish halo).

Their size are very small, about 1 or 2 mm.

Koplik's spots also can appear on the conjunctiva, and vaginal mucosa.

These red spots lesions can last for one or two days. See the picture below.

The measles rash.

Within 12 or 24 hours after the Koplik's Spots are shown, the rash or skin eruptions of measles will appear starting below the ear and spread over the body.

Cartoon, illustration only, credit: Shutterstock

After one or two day the rash can cover all around the body surfaces. When the rash is appearing, usually the fever is high.

The complications from rubeola could be very serious. It can cause ear infections, broncho-pneumonia, croup, and also inflammation in the brain.

The person who never get vaccine measles and the person who has problem with immune system, they are in high risk to get contagious of measles virus.

To prevent from the infection of measles, the series of shot measles vaccine are required.

The vaccine is live vaccine that combine with Rubella and Mumps (MMR).

Measles Outbreak in a Recent year – Part 1 – Healthy Life 11

A measles infection (Image from patch.com/Shutterstock)

It was surprising that within four months, January to April, there were about 704 individual cases of measles in the America. There are about 22 states affected by diseases.

This is a big number since the US declared that measles was eliminated in 2000 (CDC, 2019).

What is Measles?

Measles is a disease that caused by virus (family Paramyxoviruses). Measles virus causes the potentially serious infection.

This disease is characterized by fever and maculopopular rash or rubeola, and it's more severe than rubella.

The disease is super contagious and highly transmissible disease.

The transmission of measles is by inhalation of large droplets aerosols from the infected person.

What are the symptoms of the measles?

Wild flowers, just for illustration.

The initial symptoms.

During the early phase, between one and four days, the symptoms develop an upper respiratory, such as runny nose and hacking cough, and also pink eye (conjunctiva).

Sometimes, the symptoms will not shown until one or two week, so that the person does not know that she/he already get contagious.

# To be continued to part 2

Mental Awareness and Vaccination – Healthy Life 10

Fig 01- A tree with purple flowers

Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts related to my post about Mental Illness.

- First Important Step to Know Mental Illness - Healthy Life 5

I appreciate it.

We are still in May, the awareness of mental illness month, so it is a good moment to be aware about our daily living activities and behaviors that affect our mental health

Prolonged isolation and prolonged restricted activities can lead to discomfort and depression.

Over a year we feel like live in the box, and now we can take a little “fresh air” since more people have been vaccinated.

Louisiana is less number of percentage of vaccination. In Louisiana, the number of people fully vaccinated is 1,438,154, and the percentage of population fully vaccinated is 30.94%.

Fig 02- The clusters of flowers

The rank of Louisiana from 51 states is 48/51. The highest percentage of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is Vermont, 54%.

On May 15, Governor Bell Edward mentioned, “Following the new CDC guidance and in consultation with the LDH, I have revised the current proclamation to give anyone who is fully vaccinated the option to no longer wear a mask while indoors in most places.”

Fig 03- Flowers in the end of branches

But the restrictions are still the same in some places, such in government buildings and hospitals, wearing mask mandatory and distance.

Most Baton Rouge residents still wear mask even though in the places that mask is not mandatory anymore and the outdoors.

Governor Bell Edward brought up, “A growing number of studies on the COVID vaccines have shown the following:

-More than 90% effective in real-world settings at preventing mild and severe disease, hospitalization, and death.
-Effective against the variants currently circulating in the country and state.
-Those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread the virus.”

At the last, if prolonged isolation and prolonged restricted activities can lead to discomfort and depression, better get COVID vaccination. It might prevent our depression; vaccinated persons have more options for their life.

Is Strawberry Greek Yogurt Good For Health? - Healthy Life 9

My own menu, strawberry Greek Yogurt

I make strawberry Greek yogurt for my own purposes, for breakfast or for small dessert in the middle of day.

Breakfast is combination of yogurt and strawberry, while mixture of yogurt, ice cream and strawberry for middle of day for dessert.

Strawberry is one of my favorite fruits. Its riches of:

- antioxidants
- fiber
- and vitamin C.

It is good to regulate blood sugar, lower blood pressure and improve immune system.

I believe that most of us consumed yogurt, but you might not notice the different between Greek yogurt and Others (regular yogurt).

Greek yogurt involves the process to take out the whey, a lactose liquid (a natural sugar).

Greek Yogurt contains lower sugar, suitable for diabetic patients.

More strawberry than yogurt

Just to let you know that 150 gram (5.3 oz) of Greek yogurt is an excellent sources of:

- 150 calories
- 11 gram of
- Calcium
- Vitamin D

Some health benefits of consuming of Greek yogurt are:

- Calcium improves bone health
- Lower blood pressure
- Lower risk of type 3 diabetes.

In addition that Greek yogurt has probiotics that good for gut health. Probiotics from specific bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei could improve digestive functions by balancing presence of bad microorganism or bacteria.

Bad bacteria in the gut responsible for diseases such as constipation or diarrhea, skin conditions, weight gain and other health conditions.

Have you tasted Greek yogurt or mixed of Greek yogurt and strawberry?

Do You Know a Sign of Bipolar Disorder? - Healthy Life 8

Illustration of Bipolar Disorder,

credit to Cleveland Clinic Health Essential

Bipolar disorder is “a brain disorder” relates to daily activities where moods may swing highly from low to high. Lower level refer to depression periods, while higher mood refers to mania periods.

In addition to moods, irregularity in activities and energy lead to unable cope with difficulty in daily live.

The exact caused of bipolar disorder is not known yet. However, the causes are suspected from internal and outside factors.

Hormonal imbalance in the body could trigger this mental diseases. Outside or environmental factors that may cause disorder include mental stress, abuse and traumatic events.

As reported by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in 2017 that “The average age-of-onset is about 25, but it can occur in the teens, or more uncommonly, in childhood.

The condition affects men and women equally, with about 2.6% of the U.S. population diagnosed with bipolar disorder and nearly 83% of cases classified as severe.”

Flowers in the garden

How many of 2.6%?

The number should be: 2.5% x 350 million = 9.1 million of USA population affected by bipolar disorder illness.

When the people ever experienced depression, mania and Hypomania, then they might develop bipolar disorder. Many signs of people enter early bipolar disorder such as stop (difficult) sleeping and loss focus.

They might not know, but the patients stop sleeping day by day will face severe conditions later on.

If patients or family bring the patient to see a doctor (family doctor), then the doctor may refer to the psychiatrist for treatments.

Reference

NAMI. 2017. Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved From:
Www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Bipolar-Disorder

Summer, be aware with Traveler's Diarrhea – Healthy Life 7

People at the beach

Yes, many parts of the world are facing trouble pandemic in this Summer.

However, do you have any plans to travel abroad?

Getting ready to visit the nice places and enjoy the local culinary, but...have you ever have stomach flu when you enjoy traveling?

It does annoy you and sometimes it ruins your traveling schedules.

You are not alone, that happened to me, and many of us. In every 10 person, 3 to 7 person have this experience.

This stomach flu causes loose or watery stool, also known as diarrhea, and it's almost common in travelers. This stomach flu is called the Traveler's Diarrhea (TD).

Why do you get stomach flu when travel?

When I traveled to the warmer area and an area with poor public hygiene, that easy for me to get infected the stomach flu.

These areas do not have access to plumbing and latrine, so you can imagine that the amount of stool contaminated and more accessible to flies.

Sunset in the tropical area

Whenever an area has lack of safe water. electricity frequent to black out, and lack refrigerators will increase risk to the stomach flu.

The stomach flu is caused by many pathogens from contaminated water, prepared food, and utensils. Bacteria is the most commons cause, such as E. coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella, dan Salmonella.

Viruses, such as norovirus also contribute to the somach flu. Parasites is less common.

How do you know that you got TD?

Knowing the symptoms, such as suddenly I have loose stool or watery stool, bloating, urgency using bathroom, vomiting, belly pain, tired, and fever.

When this symptoms mild, it goes away, but when severe I need to call health care provider.

How does you prevent TD?

I always make sure do not eat food from unknown sources, do not put ice in drinks, and only drink sealed bottle water. Avoid to eat raw fruits and salads, raw meat, selfish, and unpasteurized milk or yogurt.

I always carry traveler size of alcohol sanitizer, tissue, and liquid soap in my purse. Some medications for TD prophylaxis are always along with other cases.

Could Positive Thinking Lead to Live Longer? - Healthy Life 6

 

A wild flower at backyard

Based on researches done by several Universities recently that there is relationship between positive thinking and live longer.

I think this finding have changed our long belief that the physical outfit only could increase our chances to live healthy and life expectancy.

Feeling of positive thinking or optimism make our health condition better, thus naturally, our immune system or body in better condition to fight many diseases.

In other word that positive thinking people have lower risk to get diseases such as:

- respiratory relate diseases
- cancer
- stroke
- heart diseases

It is interesting that we may have positive thinking by doing good or healthy or certain habits.

What kind of habits?

Positive thinking, just for illustration (credit to RTE)

The positive or healthy habits include:

- exercise regularly
- consume healthy foods (not smoking, no alcohol)
- sleep enough, at least six hours daily
- strong work ethics
- regulate emotional

Moreover, one of researches has observed more than 70 thousands men and women for periods of 10 to 30 years. It is concluded that:

- positive thinking people may live about 13% longer than pessimism people.
- optimism persons have greater chance to reach 85 years old age.

Do you believe that a positive thinking or optimism can make us live longer?

First Important Step to Know Mental Illness - Healthy Life 5

Fig 01- The first day of Tuesday Farmer Market in 2021

May is about the end. As we know May is Mental Health Awareness Month statewide.

In the beginning of this month, I met a pretty girl, 30s. She is slim, tall, and smart.

She worked in a chemical company before pandemic. She lost her job, and now she has done hospital visiting due to her diseases.

She underwent multiple removal surgeries.

When I asked her about her life and how she managed her stressful, she asked me back. “Stress?” then “Let it go away.”

She laughed, I believe she had a beautiful smile behind her face mask, “No stress. Nah!”

It seems she knows how to cope her problems. That is great.

In truth, there are always some problems that we face as we live in this world.

Fig 02- Beside enjoy walking around and taking photos, buying fruits and vegetables in farmer market is one of my activities to keep away from 

mental illness. At this moment, I was taking photos.

Along the month of mental awareness, I am trying to “investigate” myself.

Do I have:

-excessive anxiety and fear
-feeling sad and low so bad
-extremely mood swing, euphoria
-very easily disturbed and grumpy
-confusing in thinking and lack of focus and learning
-keeping away from friends

Fig 03- Zucchinis and yellow squashes look very fresh. 

Grab some to cook today, cooking is also fun!

The points above are common signs of mental illness that I need to be aware.

HEALTHY Lives mentioned that knowing anything about mental illness is important first step.

Do not hesitate to find help, do not afraid to consult a doctor.

Even I have some points above, I take control of myself. I find something fun! Such as:

- walking in the gardens
- taking photos
- reading favorite books
- listening to the old school music
- chatting with friends
- shopping small things
- cooking simple foods

The most important is: posting my thought in my blog then enjoying every single comment from you all, my friends.

I really appreciate for your visiting and commenting.

They are such medicines to me to keep healthy and away from mental illness. Thank you so much!

Which One Has Vitamin C more - Red Bell Pepper or Orange? - Healthy Life 4

Fig 01- Red bell pepper

Few people consume red bell pepper sometimes, but many people love to consume it often with their own reasons.

Actually, we familiar with this vegetable. I always see red bell pepper whenever I went to groceries.

The price is reasonable, depend on groceries, generally about US$ 1 each or less.

They are fresh and attractive.

However, if there is a comparative question: Which one has vitamin C more - Red Bell Peppers or Oranges?

You might answer suddenly: an orange!

Is it right?

No

Off course not!

Why?

Fig 02- Sliced papaya, rich in vitamin C

Fig 03- several colors of bell peppers

Vitamin C in the medium size orange is 69.7 mg

Vitamin C in the cup of chopped red bell pepper is 190 mg, about three times of vitamin C in the orange.

Other fruit and vegetable contain more vitamin C than an orange as reported by Christine Matthels (Health, January 27, 2020) are:

- Chili
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Papaya
- Strawberry
- Cauliflower
- Brussels sprouts
- Pineapple
- Kiwi
- Mango

Now, we understand that a lot of alternatives as sources of vitamin C in addition to oranges.