1. How can I lose weight?
At a recent medical conference, a prominent physician coined the expression "Foot and Fork Disease” to describe the modern day epidemic of adult and childhood obesity. Too much food, combined with physical inactivity, has resulted in many overweight and unhealthy Americans.

 Just telling someone that’s overweight to exercise more and eat right might be an over simplification of the process, but one that needs to be shouted from the rooftops of every big city and small town across this country. However, what people need to learn is that small adjustments can result in big changes.

2. How can I reduce my gut (or butt, or thighs)?
Spot training, or exercising to trim a specific area of your body, is an obsolete concept. Fat is the gas tank of the human body, and it is miraculously stored from head to toe -- with the heaviest concentration of fat in the abdominal and hip area. We don’t get to choose where the fat will be released first. Thankfully, belly fat is usually the first to go.

3. What’s more important, diet or exercise?
It’s a 50/50 proposition, with these two facets of fitness synergistically supporting one another. Without the right amount of fuel and nutrients, an exercise program will produce no results. Too much fuel will clog up the system and obliterate any fitness gains.

You must eat sensibly without starving yourself. You must also combine this with three or four systematic, well-thought-out, 20- or 30-minute workouts, repeated over a period of a few short months. This the only approach that will really work.

4. Do I have to work out every day?
No. Overdoing it is a common beginner’s mistake. I rarely recommend anyone train more than five days per week, and I personally train only three. The rest and recuperation phase of any program is just as important as the active phase. When getting started on a new program, spread out your enthusiasm to avoid burn out.

 5. If I workout and get in shape, then stop, will my muscle turn to fat?
No. Muscles contract and generate movement. Fat acts as the muscle’s fuel, supporting the process. One never becomes the other. Because fat is consumed by muscle, it’s logical to assume that having more muscle results in an overall reduction in stored body fat.

6. What’s the best time of day to exercise?
Whenever you can. There are pros and cons for every time of day, but your body will actually adapt to a schedule and be slightly stronger at your usual workout time -- whenever that happens to be. For athletes, or those seeking to push the performance envelope, this might have a slight impact. However, for the rest of us, just exercise whenever it’s most convenient.

7. Is walking as good as jogging?
Walking, jogging, swimming, cycling or any other form of aerobic exercise serves one main purpose, to elevate heart and breathing rate. The mode of exercise is secondary to its effect on heart and breathing rate.

Intensity is measured by the heart rate achieved during the session, coupled with the duration of the workout. For some individuals, it may be necessary to break into a slow jog to achieve aerobic levels, while others find brisk walking does the trick.

8. Am I too old, or am I too young, to exercise?
No. While intense weight lifting or running might not be for everyone, most people will benefit from some form of physical activity. As a society, we’ve become less and less active. To overcome this lack of activity, the American Counsel on Exercise recommends exercise for senior citizens as well as children. They have even organized Operation Fit Kids as a way to help overcome the trend towards childhood obesity in the United States.

9. If I lift weights, will I get too bulky?
Stay away from the steroids, and you’ll have nothing to worry about. Most women and men won’t put on more than a few pounds of muscle without taking extreme measures. Most likely you’ll just tone up and reshape your body without the characteristic bulk of a power lifter or body builder.

Depending upon many factors (many inherited from your ancestors), advances in tone, body fat levels, strength and endurance will come without a tremendous increase in size. Regardless, you’re in control of the overall effect of any weight-lifting regimen. By manipulating sets, repetitions and rest, you can easily regulate results.

10. What’s the deal with sets and reps?
A set is a series of repetitions. A repetition (rep) is performing a movement from beginning to end, through a full range of motions -- to some level of muscle fatigue. Most people do too many sets and poor quality reps. If you’re training properly, a typical workout should be no more than 10 to 15 total sets of 10 to 20 repetitions, utilizing perfect form. If training at higher intensity levels, even fewer sets can be just as effective.

Rocks, salt, rice and raw fish.

More than a millennia ago, in Southeast Asia, those were the ingredients for making sushi. Today’s sushi chefs are limited only by their imaginations.

The term sushi actually refers to the sticky rice used in creating the savory and healthy snacks, and in the beginning the rice was thrown away. The practice got its start centuries before refrigeration was available, when raw fish was preserved by packing it with rice and salt and pressing it with a heavy stone. Rice helped ferment the fish and lent the seafood a vinegary flavor, but only the fish was eaten.

Over time, as food shortages spread in the 15th and 16th centuries, the fermentation process was shortened from as much as a year to a month, and the rice was eaten with the fish. However, the curing process made the fish sour.

The fermentation was sped up even more over time, and today in Japan there is still a form called narezushi that requires at least 24 hours of fermentation. Not everyone appreciates the sour taste of this sort of sushi.

During Japan’s Edo period (1603-1967), especially in the early 19th century when urban areas grew rapidly, there was a need for “fast food.” Street vendors proliferated, and they eliminated sushi’s time-consuming fermentation process by adding vinegar to the rice, to get that familiar tangy flavor. The fish was fresh, the sticky rice tasty and people loved it.

“Since sushi came to the United States, it needed to be tweaked,” says Ben Cachila, a partner in Emi, a new sushi and fusion restaurant in Pawleys Island, S.C. Cachila’s father-in-law, Shozo Sakata, is the sushi chef.

“Some sushi chefs try to come up with gimmicks, and you do whatever makes the customer happy. Shozo likes to keep truer to the natural state, and the art is not based on overmanipulating [the ingredients]. Sushi is very visual. The colors come from the fresh vivid colors of the fish –- that’s basically [the chef’s] palette. To complete the picture the sushi chef tries to draw from the way things are in a natural state…and just enhance the flavor.”

Knives are the sushi artist’s brushes, and their heritage descends from the superior steel of Samurai swords. In Japan, sushi chefs go through an apprenticeship for as long as a decade.

“You go to a restaurant and you’re paid nearly nothing,” he says. “You clean, mop. You don’t even touch a knife until two or three years down the line. Then you get a very tiny knife and you cut vegetables for a couple of years, make vegetable garnishes and learn the knife craft.”

“In America you have to be more creative, make it more appealing so customers will try it,” says Rick Miyashita, the sushi chef at Paradise Bar & Grill in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. “One they’re enjoying the sushi and realize it’s ‘real food,’ then they eat it up.”

Rocks, salt, rice and raw fish.

More than a millennia ago, in Southeast Asia, those were the ingredients for making sushi. Today’s sushi chefs are limited only by their imaginations.

The term sushi actually refers to the sticky rice used in creating the savory and healthy snacks, and in the beginning the rice was thrown away. The practice got its start centuries before refrigeration was available, when raw fish was preserved by packing it with rice and salt and pressing it with a heavy stone. Rice helped ferment the fish and lent the seafood a vinegary flavor, but only the fish was eaten.

Over time, as food shortages spread in the 15th and 16th centuries, the fermentation process was shortened from as much as a year to a month, and the rice was eaten with the fish. However, the curing process made the fish sour.

The fermentation was sped up even more over time, and today in Japan there is still a form called narezushi that requires at least 24 hours of fermentation. Not everyone appreciates the sour taste of this sort of sushi.

During Japan’s Edo period (1603-1967), especially in the early 19th century when urban areas grew rapidly, there was a need for “fast food.” Street vendors proliferated, and they eliminated sushi’s time-consuming fermentation process by adding vinegar to the rice, to get that familiar tangy flavor. The fish was fresh, the sticky rice tasty and people loved it.

“Since sushi came to the United States, it needed to be tweaked,” says Ben Cachila, a partner in Emi, a new sushi and fusion restaurant in Pawleys Island, S.C. Cachila’s father-in-law, Shozo Sakata, is the sushi chef.

“Some sushi chefs try to come up with gimmicks, and you do whatever makes the customer happy. Shozo likes to keep truer to the natural state, and the art is not based on overmanipulating [the ingredients]. Sushi is very visual. The colors come from the fresh vivid colors of the fish –- that’s basically [the chef’s] palette. To complete the picture the sushi chef tries to draw from the way things are in a natural state…and just enhance the flavor.”

Knives are the sushi artist’s brushes, and their heritage descends from the superior steel of Samurai swords. In Japan, sushi chefs go through an apprenticeship for as long as a decade.

“You go to a restaurant and you’re paid nearly nothing,” he says. “You clean, mop. You don’t even touch a knife until two or three years down the line. Then you get a very tiny knife and you cut vegetables for a couple of years, make vegetable garnishes and learn the knife craft.”

“In America you have to be more creative, make it more appealing so customers will try it,” says Rick Miyashita, the sushi chef at Paradise Bar & Grill in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. “One they’re enjoying the sushi and realize it’s ‘real food,’ then they eat it up.”

My grandmother was Top Chef in the house when I was growing up.

“There’s no such thing as too much pepper,” she always said, ignoring our sneezes as she sprinkled pepper without abandon into soups, salads, and stews.

“Not enough salt,” was Grandma’s other firm proclamation when it came to seasonings. Blissfully ignorant about any correlation between too much salt and hypertension, she added salt to every meal, from eggs at breakfast, to cottage cheese at noon and meat loaf for dinner.

Now, as I complete my M.S. in nutrition, I know that not only can too much salt harm your health -- but also some spices can actually improve your well-being.

Seduced by Cinnamon
One of my personal favorites is cinnamon. I sprinkle it on yogurt in the morning, enjoy it mixed with applesauce for a mid-morning snack and even spice up my sugar-free hot cocoa with a dash of cinnamon. The plus factor? This tasty spice has been shown to help with regard to diabetes and related conditions.

Ann Kulze, M.D. is CEO of the nutrition and wellness consulting firm, Just Wellness, LLC, and author of Dr. Ann’s 10-Step Diet. In addition to her M.D., Dr. Ann holds a cum laude degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition from Clemson University.

“Cinnamon has recently won enthusiastic acclaim for its ability to boost insulin sensitivity and improve cholesterol metabolism,” she says. “These properties are especially beneficial for people with Type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome.” She suggests sprinkling about one-half teaspoon onto foods such as oatmeal, toast and coffee.

In addition to cinnamon, Dr. Ann recommends garlic, which “contains medicinal plant compounds called allyl sulfides that boost cardiovascular health by lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, in addition to lowering blood pressure and thinning the blood. These same plant chemicals also have well-documented immune-boosting properties, making garlic the perfect spice for cold and flu season. To maximize the goodness in garlic, use it freshly chopped or minced and add it to your foods at the end of cooking.

Rejoice in the Zest of Ginger
If you love the zest that ginger can bring to foods such as pumpkin pie, you’ll rejoice when you learn about the health value of this potent spice. Ginger contains “plant chemicals called xanthines that have very potent anti-inflammatory properties,” explains Dr. Ann. Because “excess inflammation in the body is a driver of most chronic diseases, including heart disease, Alzheimer’s, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, some cancers and even skin wrinkling,” ginger is one of the top-rated spices for preventing diseases. In addition, the phytochemicals in ginger are valuable for boosting immunity, especially to combat viral infections and for combating nausea.

For optimal results, include ginger in your diet regularly. To enjoy ginger in a variety of ways, Dr. Ann recommends chopping up fresh ginger root into foods ranging from salad dressing to seafood. Use candied ginger as a snack, pickled ginger as a condiment or ginger tea steeped with a piece of chopped ginger. Even stronger than fresh ginger is dried, powdered ginger, which you can use for cooking or for spicing up dishes such as applesauce, just as you use cinnamon.

Try These, Too!
Sniff peppermint to “boost alertness and decrease fatigue,” Dr. Ann says. Want to protect yourself against cancer and Alzheimer’s, or ease arthritis pain? Then Dr. Ann suggests curry or turmeric, two spices filled with a yellow pigment called curcumin, “one of the most potent natural anti-inflammatory agents ever identified. For a boost of color and health, sprinkle curry or turmeric over bean dishes, poultry, tofu or rice.”

Heat up your life with spices made from hot peppers like chili pepper, wasabi, cayenne pepper, etc. -- all of which Dr. Ann says can boost our moods. “These hot spices stimulate the pain receptors in the mouth, which, in turn, results in the release of endorphins within the nervous system. Endorphins are the body’s natural morphine-like chemicals that promote a feeling of euphoria and enhanced well-being.”

By Harvard Health
Updated: May 9, 2007

At one time, women could get a lasting younger look only by a surgical facelift. Then came skin-rejuvenation techniques that produced more natural-looking results: dermabrasion, chemical peels, and ablative laser resurfacing. In these procedures, the outer layers of skin are removed (ablated) to spur wound healing and the growth of new collagen and skin cells (see "Skin structure and skin aging"). But the process hurts, and recovery can take days or weeks.

On the skin's outermost layer — the paper-thin epidermis — old cells continually die, flake away, and are replaced by younger cells that rise up from the lower epidermis. This process renews the skin about once a month.

Beneath the epidermis is a thicker layer called the dermis, which contains substances such as collagen and elastin, and structures such as blood vessels, oil glands, and nerves. Collagen, a structural protein, is arranged in layers of fiber called fibrils, forming a matrix that holds the skin together. Elastin, a protein similar to collagen, gives skin its elasticity. Beneath the dermis is a layer of fat.

As we age, the dead cells don't slough off as easily, so the surface of the skin becomes rougher. Less moisture is retained and less collagen and elastin are produced, so the fibril layers loosen and become less organized, causing skin to sag. Losing collagen and elastin, the skin becomes thinner, so fine lines appear around the eyes, and deeper lines occur at the mouth and across the forehead.

All these changes are accelerated by exposure to sun. In fact, damage from sun exposure, also called photoaging or photodamage, is the source of most facial lines and wrinkles. Smoking also prematurely ages the face by damaging collagen and elastin and impairing blood circulation to the skin.

There are several newer ways to tighten skin and improve its tone and texture with less recovery time and usually less discomfort: non-ablative laser treatments, intense pulsed light, and radiofrequency resurfacing. These techniques work below the skin surface, on the dermal level, usually without injuring the outer layers of the skin. But most of them rely on some degree of heat damage to deeper skin layers for their rejuvenating effects. One, Thermage, uses radiofrequency waves to heat collagen deep in the dermis, causing the strands to contract and tighten the skin surface. It causes some pain, but recovery time is less than a day.

There's also a technique that doesn't heat or damage deep skin layers. Called light-emitting diode (LED) photomodulation, it involves the use of low-level light to treat photoaged (sun-damaged) skin. It has less dramatic effects than many other skin-rejuvenation approaches, but it’s painless, and requires no recovery time. LED photomodulation appears to work best on skin with mild to moderate sun damage. Patients report tighter pores, fewer wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, and overall improvement in skin quality and texture. Clinicians are also using LED photomodulation in combination with other skin-improvement techniques, although it's unclear how effective this is.

By Harvard Health
Updated: May 9, 2007

At one time, women could get a lasting younger look only by a surgical facelift. Then came skin-rejuvenation techniques that produced more natural-looking results: dermabrasion, chemical peels, and ablative laser resurfacing. In these procedures, the outer layers of skin are removed (ablated) to spur wound healing and the growth of new collagen and skin cells (see "Skin structure and skin aging"). But the process hurts, and recovery can take days or weeks.

On the skin's outermost layer — the paper-thin epidermis — old cells continually die, flake away, and are replaced by younger cells that rise up from the lower epidermis. This process renews the skin about once a month.

Beneath the epidermis is a thicker layer called the dermis, which contains substances such as collagen and elastin, and structures such as blood vessels, oil glands, and nerves. Collagen, a structural protein, is arranged in layers of fiber called fibrils, forming a matrix that holds the skin together. Elastin, a protein similar to collagen, gives skin its elasticity. Beneath the dermis is a layer of fat.

As we age, the dead cells don't slough off as easily, so the surface of the skin becomes rougher. Less moisture is retained and less collagen and elastin are produced, so the fibril layers loosen and become less organized, causing skin to sag. Losing collagen and elastin, the skin becomes thinner, so fine lines appear around the eyes, and deeper lines occur at the mouth and across the forehead.

All these changes are accelerated by exposure to sun. In fact, damage from sun exposure, also called photoaging or photodamage, is the source of most facial lines and wrinkles. Smoking also prematurely ages the face by damaging collagen and elastin and impairing blood circulation to the skin.

There are several newer ways to tighten skin and improve its tone and texture with less recovery time and usually less discomfort: non-ablative laser treatments, intense pulsed light, and radiofrequency resurfacing. These techniques work below the skin surface, on the dermal level, usually without injuring the outer layers of the skin. But most of them rely on some degree of heat damage to deeper skin layers for their rejuvenating effects. One, Thermage, uses radiofrequency waves to heat collagen deep in the dermis, causing the strands to contract and tighten the skin surface. It causes some pain, but recovery time is less than a day.

There's also a technique that doesn't heat or damage deep skin layers. Called light-emitting diode (LED) photomodulation, it involves the use of low-level light to treat photoaged (sun-damaged) skin. It has less dramatic effects than many other skin-rejuvenation approaches, but it’s painless, and requires no recovery time. LED photomodulation appears to work best on skin with mild to moderate sun damage. Patients report tighter pores, fewer wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, and overall improvement in skin quality and texture. Clinicians are also using LED photomodulation in combination with other skin-improvement techniques, although it's unclear how effective this is.

But because of accelerating climate change and the havoc it could wreak, it's not so easy to send environmentalism off into its own separate compartment these days. In February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the evidence for global warming is "unequivocal." Everything we do now can be measured for its effect on the environment — and greenhouse gas emissions in particular.

There's always danger in doling out "what you can do" advice. Bite-size solutions sometimes trivialize larger problems. We end up doing easy things because they make us feel good, not because they do much good. Policies set in Washington and elsewhere are far more important.

Still, there's a place for individual responsibility — and certainly for voting with our dollars. "The real answers are not going to come from individual action, but I do think that individual actions can have ripple effects," says Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. "We can educate our friends and colleagues and work to change the practices of employers, schools, even places of worship. As individuals, I think we can set in motion new patterns of sustainable consumption and help create markets for clean, efficient technologies."

We thought we'd bring personal and environmental health together and provide nine “green” health tips.

1. Walk or bike to work. At a bare minimum we're supposed to get 20–30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. The Institute of Medicine says that isn't really enough and recommends a full hour of moderately intense activity a day (biking and walking at a 4-mile-per-hour clip meet the moderately intense standard). But we're a nation of drivers, not walkers or bikers, and almost every driving statistic you can think of is headed in the direction of a hotter planet. The average fuel economy of new cars has declined since 1988 because of the popularity of minivans and SUVs. Vehicle miles traveled per person have grown twice as fast as the American population in recent years. Households with four or more cars now outnumber those with no car. And the proportion of commuters who carpool or walk or bike to work has slid since 1980, while the percentage of those driving alone has crept up from 64% to 76%. Could there be a better good-for-you, good-for-the-planet twofer than the walking or biking commute? Combining exercise and a commute builds exercise into your day, which means you don’t have to summon extra willpower, to say nothing of time, to go to the gym. If you live too far away, consider walking or biking to public transportation or driving only part of the way.

2. Go to bed early. Americans weigh more and are sleeping less. Average daily sleep time has decreased from about nine hours a century ago to about seven now. Epidemiologic studies have identified a correlation between short sleep and being overweight or obese. Hormones may be why: Lack of sleep depresses the levels of leptin, the hormone that tells the brain we're full, and increases ghrelin, the hormone that makes us hungry. Meanwhile, all the lights, televisions, computers, microwave ovens, and music players that help keep us up at night use electricity, most of it generated by burning coal and natural gas. Household use of electricity has increased by over 50% since the early 1980s. By turning in earlier, we'll dial down our appetite for kilowatts and maybe food.

3. Turn down the heat and the air conditioning. Humans, like other mammals and birds, control their body temperature by continually adjusting their metabolisms. When the air is cool, metabolism revs up to produce more heat. When it's hot, sweating and other responses also burn up extra energy. But when air temperatures are in the thermoneutral zone (TNZ) — which for humans with their clothes on tends to be in the mid-70s — our metabolisms don't have to work so hard to maintain body temperature, and we burn fewer calories. We're spending more time in our TNZs these days because of heating and — particularly — air conditioning. Some experts believe all that time in the comfort zone is contributing to the obesity epidemic. The amount of energy used to heat American homes has actually declined a little bit since 1978, the result of better insulation, more efficient furnaces, and, yes, warmer winter temperatures because of global warming. But the amount of electricity used to cool homes has almost doubled in that span. So by adjusting your thermostat, you may keep your metabolism from getting lazy and also use less of another kind of energy.

But because of accelerating climate change and the havoc it could wreak, it's not so easy to send environmentalism off into its own separate compartment these days. In February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the evidence for global warming is "unequivocal." Everything we do now can be measured for its effect on the environment — and greenhouse gas emissions in particular.

There's always danger in doling out "what you can do" advice. Bite-size solutions sometimes trivialize larger problems. We end up doing easy things because they make us feel good, not because they do much good. Policies set in Washington and elsewhere are far more important.

Still, there's a place for individual responsibility — and certainly for voting with our dollars. "The real answers are not going to come from individual action, but I do think that individual actions can have ripple effects," says Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. "We can educate our friends and colleagues and work to change the practices of employers, schools, even places of worship. As individuals, I think we can set in motion new patterns of sustainable consumption and help create markets for clean, efficient technologies."

We thought we'd bring personal and environmental health together and provide nine “green” health tips.

1. Walk or bike to work. At a bare minimum we're supposed to get 20–30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. The Institute of Medicine says that isn't really enough and recommends a full hour of moderately intense activity a day (biking and walking at a 4-mile-per-hour clip meet the moderately intense standard). But we're a nation of drivers, not walkers or bikers, and almost every driving statistic you can think of is headed in the direction of a hotter planet. The average fuel economy of new cars has declined since 1988 because of the popularity of minivans and SUVs. Vehicle miles traveled per person have grown twice as fast as the American population in recent years. Households with four or more cars now outnumber those with no car. And the proportion of commuters who carpool or walk or bike to work has slid since 1980, while the percentage of those driving alone has crept up from 64% to 76%. Could there be a better good-for-you, good-for-the-planet twofer than the walking or biking commute? Combining exercise and a commute builds exercise into your day, which means you don’t have to summon extra willpower, to say nothing of time, to go to the gym. If you live too far away, consider walking or biking to public transportation or driving only part of the way.

2. Go to bed early. Americans weigh more and are sleeping less. Average daily sleep time has decreased from about nine hours a century ago to about seven now. Epidemiologic studies have identified a correlation between short sleep and being overweight or obese. Hormones may be why: Lack of sleep depresses the levels of leptin, the hormone that tells the brain we're full, and increases ghrelin, the hormone that makes us hungry. Meanwhile, all the lights, televisions, computers, microwave ovens, and music players that help keep us up at night use electricity, most of it generated by burning coal and natural gas. Household use of electricity has increased by over 50% since the early 1980s. By turning in earlier, we'll dial down our appetite for kilowatts and maybe food.

3. Turn down the heat and the air conditioning. Humans, like other mammals and birds, control their body temperature by continually adjusting their metabolisms. When the air is cool, metabolism revs up to produce more heat. When it's hot, sweating and other responses also burn up extra energy. But when air temperatures are in the thermoneutral zone (TNZ) — which for humans with their clothes on tends to be in the mid-70s — our metabolisms don't have to work so hard to maintain body temperature, and we burn fewer calories. We're spending more time in our TNZs these days because of heating and — particularly — air conditioning. Some experts believe all that time in the comfort zone is contributing to the obesity epidemic. The amount of energy used to heat American homes has actually declined a little bit since 1978, the result of better insulation, more efficient furnaces, and, yes, warmer winter temperatures because of global warming. But the amount of electricity used to cool homes has almost doubled in that span. So by adjusting your thermostat, you may keep your metabolism from getting lazy and also use less of another kind of energy.

But because of accelerating climate change and the havoc it could wreak, it's not so easy to send environmentalism off into its own separate compartment these days. In February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the evidence for global warming is "unequivocal." Everything we do now can be measured for its effect on the environment — and greenhouse gas emissions in particular.

There's always danger in doling out "what you can do" advice. Bite-size solutions sometimes trivialize larger problems. We end up doing easy things because they make us feel good, not because they do much good. Policies set in Washington and elsewhere are far more important.

Still, there's a place for individual responsibility — and certainly for voting with our dollars. "The real answers are not going to come from individual action, but I do think that individual actions can have ripple effects," says Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. "We can educate our friends and colleagues and work to change the practices of employers, schools, even places of worship. As individuals, I think we can set in motion new patterns of sustainable consumption and help create markets for clean, efficient technologies."

We thought we'd bring personal and environmental health together and provide nine “green” health tips.

1. Walk or bike to work. At a bare minimum we're supposed to get 20–30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. The Institute of Medicine says that isn't really enough and recommends a full hour of moderately intense activity a day (biking and walking at a 4-mile-per-hour clip meet the moderately intense standard). But we're a nation of drivers, not walkers or bikers, and almost every driving statistic you can think of is headed in the direction of a hotter planet. The average fuel economy of new cars has declined since 1988 because of the popularity of minivans and SUVs. Vehicle miles traveled per person have grown twice as fast as the American population in recent years. Households with four or more cars now outnumber those with no car. And the proportion of commuters who carpool or walk or bike to work has slid since 1980, while the percentage of those driving alone has crept up from 64% to 76%. Could there be a better good-for-you, good-for-the-planet twofer than the walking or biking commute? Combining exercise and a commute builds exercise into your day, which means you don’t have to summon extra willpower, to say nothing of time, to go to the gym. If you live too far away, consider walking or biking to public transportation or driving only part of the way.

2. Go to bed early. Americans weigh more and are sleeping less. Average daily sleep time has decreased from about nine hours a century ago to about seven now. Epidemiologic studies have identified a correlation between short sleep and being overweight or obese. Hormones may be why: Lack of sleep depresses the levels of leptin, the hormone that tells the brain we're full, and increases ghrelin, the hormone that makes us hungry. Meanwhile, all the lights, televisions, computers, microwave ovens, and music players that help keep us up at night use electricity, most of it generated by burning coal and natural gas. Household use of electricity has increased by over 50% since the early 1980s. By turning in earlier, we'll dial down our appetite for kilowatts and maybe food.

3. Turn down the heat and the air conditioning. Humans, like other mammals and birds, control their body temperature by continually adjusting their metabolisms. When the air is cool, metabolism revs up to produce more heat. When it's hot, sweating and other responses also burn up extra energy. But when air temperatures are in the thermoneutral zone (TNZ) — which for humans with their clothes on tends to be in the mid-70s — our metabolisms don't have to work so hard to maintain body temperature, and we burn fewer calories. We're spending more time in our TNZs these days because of heating and — particularly — air conditioning. Some experts believe all that time in the comfort zone is contributing to the obesity epidemic. The amount of energy used to heat American homes has actually declined a little bit since 1978, the result of better insulation, more efficient furnaces, and, yes, warmer winter temperatures because of global warming. But the amount of electricity used to cool homes has almost doubled in that span. So by adjusting your thermostat, you may keep your metabolism from getting lazy and also use less of another kind of energy.

By Harvard Health
Updated: May 9, 2007

"I love coffee; I love tea; I love the java jive, and it loves me..." Most "caf-fiends" can identify with the lighthearted "Java Jive." But many people have serious concerns about caffeinated coffee. One worry is high blood pressure. We know that a cup of coffee can temporarily boost blood pressure, but does a regular coffee habit cause a chronic condition?

Caffeinated coffee actually confers some benefits, lowering the risk for diabetes, colon cancer, gallstones, and Parkinson's disease, and improving cognitive function and physical endurance. A November 2005 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) continues the good news — concluding that there's no link between coffee and hypertension. But the news isn't all good. Cola drinkers, listen up.

The JAMA study — by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health — drew on data from the Nurses' Health Study, which has tracked the health and habits of more than 200,000 registered nurses since 1976. The researchers used food frequency questionnaires and medical reports to analyze the relationship between caffeine intake and the development of hypertension over a 12-year period. They found no link between coffee drinking (caffeinated or decaffeinated) and hypertension in women who didn't have the condition at the start of the study. For tea drinkers, there was a slightly increased risk only among younger participants (age 26–46 at the start of the study). The truly surprising results were for cola drinkers.

Women who drank the most colas — four cans or more per day, sugared or diet — increased their risk of high blood pressure by 16%–44%. (Sugar-free colas were somewhat less of a problem, but both elevated risk.) The authors couldn' explain why colas would have this effect, although they noted such drinks contain caramel coloring "ich in advanced glycation end products,"or AGEs.

AGEs are unstable compounds that can result from the cooking, heating, or oxidation of carbohydrates. They'e been linked to several chronic conditions, and some research suggests they may play a role in hypertension. But the authors of the JAMA study caution that it's too early to make any recommendations about cola-drinking and hypertension.