Older Bolder Life

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Critical Health Imperatives After 40: Understand Where Your Treasures Reside

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A change in my personal schedule this morning, and the current paper asset “crisis” (according to some this morning) unfolding before us today as the stock and bond markets react negatively to COVID-19 virus news (and other fundamental issues inherent in the markets), prompted a quick change in today’s post…

I’m all for planning for the future; sagacious pundits, philosophers, spiritual leaders, and politicos of various stripes have encouraged to varying degrees that we all live today with at least a modicum of thought for our futures. The advice you’ll receive about preparing for the future will vary extraordinarily pending who you might query, who you friends are, how and where you were raised, and so on and so forth.

For decades those of us living in first world countries around the world have been told that the very best way to “secure our futures” is to invest wisely, typically directed toward paper assets, held in various retirement plan vehicles and invested in markets around the globe.

I’d argue, as have many before me, that perhaps your most critical investment you can ever make throughout your life, the investment yielding the greatest dividends and payout over time, will be to invest in your personal health and wellness. I personally find it ironic as hell (pardon the emphasis) that with the exception of perhaps buying grass-fed proteins and well-sourced seafoods, these investments in health and wellness don’t have to cost a dime, at least in terms of money exchanged, though you’ll expend some thought, time, and effort to invest well.

The cost of a perfect exercise – simply lacing up your shoes and walking every day, is basically nil, as is the cultivation of a lifestyle that incorporates frequent, intentional movement, lifting heavy stuff around the house or in “play”, climbing stairs or even sprinting now and again, and getting a restful night’s sleep every night.

Even the highbrow academic elites (Yale and Oxford in this case) are beginning to quantify how much happier people are with the results of exercise and fitness versus obsessing over their bank accounts and accumulated riches. By all means, save for your future and that of your family, invest your material riches wisely and well, but invest in yourself and those you love first and foremost.

Git ‘er done.

15 Week Course in Fund Raising Auction Today

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Several times a year we donate a course to worthy organizations to auction off in a fund-raising effort; one of those courses (a full 15-Week One one One Coaching Coarse) is being auctioned today by the Madison Gallatin Trout Unlimited team out of Bozeman, Montana. These are great opportunities to help nifty organizations accomplish their mission, and most often save some cash for you as well. You’ll need to log in here to bid, and I’d certainly tailor to fit the needs of a small group as well. Cheers.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Back to Basics – Roasting Spaghetti Squash

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Now and again I’m reminded how we in the Primal/paleo/more healthy eating worlds take for granted a few foundational recipes that we reach for often, and yet might not be in the typical rotation for folks eating a standard North American diet.

Of late it seems a surprising number of folks have asked about roasting spaghetti squash, something we do a fair amount of around our camp during the late fall and through the winter season, if you can call what we experience here in North Texas a real winter season. After spending years and years in Montana, much of that time living and working daily on a family operated horse farm and show/training facility, we really began to understand what the winter season brought to the table.

Spaghetti squash are a nifty addition to the menu, and seem to be available just about everywhere we shop for them these days, at least in our greater neighborhood here. My favorite grocer typically only carries organic spaghetti squash of late, and I can bring home a big one (more than two of us can finish in one meal) for under 5 bucks.

Roasting spaghetti squash is so ridiculously easy this really doesn’t even rate a formal recipe presentation here on the blog.

To get started, all you need to do is slice the squash body in half “the long way” and scrape out the seed mass in the center of the squash. Chef friend Libby showed me the trick a few years back of using a grooved ice cream spoon to get this task done quickly.

And by the way, preheat the oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

We typically brush (onto the cut side of course) a tablespoon or so of a good olive or avocado oil, dust with kosher or our favorite salt of the day on hand, and dust with pepper. You simply then place cut side down on the prep baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minuets until a knife slides in easily. Some recommend piercing the tough outer skin with a fork, though when I forget to do so it never appears to matter one bit.

When done, remove from the oven, turn the halves cut side up, and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Then simply “flake” or scrape the strands of cooked spaghetti squash from the halves with a long-tined fork and serve.

In the lead picture above, we’ve topped the spaghetti squash with this amazing Lemon Bomb Piccata Sauce (and Parmesan Chicken), though my wife probably most prefers it steaming hot, topped with butter and parmesan, and perhaps a bit of chopped parsley or basil.

It really is delicious topped with a regular or meat-enhanced pasta sauce as well, and Libby often serves it with a handful of crisp-sautéed vegetables thrown in too…

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes, and More 19 February 2020

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Top of the Fold This Week: Aging Well and Alzheimer’s News

Does exercise and fitness really make people happier than having money?

Adults over 55 are happier than millennials.

The NYT describes a pharmacologic failure treating Alzheimer’s. Perhaps they need to read the next article below.

Attia on Alzheimer’s disease and glucose metabolism.

A Southerner’s secrets to a long and fulfilling marriage.

Other News and Tidbits That Caught My Eye This Week

MedScape weighs in on boosting sex with foods (free account required).

Another MedScape piece on the growing trend of more and more turning to “direct primary care”, a symptom of the extraordinary pathology deeply embedded today in the health care delivery system (free account required).

A deep dive on Inuit genetics and ketosis.

Brown fat is associated with improved cardiometabolic markers.

Is America becoming an indoor nation?

Later to bed linked with obesity for kids under 6.

Podcasts Worth Your Time

NBT interviews Simon Marshall, PhD on Getting Motivated.

Sisson dishes on metabolic flexibility on the Genius Life.

Food, Glorious Food

How to make salsa out of anything.

Interesting link-fest on bon appetit’s Taco Nation. And hell no, of course it’s not all primal, paleo, or keto – but it’s a festival of ideas to tinker with and incorporate into your meal plan…

Milk and Health.

Everything you need to know about dark chocolate dipped strawberries.

Question of the Week: A Few Quick Thoughts on the Coronavirus Story

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Over the past few weeks I’ve had a number of friends, family, and clients asking what I’m seeing and thinking about the coronavirus story that’s (at least now and again) dominating the news cycle of late. The question I’m hearing most often is some version of “should I be worried about the coronavirus outbreak?”

The honest answer, from the perspective of a medical scientist/ physician at least, is at this point in time, it’s damned hard to really tell, though there are some caveats to consider.

From a medical science standpoint there’s much about the coronavirus story that’s absolutely fascinating, yet objectively, there’s very little known about the virus itself and the syndrome it inflicts, particularly considering the news flowing (leaking) out of China.

The data out of China is highly suspect; everything from numbers of cases, rate of growth, the frequently discussed “R naught” values, death rates, quarantines of huge blocks of the billion plus citizens of China is clouded in secrecy, and some of it (the perfect quadratic growth of death rates for instance) is all but impossible to achieve in nature and strongly suggest data smoothing/modeling/manipulation.

The fact that China has refused to allow virology teams from the CDC to investigate is damning; apparently other offers from nations around the world have also been refused.

You’ve most likely read the virus appears to access the human system via the ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) receptors in the lung (not their only occurrence in the body, but theorized to be the viral portal of entry). There’s anecdotal discussion out and about that there are significant ethnic and sex influences on ACE2 receptor density (Asian males with the highest levels), though there’s much more conclusive evidence that smoking drives ACE2 receptor generation in lung tissue, with another pertinent hypothesis suggesting that exposure to particulate air pollution (rampant in China) might induce similar impacts.

Though several medical channels I’m also hearing discussion of concerns there’s a virulent fecal load of the virus, contaminating water supplies, exposing caretakers to aerosolized viral particles, etc.

The key point is that without corroborating, detailed, sophisticated analysis of the coronavirus, clearly requiring assistance from and expertise held by teams outside of China, theories and conjecture will continue to run wild.

News media and some governments around the world are also clearly providing misleading information, some even along the tune of “nothing to see here, more along”…

So finally, back to the question of the week, should I be worried about the coronavirus?

Part of the answer to that question depends on where you happen to live. For example, most of our readers here live in North American, Europe, and Australia where the viral incursion has been limited thus far. Readers in those regions aren’t going to see a viral disaster unfold in the immediate near term.

I’d suggest that one invest a bit of time every few days reading updates from reliable, scientifically sound sources, like the CDC resource page here, the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 heat map (that’s their latest update from this morning above, and perhaps even NextStrain’s mapping project.

Mind your travel to higher risk areas (if there’s any question, see the Johns Hopkins heat map above), and recent experience would suggest cruises in the Far East to be a lousy idea.

IF the virus is as virulent (or even more so) than some hypothesize, under-developed/third-world regions (India and Africa being the ones most often referenced in discussions I’ve read) may be devastated, further generating travel risk and exposure.

For those still smoking, if you ever needed a kick in the pants to push your cessation program into motion, here it is.

Standard and time-tested protocols for managing flu risk certainly aren’t harmful to consider these days, and while many scoff at the idea of having a few weeks worth of food and water stored in case you needed to hunker for a time, count my family among those who have prepped for such a need (it’s far, far more simple than you might think).

One of the most interesting aspects of this story, at least from where I sit, is the fact that this all could change quickly if and when we learn more about the true nature of the coronavirus; it will eventually be studied by cooperative scientists and we’ll understand more about the natural history of the infection. Stayed tuned.

Post script – given the role that China plays for much of the world as a manufacturing hub, the economic impacts from COVID-19 may be more substantial for many around the world than the infection itself. This part of the story is just beginning to unfold as well.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Everything You Really Need to Know About Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

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With today being Valentine’s Day how about a few quick tips on how to make a nifty, indulgent treat at home – Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.

I have to confess that as a guy who spends most of his time in nutritional ketosis, I don’t consume near as much fruit as I used to. Enjoying some February strawberries really does seem like a treat, and we’ve extolled the luxury , and benefits of, modest amounts of good dark chocolate many times before.

There are hoards of recipes for this very treat floating around out there, and while dipping strawberries in good chocolate isn’t rocket science by any means, there are a tips that take your results from good to great. Thanks once again by the way to friend Chef Libby in Austin for her coaching and consultations over the years, including chatting about chocolate earlier this week.

Now to three tips to make your chocolate dipped strawberries the best ever.

The only really dip-able strawberry is a dry strawberry. Libby feels in particular that the most common reason chocolate dipped strawberries fail (and sometimes fail miserably) is that the fruit, including the green stems, have not been fully dried. She believes, as do I, that strawberries should be rinsed thoroughly, then dried carefully. Rinse (either with spray or in a bath) as per your routine, then dry each berry individually using paper towels (much more absorbent than woven towels). It’s also vital that you set the strawberries out to finish air drying for at least 30 minutes, sixty is even better.

To temper or not to temper your chocolate? While the art and science of tempering chocolate is beyond explanation in this post today, we (Libby and I) fall into the camp that tempered chocolate gives a far better, more consistent result for dipped fruits. The process isn’t very complicated – here’s a nifty, direct, and simple description of the process. And by the way, adding a teaspoon of a neutral oil adds gloss and softens the hardened chocolate ever so slightly so it doesn’t shatter when you take a bite of the coated fruit.

Finally, should you fancy your strawberries up with other coatings, or let the chocolate shine? Absolutely your choice, though Libby admits when she’s crafting a big batch of these for a catering gig, she’ll most often coat 1/3 with finely chopped nuts (pistachios and pecans being her favorites, and I used a bit of ground pistachio for these), leave 1/3 plain, and drizzle a contrasting melted chocolate over the final 1/3 (she suggests using a small “sandwich” plastic bag with a tiny section of a corner cut off like a miniature piping bag to decorate the berries).

2 pound medium strawberries
16 ounces good quality dark chocolate
1 tsp avocado oil

Optional
2-4 ounces “contrasting” chocolate
Chopped nuts (be creative)
Toasted shredded coconut

Wash and dry your strawberries very carefully as per the discussion above.

As noted above, melting chocolate can be done efficiently in the home kitchen a couple of ways – either using the microwave in short bursts (30 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds repeatedly until melted and smooth) or using a double boiler technique – using a pan set over another pan/pot of just barely simmering water. (See the comment about tempering chocolate above.)

Once your chocolate has melted, stir in the teaspoon of avocado oil until combined. Remove from the heat and start dipping.

Dip the prepped and dry strawberries into the chocolate, coating up to the shoulders of the berry, then gently scrape away excess chocolate using the lip of your chocolate bowl. If using, now’s the time to gently dip the coated strawberries into your chopped nuts or toasted coconut.

Place the berries on a parchment or wax paper-lined baking sheet, and let them cool and harden at room temperature until set. Chilling the strawberries in the fridge can cause some condensation problems; we strongly suggest leaving them at room temperature to set and consuming them the day they’re dipped.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 12 February 2020

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Been on the road for a bit this week, hence the somewhat truncated and eclectic link list today…

Ouch, so the official dietary guidelines aren’t so evidenced based?

Nifty primer on micro-workouts.

The surprising science behind friendship.

So low carb diets do indeed have a beneficial impact on CVD risk…

Speaking of low carb, the VA is testing a keto diet plan for diabetics.

How about using a keto food plan for binge eating and food addiction?

Time restricted feeding improves metabolic markers.

Another warning for vegans: does the vegan diet impact intelligence?

Erectile dysfunction meds might distort vision over the long term.

So elevated LDL-C is always a problem, or not?

Love and Lhotse.

Nifty olympic marathoner ultra-running story.

Food, Glorious Food

Lemon Bomb Piccata Sauce (wow guys, this one is really good).

Bulletproof reviews and recommends macro trackers.

Critical Health Imperatives Over 40: Beware the Anger and Rage Trap (Part 1)

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Today I’m pivoting from my planned post to chat quickly about an experience that actually happened yesterday, prompting a short flurry of “refresh my memory” research and a quick yet intensive interaction with an acquaintance.

This acquaintance (let’s call him CS) happens to have two offspring away in college; said offspring happen to be home visiting for a long weekend, and during this visit CS was shocked to find his previously fairly happy kids now imbued with what he termed a “deep and abiding sense of anger and rage”. Without chasing the rabbit too far down that rabbit hole, it appears said offspring were angry about any and everything imaginable, and hell bent on making sure any and everyone within earshot knew it and joined in the rage-fest.

CS and his wife were quite taken aback, and were also quick to opine that the expression of rage and anger is part of the ‘coming of age’ experience on campus these days, part of ‘woke’ culture among youth, and in fact quite possible a very reasonable response ‘to the way things are these days’.

Is the World a More Angry and Rage-Filled Place Today?

CS at one point opined, probably in defense of his vexed progeny, that the world is a hard place today, and there’s much more to be angry about than ever before.

Reflexly I personally countered that I’m not quite sure that’s true; anger is classically thought to be seeded or driven by disappointment, frustration, rejection, fear, and judgment among other things – all challenges that have poked and prodded humans for centuries.

IMHO many of us live in a cultural milieu where being perpetually angry or enraged is deemed to be a virtuous state, particularly if one is able to cite a particularly egregious reason that someone or something has pissed us off – see, it’s really not my fault I’m angry – it’s yours (theirs).

My immediate suggestion to CS was that he nudge his progeny away from the rage and anger movement simply based on what we know about the impacts these emotions have upon human physiology.

A Quick Reminder of the Physiology of Rage and Anger

Most neurophysiologists agree that with the first spark of anger-inciting stimulus, the amygdala activates initially, which then drives the hypothalamus to to respond, most notably by releasing CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone).

CRH signals the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which among other things drives the adrenal glands to pour out what most refer to as the stress hormones – cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.

There are of course many other hormonal changes happening during this “rage” window, but we know that the big three stress hormones create a cascade of physiological responses – increased heart rate, blood pressure, arterial tension, as well as increased blood glucose and blood fatty acid levels. Thyroid function is suppressed as is T-cell function, gut blood flow and metabolism decrease, and your mouth gets dry.

As you well know chronically elevated cortisol imparts a host of really bad impacts, including a few lesser well known ones too, such as suppressing activity in the prefrontal cortex (one of the areas where judgement ability is housed) and the hippocampus (impacting short term memory and creation of new memories).

Rage and Anger Can Be Useful in Bursts, But Beware the Chronic Trap

While there’s no doubt a role for rage and anger at times in life (for most of us as part of the fight or flight response), attempting to live for days and months at a time perpetually enraged and angry is an absolute disaster from a physiological standpoint, to say nothing of mental health perspectives as well.

Granted, it’s a stressful world today, and while the world has always been a stressful place to trod, falling into the trap of perpetual rage, anger, is physiological catastrophe; anyone selling the concept that rage and anger is the only way to impact the world today is beckoning you to navigate a dark and rocky path, a path that will harm you over time.

One of my personally favorite of Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint Laws is “Avoid Stupid Mistakes” (don’t do stupid things). From a physiological standpoint alone (not to mention the mental health issues, which are potentially even more impactful), choosing to be perpetually enraged and angry falls into the category of doing stupid things. There are far better choices for your life.

More to come.