Topics:

The Truth About Aspirin
The Soda Trap
Walking Program
Fudge Cake Brownies Recipe
Six Ways to Eat Less Fat

The Truth About Aspirin

The research on aspirin is promising: The well-known “wonder drug” may help to both prevent and treat heart attacks.

A study of more than 87,000 women found that those who took a low dose of aspirin regularly were less likely to suffer a first heart attack than women who took no aspirin. Women over age 50 appeared to benefit most. While earlier research has shown that aspirin can help prevent heart attacks in men, this was the first study to suggest a similar result for women.

Other recent research suggests that only a tiny daily dose of aspirin may be needed to protect against heart attacks. One study found that for both women and men, taking only 30 mg of aspirin daily—one-tenth the strength of a regular aspirin—helped prevent heart attacks as effectively as the usual 300mg dose. The smaller dose also caused less stomach irritation.

Aspirin also reduces the chances that women who have already had a heart attack or stroke will have, or die from, another one. Aspirin may also increase the chances of survival after a heart attack, if it is taken quickly. A major study showed that taking a low dose of aspirin within the first hours of an attack reduced deaths by 23 percent.

However, you should not take aspirin either to treat or prevent a heart attack without first discussing it with your doctor. Aspirin is a powerful drug with many side effects. It can increase your chances of getting ulcers, kidney disease, liver disease, and stroke from a hemorrhage. Only a doctor who knows your complete medical history and current health can judge whether the benefits you may gain from aspirin outweigh the risks.

The Soda Trap

For weight management, the biggest benefit to drinking water is that it will help you escape a common caloric trap: drinking high-calorie beverages when you are actually thirsty, not hungry. Soft drinks will satisfy thirst, although not as well as water. Anything liquid, especially if it is cool, decreases thirst. But with soft drinks you’ll be consuming extra calories that will do little to provide satiety, so you’ll eat just as much.

Our bodies respond to sugary soft drinks primarily as thirst-quenching liquids, so we don’t regulate their calories efficiently. This has been demonstrated over and over again: Sugar-laden drinks have little effect on how much people eat in a meal, or over several meals, or even over several weeks. They add calories to your daily total.

When men were given a pint of lemonade with 166 calories either an hour before, 30 minutes before, or during lunch, it had no impact on how many calories from food they consumed at lunch-the drink calories were added to the total. It doesn’t matter whether drinks are carbonated or noncarbonated, or whether the sugar is sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup.

They all add extra calories. Meal by meal, day by day, people eat as much food whether they drink caloric beverages or not.

Soft drink consumption has been rising for decades, with no end in sight. In the 1950’s Coca-Cola was sold only in a 6-1/2-ounce bottle. Now a standard-size bottle is 20 ounces. These supersizes make it easy to gulp down huge quantities. A 32 ounce soda from a fast-food restaurant can easily top 500 calories. On average, every adult American drinks more than one and a half 12-ounce cans of soda every day. That’s more than twice the amount as in 1974. Only about a quarter are diet soft drinks. Nutrition surveys reveal that adults who are heavy consumers of soft drinks take in more calories than adults who drink fewer such beverages.

Those extra calories can lead to weight gain. When men and women were asked by researchers to drink about 3 sodas a day for 3 weeks, the men gained 2 pounds; the women, 1. When they drank diet sodas, the women stayed the same weight, while the men lost a pound.

The bottom line: Don’t drink sugary soft drinks to quench your thirst. They’ll add calories to your daily total. When you’re thirsty, the best choice is water.

Walking Program

Staying active helps take off extra pounds, helps to prevent and control high blood pressure, boosts the levels of “good” cholesterol, and helps to prevent diabetes. The good news is that to reap the benefits from physical activity, you don’t need to train for a marathon. You need only engage in about 30 minutes per day of moderate-level activity on most or all days. The following program is great if you are just starting.

Fudge Cake Brownies

Cakes and cookies are a major source of fat in the American diet. Here’s a dessert idea that’s delicious and low-fat.

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup All-Bran cereal
1/2 cup low-fat or fat-free buttermilk
4 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the chocolate and canola oil in a glass bowl, and cook in the microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes; stir until smooth. Let cool. Pour the cereal into a food processor fitted with a knife blade, add the buttermilk, and pulse until the cereal is finely ground. Scrape down side of food processor, and let the mixture stand for 15 minutes. Add the egg whites, vanilla extract, and zucchini, and pulse until just blended. Pour the cocoa into a wire mesh sieve, and sift over a large bowl to remove lumps. Add the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt, and stir with a wire whisk until blended. Stir in the cereal mixture. Pour into a 9-inch square baking pan coated with vegetable cooking spray. Bake 30-33 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool before cutting. Sift powdered sugar over the top. Cut into 9 bars.

Yield: 9 servings
Per serving: 205 Calories,
34 grams carbohydrate,
7 grams fat
4 grams fiber
88 milligrams sodium

Six Ways to Eat Less Fat

Everyone has their personal selection of foods you dislike, foods you like, and foods that you like so much they prompt you to overeat. So no one strategy for fat reduction will work for everyone. But researchers have found that certain changes are particularly easy for most people to make in their diets, and even more important, to keep doing for years. There are six main strategies. The first two are the easiest: