I am a big fan of the Harvard Health blog. I enjoy reading it - it's science-based and trustworthy.

That's why I was disappointed with the article "Six ways you can help your immune system".

Of the "six ways" five were rather trite. I immediately thought of four better ways than the article suggested, especially in these days of Covid-19.

Carnitine is a supplement that is often touted as a "magic pill" for weight loss or exercise performance.

The weight loss benefits are arguably still unsubstantiated. And, some sports authorities believe that there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend Carnitine to athletes.

However, Carnitine does have benefits which have recently been substantiated for diabetics (I'm one of those).

In setting your long-term health and fitness objectives, it is a good idea to avoid extremes.

​Extremes are not only almost impossible to keep up in the long-term, but they may also harm rather than help you.

Dietary extremes include keto diets (of course) packed with second rate fats and protein, no water diets, and "eat whatever carbs you want as long as you burn it off" diets.

Fitness extremes include cross-fit, which is not going to be your answer to living longer better, and gym machines, which dumb your brain and body down to just looking good in a t-shirt.
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One way I think about exercise and food plans is to think ahead - 10 or 15 years ahead. I ask myself, will I be able to apply these same food and exercise principles then, and will they benefit me then?

Prunes aren’t just for regular bowel movements.

Dried plums — or prunes — are among the highest antioxidant foods shown to help improve bone strength.

They have a unique nutrient and dietary bioactive profile and which exerts beneficial effects on bone. The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that over half of Americans age 50+ have either osteoporosis or low bone mass - a serious cause of loss of quality of life.

The beneficial effects of prunes on bone health is thought to be in part due to the variety of phenolics present in the fruit, which increase the mineral content in our bones.

In early studies the level of prune intake originally found to bone-enhancing was fairly high at 100 grams, or 9 to 10 prunes a day. 

Further research (2015) found that eating just 2 to 3 prunes a day helped reduce bone loss and increases bone density.  They found that in a study group of 65 to 80 year-olds, 5 to 6 prunes a day can be as effective as 10 to 12. That's good news, as I usually eat 5 or 6 a day!

(Just FYI, 1 prune has 23 calories, 6 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fibre.)

This is the first edition of my weekly 4 Most Valuable pieces of content I can find to help you live longer better.

I read a lot of articles each week. A lot are just factory-produced content for Google. A lot are search engine headlines with little substance. A lot do not gel with my 20 years of experience exercising and my Professional Diploma in Sports Nutrition.

But some have very useful hints and "how tos". I pick four of these a week to share with you. I also add my insights, generally to explain the "why" so that you have more motivation to try.
These four articles stood out to me this week:

1. Martial arts and seniors
2. The best herbs and spices for your health
3. How to get control of your diabetes
4. A basic stretch which quickly helps almost everyone.​

Arterial stiffness occurs as a consequence of biological aging and arteriosclerosis. What is often not well appreciated is that exercise can make a significant contribution to reducing arterial stiffness, and thus mitigating the adverse health consequences. 

How does that work?

​Exercising makes the heart work harder and this sends more frequent pulses of blood out into the arterial system. These "pulses" are not just pushed along by the force of the heart, as in a pump pushing water through a hose. The blood is pumped along by the muscles in the arteries contracting and squeezing like squeezing toothpaste.

This exercises the arterial and vascular muscles! The exercise reduces their "stiffness', just like other muscles. 

And in addition, as you exercise your heart it becomes stronger and able to pump out bigger pulses of blood with each stroke. That's why your resting heart rate drops as you get fitter. These bigger pulses make the arterial and vascular muscles work even harder to push the bigger pulses of blood along, and they get even less stiff.

Measuring your waist sounds like a very simple and perhaps innocent activity. But in fact it can tell you much more about your health than standing on the scales. After all, when you think about it, weighing yourself tells you very little. It tells you nothing about your body composition and nothing about what risks you have from, say, fat deposits in high risk areas (where you carry fat on your body is extremely important).

On the other hand, a waist measurement tells you important details about the location of fat and has proven correlations with future health risks. It reflects both health and nutritional status, and when associated with the shape of your body generalised health outcomes can be predicted. The reason is that under the skin of your tummy the intra-abdominal fat builds about around your organs, and this is what leads to the health problems (so-called metabolic fat). ​