For today’s Monday I thought I’d share the advice of the Linus Pauling Institute. The Pauling Institute is
located at Oregon State University and serves as a working memorial to Linus Pauling. Pauling is the
only recipient of two unshared Nobel Prizes. The Linus Pauling Institute researches the effects of
vitamins and nutrition on health and disease. If you have an interest in nutrition and learning what you
can do to improve over all health and quality of life I highly recommend the book How To Live Longer And
Feel Better by Linus Pauling Ph.D.
Combine the information in the Pauling book and the Sears books and I think you will be doing everything
you can to improve the quality of your life and reach and maintain optimal health.
Following is the Pauling Institutes “TOP TEN LIST” to help maintain health and increase longevity.
The words in bold italics are my comments and should not be attributed to the Linus Pauling Institute.
- Don’t smoke; exercise regularly. (Put out the camels for good, and keep swimming!)
- Eat at least five servings of vegetables everyday. (More than five servings would even be better.)
- Reduce the intake of sugar and hydrogenated and saturated fat. (Remember 8 ounces of
uncooked pasta has 1 cup of white sugar in it. Go easy on the pasta, bagels, chips and breads.
Sounds like The Zone.)
- Eat unrefined foods high in fiber.
- Use monounsaturated oils for cooking and salad dressings. (Olive, canola, nut oils.) (The best
monounsaturated oil is olive oil.)
- Eat fish high in omega-3 fatty acids at least once a week. (Don’t forget most fish today is farm
raised and has little if any omega-3 fat. It’s a good idea to supplement your diet with this
essential fatty acid see DAM Monday January 24, 2000)
- Limit the intake of overcooked or charred meat and eat meat or fish with ample portions of
vegetables. (Sounds a lot like the words of Dr. Berry Sears surprise!)
- Drink plenty of healthy fluids. (Water, fruit juices, tea.) (This is the only one of the top Ten List I
have a problem with. Fruit juice is just sugar water. Most fruit juices have as much refined sugar
per serving as soft drinks! As for tea choose green tea or an herbal tea. The best choice for
fluids is still water)
- Consume moderate amounts of alcohol (not more than one drink a day for women and two for men)
to reduce the risk of heart disease; however avoid alcohol if you have a family history of breast or
colon cancer or alcohol addiction. (Ok, I know this one is the hardest for masters swimmers to
handle, but if you have a history of breast cancer, recent research supports giving up drinking all
together! Interestingly the French define moderation a bit differently than Americans, a very
good reason to travel.)
- Take a daily multivitamin/mineral with 100% of the daily values, and extra supplements of folic acid
(400mcg), vitamin E (200 mg natural source) and selenium (100 mcg); take as much vitamin C as
you like. (I think adding 500-800 IU’s of Vitamin E from a natural source is a good idea Pauling
recommended 800 IU’s a day. Make sure your total vitamin E intake is not over 1000 IU’s per
day. There is some question about multiple vitamin and mineral supplements that contain iron.
The thought is iron will interfere with other vitamins and minerals. I personally don’t take
supplements with Iron. Unless you have been tested and prescribed Iron by a physician I would
avoid supplements with Iron. Even in those cases requiring supplementation, iron should be
taken separate from the other vitamins and minerals.)
There you have it - the recommendations from one of the leading research Institutes on nutritional
supplementation. A few simple adjustments in your daily routine and you can rest assured that you are doing all
you can to improve the quality of life for yourself and those you love.
See you at the pool.
Bobby
I have been accused of being a Barry Sears
devotee, a misguided follower of Linus Pauling, a cult leader, and an outlaw,
which I think is my favorite. So for today’s DAM Monday I have decided
to come clean, set the record straight, and let the six of you who read this
page know the truth. I don’t want you to think I’m leading you down some
crazy path of deception where you may end up fit, healthy and responsible for
your over all well being, and swimming in some deep channel in Hawaii on a
yearly basis.
First off I am a fan and friend of Doctor Barry Sears PhD. I really
believe he has developed a nutrition program that applies to everybody. The Zone
books make allowances for individual differences. Of course you would have to
read a Zone book to know this. It seems that of those who attack him have never
read his books or articles. Of course I am sided, I ‘m a graduate of the first
class of Certified Zone Instructors. Difficult to believe but the swimming coach
is a C.Z.I. Sounds pretty cool, huh?
As far as Dr. Linus Pauling PhD. The two-time Nobel Prize winner. I have to
confess I do believe he is one of the greatest minds of the past century.
And I feel his nutritional recommendations, based on his vitamin C research are
partly responsible for my being around to irritate the six of you who read my
DAM Monday articles. I still pop down around 10,000 milligrams of vitamin
C per day. Even though Dr. Sears thinks that 10,000 milligrams is way too
much.
I guess the point of today’s DAM Monday is I feel part of my job as a
masters swim coach is to help the members of DAM with other parts of health and
fitness. Not just swimming. In fact it’s my opinion that part of
my job is to study and research nutrition, fitness and lifestyle changes that
can and will help improve the quality of the lives of those in the DAM program.
You don’t have to believe me or follow any of the topics, or
recommendations I may discuss. I just hope you’ll give them some thought
and maybe apply one or two of them to your daily life. But most of all
just remember to keep getting in the pool on a regular basis, no question about
it swimming is one of, if not, the best exercise for a long and healthy life.
(Not just another crazy opinion, scientific fact!)
As always I hope I haven’t offended any of you, for those I did sorry, you
can skip this weeks fly sets.
I hope to see you all at the pool again soon.
Bobby Patten
