Green Health Spot

5 Easy Steps to Prevent Diabetes

The habits that predispose you to developing type 2 diabetes are easy to change.  If you start now and commit to integrating these changes into your day to day lifestyle, you will find that you will have more energy, more clear thinking and sleep better.  The long term effect of this is of course diabetes prevention.  Before I list the 5 easy steps, it is important to mention the obvious that your doctor will have already told you.  First, lose weight if you are overweight.  Second, exercise at least 30-minutes per day.  Cardiovascular workouts with weight bearing exercise.

That having been said there are some basic misunderstandings out there that you need to know.  Your doctor will tell you that diabetes is a progressive illness and there is not much to do until your blood sugar is out of control enough to put you on medications.  This is false.  If you make some of these easy changes now you will be able to stop diabetes progression in its tracks and reverse the diabetes that you have already.  So here are your 5 easy steps to preventing diabetes.

Eliminate Sodas and Dilute Juices (including diet sodas)

The sugar in sodas and juices infuse a load of simple carbohydrates into your blood stream thus affecting your blood sugar level and forcing your pancreas to pump out a bunch of insulin to reduce the simple sugars in your bloodstream.  This will eventually lead to insulin resistance where your cells that have been bombarded with insulin start to be less inclined to respond to the constant insulin floating around in your bloodstream.  I won't go into the evils of aspartame and NutraSweet but suffice it to say that it will put some people into a diabetic state more quickly, reduce control of blood sugar and stimulate diabetic complications.

Control Stressful Situations in you Life

This is easier said than done but is imperative.  Stress hormones exacerbate blood sugar control.  You are first at risk for developing hypoglycemia or low blood sugar and after years of this you can develop high blood sugar due to insulin resistance aka type 2 diabetes.  Even though you can't necessarily control the stressful event, you certainly can decide how you react to a stressful event.

Sleep until you Feel Rested

Lack of sleep predisposes you to developing diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.  This is partially due to the stress hormones that are released to help your body get through the day without proper rejuvenating rest.  If you are not waking refreshed in the morning go to sleep earlier or try to start your day later.  You need an absolute minimum of 4 hours of sleep but some may need to sleep 6-8 hours until they wake refreshed and ready to start the day.

Eat High Protein Meals and Snacks

Keeping your blood sugar even throughout the day is imperative.  Don't skip meals, ensure you have higher protein snacks at hand and make sure that your meals have lots of protein and fiber in them.  The protein and fiber take longer to absorb and digest so you don't get a blood sugar spike.  Make sure you eat before you get hungry.  If you are going through a stressful period you will likely need to eat a little something every 2-3 hours throughout the day.

Give up Caffeine

Ok, I lied.  I said 5 EASY steps to preventing diabetes and here I am telling you to give up coffee and tea.  In our Starbuck's culture this can be nearly impossible.  But this is easier than say dealing with diabetic neuropathy in the future or having a to get a foot lopped off due to diabetes.  Green tea is my only concession here because the antioxidants in green tea are more protective to our eyes, brains and blood vessels than the caffeine is detrimental to our blood sugar.  If you can't immediately give up your precious coffee or tea, then at least give up the milk and sugar in it.

A few closing notes.  Try to keep your morning fasting blood sugar around 90 and you will likely have smooth sailing.  Additionally your hemoglobin a1c should be approximately 5.5 and you will know that you have excellent control of your blood sugar.  Good luck!

Can Vitamin D Deficiency Explain Autism?

One interesting theory I've come across for Autism lately is the Vitamin D link to autism. In the past 20 years the diagnosis for autism has skyrocketed, these are about the same 20 or so years that have seen an increasing awareness of UV rays and their relationship to skin cancers.  So conscientious women slather on the sunscreen hoping to prevent both skin cancer and wrinkles.  Now we are learning that our avoidance of UV rays might have long term effects on our children.  Let me explain first that I don't believe that the diagnosis of autism is simply a vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy or early childhood.  I know this because I've seen many autistic children in my practice get much better without ever supplementing with vitamin D or being exposed to extra sunlight.  So as I always maintain, autism is multifactorial and the vitamin D angle may be another piece to the puzzle. 

Before the sun-scare campaign started by the AMA (American Medical Association) in 1989, people were getting 90% of their vitamin D via sunlight exposure to the skin.  Vitamin D is imperative to immune function, bone formation and brain development as the Vitamin D Council has learned through various research with mice.  Not only is vitamin D necessary for proper brain development but maternal deficiencies of vitamin D during pregnancy leads to abnormal brain cell death and abnormal brain cell growth.  Researchers also learned that vitamin D deficiency disrupts 36 different enzymes needed for proper brain development.  In baby rats, the D deficiency seems to lead to enlarged ventricles in the brain and increased brain size similar to the brains of autistic children.  Because Vitamin D is both anti-inflammatory as well as an anti-oxidant, low levels can lead to increased inflammation and high oxidative stress often found in autistic children.

As we see the incidence of autism and autism spectrum disorders skyrocket to epidemic proportions we need to look carefully to see what we are doing now in the 21st century that may be harming our health and the health of our children.  Incidence of autism in now at about 1 in 88 children in England are predicted to develop autism.  Along with autism increases the incidence of Tourette's syndrome and ADHD have increased as well.  Both of which are neurological disorders with unknown causes.  Can Vitamin D deficiency in these children be a part of the puzzle and can sunlight be part of the cure? 

Sunshine during summertime need not exceed 5-20 minutes per day depending on skin color and latitude of where you live.  In winter, this increases so make sure your exercise is taken in sunshine and that your children get adequate sunshine as well.  If you are pregnant, sunshine is extra important and if you live in a higher latitude location consider a vitamin D supplement such as cod liver oil and make sure your doctor checks you for vitamin D deficiency. 

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Get Rid of Your Varicose Veins

Here is a secret health tip that you might need one day.  Varicose veins can be diminished or totally eliminated by adding just a few simple things to your diet every day.  This will take anywhere from one to three months of persistence before you see the unsightly veins start to disappear.  Not only will your legs look years younger, your eyesight, skin, hair and nails will improve as well.  Additionally, it will help your reduce your future risk of scary events like aneurysms, strokes and high blood pressure as well as reducing your cholesterol.  What are these diet foods and where can you get them?

Well, as it turns out most of your varicose veins can be reversed by your eating a cup of blueberries a day.  I suggest that you eat the previously frozen blueberries.  I find mine, organically grown and frozen at Trader Joe's for a reasonable price.  The freezing breaks the cell wall of the blueberries and allow your body to have more access to the "blue" or the good stuff that strengthens your arteries and veins.  Blueberries have anthocyanins which are antioxidants helps strengthen the vessel integrity, thereby reducing the vein prominence. 

Other dark colored fruits also can help with this as well such as black raspberries, blackberries, red grapes and black currants.  But they don't work near as well as the blueberries.  Additionally, pomegranate juice can add to your blood vessel integrity (1/2 cup of pure pomegranate juice per day).  I've also found that dried blueberries are a great snack that my two year old niece, Evelyn loves.  Blueberries have also been shown to reduce the rate of mental decline due to aging, which contributes to my theory that aging is largely a function of accumulation of environmental damage to the body and brain.

As you take on the challenge to get rid of your varicose veins this coming year.  Start by eating lots of blueberries, drink pomegranate juice and of course, red wine for those who can tolerate it.  That's what I call "Eat, Drink and be Merry".

Find the Gratitude in Thanksgiving

After all the travel and turkey, I feel it is time to reflect on the spirit of Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a fall celebration of harvest that goes back hundreds of years in North america to the time of pilgrims and indians and even before.  I find this time to be the best time to generate the sense of gratitude for the fortunes that I have in my life.  During times like this I like to think about and revel in the love that I have for my life.  Today I find so much to be grateful for.  All the other days of the year, we too frequently focus on what we lack or what we need or what we don't like about ourselves and our world.  So today would be a great day to get into the festive holiday mood with some gratitude.

Gratitude is a great energy.  Have you ever noticed that the more gratitude and appreciation you have for your life, the more things you can find to feel appreciative of?  I spent a terrific evening with my family, my sisters, parents, niece, brother-in-law and my darling partner and boyfriend.  It was an evening of family and connection which brought about thoughts and appreciation of my work, my blog, my dear friends, and the beautiful home in which I live with my wonderful and sometimes demanding cat, Izzy.  I meet strangers who become friends or just inspire me to be more of who I can.  I see patients who exhibit more courage against adversity than I could ever imagine.  I am so grateful for my health, the energy I have in the morning and how well I sleep at night.  I live in a creative inner world full of possibilities and new ideas.  I have support on so many levels. For these things, I am grateful.

I would love to know what you are appreciative of in your life and why.  Even though you might be feeling lonely or disappointed or afraid, give yourself the gift of gratitude.  It will lift your spirits and help you see more of what is possible and then help you attract the resolutions to your problem(s).  Never underestimate the power of being grateful in your life.

Keeping Score of Your Community's Pollution Rating

Many people wonder what sort of pollution, chemicals and heavy metals they might be exposed to where they live or work.  One of my most favorite sites to visit for this information is scorecard.org.  This great site just requires you to enter in your zip code and it will bring up a slew of environmental toxic exposure information for you to understand.  This is great for people who might be interested in buying a home in a neighborhood.  It will give you information on superfund sites where clean up has been mandated from excessive water and air pollution. 

You can find top polluters in your county as well as the top chemicals that are polluting the area near where you live.  My biggest complaint about this site is that the information is sorted by county.  If you live in a large and diverse county, the information may be too general for your specific locale.  Scorcard.org ranks counties on their pollution rating in a number of categories such as:

• Total Environmental Releases
• Cancer risk score (based on water and air releases)
• Noncancer risk score (based on water and air releases)
• Air releases of recognized carcinogens (cancer causing agents)
• Air releases of recognized developmental toxicants
• Air releases of recognized reproductive toxicants

The county I live in, San Mateo, ranks relatively low on the risk for total environmental releases (30-40%) on a scale of 100.  Where, Santa Clara county ranks between the 50% to 60% out of 100% overall but the Noncancer risk score for Santa Clara county is at 90-100% of all the counties in the US.  Top noncancer risk in Santa Clara County?  Mercury!  No wonder autism rates are so high in Silicon valley!

Lead Exposure in Childhood Decreases IQ

We often talk about heavy metals and their effects on various symptoms and disease processes.  The Environmental Health Perspectives organization has recently put out a study that indicates that lead exposure in childhood leads to a significant decline in IQ scoring in children.  You can read the .pdf of the study here.   Key take home notes to bring to your doctor if you are concerned about your child's development and blood lead testing are the following:

• This study indicates that the CDC's maximum safe blood lead levels may not be safe after all.  The CDC has deemed <10 micrograms/dl to be safe blood lead levels and many doctors believe this.  This study indicates that levels as low as 2 micrograms/dl will affect IQ scores, particularly in performance IQ. 
• The earlier the exposure to lead the greater the effect on IQ scores.
• Blood lead levels between 5 and 9.9 micrograms/dl has the most significant impact on IQ scores

I know that many parents and doctors trust in blood lead testing and that the CDC "normal" range for safe lead exposure are reasonable.  This study indicates that parents should understand that "normal" lead levels does not mean that your child's IQ is not affected by lead. 

Just a reminder that blood lead levels are not the best way to test total body load of lead exposure.  A chelated urine challenge, where a heavy metal binding agent (like DMSA or DMPS) is administered to the patient who is taking the heavy metal test and the urine is collected to assess levels of heavy metals.  Testing in this way will help your doctor better understand your child's heavy metal load.  Make sure that your doctor knows that there are false negatives on this test as well because mineral status (zinc and copper) and pH balance will affect how many children or adults can release stored heavy metals for excretion in this test.  Also some patients respond better to DMSA or DMPS or vice versa. 

If you are concerned about your child's development and IQ, lead and other heavy metals should be a part of a good neurological work-up.

5 Must Dos to Keep Your Relationship Wonderful

Falling in love is such a wonderful feeling.  In my experience it is probably the greatest high one can ever feel.  So how do you keep that great glow in your relationship years after the falling in love part has faded into memory?  Everyone knows that relationships have their ups and downs.  The difference between an average relationship and a great relationship is the effort, communication and honesty you put into the relationship to reap its long term rewards.  Here are my top five must do's to go from average to great intimate relationships.

River Fish Causes Breast Cancer

I've never been a fan of catfish because I could never get used to the taste.  With this new study and information I have another reason to avoid catfish and freshwater fish altogether. 

Channel catfish extract derived from catfish caught in the Allegheny and Monomgahela rivers near Pittsburg, PA were found to trigger estrogen receptor positive breast cancers to multiply.  This University of Pittsburgh study found that the flesh of the catfish living in the polluted river waters were so contaminated that direct contact with the catfish flesh causes breast cancer cells to multiply.  The xenoestrogens or chemicals that have estrogen-like effect on the body had a profound effect on the cancer cells.  This disturbing report indicates the level of sensitivity of some cancers to environmental pollution and toxicity as well as its effect on human hormone levels.  I'm writing about this to generate awareness of xenoestrogens in day to day living.  Even if you don't live near Pittsburgh and don't eat catfish there are plenty of other plastics, foods and chemicals that contribute to xenoestrogen exposure. 

If you are a woman with heavy periods, long PMS period, breast cysts, ovarian cysts or uterine fibroids you can rest assured that you have some form of estrogen dominance which can likely be due to xenoestrogen exposure.  Likewise, if you are male, have low sex drive, erectile dysfunction or man-boobs you too are likely being affected by xenoestrogens.  Tomorrow we will discuss action steps to take to reduce xenoestrogen impact on your body.  Stay Tuned.

Lavender and its Magical Properties

You all know the pretty plant that is lavender.  But did you know that lavender has magical properties?  Well, maybe not quite fully certified magical, but close.  Lavender essential oil is my absolute favorite essential oil.  It has so many uses that it is always necessary to have it on hand.  Not only does it smell great, it has important curative powers.  Here are some of the ways that I have used lavender essential oil.

Burns or scalds. 
This works best if applied neat (undiluted) to the area affected by the burn or scald.  The skin should be intact, use your judgment.  It takes away the pain quickly and the skin heals with almost no sign of damage.  This includes sunburns.

Pimples. 
Your adolescent will love you for this remedy.  Because lavender oil is antibacterial, it destroys pimples and the associated bacteria quickly and easily.  Apply it neat as soon as you feel a pimple developing and the pimple is banished shortly.  If you didn't catch it in time, it makes pimples come to a head faster and it helps with the swelling and redness.

Sleep & relaxation. 
Just a drop or 2 to a cotton ball or tissue placed beneath the pillowcase under your head at night makes you sleep more soundly and more quickly.  Lavender has amazing relaxation properties that will leave you refreshed in the morning.

Migraines or Headaches.  Apply a drop to your temples or the back of your neck and massage into the skin.  This helps with both tension headaches as well as migraines.  For some people with migraines, the smell may be too strong during the acute stage of a migraine.  During this time you can apply the lavender oil the muscled area between your thumb and forefinger on the backside of your hand (both hands).  This is an acupressure point associated with headaches. 

Insect repellent and insect bites. 
Just like citronella, lavender has the ability to ward off mosquitos and flies.  Additionally, it can help calm the itching of an insect bite.  I can really attest to this one as I am the world's number one mosquito attractor.

A word of caution.  Those with sensitive skin cannot always tolerate direct application of lavender oil to the skin.  If that is the case for you, you can dilute the oil with a carrier oil such as almond oil or jojoba oil.  European made essential oils are the best for now unless you know the source that you are getting the oil from is organically grown.  Europe has standards for the production of essential oils, the United States does not.  Because of the extreme concentration of essential oils, the should always be organically grown.

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Al Gore Funding Green Technologies

Now here's a great thing for my home town.  Former Vice President Al Gore has become a partner in a venture capitalist firm located here in Menlo Park, California.  The San Jose Mercury News reports today that the former vice-president and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner is working with Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers a VC firm located on the now locally famous Sand Hill Road where many tech companies have gotten their start.  Sand Hill Road is to tech as Madison Ave. is to fashion.  I just love the idea that green technology and environmental issues are such a hot topics right now and much of the awareness and funding is here in my backyard. 

As we slowly disengage ourselves from the oil dependence that America has been on for almost a century we are looking toward the future where alternative energy sources, reducing carbon emissions, and developing non-toxic alternatives to many common daily contaminants abound.  The dark sexy news lies in global warming and hybrid technology but there is much more to the Greening of America and the world.  The not so sexy news is that you can probably prevent a lot of illness that you didn't know you could prevent just by making different choices at home and at work.

Relationship Between High Blood Pressure & Lead

Here is one cause of high blood pressure or hypertension that you and your doctor may not have considered.  Lead toxicity.  The relationship between elevated lead levels and high blood pressure has been studied for the past decade or so but few doctors think to look for low level lead accumulation as a cause of hypertension.  Lead is one of the most common heavy metals that we are all exposed to on a day to day basis.  The lead that you are exposed to in your drinking water, air pollution or contact with Thomas the Tank Engine made in China from lead ladened paints accumulates over years and is often bound in the bone matrix.  Men and women with osteopenia (thinning of the bones) or osteoporosis (fragile bones) are often more at risk for lead exposure as the bones thin the lead that was bound there starts to be released into the tissues affecting areas such as your blood vessels, brain and immune system.  This is part of the reason why as you age your blood pressure tends to go up.  Here are some tips for you and your doctor....

How I Hit the Love Lottery and How You Can Too!

Do you ever wonder what happens when you start to deal with your deepest inner fears?  You know, those fears that you would have difficulty admitting to your closest friends or yourself?  The uncomfortable, nagging fears that can sometimes rear its ugly head just when you think you have gotten your head above water in your life? 

Well, let me tell you that facing and releasing those fears can clear you out for some radical shifts in consciousness and allow in miracles beyond wonderful.  It happened to me.  Because it happened to me, I know it can happen to you as well.  You see, it all stated happening when my husband asked me for a divorce on Maui.

Is Your Lipstick Poisoning You with Lead?

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has just released a report on the safety of lipsticks sold in stores in 2007.  This report found that 61% of the top selling brands of lipstick sold were found to have some level of lead.  The amounts ranged from 0.03 to 0.65 ppm (parts per million).  The FDA has no limit on lead levels in lipsticks but recently designated that candy should have no more than 0.10 ppm of lead due to possible lead toxicity in children leading to learning and language disabilities.  Over 1/3 of the lipsticks tested in the study went over the FDA level set for an ingestible food. The most contaminated brands were L'Oreal, Cover Girl and Christian Dior.  It seems that price had no impact on the results of the testing, drugstore brands and more expensive brands both had the same likelihood of having high lead levels in the lipsticks. 

Lead is a documented neurotoxin and accumulated amounts in women who then become pregnant can easily transfer through the placenta and affect the developing brain of the fetus.  Lead is not easily excreted by the body and thus accumulates in your organs such as liver, kidneys, brain and joints.  Many of my patients are astounded at the amounts of lead they excrete in a urine heavy metal challenge test and ask me where they might have gotten this heavy metal.  Lipstick can be one of the answers, in addition to water, paint dust, pollution, children's toys etc.  Some known effects of lead include:

Enjoy Being Alone Without Feeling Lonely

Do you enjoy being alone?

Can you enjoy time by yourself without external distractions such as a phone, television, Internet or text messaging?

It is so easy now to spend all day interacting with others via some electronic device that many of us don't know what to do with ourselves if we are without these devices.  We fill our time with work, friends, family that we often forget to develop a relationship with ourselves.  On my health history questionnaire for new patients, one of the questions is whether or not you experience loneliness.  The majority of people check that box.  How long has it been since you've had some quality time with yourself?  I find it difficult to really share myself in an intimate relationship if I don't have that deep introspective time with myself.  Every morning I meditate and use that morning ritual to find my center, this sets the tone for my day.  In my line of work, where I have to be there for my patients, I find myself being a much better doctor and healer when I am centered and emotionally whole.  I talk with too many people who have almost no alone time and no time to know who they are and what they want out of life.  This, of course, makes it hard to achieve a dream if the dream is vague and general. 

Loneliness is an epidemic in our society.  As the pace of our world moves faster and access to others is so easy and fast, it is possible to be lonely being in the midst of so many others.  We humans are social beings and interactions and touch are crucial to our survival.  It is too easy to go with the flow of the masses.  Seek to find your own inner truth and connect with your inner self so that your interactions with the world are increasingly more satisfying.  Alone time can generate new ideas, creative solutions, Ah-Ha moments of awareness and give you a sense of overall well-being. 

The Tuna Calculator: Minimize Your Mercury Intake

I found a fun and useful tool today, it's called the Tuna Calculator and you can find it on the Environmental Working Group's website (EWG).  This nifty tool is helpful for you to understand the mercury toxicity that you can incur on yourself just by eating a delicious tuna sandwich.  The tool asks for your weight and your gender and it will calcluate for you the maximum 'safe' amount of albacore tuna you can eat per week.  This of course, assumes that you do not consume any other seafood. 

Sunshine and Preventing Cancer at the Races

This weekend I was in Daytona Beach enjoying the beautiful weather while attending the Rennsport Reunion.  The reunion was for Porsche owners and enthusiasts to get together and share their experiences, their cars and to learn and see history making Porsches all in one weekend.  I went for the sunshine and to be with Jamie who loves this stuff and can tell you all about the history and mechanical advantages of one Porsche vintage versus another.  On the plane ride over I had adequate time to catch up on my reading of new scientific findings. 

Surprisingly, I found a great article in Scientific American about the cancer preventative aspects of sunshine and specifically Vitamin D.  Most of you know that sunshine makes you feel great and now we are learning much more about the potent health effects of sunshine and possibly a better understanding as to why cancer may be on the rise in these past few decades.  In the past 20 years at least parents have been told to keep their kids inside or slathered in sunscreen to prevent dreaded skin cancers in the future.  Now the pendulum of understanding is swinging the other way and we are learning that maybe mother nature doesn't have it out for us bombarding us with harmful UVB rays of sunshine. 

Obesity leads to Cancer...Here's Why

On USA Today's front page yesterday the headline "Study strongly links fat, cancer".  It goes on to say that processed meats and red meats are the main culprits.  Things that we 'healthy' people love to eat but never admit to eating.  Bacon, sausage, pepperoni, ham, salami, smoked meats etc.  Red meats such as pork, beef and lamb were also named as bad for you in relations to cancer.  My take on this goes a bit deeper and you too may be asking the question 'why'? 

Other than the obvious that fats and obesity leads to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and lethargy.  All of those things lead to lack of exercise and a couch potato mentality.  We already know that high salt diets, high sugar diets, high fat diets all lead to obesity and cancer.  Here is another perspective as to why.  I write this because I don't believe we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.  I don't believe that animal meats are inherently bad for you and that we should all become vegans munching on tofu and bean sprouts.  I do believe that many foods, especially fatty foods, contain chemicals stored in the fats that disrupt our body's hormones and have actual carcinogenic effects on the body and immune system.  I do believe that making educated choices about our food can contribute to an overall healthier body and mental state. 

Debunking the Myth of Snake Oil

Isn't it funny how history works.  We all know that in the old west the snake oil salesman was known for his fraudulent miraculous claims on health providing substances such as snake oil.  Now we use the phrase 'snake oil salesman' when we are referring to someone proclaiming outrageous cure-all results or outcomes on products.  We are now learning that the original snake oil developed and used in Chinese medicine were actually a legitimate compound high in omega-3 fatty acids from the Chinese Water Snake. 

For the past couple of decades, doctors have been touting the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and their use for arthritis, as an anti-inflammatory agent, for allergies, for the nervous system and psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression.  A psychiatrist in California, Richard Kunin, studied the snake oil produced from the Chinese Water Snake to find that it contained 20% EPA or eicosapentaenoic acid one of two omega-3 fatty acids found to be readily absorbed by the human body.  The snake oil is actually higher in omega-3's than the more well-known salmon oil (18% EPA) that many of us consume regularly for omega-3 fatty acids.  Of course it is much easier to eat wild, deep water salmon than to find Chinese water snake to eat.  Still, I found it interesting that there is quite a legitimate background to the snake oil salesman's claims.  One final point of note is that in the West where snake oil salesmen abounded, the common snake oil used was rattlesnake oil which has only 8.5% EPA.  This probably lead to people wondering why the oil didn't work as claimed.  You really have had to take much more of it to get the same benefit as the oil that the Chinese railway workers were using from China.  Now you have an odd trivia fact to astound and amaze your friends and family.