Dr. Shmuel Shields - Guard Your Health Series (Tips for a Healthy Summer) Part 6

dr shmuel shields my name i'm a nutritionist in private practice in queens and i've been conducting a um ongoing health series for hazak i appreciate the opportunity to be able to do this and i hope the listening audience is is benefiting uh from these from this series and we have to remember we have a mitzvah an obligation to guard our health it's a very important mitzvah because guarding our health allows us to do the right zone of the rebunny show them uh so i want to uh talk a little bit about um okay the summer is upon us we really um and people are gonna be out people are gonna be doing things so i want to start this little talk by just talking about teva what do you mean by teva tevr is the way the rebendersham made the world there are certain laws that hashem put into motion something like gravity you drop something it doesn't go up it goes down the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and hashem put many laws into effect uh inertia a body that's that motion continues that motion so when you're sitting in your car traveling at 40 50 60 miles an hour the car comes to a short stop you're part of that vehicle you're a body that you will continue in motion at the rate of speed that that vehicle was going and that's why seat belts become very important to protect us from the effects of inertia so uh we also know that fire has certain there's a teva to fire we know if god forbid somebody puts their hand in a fire it's going to get burnt and if it's kept in for a long enough time god forbid it's going to be charred and that might be a good segue into barbecuing and into grilling which is a very a nice uh summer ritual for many people so i want to talk about how we could possibly make barbecuing and grilling healthier and again i'm not trying to rain on anybody's barbecuing or grilling but i do want to give you some health information that hopefully will be important regular consumption of well-done charred meats blackened burnt meats can be bad for your health uh due to the exposure the the meat's exposure to carcinogens when a meat is burnt like that there's a certain product that's formed on the meat called hcas which the long name is heterocyclic amines these are the carcinogenic properties that are in the burnt meat and we also have something called p-a-h-s which stands for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and this is when fat drippings um create flames and smoke that go back into the meat so we have these these are just natural occurring things that happen when we cook at very high temperatures when we barbecue or grill even when we you know fry we have these kind of concerns as well so what i want to do is and obviously the more frequent consumption and the greater consumption of these things can put us at risk for for certain cancers so tips to minimize exposure we're not saying you have to throw out the grill and the barbecue but here's some things that you can do grill vegetables grilling vegetables is probably a better way to go and if you are or want to grill things like meat or chicken or fish or things like that one of the suggestions to minimize your exposure to the harmful by-products here would be to marinade your meat using something like a vinegar-based marinade that contains herbs and spices approximately a half a cup of marinade for every one pound of food so this could minimize the exposure exposure and prevent the charring so that's one of the reasons why people do marinade another option here instead of starting your grill or barbecue on you know torch mode on full blast start the barbecue on medium to high temperature and flip the meat often to avoid charming so that's another way to possibly avoid this kind of charring effect trimming excess fats off meat before putting it on the grill will help mitigate unwanted drippings so then you'll avoid that smoke going back into the food um once the food is cooked and you notice that there are some charred or burnt pots so cut them off cut the burnt parts off after all it's just burnt meat so it doesn't have to be eaten so i would just take those those parts off okay so those are just some tips for some healthy grilling and barbecuing other things you could do when you're using you know meats or chicken use smaller amounts and always combine it with you know vegetables and a big salad or things of that nature just to balance out uh the summer meal and make it a little healthier next i want to talk briefly just about dehydration we did have a talk on on this i think a few weeks back just things you can do to risk reduce your risk it is hot out there today we're in the middle of a heat wave now we do lose about two to three quarts of water every day it's recommended that we consume approximately eight ounces of water for every 20 pounds of body weight to have a good to be able to rehydrate and to have a good good water intake one of the signs of um dehydration is when you're really not passing that much urine and when the urine is dark in color urine should almost have no color you know very pale pale yellow almost no color but if it's getting into the dark you know bright yellow or orange or brownish range that could be a sign of dehydration next a very very important area heat stroke and heat exhaustion i'm just combining these two areas together just some tips from the mayo clinic to reduce the risk of these conditions wearing loose fitting lightweight and lightly colored clothing when you're out in the sun for periods of time could be helpful using a sun hat sunglasses protecting against sunburn are very important tips avoiding the sun during the hottest parts of the day between 11 and 3 pm avoiding very strenuous activity in hot weather drinking plenty of fluids particularly water is very important avoiding excess alcohol and caffeine consumption take precautions also with certain medications certain medications can uh be problematic when you're out in the sun when you're exposed to high temperatures never leave anyone in a parked car i'll just tell you a an interesting story i have a good friend named spencer spielman some of you probably know him he's a chef and he once closed his car door very very hot day and on the dashboard he was unaware of it at the time was an apple a raw apple when he came back several hours later that raw apple was now a baked apple and he told me it was one of the most delicious apples he ever ate in his life just to give you an idea of how hot it can get in a car with windows closed okay so be careful never to leave anybody uh in a car that's parked with windows clothes then and so on be cautious if you're at risk if you have health problems or you're at risk for a heat stroke or health uh heat exhaustion be cautious signs and symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion can include headache dizziness confusion loss of appetite feeling sick excessive sweating and pale clammy skin fast breathing rapid breathing a rapid pulse and higher body temperatures and being very very thirsty so these are signs and symptoms to to watch out for okay just some we're just going to conclude now with just some miscellaneous things and again this is not an exhaustive overview of summer safety but just some things to think about depending on the nature of the activity whether it's hiking or boating or whatever it is always make sure you have proper protective gear life vests proper footwear mosquito repellent whatever it might be just make sure you have the appropriate protective equipment and gear with you if you're hiking stay on the hiking trails otherwise you're on the wrist for ticks you know getting bit by ticks or possibly touching poison ivy or other poisonous plants be particularly cautious on dark country roads whether you're walking or driving if you're walking make sure you have reflective material if you're driving make sure you're not speeding your headlights are on and so on and i'll just conclude with you know when kids are in camp maybe you can send them with some healthier snacks plant some healthiest snacks for yourself fruit and vegetable snacks um see what you can do to control the canteen and what they might be purchasing in the camps um maybe put together a list of things that might be more acceptable less acceptable so these are just a few tips i wanted to cover i just want to conclude by wishing everybody a very safe summer a healthy or a happy summer spiritually meaningful summer and i hope to continue uh with the series uh next week okay thank you for joining okay so i think next week well they're kind of not going to do that i think next week is technically the last last one that we have set up uh technically