Index

2008-03-24

March Madness, Spring Training, and Easter

March is the month when the Northern Hemisphere starts to come out of hibernation. The trees are starting to show some buds, crocuses and daffodils are in full bloom, and forsythias are showing their yellow splendor. March is also the time when the basketball season ends with a frenzy of championship games. Sports fans go crazy as the indoor game season ends and baseball and other outdoor sports start a new season.

Easter is celebrated with eggs to symbolize new life and resurrection. The date for Easter is based the cycle of the moon. Easter is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon which occurs after the vernal equinox; it falls between late March and late April each year. This year, Easter falls on the 23rd of March. Since spring usually starts around the 21st of March, this is about as early as Easter can happen. The U.S. Naval observatory has an explanation of how the date of Easter may be different in some parts of the world as a consequence of the International Date Line conventions.

On the topic of Spring Training, one of my neighbors is training for a marathon. Not too long ago, his cholesterol was 204. He improved his diet and started to use grape seed oil, an oil high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, in his salad dressings. His cholesterol level is now 140. It is good to see that dietary interventions can make a big difference in the biomarkers for health. Every time that I see one of those TV commercials where an actor says "I exercise and watch my diet, but it is not enough." and concludes that he still needs some statin to lower his cholesterol, I keep thinking: "NO! NO! NO! You cannot just WATCH your diet, you have to eat foods with the right fatty acid balance, you have to eat less, and you have to exercise." It is actually very simple. Diet is a major factor.

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