A Mineral for Metabolic Syndrome

By Kelley Herring

Metabolic syndrome - a cluster of health problems that puts you at risk for heart disease and diabetes - is on the rise. But new research shows that getting more magnesium in your diet can help prevent this dangerous condition.

A recent study published in the journal Circulation followed a group of adults for 15 years, assessing their intake of magnesium and the incidence of metabolic syndrome. Those who developed metabolic syndrome had the lowest intake of magnesium.

You can get more magnesium in your diet by munching on nuts (a two-ounce serving of almonds provides 40 percent of the recommended daily allowance for magnesium) and getting your fill of dark, leafy green vegetables.

[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the founder and CEO of Healing Gourmet (www.healinggourmet.com), and is editor-in-chief of the Healing Gourmet book series.]

It's Fun to Know: Holding Your Fingers and Crossing Your Thumbs?

By Charlie Byrne

"I'll be holding my thumbs for you!"

The e-mail from Teresa was unexpected, welcome, but a bit puzzling. We'd met at an international business affair in Europe a month earlier.

"Good luck on the marathon," her e-mail continued.

I remembered boasting to Teresa that I was scheduled to run in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. I guess she remembered too.

But what's this "I'll be holding my thumbs for you" thing? I assumed it meant "good luck"... but I'd never heard it before.

A quick research expedition online revealed the answer. According to the Phrases.org.uk website, "The German equivalent of 'crossing my fingers,' i.e. wishing someone good fortune, is 'Daumen drueken' - holding thumbs."

Teresa is from South Africa, and South Africa was a German colony from 1884 to 1915 - so apparently the phrase stuck.

"Danke schoen," I wrote back to Teresa.

Word to the Wise: Maudlin

"Maudlin" (MAWD-lin) means excessively tearful or sentimental. The word is derived from (Mary) Magdalene, who was often represented in paintings with eyes red and swollen from weeping.

Example (as used by Desson Howe in a Washington Post review of Proof): "A film about blindness could easily get maudlin or, at the other extreme, cynically heartless."

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2242, 01-03-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.

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