EAT FAST and you double your risk of diabetes; chew slowly and you may lose weight effortlessly, according to new research.

I’ve written before about mindful eating—there’s tons of evidence that it’s helpful. But on a personal level, sometimes it’s hard for me to slow down. I eat mindfully for a while, than lapse into my bad habits.

You’d think that as a mom working part time as a freelance writer and dietitian, I’d have plenty of time to cook and eat well. But the truth is that, like everyone else, I sometimes struggle to get things done in the mere 24 hours a day we’re allotted. And racing through meals sometimes seems like an easy way to carve out time for other things.

It’s a bad habit I’ve been fighting since college, when I apparently chewed food so fast that one friend compared me to a frantic chipmunk. So this latest research really hits home for me. I’ve got to slow down.

Here’s the science, starting with research released last month in the journal Clinical Nutrition.

Lithuanian researchers surveyed about 700 people about their eating habits. After adjusting for family history, weight, exercise and other things that affect blood sugar, the scientists found that fast eaters had a 250 percent higher risk of diabetes than slow eaters. Yikes!

It makes sense, though. We know it takes at least 20 minutes to feel full, since it takes not just the pressure of food in the belly but a complicated chain reaction of digestive hormones to make us feel satisfied.

So, eating too fast can lead to being overweight, which we know is linked to diabetes.

However, it’s one thing to tell someone to eat more slowly, and another to actually do it. On some of my busier days, when I am juggling my career, avalanches of laundry, a crying toddler, a helpful but tired husband and a ringing phone, I slip into overdrive.

I know I’m not alone in this tendency, to think that if I just go faster, I’ll get everything done. The problem is, after a certain point, going too fast can trip you up. You make mistakes, drop things, lose track of priorities in the bustle, accidentally overeat.

In the past, I’ve been able control stress and slow down by working out, doing yoga, meditating and using some mindful mealtime practices. But with the sleep deprivation that parenthood sometimes brings, those strategies have been less effective.

CHEWING COUNTS

Luckily, I’ve found something new that works. It felt annoying at first, but it’s helping me enjoy my food more, too. The secret, based on Chinese research, is to chew each bite 40 times.

(Actually, I consider myself successful if I can chew 30 times per bite. That’s the speed recommended by mindfulness expert Thich Nhat Hanh.)

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the research showed that Chinese men who ate fastest were obese compared to slow eaters. But even more interesting, when both fast and slow eaters were instructed to chew each bite 40 times, they ate 12 percent fewer calories than when they chewed each bite 15 times.

Slower chewing was also linked to lower levels of ghrelin, a hormone linked to feeling hungry.

Though the study was small and short, theoretically if the men continued to eat 12 percent fewer calories for a year, they might lose significant weight. For example, if they normally maintained their weight with 2,200 calories daily, 12 percent fewer calories could result in a 27-pound weight loss over one year!

MIND OVER MATTER

Taking smaller bites also sounds too easy to be true, but studies have found that it really can help people eat less and still feel satisfied.

Previous studies have shown that foods that need to be eaten with a fork or spoon are more satisfying than the blended version. So choose fresh berries and a dish of yogurt rather than a berry smoothie.

And really limit liquid calories from sodas, energy drinks, sweet coffees and the like, since studies show that liquid calories don’t put much of a dent in hunger.

Focusing on flavor and savoring each bite can make eating more enjoyable.

Meditating on everything needed to produce the meal on your plate—sun, rain, fields, farmers, harvesters, cooks—also helps.

Try to concentrate on your food by limiting distractions. Turn off the TV and other screens; try to eat at a table rather than while standing or driving.

When it comes to eating, slow and steady wins the race. So chew, chew, chew and chew some more.

Jennifer Motl is a registered dietitian. Formerly of Fredericksburg, she now lives in Wisconsin. Jennifer Motl welcomes reader questions via her website, brighteating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance–Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.

During late fall and winter, Lynne Wood is a nomad in her own home, moving from one room to another in search of the sun.

It’s part of her efforts to fight the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.

Although Wood, 64, has never been diagnosed, she’s certain she suffers from the mood disorder in which people get depressed when days become shorter and sunlight, scarcer.

During the cold weather, Wood starts each morning with breakfast at the kitchen table. She looks straight ahead, out the large window that was purposely put in place so she can get the best view of the sunbeams she craves.

She and her husband, Bill, also regularly prune the fast-growing Leyland cypress trees around their house.

As Wood’s day proceeds, the Stafford County woman moves her chair and laptop computer to stay under the gaze of the sun. She follows the southern exposure until it eventually leads to the bay window in her bedroom.

There, she builds a pallet of blankets and pillows and takes a power nap, with her body turned toward the golden warmth.

“If I’m stressed, it makes me feel better,” she said. “Being in the sun is addictive.”

WOMEN SUFFER MOST

An estimated half-million people in the United States feel the same seasonal sadness as Wood, according to the Mental Health America website.

The symptoms are similar to depression; the only difference is, they go away when spring returns with warmth and sunshine.

During the grayest times, sufferers cope by getting whatever doses of sunlight they can, as Wood does, or by using a lamp to provide an artificial substitute. Some take antidepressants or vitamin D supplements, and others try to keep their minds occupied—and off the dreary weather that surrounds them.

Three out of four SAD sufferers are women, the Mental Health website said.

“We’re more sensitive than guys,” Wood theorized.

Wood said she has bouts of depression year-round as well as a host of other medical problems, but she starts to feel worse in September, when the sun’s strength weakens.

She’s even more dismal by January and February, when gray days are the norm.

“I’m moody, from major irritability to gloomy and depressed,” Wood said. “I’d just as soon the world ended.”

‘I BECOME A LONER’

Other women in the Fredericksburg feel the same winter misery as Wood.

“I live for color and sun, and I don’t see color during the winter months. I see gray,” said Dwanna Hudson, a 46-year-old mother and stylist in Stafford County. “There’s no leaves on the trees, no green grass, no flowers blooming.”

The lack of color on the outside makes Hudson glum on the inside. She’s normally a people person but doesn’t want to get out of bed or talk to anyone when the weather is wearisome.

“I hibernate like a bear. I become a loner,” she said. “I’d rather shop alone. I don’t want to be bothered. I just go and do what I need to do and come back and live in my little cave.”

Hudson also suffers from depression, and, like Wood, said her symptoms worsen when the days are colder and more overcast.

When Hudson and her family moved to the Fredericksburg in 2004, it was the first time she experienced the changing seasons. Her husband was in the Marine Corps, and the Hudsons had lived in California, Florida and the Carolinas, where the climate was sunnier.

By her third winter in Virginia, she was so upset and moody—“almost like being hormonal”—that she complained to her medical doctor.

Hudson was diagnosed with SAD. She was prescribed 50,000 international units of Vitamin D, which she takes, in capsule form, once a week for six weeks.

‘TRY TO GET THROUGH IT’

Hudson isn’t sure the heavy-duty dose of vitamin D helps. Or the sunlamp, which produces what’s called full-spectrum light, and is prescribed as a form of light therapy.

People sit in front of the lamp, which provides up to 10 times the intensity of normal light, 30 to 60 minutes a day, according to the Summit Medical Group in New Jersey.

Studies show the therapy may suppress the brain’s secretion of melatonin, a sleep-related hormone that can cause depression and is produced at higher levels in the dark—or when days are shorter.

Like Wood, Hudson puts herself near sunny windows and doors whenever she can. Sometimes, she drives to a sunny spot and sits in the car, facing the sun.

“I just try to get through it the best I can,” Hudson said.

SAD SYMPTOMS

Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, are similar to depression. The only difference is they typically show up when the weather gets colder and the sunlight, scarcer. They go into remission in the spring and summer months, according to the Mental Health America website. Symptoms include:

DEPRESSION: Misery, guilt, loss of self-esteem, hopelessness, despair and apathy

ANXIETY: Tension and inability to tolerate stress

MOOD CHANGES: Extremes of moods. Some people experience the opposite of SAD and have periods of great excitement and over-activity in spring and summer.

SLEEP PROBLEMS and lethargy, or inability to carry out normal routine

OTHERS: Overeating, especially a craving for starch and sweet foods. Desire to avoid social contact. Decreased interest in sex and physical contact.

TREATMENT FOR SAD

LIGHT THERAPY: This can include sitting in a sunny window or in front of a full-spectrum lamp designed to treat SAD.

One study found an hour’s walk in winter sunlight was as effective as 2 hours under bright artificial light, according to the Mental Health America website.

MEDICINE: An antidepressant may help, but may cause other side effects. Vitamin D supplements also are prescribed. Patients should consult their medical doctor or mental health professional.

KEEP BUSY: Lynne Wood of Stafford spends a lot of time gardening and doing yard work in the spring and summer and forces herself to get physical exercise in the winter.

“I do work out to try to manage my moods,” she said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but at least I try.”

Anna Victoria Reich, 52, of Stafford keeps busy with needlecraft projects or taking care of her dog. Listening to music and doing volunteer work helps, she said.

“I just keep busy to keep my mind off the sad stuff and think of the good things life has,” Reich said. “I am looking forward to the spring season so I can see the green come alive and bring fresh beginnings.”

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425

cdyson@freelancestar.com

Just last month a pregnant friend bemoaned that she couldn’t eat seafood served at a party. Yet new research shows that pregnant women should be eating more of certain fish, not less, to protect their babies.

The federal government has long recommended that pregnant women limit fish consumption to 12 ounces a week. That’s because some fish are contaminated with methylmercury, a mineral known to hinder brain development.

Yet new research indicates that something else in fish, possibly omega-3 fats or iodine, actually helps babies learn to talk better.

A recent study of 5-year-old children found that those whose mothers ate the most fish while pregnant performed best on verbal IQ tests. Published in the Journal of Nutrition, that study was done in the Republic of Seychelles, a cluster of islands near Madagascar, where the women eat three times more fish than Americans.

The study results indicated that perhaps the omega-3 fats in fish counteracted mercury.

MENTAL HEALTH PERKS

Omega-3 fats also are known to prevent or soothe depression in pregnancy and postpartum.

This is important because children born to mothers with untreated depression take longer to learn to speak, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In a recent Japanese study, pregnant women who ate the most fish had a 40 percent lower risk of depression. I encourage any women who are depressed to see a doctor or therapist. Eating fish is not enough, but it may help.

FISH OIL VS FISH

It’s not clear whether taking fish oil is as effective as eating fish, according to a study of Australian mothers and the IQ of their babies. This may be because fish are also a great source of iodine, which, like omega-3 fats, affects babies’ IQs.

“There are no tests to confirm if you have enough iodine in your body,” according to the American Thyroid Association. “Since even mild deficiency during pregnancy can have effects on delivery and the developing baby, all pregnant and breast-feeding women should take a multivitamin containing at least 150 [micrograms] iodine per day.”

About 57 percent of pregnant women had insufficient iodine levels, according to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

A supplement containing iodine is useful because the iodine in food can vary depending on the soil where it was grown, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Seafood and edible seaweed like kelp, kombu and nori are good sources of iodine, because the ocean water contains iodine. Dairy products and eggs also have decent amounts of iodine.

NEXT STEPS

For pregnant women, I recommend checking that your prenatal supplement has iodine—not all of them do. And consider eating 12 ounces of fish a week.

I do agree with federal recommendations to stay away from particularly high-mercury fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel, and to limit albacore tuna.

It’s also important to stay away from undercooked fish such as sushi, sashimi and smoked fish. Food poisoning in pregnancy can be very dangerous for the baby.

But some fish is safe, and even nutritious. When I was pregnant with my son, I tried to eat 12 ounces of fish a week. Even when feeling a little sick, I still enjoyed wild Alaskan salmon and shrimp a few times a week.

I prefer the salmon in pouches, not cans, because it’s BPA free. It’s already cooked, and convenient to eat as you would tuna. You might also enjoy other types of fish and seafood.

Jennifer Motl welcomes reader questions via her website, brighteating.com, or by email at healthyliving@freelancestar.com

Jennifer Motl is a registered  dietitian. Formerly of Fredericksburg, she now  lives in Wisconsin.

MORE INFO

Fore more information about iodine and pregnancy, visit these sites:

National Institutes of Health: ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iodine-HealthProfessional

American Thyroid Association: thyroid.org/faq-iodine-deficiency

For more information about eating fish while pregnant, try these sites:

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: eatright.org (type “fish” and “pregnant” into the search box)

American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians: acog.org (type “nutrition during pregnancy” into the search box)

WebMD: webmd.com (type “pregnancy fish limit” into the search box)

I hate my CPAP. 

I use it every night because of sleep apnea and wouldn’t think of not wearing it. Even so, I hate it.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve awakened in the middle of the night and cursed the machine, because of dry mouth or the sound of air leaking from the mask.

“Can’t somebody invent something better than this?” I ask myself.

CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. It’s a bedside machine with tube and mask that forces air down your throat while you sleep. I call it my hurricane in a box.

I need a CPAP because my tongue slips backward and blocks my airway while I sleep.

I have no idea why this happens, though I think I’ve had the problem since childhood. It was diagnosed as apnea about 15 years ago.

If I don’t use the CPAP, I snore, choke myself awake throughout the night, and, by morning, feel awful.

If I do use it, I don’t snore, don’t stop breathing and don’t feel like I’ve been poisoned when I wake.

Unfortunately, it also dries out my mouth, despite the built-in humidifier. The mask doesn’t always seal against my face, and I believe the machine is at least partly responsible for the fact that I don’t sleep through the night.

Given this history, I was excited to hear Dr. Maha Alattar, a local sleep specialist, talk about an effective alternative to CPAP.

I visited Alattar in her office recently while working on today’s story about oral appliances.

Ten years of data have shown the oral appliance to be as effective as CPAP for the treatment of mild to moderate apnea, Alattar said. She’s now got two good options in her treatment toolbox, she said.

When I was first diagnosed with apnea, CPAP was the only real treatment option. Surgery was a possibility, but my doctor said he did not recommend it.

Obviously things have changed. To me, Alattar’s words offered the stunning possibility of a life without CPAP.

“Would I be a candidate for the appliance?” I asked her.

“Get a sleep study and we’ll see,” she said.

So I did. I spent the night in Mary Washington Hospital’s sleep lab. The sleep study showed that my apnea was in the mild to moderate range. The oral appliance was a real possibility.

Alattar referred me to Dr. John Willhide, a Fredericksburg dentist. Willhide and his staff created molds of my upper and lower teeth and sent them to a lab in Texas. The lab will make a mouthpiece, not unlike the ones I used for sports.

After I receive the device and wear it for a while, I’ll return to Willhide’s office to have it adjusted.

And the CPAP? I hope to bury it deep in the back of the closet with that pair of uncomfortable shoes.

Jim Hall: 540/374-5433

jhall@freelancestar.com

The most common treatment for those with sleep apnea is a forced-air machine which aids in breathing, called the CPAP.

But a second option, a custom-made device that fits inside the mouth, is increasingly used by some apnea patients.

Called the oral appliance, the device resembles a sports mouth guard and is available for those with mild to moderate forms of the sleep disorder.

“I think it’s important for a person who has sleep apnea to know their options, not to think they’re stuck with CPAP,” said Dr. Maha Alattar, a Fredericksburg sleep specialist.

More than 18 million adults in the U.S. have obstructive sleep apnea, according to the National Sleep Foundation. For them, sleep is not a welcome respite at the end of a busy day.

Instead, their airway becomes blocked, and their sleep is interrupted, often dozens of times a night.

The interruptions are usually caused when the tongue falls backward in the mouth, preventing air from reaching the lungs. This continues until sufferers rouse themselves, often with a snort or choking sound.

Snoring is one of the hallmarks of the condition, though not all snorers have sleep apnea.

Kip Yost, a Spotsylvania County resident and apnea sufferer, said his fiancée complained about his loud snoring.

“I think she said, in her words, ‘I was ripping the paint off the walls.’” Yost said.

Sufferers also complain of morning headaches and daytime sleepiness.

“We have a couple of patients who have fallen asleep at stoplights. They’re so tired,” said Dr. John Willhide, a Fredericksburg dentist who treats apnea patients.

In addition to drowsiness, patients experience a drop in the oxygen level of their blood, which puts them at risk for medical problems, such as stroke, high blood pressure and heart attack.

In the past, most apnea sufferers either ignored their condition and lived with the complications or used a continuous positive airway pressure machine, better known as CPAP.

CPAP sits on the user’s nightstand and forces a stream of room air through a tube into the nose and mouth.

Clinical studies have shown that this forced air is effective at opening the airway and eliminating the nighttime disturbances that define sleep apnea.

Despite its effectiveness, however, CPAP is a difficult machine to love.

Users dislike having the mask on their face. They also complain that it’s uncomfortable, because of the dry mouth they experience and the air leaks.

“I travel for work so it’s a little cumbersome to lug it through the airport,” said Jan Clarke, a fundraiser at the University of Mary Washington and a former CPAP user.

In recent years, however, sleep specialists like Alattar have offered a subset of their patients the oral appliance as an alternative to CPAP.

“It’s well-established,” Alattar said. “We have almost 10 years of data to show that the oral appliance works.”

At least 60 oral appliances are now marketed for sleep apnea. Some have been available for 30 years.

Typically, the devices are custom made by dentists and cost from $1,500 to $3,000. Insurance coverage can be hit-or-miss.

Alattar refers many of her patients to Willhide for their appliances. He creates two impressions of the patient’s teeth, one for the upper teeth and another for the lower.

Willhide uses a lab in Texas to make the device, which consists of a hard plastic shell and a softer liner. Patients return to his office to adjust the device in their mouths.

“It’s a fairly simple solution to a serious problem,” he said.

The appliance works by moving the lower jaw forward and opening the airway.

“Your tongue is attached to the bottom jaw. So if you’re pulling the whole jaw forward, the tongue has to move forward,” said Dr. B. Gail Demko, president of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine.

Demko said that as dentists hear about the appliances, more want to learn how to make them. Membership in the Dental Sleep Medicine academy has gone from 300 members 10 years ago to 3,000 members now, she said.

Yost, 42, went for a sleep study last year when Robin Sterling, his fiancée, complained about his snoring and described how he stopped breathing during the night.

The sleep study confirmed that he had sleep apnea, so he went for a second study, this one using a CPAP machine.

Yost said he could not tolerate the CPAP, so he went to Willhide to be fitted for an appliance. He uses the device every night.

“When I would go to bed before the appliance, I recognized that I was waking up through the night,” he said. “Now it’s very rare that I wake up.”

Clarke, like Yost, learned that he had sleep apnea after someone commented about his snoring.

He used a CPAP for about 10 years, before switching to the oral appliance.

“Compared to the CPAP, it is a whole lot easier,” he said.

Jim Hall: 540/374-5433

jhall@freelancestar.com

At age 17 in the 1970s, Marvin Seppala dropped out of high school and became the first adolescent admitted at Hazelden, when treatment for alcoholism was in its infancy.

Afterward, he returned to his Minnesota town and finished high school. Between relapses, he applied for a job as a janitor at the Mayo Clinic and somehow landed one as a lab tech. The work inspired him to get straight at age 19, go to college, then move ahead to medical school.

Now a renowned expert on addiction treatment and psychiatry, Seppala returned to Hazelden a few years ago—as chief medical officer. His recovery shows that predisposition to alcohol abuse isn’t doom or destiny.

But people with alcoholism in their family backgrounds often worry they or their children will inherit it, for good reason: Genetic history of alcoholism is the biggest risk factor for alcoholism.

“Having an alcoholic parent, especially, tremendously raises the risk, by as much as six times the general population,” Seppala said. “Honestly, when I got married, I didn’t want children. I was so scared they’d go through the same thing I did.”

More has been learned about risk factors for alcoholism in the years since Seppala decided that having children was worth the risk. (He has two healthy children in their 20s.)

We asked Seppala and Sarah Allen Benton, author of “Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic,” to shed light on a few risk factors and red flags. Here’s what they said:

Early onset of alcohol use: “If you start drinking before age 15, you increase the risk of alcoholism by 40 percent regardless of family history,” said Benton, a therapist specializing in substance abuse and dual diagnosis treatment at McLean Hospital in Waltham, Mass.

Just postponing the use of alcohol can significantly reduce the risk of alcoholism, Benton said, partly because the part of the brain that understands risk and inhibits problematic behaviors hasn’t completely developed before age 21.

“The more we learn about the neuroscience of addiction, the more we realize that the brain can be molded by our experience, particularly by substances we use,” Seppala said. “Early on, substance use could be molding people’s brains in a manner that they could be more at risk.”

Benton, who has been in recovery from alcoholism since 2004, said she started drinking when she was 14.

“Most people I know who are alcoholics started drinking at age 14 or before,” she said.

High tolerance to alcohol: High tolerance to alcohol can be a red flag. One longitudinal study of people who had an alcoholic mother or father tested the fine motor coordination of the study participants at a young age, before and after drinking one shot.

“Those who tolerated alcohol without much change at all in their coordination, suggestive of high tolerance, were a lot more likely to wind up alcoholic than those who were remarkably affected by alcohol and couldn’t perform well on the test after the shot,” Seppala said.

Compulsive tendencies: Experts suggest that one compulsive or addictive behavior often begets another. One early clue of an alcohol compulsion is not recognizing the consequences, Seppala said.

“You see the consequences mounting and the individual doesn’t alter the behavior,” Seppala said.

In recovery, people often talk about being compulsive about other things.

“Early in my own recovery, all of a sudden I would go off and do one thing and one thing only,” Seppala said. “It wasn’t pure compulsivity driving me, but that was part of it. I also can be prone to overworking. Compulsivity is an ongoing feature that people in recovery really do have to deal with.”

Benton has found dialectical behavior therapy—which involves building mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance and emotion regulation—to be particularly helpful.

“Learning ways to take care of yourself, to calm the nervous system, even if you don’t have an addiction, is going to help you,” Benton said.

Another mental health disorder: “It’s very common for alcoholics to have an underlying mood issue,” Benton said.

“Someone who suffers anxiety may drink to feel calmer, but when it leaves their system, they get rebound anxiety. The system is stimulated and anxiety symptoms are worsened, so then they drink again,” Benton said. “It becomes a cycle. If they’re just getting sober and not dealing with the underlying mental health issue, it’s a recipe for relapse.”

Genetics: Genetics account for 50 percent of the chance of alcoholism, Benton said.

“It’s not a guarantee, but people underestimate the power of genetics in alcoholism,” Benton said. “A majority of alcoholics will say they grew up in an alcoholic home.

What can you do?

“The main thing,” Seppala said, “is raising your children to the best of your ability, providing a really loving environment for them. There are so many limits to what we can do. But those two things are powerful.”

ON THE NET: The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence: ncadd.org.

REMEMBER THE famous line in Christopher Marlowe’s poem about the face of Helen of Troy, whose abduction drove a fleet of ships into battle and ignited the Trojan Wars?

“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships; And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.”

A single face might have launched a thousand ships, but a single glance has made millions fall in love. Facial expressions are so powerful that a single glance is enough to tell us whether a person is sad, happy or aggressive.

We draw quick conclusions about people’s personality, level of attractiveness and where their attention is directed—all based on their faces. Facial expressions help us communicate in ways that words cannot.

Our faces solidify the social fabric of society. Early humans used facial expressions before they had language. Infants and children use them before they learn to speak. Television and magazines bombard us with faces of celebrities. We are so wired to recognize faces that we see them in passing clouds.

Our facial expressions are constantly being molded by our skin and muscles, but they are controlled by the right and left hemispheres of our brains.

Each hemisphere of the brain has the ability to act independently, which makes our faces asymmetric. Each side expresses a slightly different emotion at one time.

The right side of the brain—which controls the left side of the face and body—is imaginative, artistic, adventurous and philosophical. It uses feelings rather than words.

The left brain—which controls the right side of the face and body—is detail-oriented, logical and good with facts, words and math.

The right side of our face reflects the more serious side of us, while the left side shows the world a more pleasant side of us.

Maybe that’s why a team of researchers showed that the left side of the face was rated as more aesthetically pleasant than the right side. This is believed to be due to the fact that we exhibit more intense emotions with our left side.

RECOGNITION PROBLEMS

Facial expression is so important that we have a part of the brain dedicated to the interpretation of facial expressions and the perception of emotions.

It’s known as the fusiform gyrus, and it’s located at the bottom section of the temporal lobes on each side of the brain, sort of behind your ears.

A study in the May 2012 issue of Proceedings Biological Sciences concluded that the left fusiform gyrus helps us recognize “face-like” shapes in objects such as rocks or clouds. The right fusiform gyrus determines whether that feature is an actual human face or just a rock.

Prosopagnosia is the term used to describe the inability to recognize facial expressions; it is also known as face blindness. Damage to the fusiform gyrus from trauma or stroke can cause this impairment.

This part of the brain may help us understand why people with autism have impairments in social communication and facial recognition.

A study published in the September 2012 issue of Neuropsychologia showed that the ability to judge someone’s emotions by looking at his or her face was significantly impaired in adults with autism. Autism is associated with low activity in the fusiform gyrus and amygdala (an area that controls emotions).

ROLE OF GENDER, RACE

Another interesting thing about facial expressions is that men and women interpret them slightly differently. A study published in Neuropsychology in 2001 showed that men used the right side of the brain to process other people’s facial expression, while women used the left hemisphere.

Another study, published in the journal Brain and Cognition in 2002, showed that there is no difference in how men and women recognize facial expressions when they look at men’s faces. But women performed better than men in the recognition of female faces.

Studies also show that people are better at recognizing faces of members of their own race than faces of people of a different race.

This phenomenon is known as the “cross-race effect” or “interracial-face-recognition deficit.” In a study published in Perception in 2003, for example, Asian people were better able to recognize Asian faces, while Caucasian participants were better able to discern Caucasian faces.

A common result of this diminished familiarity with the other race’s facial expression is the tendency to see others and think “they all look alike.”

Another study, in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 1991, showed that white people performed significantly worse on trials involving African–American faces than on trials involving white faces. No such difference existed among African–American participants.

The science of how we recognize faces and interpret facial expressions is complex. The eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth all play a role in what we see. And our brains are so complex they can make out expressions from undulations in the little hills and hollow caves of our faces.

If you’re wondering whether you have a preferred side of the face, visit echoism.org, a website where you can view photos of people’s faces and even upload photos of your own face. You might want to see how your left side compares to your right.

Dr. Maha Alattar is a board-certified neurologist and sleep specialist. She also is the director of the Mary Washington Healthcare stroke program. You can contact Dr. Alattar at Sleep Medicine Specialists in Fredericksburg at 540/741-7846.

MARTHA BECK was almost killed three times in six months. She was in a car accident, a high-rise fire and had a severe autoimmune reaction to an unexpected pregnancy. By the time her baby was diagnosed with Down syndrome, she was already overloaded.

You wouldn’t know any of this by looking at Beck’s website, where she’s wearing comfy skinny jeans and a warm smile.

Beck is the author of many books, including the best-selling “Leaving the Saints.” She’s also a columnist for Oprah’s O magazine. A Harvard educated sociologist and life coach, Beck calls life’s rough patches “rumble strips.”

She describes the “rumble strips” we occasionally encounter as a string of seemingly unfortunate events that can also be an opportunity to rethink our direction or purpose.

What does one do when hit with a string of difficulties that seems to block the path we intended for our life? If the phrase “take it as an opportunity to reconsider your direction” makes you want to gag, then you may need a little more rumbling before you decide to take heed. And if that’s the case, then tuck the suggestions I give below away for later.

But if you’re ready to reframe your “rumble strips” as opportunities, consider these ideas:

First, put on the brakes. Beck suggests this simple routine: eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom. I would add “breathe.”

Of course this sounds rudimentary, but if you’ve been rumbled enough then maybe you are off your beaten path and in the weeds. Slowing down

will give you a chance to reconsider your direction.

Beck had been working toward her third Harvard degree when she hit her rumble strip. She was forced to loosen her attachment to the degree, and it wasn’t until then that she began to recognize a greater purpose for her life.

Throw your mind into reverse. Once you slow down, it becomes easier to throw your mind into reverse. This is a time for reassessment.

Maybe the divorce you experienced as a failure was really an important learning experience. Maybe a job loss causes you to rethink your life’s primary purpose.

We have to let go of our attachment to seeing our problems as disasters before we can embrace what new learning might occur because of the problem.

If you’ve been rumbled enough, then try thinking of one possible positive outcome of the turmoil. Let go of the attachment to the old path and consider the possibility that life is taking you on a new path.

What is one positive thing you can hang onto through your difficulties?

“Find newer, smooth terrain,” Beck suggests. It may be hard to spot the smooth terrain until you’ve put the brakes on your previous destination. So this step initially may be accompanied by a fair amount of fear; the “known,” even if it’s problematic, might feel more comfortable than the potentially smooth terrain of the “unknown.”

But when I ask people what they need to do next, they often know right away. In many cases, people have easily identified the new potentially smooth terrain that they want for their lives. Still, the fear of change can be crippling.

Questions like—Will I be able to get a new job? Will I ever find love again?—might be on your mind as you consider going through a divorce or a job change.

Here are some thoughts to help minimize this crippling fear:

Don’t let fear get in the way. Consider this great quote by one of my favorite artists, Georgia O’Keeffe. She said: “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and I’ve never let it stop me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.”

Many would suggest we feel the fear and move toward our life’s purpose anyway. Remember that fear accompanies any change—even good change can be scary.

Trust yourself. Only one person has to live with every decision you make, and that’s you.

Remember that not deciding is also a decision, with ramifications that are probably just as great as a conscious decision.

After making a decision, faith in yourself or a higher power can be an important ingredient as you move through a big or difficult change in your life.

Consider the new direction as an open door. You won’t know what’s in store for you in this new direction until you get there. Try to approach the new possibilities with a spirit of curiosity rather than fear.

How did Beck fare in navigating her rumble strips? She shares in her O magazine column this month: “I learn[ed] the lesson my true self needed me to learn: that no brass ring is worth a damn compared with the one thing that makes life worth living—love.”

Did life bring her a rumble strip so she could learn the valuable lesson she shares with us now?

I like to think so.

Dr. Delise Dickard, a licensed professional counselor, is the director of Riverside Counseling. She welcomes reader comments and questions. For contact information, see riversidecounseling.org.

FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR

Five days before Christmas, Angie McCormick’s phone rang. It was 8 a.m. and she was home making cookies for an office party, while her kids slept in. It was her oncologist’s office calling—to tell her to go to the ER immediately.

The doctor’s office had just gotten the results back from a blood draw the day before. McCormick’s white blood cell count was 176,000; normal is at most 11,000.

McCormick had been tired lately, and bruising easily, but otherwise feeling great. After a bout with thyroid cancer in 2009, she’d committed to an intense routine of exercise and vegan eating. She was in the best shape of her life.

But a few hours after the doctor’s office called, a second blood draw at the ER confirmed the dangerously elevated white blood cell count, which can be a sign of cancer.

McCormick’s oncologist, Dr. Charles Maurer, came in almost immediately to do a bone marrow biopsy, an extremely painful procedure made worse due to the density of McCormick’s bones from months of weight-lifting and running.

Maurer had the results within hours: chronic myeloid leukemia. Phase 2: Accelerated. That explained the easy bruising and fatigue McCormick had recently been experiencing.

The good news: The leukemia was not yet in the advanced blast phase, which would make it tough to treat. The bad news: Aggressive treatment would be required to try to get it into Phase 1 remission and keep it there.

McCormick was stunned. The 34-year-old Fredericksburg woman had already beaten cancer once, almost three years before. She had taken control of her life since then, swearing off junk food and binge eating and shifting herself and her family over to a strict vegan diet. And not just any vegan diet, either, but one rich with foods proven to fight and ward off cancers.

“It’s a cliché, but when I got cancer the first time it was a wake-up call,” said McCormick, a call center manager for a national polling firm. “I ate all the wrong foods, and for the wrong reasons. I was a compulsive overeater. I’d given the cancer everything it needed to succeed.”

After changing her diet, McCormick liked how she felt—not only physically, but emotionally. But just changing her diet, she decided, wasn’t enough. Though a lifelong hater of exercise, she took up distance running at the urging of a co-worker.

“At first I just didn’t want to be fat anymore,” she said. “But once I got started, I wanted to keep going.”

After a year of mostly just running, she started taking exercise classes and lifting weights. Last summer she began working with Chris Innocenti, a personal trainer at the Massad Branch of the YMCA. She also joined his Boot Camp and was soon devoting at least nine hours a week to exercise.

In two years’ time McCormick lost 103 lbs., dropping from 249 to a strong, fit 146. She was healthy and happy and thinking about her next big challenge. Maybe graduate school. Maybe a marathon.

Instead, just a few days before Christmas, she found herself lying in the hospital, her body swelling from edema, a side effect of Gleevec, the first drug therapy she was put on for leukemia.

‘IT’S LITERALLY HELPING ME’

Gleevec and other drug therapies, developed in recent years, are designed to combat the bone marrow’s excessive production of unformed cells called blasts, or leukemia cells. These cells grow quickly and crowd out normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets the body needs.

Leukemia can be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, including certain viruses; exposure to Benzene or petrochemicals; or even some chemotherapy agents used to treat previous cancers.

Whatever the reason for her leukemia, McCormick knew she had not come so far for everything to go back to the way it was before.

“I can’t describe what a huge thing that was for me to lose a hundred pounds and beat thyroid cancer,” she said. “It was about overcoming an entire lifetime of being disappointed in myself. Never feeling good about myself. Never liking how I looked. Never feeling happy or successful.”

McCormick got out of the hospital on Saturday, Dec. 23. And at 9 a.m. the next morning, she showed up at the Y parking lot with the other hardcore Boot Campers, ready to lift a few tractor tires.

“I did a whole lot of not much,” she recalled.

“Not much” included an intense series of squats, extended wall sits and a forward sled drag, among other challenges. Not bad for someone who couldn’t even sit down because of the biopsy, and who still wore her hospital bracelet, just in case.

McCormick hasn’t let up much since.

“I’m not about to stop working out,” she said. “It’s another weapon in the arsenal. It’s literally helping me fight the cancer. Research has clearly shown that it boosts your immune system. And it’s another opportunity for me to prove to myself that I can do things I didn’t think I could do.”

‘SURVIVORSHIP CARE’

Two weeks after she got out of the hospital, McCormick was doing just about everything she’d been doing before: pushups, kettle-bell swings, sled pulls, sledge-hammering and working with her fellow Boot Campers to flip a 666-pound tractor tire they call “Buttercup.”

By Jan. 9, McCormick, who had gained 22 lbs. the first week after starting her treatment, was back to her pre-diagnosis weight.

Dr. Maurer, her oncologist, was happy she was keeping her weight down—something he told her he wished more of his patients could do, since it made the drug therapy much easier to manage.

“Because [McCormick] is so well-conditioned, there is a much higher likelihood of responding well to treatment, and a much lower risk of complications from the drug therapy,” he said.

McCormick hasn’t had to have any blood transfusions. Her white blood cell count has stayed down. There’s no talk about a bone marrow transplant.

And, in what a surprised Maurer told her was “remarkably fast progress,” McCormick said her leukemia has already gone into first-level remission.

The goal, with drug therapies, is to achieve that level in three months. McCormick did it in three weeks. The goal now is to continue progressing into deeper remission—chronic, but asymptomatic and no longer spreading.

“She’ll be on a regimented drug program for the rest of her life, which can induce a complete, sustained remission,” Maurer said. “The challenge now is what we call ‘Survivorship Care.’ Once you’ve finished treatment, there is more and more data showing the importance of staying fit, exactly as she has done, which will help in preventing a recurrence.”

McCormick celebrated her first-level remission by buying a new pink and blue T–shirt with the words “Suck it up, Buttercup” emblazoned on the front.

She wore it the next day to Boot Camp.

SIDEBAR: CANCER PATIENT A BELIEVER IN POWER OF EXERCISE, GOOD DIET

Angie McCormick’s workouts are holistic, focusing on strength, stamina and diet. Her sessions with personal trainer Chris Innocenti emphasize functional fitness exercises with such exotic names as the Bulgarian Split Squat, Sumo Dead Lift and Blast Strap Row.

She has recently added yoga once or twice a week to her workout schedule. She also has begun run-ning again, taking spinning classes and lifting weights.

She continues to follow a mostly vegan diet, with a few modifications to increase her protein level and combat the anemia that comes with her leukemia. McCormick remains a steadfast believer in the importance of exercise and diet to combat illnesses—especially cancer.

There’s reason for her to believe.

“Only 5 to 10 percent of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90 to 95 percent have their roots in the environment and lifestyle,” a team of researchers wrote in a recent article published by the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Biochemical Information.

“The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25 to 30 percent are due to tobacco, as many as 30 to 35 percent are linked to diet, about 15 to 20 percent are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants, etc.”

McCormick said much the same thing in a Facebook message for her friends last spring about her thyroid cancer, adding her own call to action:

“Three years ago at this time, they were telling me there was an excellent 5-year survival rate, and I thought, ‘In 5 years, [my son] Liam will be 7 and [my daughter] Lara will be 13. That’s not enough time.’ I resolved to do anything I could to help fight it, and I did. So here is my annual soapbox statement:

“You are not ‘too young’ to get cancer, or heart disease, or Type 2 diabetes. … So wake up and stop making excuses. … Stop eating crap. Get some exercise.  … Cancer is preventable, up to 95 percent of the time. Wrap your head around that, and then get moving.”

ABOUT LEUKEMIA

Chronic myeloid leukemia, the kind that Fredericksburg resident Angie McCormick has, is “a type of cancer that starts in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. It then moves into the blood and can spread to other parts of the body,” the American Cancer Society says.

The leukemia cells tend to build up over time in CML patients, but CML can “change into a fast-growing, acute leukemia that invades almost any organ in the body,” the society says.

CML is one of four main types of leukemia. Learn more at cancer.org/cancer.

Steve Watkins, a retired University of Mary Washington professor, is an author and yoga teacher. You can contact him through his website, stevewatkinsbooks.com.

Chocolates come in a heart-shaped box for a reason—certain types really are good for your heart.

Eating dark chocolate regularly is linked to a lower risk of heart attack and stroke. And it’s just plain delicious. So indulge a little.

Like green tea, dark chocolate is rich in flavanols, antioxidants that may product the heart and blood vessels. It’s also a very rich source of magnesium, a mineral critical for a healthy heart as well as for the hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar.

But not all chocolates are created equal. Here’s my guide to how chocolate may help your heart and your moods without stretching your waistline, and to which chocolates are best to eat.

CHOCOLATE FOR HEARTS

Eat dark chocolate daily. That’s the prescription recommended by Australian researchers recently for people with metabolic syndrome, who carry extra weight around the waist and have a combination of mildly elevated trigly-cerides, blood sugar or blood pressure, and low HDL cholesterol.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, suggested that dark chocolate could help prevent heart attacks and strokes for these people.

Chocolate’s effects are mild compared to medicines—it may reduce cholesterol by a modest 8 points and blood pressure by 5 points. But less than half of Americans actually take their pills as prescribed, according to the journal

Circulation.

Patients might be more compliant with a prescription for high-quality chocolate with 60 percent cocoa. (Don’t stop taking medications, though—speak with your doctor about any concerns you have and consider chocolate in addition to medicines.)

MORE GOOD NEWS

Eating chocolate frequently was linked to a much lower risk of heart disease in The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study. Of nearly 5,000 volunteers, those who ate chocolate five or more times a week had a 57 percent lower risk of heart disease than folks who avoided chocolate.

And chocolate lovers had 29 percent fewer strokes than chocolate avoiders, according to a study in the British Medical Journal.

European researchers found that chocolate may improve the elasticity of blood vessels and prevent some dangerous clots.

Folks who eat chocolate were 19 percent more likely to have normal levels of the good HDL cholesterol, plus they had a 15 percent lower risk of metabolic syndrome compared to chocolate haters. That’s according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 15,000 Americans.

BOOST YOUR MOOD

Along with helping the heart, chocolate helps the head. Chocolate contains natural mood-boosters such as theobromine. One study of older Finnish men found that those ate chocolate were more optimistic than men who disliked chocolate.

Dark chocolate may help folks with chronic fatigue feel better, too, according to a small study in the United Kingdom.

GREAT TASTE, LESS FAT

People who ate chocolate most frequently had lower rates of obesity, in a startling study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Another study found that women can lose weight while eating small amounts of dark chocolate daily. Published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the study found that during an 18-week program including frequent coaching by dietitians, volunteers were able to lose more than 12 pounds while including sugar-free hot cocoa with their breakfast and two snacks of 60-percent-cocoa chocolate.

The two chocolate snacks provided a combined total of 90 calories and were part of a low-calorie, balanced meal plan.

THE DARK SIDE

There are some down sides to chocolate consumption, too. Some depressed folks eat more chocolate, according to study in Archives of Internal Medicine. Another study found that some people try to self-medicate their depression with chocolate binges.

And your attitude toward chocolate may reflect your overall relationship with food. Women who craved chocolate but felt guilty after eating it were more likely to have eating disorders, according to an Australian study. Women who ate chocolate and felt fine about it were unlikely to have eating disorders.

BEST EATS

Consider eating dark chocolate, at least 60 percent cocoa. Dark, not white chocolate, improved blood pressure and insulin sensitivity in an Italian study. Other great options include unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder, and cacao nibs.

Cacao nibs are cacao beans that have been fermented, roasted and crushed—basically unprocessed baking chocolate. Nibs are slightly bitter and crunchy, somewhat like coffee beans. Try cacao nibs sprinkled on top of oatmeal or granola. Or put them in a tea ball and brew in coffee or tea.

Most chocolate bars and cocoa mixes contain more sugar than chocolate, which can cancel out the benefits. Australian researchers recommend chocolate with at least 60 percent cocoa. That means it’s 60 percent chocolate and 40 percent fillers like sugar and vanilla.

When it comes to hot cocoa, commercial mixes have more fillers than cocoa. Homemade hot cocoa has more cocoa powder, and thus more antioxidants and magnesium. Just heat a mug of milk in the microwave, then stir in two teaspoons of cocoa powder, a few drops of vanilla extract, and honey or sweetener to taste.

Moderate amounts of dark chocolate and cocoa can be healthful, not to mention luxurious.

Jennifer Motl is a registered  dietitian. Formerly of Fredericksburg, she now  lives in Wisconsin. She welcomes reader questions via her website, brighteat ing.com, or by email at healthyliving@freelancestar.com.