January is "National Healthy Weight Awareness Month," and we wanted to take the opportunity to remind everyone about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. With this in mind, we hosted a "Healthy Eating & Cooking Demo" at Texas Emergency Hospital with Dan Phalen, Corporate Executive Chef at Luby's Culinary Services. Everyone can enjoy the presentation below and try the delicious healthy recipe. Dan also gives some cooking tips to keep in mind while cooking.

In this issue, we also have EHS Pharmacy Director Darryl Bowers, who has put together an interesting article about the science behind light energy. He deeps into how light energy affects our bodies and the effect it has on our overall health. You can go ahead and download and read the full article we've included below.

ARTICLE

Darryl Bowers is an enthusiast of light energy and its effects on the human body; His interest began when he learned more about the incredible discoveries scientists have made on this subject. He wanted to share that knowledge with us, so he has prepared this exciting article on the "Effects of Light Energy on the Human Body."

The Effects of Light Energy

in the Human Body

By Darryl Bowers

Many people know about ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and how it helps our bodies produce vitamin D. However, there is another aspect of the light that we receive from the outside that is also very important, which is: light energy.

So, for example, if we were to look at the solar spectrum, we will see that around 7% of it would be invisible ultraviolet light ranging between 290 and 400 nm which is mainly responsible for vitamin D. About 39% would be made up of visible light ranging from 401 to 730nm. And finally, around 54% would be composed of invisible infrared light ranging from 750 nm and more.

So, to fully explain why light is vital to the human body, I must take it to the cellular level. In every cell of our body, we have something called mitochondria. The mitochondria in our cells is like an engine in a car. This is the currency of energy for the body and is called ATP. Just like a car engine, it can overheat and shut down if it doesn't cool down properly.

Too much oxidative stress can cause serious health problems.

The overheating of the engine is a byproduct known as oxidative stress. In the cells of our body, a similar situation occurs within the mitochondria. Mitochondria take the food we eat, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, and produce the ATP our bodies need. This continuous work of the mitochondria produces the byproduct of oxidative stress. If there is a significant buildup of oxidative stress/heat within a car engine, and in the case of our bodies, the mitochondria, this can lead to severe problems.

Scientists have found that too much oxidative stress in the body can cause serious health problems, including inflammation, cancer, dementia, diabetes, and learning disabilities, as well as mitochondria disabilities itself.

Like a car engine has a cooling system to keep it from overheating, so does our body. The body has to fire up two systems that take care of the mitochondria by cooling them down or removing oxidative stress—one works during the day and the other works at night.

READ MORE HERE

VIDEO ON HEALTHY COOKING

EHS PRESENTS

COOKING DEMO WITH DAN PHALEN FROM LUBY'S

January is Healthy Weight Awareness Month. Make "Healthy Weight" your New Year's Resolution.

Executive Chef from Luby's, Dan Phalen, returns to EHS to show off another healthy recipe! Chef Dan made a fantastic shrimp stir-fry with black rice. Check out the video and download the recipe.

We hope you enjoy this recipe.

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