How Do Anti-Oxidants Work? They Protect Your DNA!

If you watch enough television, you’ve probably heard the words “anti-oxidant” and “free radical.” From what we’re told, free radicals are “bad,” anti-oxidants are “good,” and if we don’t buy food and beauty products with anti-oxidants we’ll be in danger.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a sample commercial:

At no point in this commercial did the speaker explain what anti-oxidants were. Nor did he tell us what anti-oxidants protect us against. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to buy a bottle of Snapple just to play it safe.

I also really, really love bubble wrap!

 So I’m going to dedicate a post to explaining anti-oxidants.

Free Radicals, Man!

The word “radical” is a scary word. We hear it used on the news to describe dangerous people like arsonists, murderers, bombers and tyrants. No one wants to be known as a “radical.”

Unless they’re a skateboarder from the 90s.

"Radical, dude! That was totally gnarly!"

Unfortunately, a free radical is more like the kind we hear on the news and less like the skateboarding kind. A free radical can come from just about any chemical in our bodies. When we’re hit with ultraviolet radiation, the energy passes into our cells. This energy can sometimes charge a random molecule, causing it to split apart. These parts are now highly unstable molecules that could react in unexpected ways with anything around them – they are “free radicals.”

Most free radicals do little and are eventually destroyed by other processes in our bodies. But if the split molecule was something important, like our DNA, then we could be in trouble. As I said in my post about tanning beds, DNA is much more vulnerable to UV rays than other parts of our cells. If our DNA becomes damaged, it could cause the cell to reproduce at a dangerous rate, resulting in cancer.

Luckily for us, our body has many, many defenses against a cell with damaged DNA. But there are only so many times you can roll the dice before they come up snake eyes, and there are only so many times your body can deal with these cells before it misses one and develops cancer.

Anti-Oxidants – Like Superman, Only Really, Really Small

In the following dramatic re-enactment, Superman plays the anti-oxidant, the bullets are the free-radicals, and the two scared men are DNA. The shooter, I guess, can be ultraviolet light, but that stretches the metaphor pretty thin.

Instead of ultraviolet radiation splitting apart DNA, anti-oxidants step in to take the blast. Vitamin C is one such anti-oxidant. Instead of breaking apart like most molecules, when vitamin C is hit with UV rays, it twists and bends. Although rendered nutritionally useless, it protects our DNA.

Anti-oxidants can’t heal already damaged cells, but they’re very good at preventing further harm. Never believe a commercial if it says that the anti-oxidants in their product can reverse damage – they don’t read my blog, so they’re not worth listening to.

I’m kidding. But for the record, Snapple, Superman makes for a much cooler metaphor than bubble wrap.. Maybe you should hire me as an advertising executive, eh? Eh?

What Are Electrolytes, Anyway? What Do They Do?

Every five or six years, the food industry throws a new, science-y word at us to sell a product. In the late 90s, we heard the term “electrolyte” over and over again. Beverage producers added these electro-doodads to our water, our sports drinks and sometimes our juice. And we were grateful to drink these electrolytes… Whatever they were…

"I dunno what it is, but thanks for putting it in my drink, science dudes!"

I’m committing this week to blogging about “Pop Nutrients” – the science-y buzz words that everyone is happy to consume, but few understand.

Shocking!

There was a time when I wanted to be a scientist. Coming out of high school, I attended the University of Michigan - Dearborn to study microbiology. I had fevered dreams of manipulating DNA to create new biotechnology, becoming gloriously rich and retiring to Ecuador at age 45.

But, like most college students, I changed my major... A lot.

Before settling into my English major, I flirted with the idea of becoming a chemist. My close attention to details was invaluable in the laboratory, and my handle for mathematics made theoretical applications a snap. I studied the periodic table of elements like a religious text. I was obsessed.

And like many would-be scientists, all that interest died when I had to take organic chemistry.

"Curse you, organic chemistry!"

But during my happy days of general and analytic chemistry, I learned about these neat little substances called “electrolytes.” Let me tell you their story in the form of a fairy tale:

Electrolyte – A Love Story

Once upon a time, in a far away land called Electrolyte, there were two best friends named Cation (“cat-eye-on”) and Anion (“ann-eye-on.”) Cation was very happy and positive, whereas Anion was very glum and negative. Although they were complete opposites, they stuck together like glue. But one day, a woman named Solvent came between them. Both Cation and Anion were attracted to Solvent, so much so that it pulled the two friends apart. They warred with each other so fiercely that sparks literally flew between them. In the end, no one was happy. Cation and Anion could not be friends when Solvent was around. The moral of the story: if you add salt to water, you can generate a weak electrical charge.

(The moral was is in the subtext. Trust me, I study literature.)

All joking aside, an electrolyte is a substance thatcontains free ions capable of carrying an electrical current. To do this, you need positively-charged ions (cations) and negatively-charged ions (anions.) The easiest way to get these atoms into a mixture is to dissolve a salt.

Table salt is only one example of chemical compounds known as ionic salts. The scientific name for table salt is sodium chloride. Its two constituent parts, sodium (a positive cation) and chloride (a negative anion,) dissolve and separate when introduced to water (a solvent.) And if you were to run a current through the solution, you’d find that water conducts more electricity when salty. The overall solution, as well as the individual ions, are called electrolytes.

See? My story was totally accurate!

Your Body, Electrified!

Everything you do and feel is controlled by electricity. From blinking to breathing, nerves control our muscles and transfer information all throughout our bodies.

Nerve cells need electrolytes to send their signals. Potassium and sodium, two vital electrolytes for the human body, are responsible for all neural electricity. Too much potassium and your muscles and nerves act on their own, causing spasms, seizures, or heart attacks. Too little and you could be weakened or paralyzed. The proper concentration of these two ions is important for optimum health, so your kidneys are put in charge to maintain the balance.

When our bodies our active, we sweat. As we know, our sweat tastes salty. After working out, not only are we tired, but we build up a thirst. Logic tells us that we just lost a lot of water through sweat, so now our body wants that water back. But what about the salts that came out of our skin? Shouldn’t we replace those too?

Current medical knowledge tells us that drinking water after working out may not be enough. In order to regain a proper balance of fluids, we also need to drink something with electrolytes. It turns out that our kidneys work harder than we realize to maintain healthy concentrations of salts. If we have a low level of salts, but we continue to add water, instead of holding onto the water, the kidneys push the water out of our bodies as urine. After all, if it held on to the water, the concentration of salt in our body would lower further. So, to properly re-hydrate, we need to add some salts as well. That way, our kidneys will be more apt to hold on to the water we drink.

What Food Labels, Like “Organic” or “Natural,” Really Mean

Ending this week of skepticism, I want to include a quick run-down of what your food labels really mean. We’re bombarded with advertising labels every day, “Low Fat,” “Low Sodium,” “All Natural,” etc. Because we’re hit with so much advertising, many Americans are unconvinced by what they see and hear. Still, most people don’t know where to find information about these labels. Rather than rolling out a lot of corny jokes (like usual,) I feel this information would be better suited as a straightforward list.

USDA Organic

If you see the following label, your product comes from at least 95% organic materials. For meat, this means the animal was raised without antibiotics or growth hormones. The animal was also fed a strict diet of organic food. The organic label exists to encourage conservation and eco-friendly practices.

100% Organic 

Rest assured, if your label has both the USDA Organic label as well as the words “100% Organic,” every last part of the product is organic. The FDA is strict about the organic label. Any wrongful labeling levies an $11,000 fine per each count.

Made With Organic Ingredients

Although the label sounds good, this phrase means that the product is a minimum of 70% organic. Better than nothing, I suppose, but misleading nonetheless.

Natural

The term “Natural” is only monitored and enforced for meat and poultry. For these products, “Natural” means the meat does not contain chemical preservatives or artificial flavors/coloring. On other products, this term means nothing as it is unregulated.

“Non” or “Free”

Examples of these phrases include “Fat Free”or “Non-fat." The terms “Non” and “Free” mean that, per serving, there must be less that 0.5 grams of fat, 0.5 grams in sugar, 2 mg of cholesterol, or 5 mg of sodium, depending on if the product is “Fat Free,” “Sugar Free,” “Non-Cholesterol” or “Sodium Free,” respectively.

“Low” 

Similar to the above, for a serving of “Low Sodium” the product must have less than 140 mg of sodium, for “Low Cholesterol” the product must have less than 20 mg of cholesterol and for “Low Fat” the product must have less than 3 grams of fat. Notice that in both “Low” and “Free,” the product can still contain a small amount of the avoided ingredient.

“Rich In,” “High” or “Excellent Source Of”

The product must have at least 20% of the daily recommended amount of the nutrient per serving.

“Good Source”

Instead of 20%, the product must have between 10 and 20% of the daily recommended amount per serving.

"Corn Sugar" and Natural Flavor Beaver Sacs

I read food labels. A lot. It’s a new habit and it makes me feel like a food detective while shopping. If I see a box of crackers claiming to be “Whole Wheat” or “Natural,” I can’t help but check that claim with the ingredients list. Nine times out of ten, these words are gimmicks – the first ingredient in some “whole wheat” crisps is enriched flour and “natural” foods can still have tons of naturally-occurring chemicals.

Just what would unnatural food look like, anyway?

If you missed my previous post about bug-based food ingredients, feel free to check it out. This post will follow the same format.

“Natural Flavoring”

If you pick up a steak marinade, this ingredient might be floating in the bottle. Natural flavoring can come from just about anything: vegetables, fruits, meats, spices, or any oil or excretion derived from these sources. From this definition, I’d feel pretty safe snacking on some barbeque chips that use natural flavoring.

But then you hear about certain things included under “natural flavoring” that you’d probably not feel comfortable chewing… like the anal glands of a beaver.

"Dude, what?"

Castoreum, listed often as “natural flavoring,” is a by-product of the fur industry. The beaver (male and female) is killed, skinned, and then the glands between its anus and genitals are removed, smoked, and sold for our consumption.

Yummy!

Of course, beaver sacs are not the only things included as “natural flavoring.” But if something so seemingly inedible has snuck into our food, what else is creeping in under that same label?

Oh, and ladies? Castoreum is widely used in perfumes due to its pungent aroma. You may be dabbing beaver-butt-gland juice on your neck before a big night out.

So…  Much… Corn…

 

Those familiar with Big Agri know what I mean when I say America makes a hell of a lot of corn. But for those of you who don’t know, here are a couple of quick statistics from the USDA:

     * This year alone, farmers planted 96.4 million acres (over 150,000 square miles) of corn in the United States. That's the area of California. Compare this to cotton at 12.6 million acres or wheat at 56 million acres.

     *  In 2011, the US harvested 109,000 tons of corn for silage. That means this was the total weight of corn we fed to animals. The corn fed to humans was not included in this measurement. In comparison, we only grew 17,649 tons of potatoes.

     * In that same year, the US produced $76  billion dollars of corn, total. That's the same amount that Apple made in 2011.

Amber waves of grain? More like amber tidal waves of grain!

Corn is an amazing vegetable. Its molecular structure is simple enough that scientists can turn it into lots of different products. Through simple processes, corn can become fuel, flavoring, syrup, oil, seasoning, fiber, sugar, vitamins and much more. The amount of corn in the foods we eat every day is staggering.

Don’t believe me? Check out this link that shows the many forms that corn can come in. Spoiler alert, you’ll have to do quite a bit of scrolling to get to the bottom of the page.

The big one I want to focus on right now is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS.) Corn contains sugar in the form of glucose. Glucose is like that kid in high school that was friends with everybody – it’s what we call a “simple sugar.” Glucose is the first source of energy your body looks for; it breaks down quickly, and it can be stored easily.

Fructose, on the other hand, was that kid in high school who wore a lot of black, hid behind the Dumpsters and smoked like a chimney. Fructose doesn’t work well with the body. The liver processes what little it can, but usually fructose is converted to fat.

Wait just a minute now… If corn is made of glucose, where does the fructose come from?

Good question! The truth is that fructose doesn’t show up naturally in corn. Corn is processed by enzymes to turn glucose to fructose. That fructose is then mixed with corn syrup into a 55-45 blend of fructose to glucose, and voila! High fructose corn syrup!

Now, at of the time of this post, although there are a lot of articles arguing one way or the other, no single study has proven that HFCS is more dangerous than any other form of sugar. That’s what makes it okay for players in the corn industry to air this commercial:

For the record, they’re talking about high fructose corn syrup. The Corn Refiner's Association recently tried to re-brand all high fructose corn syrup in products as “corn sugar” to avoid bad press. The FDA blocked it, but HFCS masquerades as several different labels currently, so we could still see a new name in the future.

While technically not wrong (yes, the body treats HFCS the same way it would treat a different sugar,) the video misses the major point: high fructose corn syrup is everywhere. It’s becoming impossible to get away from the stuff. Even if it isn’t more dangerous, the simple fact is eating too much sugar, of any type, is unhealthy. And with the way HFCS has been sneaking into foods, regulating our sugar intake is becoming harder and harder.

This is why it’s important to read labels. Yes, feeling like the Sherlock Holmes of Safeway, the Columbo of Kroger, or the Matlock of Meijer is cool, but it’s also to your benefit. HFCS can show up in bread, condiments, juice, cereal, baking mixes and almost anything else you can think of. Being wary can cut your sugar intake by a hefty amount… And that’s something any doctor will agree is a good thing.

If you have an hour to kill and you'd like to learn more about American agriculture and how it shapes the foods we eat, check out this documentary for free on Hulu:

Drank Expired Milk? Expiration Dates are Lies!

Yeah, you heard me – expiration dates are a joke, and a bad one at that. I’ve visited a lot of homes in my life. I’ve stayed with families who eat fried foods three times a day, other families who stick to organic vegetables, and even other families who put pineapples on pizza. But the common factor among every home I’ve visited is the strict adherence to expiration dates.

Why are we so terrified about expiration dates? What could possibly be growing inside dairy milk that’s so dangerous? When we poured ourselves a bowl of cornflakes, did an alien parasite slip into the jug? Or did a mutated strain of Ebola sneak into the fridge, unscrew the cap and set up an ambush?

"I say, don't strike until thou see-est the Honeycomb!"

There’s no exact way of knowing when milk has expired until you use the only foolproof test – sniffing or sipping.

This week, I’m going to be looking into food labels and what they really mean. I’m starting today with expiration dates, I’ll post an article about mysterious food ingredients on Wednesday and I’ll end the week with a post about other deceptive food advertisements.

The Science Behind Milk

We’re told as kids that milk comes from cows, it gets shipped from the farm to the grocery store and that’s all there is to it. I understand why most people don’t bother looking further. It’s just milk, for crying out loud! Who cares about where milk comes from?

Well, I care, because I’m nosey like that.

If you can't trust milk, what CAN you trust?

Most dairy farms have many cows (dozens, if not hundreds) that produce milk. To keep these cows healthy, the farmers mix antibiotics and hormones into the cows’ feed. The antibiotics keep the cows from developing deadly infections, the hormones help the cows to make more of it and the farmer just sits back and watches the cream flow.

Once the milk is collected, it needs to be pasteurized. One method for doing this, popular with the milk used in frozen desserts, is to store the milk in a giant vat and heat it to at least 156 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. The heat kills off most of the nasty little microbes that hitched a ride from the cows into the milk. From there, the milk is packaged and shipped all around the country.

Notice that I said “most of” the microbes.

Despite the dairy sauna, some plucky little bacterium always manages to survive. It sits in the milk, brooding, wanting to get back at the humans for destroying its kind. Think of it like a miniature Rambo in every glass of moo juice.

"They drew first blood..."

It takes a long time for that bacterium to grow, have some kids and rebuild the neighborhood. Ever notice how milk tastes fresher the day you bought it than throughout the week? The loss of “freshness” is the bacteria eating up the natural sugar (lactose) in milk. The longer it has been since pasteurization, the more time bacteria have to grow in the jug. Eventually, it’s a regular block-party of bacteria, and this leads to the sour smell and taste of expired milk.

So Why Are Expiration Dates Wrong?

Bacteria grow slowly. It takes a long while to build up their numbers after being bumped off by pasteurization. The gradual build-up of bacteria can take much longer than the one-week deadline posted on the jug. In fact, how long your milk lasts depends largely on how you store it.

... can prevent sour milk!

Are you the kind of person who leaves the milk out after pouring a bowl of cocoa puffs? Then your milk will expire faster – the warmth promotes bacteria growth.

Are you the kind of person who keeps the cap on and stores the milk in the back of the fridge? Then your milk will expire slower – keep milk cold, dark and covered makes bacteria work harder to spread.

But the biggest point I want to make is that the date on the carton is not an absolute. The bacteria aren’t sitting around on the bottom of the jug, watching the calendar, waiting for the expiration date to come before they strike. If your milk tasted fine yesterday, it’s probably fine today. If your milk tasted funky yesterday, it hasn’t improved since.

But What if I Don’t Want Bacteria In My Milk?

Sadly, you have no choice. Bacteria get into all of our food, no matter how hard we try. But if you want to go longer between trips to buy milk, there are a couple alternatives you could check out.

Farmers of organic milk do not use antibiotics on their cows. To make the milk last longer, organic milk farmers use Ultra-Heat Pasteurization (UHT.) Instead of heating the milk to 156 Fahrenheit, organic milk is heated to 280 Fahrenheit for about four seconds, killing off more bacteria than normal pasteurization. Organic milk will keep for about a month.

Or, if you really want some shelf-life, switch to soy or almond milk. Not only are these milk-alternatives antibiotic and hormone-free (not to mention other FDA approved nastiness,) but they also last over two months without spoiling. I prefer vanilla-flavored Silk to regular milk in my cereal because it makes every bowl taste like dessert!

Cupping – Traditional Chinese Therapy (With Fire and Blood)

Hands-free cup carrying: it’s the way of the future. As a kid, I pioneered this technology. I would put an empty cup over my mouth, suck in, and then hold my breath. It created a vacuum in the cup that suctioned it to my face. Sure, I might have looked like a doofus walking around with a cup dangling from my chin, but that paled in comparison to the extra productivity of having two free hands!

Little did I know, I had discovered a medical tradition that goes back to 1550 B.C.E. Egypt.

Cupping Therapy

Cupping Therapy is just what it sounds like – using cups as therapy. Tiny cups, usually made of glass, are emptied of air and stuck to the skin. The suction created by the vacuum pulls the skin into the cup, ultimately resulting as a temporary welt. The benefits, claim the practitioners, are vast, ranging from temporary pain relief and increased blood circulation to reliving menstrual problems and aiding the lungs.

Combined with the belief of Qi (the life energy that flows in our bodies,) many Chinese practitioners use cupping as a way to regulate energy flow. But cupping isn’t strictly Eastern medicine. The British Cupping Society is bringing cupping back to the UK, Poland still uses cupping in modern medical practice, and many acupuncturists in the U.S. are also trained cuppers.

This woman is a trained cupper - look at that form!

Although the CDC says nothing about the health benefits of cupping due to a lack of studies, they do warn against bruises that can result from improper technique.

Blood Cupping – Hijama

One variation of cupping is called Wet Cupping, or Hijama. It is particularly popular among Muslims because it was sanctioned by the Prophet Muhammad in the Qur’an. During Hijama, the therapist pierces the skin with a lancet before applying the cup. With the cup in place, the suction pulls a small amount of blood out of the wound. This is thought to purify the body.

Although bloodletting (phlebotomy) isn’t practiced much in the West anymore, for many years it was the primary healing technique of most physicians. Got a cut on your leg you don’t want to become infected? Let’s cut it again and let your blood clean it out!

This same idea had many medical professionals prescribing leech treatments as well.

That being said, although Hijama draws blood from the body, it is a minimal amount. Although Hijama is not advised in people with bleeding disorders or blood pressure issues, it is relatively safe.

Fire Cupping

Instead of using a vacuum or pump to suck the air out of the cups like most dry cupping methods, fire cupping uses a burning alcohol swab to create suction. The heat is also supposed to create a soothing sensation. I don’t know about you, but when I watch this video, I’m anything but soothed.

I’d go into the science of air pressure as a function of temperature, combustion reactions, and the properties of vacuums, but I wouldn’t want to bore you. Suffice to say, lengthy explanations would make this article “suck.”

Tee-hee!

Acupuncture: Poking for Preventative Health

As a kid, I hated shots. Who didn’t, really? It seemed stupid (and scary) to jab someone with a sharp needle in order to make them feel better. What made even less sense was stabbing a perfectly innocent six year old who wasn’t sick, to hopefully prevent him from becoming sick later.

Naturally, I needed to be bribed with candy to soothe my mental dissonance.

In America, we’re accustomed to giving immunizations and boosters to prevent illness. Although some controversy still surrounds the topic of vaccination (which I’m not about to get into, because I will become preachy and opinionated,) most physicians accept it as a necessary step towards a healthier future.

Now Multiply One Needle by Hundreds

Acupuncture, in theory, is not so different from a vaccination. As I mentioned in my previous article about tai chi, ancient Chinese philosophy asserts the human body possesses a natural energy called qi (pronounced “chi.”) This energy is created and stored in the kidneys and then flows throughout the body through energy pathways called meridians. From these meridians, qi flows to 670 points all over our bodies. 

But what does this have to do with anything?

Just like with tai chi, acupuncture seeks to regulate our body’s natural energy. Because this energy flows through all of our major organs, veins, arteries, joints, muscles and so on, proper circulation of energy is critical for healthy bodily functions. By this assumption, any disease or bodily malfunction is symptomatic of bad energy flow. And by correcting the flow, a physician could help the body to heal itself. This is where the needles and those 670 qi points come into play.

Interesting Tidbit

Acupuncture has a history as early as 2000 B.C.E. It was standardized in 1026 C.E. when the Emperor Renzong ordered Dr. Wang Weiyi to compile the most accurate information of the time and put it into a book. The problem was that, although acupuncture was popular and many acupuncturists were successful, few shared their secrets. So Dr. Weiyi wrote the New Standard Acupuncture Points Diagrams that detailed 365 acupoints.

But that’s not the interesting part.

The interesting part is how Dr. Weiyi created two bronze statues with the points marked on them. How did he figure out all the points? Legend has it that the Emperor offered convicts a deal – let Dr. Weiyi experiment on you and your sentence will be reduced.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in acupuncture came from experimentation on living prisoners.

Common Ground

So, interesting interlude aside, why does acupuncture seem so weird to us? As I said, it’s common in America to poke people with needles to keep them from getting sick. The preventative medicine we practice here is similar to acupuncture.

“But we don’t believe in some strange energy that heals the body… That’s just crazy!”

You’re right – we believe in teeny, tiny little particles, so small that we can’t see, invading our bodies and taking over our cells. So we take needles filled with different teeny, tiny little particles, and inject these into ourselves to prevent the bad kind from getting us sick.

"The space he invades gets by on you."

Yep. We’re far too advanced to believe in something as crazy as acupuncture.

Tai Chi is for Fighting, Not Just Stretching

You’ve probably heard about the health benefits of tai chi, yoga and other Eastern forms of meditation. No doubt somebody you know has a special mat in their living room or takes a class every week. But what is it about these exercises that make them good for us? Were they all meant to make us healthy, or do some have other origins? This week I will be exploring several popular “New Age” forms of alternative medicine from the East.

When I say the words “tai chi,” what do you think of? You likely imagine people in loose clothes waving their arms slowly through the air like an interpretive dance. What if I told you that some of the best (and most lethal) martial artists on the planet practice tai chi?

Does this guy look like he's into tai chi "because it's relaxing?"

 

Balance, Philosophy, and Self-Defense

The coolest part of martial arts is the stories. The history of tai chi is unknown, but each of the oldest schools (there are four) have their own version. One involves a Shaolin monk named Chang San Feng in 1200 AD watching a snake fight a Magpie. Although the Magpie was faster and had the advantage of flight, the snake won. Chang observed how the snake made up for its lack of speed by being able to twist faster that the Magpie could fly. He later adapted this into a system of martial arts, now known as the revered Chang family tai chi – the oldest of the four schools.

The philosophy of T’ai Chi Chiuan (“Grand Ultimate Fist”) requires a balance of two forces: receptive and active. Think of “active” force as a push and “receptive” force as a pull. The philosophy explains how these complementary forces guide all of nature. The tides roll in and out, daylight extinguishes moonlight, hot and cold fronts create life-giving rain, and so on.

This symbolizes the balance of the two universal forces, NOT good and evil

In the same way, if someone is exhibiting “active” force upon you, (trying to push or strike you,) meeting that threat with more force would be destructive. Imagine punching someone’s fist as they try to punch you. You both walk away feeling stupid with broken fingers.

Instead, tai chi teaches us to meet hard with soft, to re-direct force instead of meeting it head on. A quick sweep of the arm can push a punch off-course, a side-step could make the attack miss entirely, or a step backwards can cut the power in half. In all cases, non-violent action either reduces or nullifies the force of the assault – receptive force counteracts active force.

Breathing Deeply and Other Cool Things

Tai chi is often confused with another Chinese practice called qigong. Qigong (Qi = Life Energy, Gong = Mastery) focuses on meditation, breathing and slow movements to strengthen and stretch the muscles, promoting whole-body health.

But it’s not just for health – mastering one’s qi is critical for becoming a powerful master of the martial arts. For instance, one of the deadlier types of qi strikes involves pushing one’s life force into an opponent and then making it explode. Obviously this is a little dramatic and serves mostly as metaphor. A punch from a martial artist differs from the average person because the former has specialized training. The force of the punch, instead of spreading over a wide area, is focused through just one or two knuckles, causing far more damage. Instead of an explosion from within, the forceful punch can push deeper into the body, causing skeletal or organ damage.

I told you this stuff was cool!

Qigong, in and of itself, does not teach fighting at all. But practitioners of tai chi still use qigong as a way to hone their own life force. As a result, qigong has distinct health benefits. Research studies suggest that qigong can reduce chronic pain from fibromyalgia, lower blood pressure and promote longer/deeper sleep. Although it is not a cure-all, (if you have an infection, antibiotics work a lot better than stretching,) the health benefits are being recognized by the medical community.

Where the YMCA Got It Wrong

Tai chi includes all of the elements of qigong, but the movements of tai chi are symbolic of self-defense. The Yin form of tai chi practices these movements slowly as exercise. But when put into danger, practitioners of tai chi are meant to use what they have learned to defend themselves at full speed. This active defense, the Yang form, often goes un-taught in America, so most of us think of tai chi as a slow dance instead of a martial art.

Probably not a martial artist. Notice the difference in dress.

Think of Daniel-san from The Karate Kid, or Xiao Dre from the 2010 re-make of The Karate Kid. Doing an action over and over again (waxing a deck or hanging up a jacket, respectively) trains the body to move instinctively. So instead of a slow, flowery motion, in an actual fight, the symbolic stance is replaced with actual fighting.

Yeah, yeah, I get it – technically these movies demonstrate kung fu, not tai chi. But there aren’t many mainstream tai chi movies to choose from, okay?

 

(Copyright: Sony Pictures. Come on guys, I'm a poor college student - no need for a lawsuit.)

Practicing tai chi without knowing what the stances represent only gives half the lesson. The Yin form without the Yang form is meaningless and goes against the central tenant of balance. So the next time you see a group of loose-dressed people waving their arms around in a park, don’t think of them as dancing – think of them as training to be warriors…

Warriors in yoga pants.