(sigh)
- It's so hot.
Like way too hot.
Heat.
It's the best and worst part of summer.
But today I want to give you
some knowledge about what happens your body,
and give you some hacks on how to stay safe and cool.
(water splashing)
It's grill time in New York City!
Boy do I love grilling because I am a Master Grillsmith,
something you didn't know about me.
Who doesn't love summer picnics and barbecues?
But there are health hazards that come along with it.
The evidence on this is fairly strong,
strong enough to the point where
the World Cancer Research Fund
actually instituted warning saying
you shouldn't eat burnt or charred foods frequently
or on a regular basis.
This is advice I can totally get behind.
During the grilling process
there are harmful chemicals that are formed.
Those harmful chemicals can lead to
illnesses like cancer.
Here are four hacks to keep your grilling experience
as healthy as possible.
Trim all the visible fats on the meats
that you're gonna be grilling.
The more visible fat you have,
the more likely that your meat will char very easily
and create more of those harmful chemicals we talked about.
You want to minimize the amount of smoke
that touches your meat.
The more you manipulate or
the more you move around the meat on the grill,
the more juice that's likely to seep down
and create more smoke.
And remember, the more smoke the more chemicals,
and that's no good for you.
Also, once you're done grilling,
make sure you clean out the grate
to remove some of that stuck on
fat and grease which can further contribute
to the chemical load.
All that smoke isn't great for your lungs either.
So if you're gonna use tools,
use long handed tools that will allow you to reach
the grill without having your face directly over it.
When you think about grilling,
you're probably thinking meat.
But that's not always the case.
You can grill vegetables, or even fruits.
Grab a skewer.
Kabobs are a great way to mix up fruits and vegetables
into your grilling routine.
And remember, a plant focused diet is a healthy diet.
Oh my god, it's such a hot day today,
just need a little air conditioning to blow on me,
oh my god.
(sighs)
- Excuse me.
- Sorry.
The problem with air conditioning
is when you when you walk in
from a hot day and you're sweating,
you walk into a cold environment,
you cool down your body way too quickly,
and when that happens the immune cells
that actually fight off the infections,
in certain places of your body
like your nose or your throat,
decrease because your body constricts
those blood vessels and you get less blood flow
which means less immune protection.
When you constrict your blood vessels,
you're not getting blood flow,
you're not getting healing nourishment,
to whatever region of your body
that's exposed to the cold.
For example, we all love having the air conditioner on
at night to keep us cool,
but when the air conditioner's
blowing directly on your body,
or specifically one part of your body
like your neck,
you're gonna overcool that region.
That's gonna lead to blood vessel constriction
which will lead to less blood flow,
less nourishment,
and that's critical for areas like your neck
which have nerves, muscles in them,
it's gonna lead them to malfunction,
you're gonna wake up with a sore neck or a stiff neck,
that's no good for anybody.
If you're gonna walk into a cold environment,
make sure you cool off a little bit first.
If you're sweating, wipe off some of that sweat.
It'll help decrease some of that blood constriction.
If you're coming in from a pool,
or a beach and you're wet,
get out of those wet clothes as fast as possible.
Make sure when you're using your air conditioner
it's blowing away from you.
It's meant for ambient air cooling,
not direct cooling.
It's even more important to stay hydrated
in the summer.
(yelling)
- Hydration is so important.
Think about it.
You can go days or even weeks without eating,
but you can't go more than a few days without water.
That should mean something to you.
It's critical for maintaining good circulation,
delivery of nutrients, removal of waste,
and even thermal regulation.
I often get the question of how many glasses a day
should I drink.
What's the optimal amount to stay hydrated?
And generally speaking there's no good answer
for this that fits everybody.
A good bit of advice that I do give to my patients
is to look at their urine.
Optimally you want to have straw colored urine.
Not too light, not too yellow, really somewhere in between.
Just make sure to not get caught up on this.
If your urine is sometimes yellow and sometimes clear,
that's totally fine.
Your body is doing its job.
Some people use thirst to gauge
their level of hydration.
That's not a great idea.
Once you feel thirst,
that's a sign of mild dehydration.
Hydrate before the thirst sets in.
Have a water bottle with you at all times.
No matter if you're going to the gym,
hanging out with your friends or to work,
you should always have a water bottle.
There's no excuse here.
They make collapsible water bottles,
bladder water bottles, backpack water bottles.
Eat foods that naturally contain water.
Strawberries, watermelon, cucumber.
Dilute your juice.
If you're gonna be drinking 100% juice,
dilute it halfway with water.
When you do that it'll pass through your stomach quicker
and get those electrolytes to you that much sooner.
Going out for a jog on this beautiful sunny morning,
but anytime you step out into the sun,
you gotta get your sunblock on.
Mel Gibson Braveheart style.
Unfortunately the sun does do damage to your skin.
Not only does it cause your skin to age earlier
than it's supposed to because of wrinkles and dryness,
but the UV rays are harmful in that
they can cause skin cancer.
There's more new skin cancer cases in the US
than prostate, bone, breast, and colon cancer combined.
The damage from UV rays can occur with just 15 minutes
of direct sunlight exposure.
Buy the highest SPF possible,
and make sure that it's broad spectrum coverage.
There was a rumor going around saying that
SPF 35 is just as good as 70,
but that's not the case.
It's only valid if you're applying it the perfect way.
Reapplying every 2 hours, putting the correct amount
per specifications on the bottle,
which most of us aren't doing.
No sunblock is truly waterproof,
and for it to be effective
you need to apply at least every two, three hours.
Don't forget to apply sunblock to obscure
any sensitive areas like the lips and the ears.
They get burnt just like any other part of our body.
Shade is your best friend.
While sunblock works great
the ultimate answer for sun protection
is going in the shade or covering up.
We gotta talk about one
of the biggest problems in the summer
and that's bugs.
There's a bee!
You have to use bug spray, keep them bugs off of you,
companies, even like Americare
is someone I'm partnered with,
has a big campaign going on in Latin America
for zika prevention.
And this is zika prevention.
This, mosquito nets, long, loose clothing,
be smart, be smart.
Use the spray, it's so easy.
Just don't eat it like I did.
Avoid perfume and sweet smelling beauty products.
Those just attract all types of bugs,
not just mosquitoes and ticks.
But also bees.
Use insect repellent with at least 20 to 30% DEET.
The higher the concentration of DEET,
the longer the product lasts.
Wear long pants and long sleeve shirts.
They don't have to be heavy,
you just have to make sure the tick
can't make contact with your skin.
Plus you'll get the added benefit
of getting extra sun protection.
Regardless of your clothing,
after spending time outdoors in grassy or wooded areas,
make sure to do a thorough tick check.
Summer's my favorite season,
but as you can tell it does carry some health hazards
along with it.
If there's anything in this video
you didn't quite understand or need more clarification on,
leave me a comment down below.
Definitely share this video with your friends
and family to help them keep safe in the sun.
Instagram fans.
Today I want to give you a little knowledge
about what happens to your body in the summer months,
and some gray hacks,
why gray hacks.
There are health hazards that come along
with both of these instances.
Did I eat instances?
Instances.
Minimize the amount of smoke
that touches your, now it's really becoming funny
because I'm saying about a smoke that touches your meat.
The more you manipulate or play with your meat...
(laughing)
Oh my god.
So you want to make sure that you're able
to protect yourself and not increase your risk
to getting on of these (beep) biting you.