Join Leg. William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport) for his annual Community Health & Information Fair at Harborfields Public Library, 31 Broadway, Greenlawn on Wednesday, May 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Representatives from more than 30 agencies will provide vital information relating to health, legal matters, business, child care, senior outreach, housing and much more. Free. Call 631-854-4500 for more information.
By Heidi Sutton
The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook unveiled its annual juried art competition last Friday to rave reviews.
Designed to complement one of the museum’s current exhibits, Walt Whitman’s Arcadia: Long Island Through the Eyes of a Poet & Painters, this year’s theme encouraged amateur and professional artists to take inspiration from the written word — whether it be a poem, a quote, a song or a passage in a book, and turn it into something visual. The resulting exhibit is a wonder to behold.
Titled I Sing the Body Electric after a poem by Walt Whitman from his 1855 collection, “Leaves of Grass,” the show features 78 exquisite pieces of art in a variety of mediums including watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic, sculpture, mixed media and photography, all beautifully displayed in the museum’s Visitors Center.
The exhibit was judged by Ripe Art Gallery President Cherie Rexer; Jessica Valentin, artist and owner of Muñecca Arthouse; and artist Beth Giacummo. The winners were announced at an opening reception.
“I’ve been [at this museum] six years and this is the best juried art show I’ve seen here and I’m so proud to be a part of it,” gushed Neil Watson, executive director at the LIM.
“From the start we all felt this [exhibit] was going to be something really spectacular,” added Lisa Unander, director of education at the LIM, before sharing the judges’ comments and presenting the awards.
Cliff Miller of Seaford captured first place with his oil on gesso panel piece titled “The McDivits,” which was inspired by Anthony Robbins’ quote, “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” Second place was awarded to Marsha Solomon of Baldwin for her acrylic on canvas piece titled “Orion’s Sapphire.” Melissa Imossi of Madison, Connecticut, won third place for “Shadowlands,” an oil painting on aluminum, which was inspired by the film of the same name about the relationship between C.S. Lewis and poet Joy Davidman. (See the judges’ comments under each image.)
In addition, each juror individually selected a piece for honorable mention. Giacummo’s choice was “Passerine,” a diorama by Ellen Wiener of Southold. “The main element perched like a passerine reminds the viewer that our relationship with art can strengthen our stance,” she explained. Rexer chose Helena Weber of Bay Shore’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” created in soft pastels. “I love it because it feels like it could belong in the Long Island Museum’s collection,” she said.
Valentin selected James Keller of St. James’ delicate abstract photograph “Sinuous,” which was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s quote, “Moonlight is sculpture …”
“This work … spoke to me so strongly. The mood and light are stunning. I’m in love,” she said.
While the artists were inspired by the written word, visitors to this exhibit are sure to be inspired by their achievements. Don’t miss this wonderful show.
WHEN TO GO: The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook will present I Sing the Body Electric through July 7. The museum is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 adults, $7 seniors and $5 students ages 6 to 17. Children under 6 and members are admitted for free. For more information, call 631-751-0066 or visit www.longislandmuseum.org.
Art reception photos by Julie Diamond/Long Island Museum
CHECK PRESENTATION
Huntington Subaru donated $35,000 – proceeds from its Share the Love program – to Huntington Hospital’s neurosurgery department on April 15.
Subaru’s Share the Love program involves Subaru of America, on behalf of Huntington Subaru, donating up to $250 for every vehicle leased or sold at the Huntington dealership between Nov. 15, 2018 and Jan. 3, 2019.
“This generous donation will help Huntington Hospital’s neurosurgery program to continue to stay on the forefront providing cutting-edge medical care to Suffolk County residents,” said Dr. Nick Fitterman, executive director of Huntington Hospital.
The hospital’s neurosurgery department is led by Dr. Robert Kerr, chair of neurosurgery. He helped institute the O-arm in 2016, a state-of-the-art imaging system that allows surgeons to precisely see where to place hardware during delicate neurosurgery. Huntington Hospital was the first on Long Island to use this system.
For more information about Huntington Hospital’s neurosurgery department, call 631-351-4840.
Learn the importance and fragility of a wetlands ecosystem, enjoy the beauty of a salt marsh moraine and be amazed at the untouched beauty of Long Island’s North Shore this summer aboard the Discovery Wetlands Cruises beginning May 16.
The Ward Melville Heritage Organization has been offering wetlands cruises since 1995 aboard its 27-passenger pontoon boat, carrying guests from the calm waters of Stony Brook Harbor into the wetlands at West Meadow Creek.
A naturalist is on board to guide passengers through this exceptional experience embracing ecology, geology and history, including information on how Native Americans first settled in the area. Adventurers and sightseers are encouraged to bring their binoculars for a close-up view of plant and animal life and their cameras to preserve cruise memories. Special Photography Cruises are also offered on board with an expert from Camera Concepts & Telescope Solutions discussing techniques to capture the best landscape and wildlife images on the water.
Cruises leave from Stony Brook Marine Services parking lot at 51 Shore Road in Stony Brook, across from The Three Village Inn, and run through Oct. 31. Individual rates are $28 for adults, $25 for students and seniors and $18 for children under 6. Photography cruises are $50 per person. Reservations are suggested to secure your spot but walk-ons are accepted, with cash payment at the boat, when space is available. For additional information or to make a reservation, call 631-751-2244 or visit www.wmho.org.
A DELICIOUS WAY TO GIVE BACK
The Pro-Port Restaurant Association, in cooperation with the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, hosted the second annual Spring Breakfast Crawl in the Village of Port Jefferson on March 23. The sold-out event, which gave participants the opportunity to sample breakfast at 15 shops and restaurants, raised $500 for Hope House Ministries.
The charitable contribution fulfills one of the objectives for the group in addition to promoting the interests of the Port Jefferson food and beverage service industry.
Pictured at the check presentation, from left, Tommy Schafer of both Harbor Grill and Tommy’s Place, Matt Murray of Barito Taco and Cocktails, Atsushi Nakagawa of Slurp Ramen, Steve Miller of Hope House Ministries, Joe Ciardullo of C’est Cheese, John Urbinati of The Fifth Season, Debra and Jerry Bowling of Pasta Pasta and Lisa Harris of both Prohibition Kitchen and East Main and Main.
MEET PATTI!
This week’s featured shelter pet is Patti, a 1 1/2 year old domestic short haired cat with soft black hair and stunning yellow eyes. Patti has a quiet disposition but loves to play with toys and is also great with children. She comes spayed, microchipped and up to date on all her vaccines. All this sweetheart needs now is a loving home.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Patti and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
HIGH TEA AND HIGH HATS
The Anna Smith Strong Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution hosted its annual Afternoon Tea benefit at the Setauket Presbyterian Church’s Fellowship Hall on April 27. The sold-out event, which attracted over 100 guests, featured a high tea service, a ladies’ hat parade and raffle baskets.
Photos by Leah S. Dunaief
Did you know? The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook offers guided gallery tours of its Long Road to Freedom: Surviving Slavery on Long Island exhibition in the Art Museum on the hill with museum educator Todd Weston every Friday through May 24 at 2 p.m. Tours are free with museum admission and do not require preregistration. For more information, call 631-751-0066.
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Obesity is continuously covered in the media. And rightly so. Its economic cost to the U.S. is massive: in 2016, the cost of chronic diseases for which being obese or overweight is a risk factor totaled over $480 billion in direct health care costs and $1.24 trillion in lost economic productivity (1). These startling numbers don’t even consider the human cost of these diseases.
Obesity and its effect on life span
It’s well-known that obesity could have an impact on development of other chronic diseases and decrease quality of life, but to what extent? A 2013 study indicated that almost as many as one in five deaths in the U.S. is associated with obesity (2).
In a computer modeling study, results showed that those who are obese may lose up to eight years, almost a decade, of their life span (3). But that is only part of the picture. The other, more compelling result is that patients who are very obese, defined as a BMI >35 kg/m², could lose almost two decades of healthy living. According to the researchers, this means you may have diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, even those patients who were obese and those who were overweight could have reductions in life span, up to six years and three years, respectively.
This study evaluated 3,992 adults between the ages of 20 and 79. The data was taken from an NHANES database from 2003 to 2010, which looked at participants who went on to develop diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Though this is not a clinical trial, and there is a need for more study, the results are eye-opening, with the youngest and very obese negatively impacted the most.
Cancer impact
Since it is very difficult to “cure” cancer, it is important to reduce modifiable risk factors. Obesity may be one of these contributing factors, although it is hotly debatable how much of an impact obesity has on cancer development. The American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO), in a position paper, supported the idea that it is important to treat obesity in the fight against cancer (4). The authors indicate obesity may make the prognosis worse, may hinder the delivery of therapies to treat cancer, and may increase the risk of malignancy.
Also, possibly reinforcing ASCO’s stance, a study suggested that upward of a half-million cases of cancer worldwide were related to being overweight or obese, with the overwhelming concentration in North America and Europe (5).
Possible solutions
A potential counterweight to both the reductions in life quality and life expectancy may be a Mediterranean-type diet. In a published analysis of the Nurses’ Health Study, results show that the Mediterranean diet helped slow shortening of the telomeres (6). Repeat sequences of DNA found at the end of chromosomes, telomeres, shorten with age; the shorter the telomere, the shorter life expectancy.
Thus, the Mediterranean-type diet may decrease occurrence of chronic diseases, increase life span and decrease premature mortality — countering the effects of obesity. In fact, it may help treat obesity, though this was not mentioned in the study. Interestingly, the greater the adherence to the diet, rated on a scale of 0 to 9, the better the effect. Those who had an increase in adherence by three points saw a corresponding decrease in telomere aging by 4.5 years. There were 4,676 middle-aged women involved in this analysis. The researchers believe that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects could be responsible for the diet’s effects.
According to an accompanying editorial, no individual component of the diet was identified as having beneficial effects by itself, so it may be the diet as a whole that is important (7).
Short-term solutions
There are easy-to-use distraction tactics that involve physical and mental techniques to reduce food cravings. These include tapping your foot on the floor, staring at a blank wall and alternating tapping your index finger against your forehead and your ear (8). The forehead and ear tapping technique was most effective, although probably most embarrassing in public. Among mental techniques, seeing pictures of foods that were unhealthy and focusing on their long-term detriments to health had the most impact (9). These short-term distractors were done for 30 seconds at a time. The results showed that they decreased food cravings in obese patients.
Exercise impact
I have written that exercise does not lead to fat percentage loss in adults. The results are different for adolescents, though. In a randomized controlled trial, results show that those in a resistance training group and those in a combined resistance and aerobic training group had significantly greater percentages of fat loss compared to a control group (10).
Interestingly, the aerobic group alone did not show a significant change in fat percent versus the control. There were 304 study participants, ages 14 to 18, followed for a six-month duration, and results were measured with MRI. The reason that resistance training was effective may have to do with an increase in muscle mass rather than a decrease in actual fat.
Obesity can have devastating effects, from potentially inducing cancer or worsening it, to shortening life expectancy and substantially decreasing quality of life. Fortunately, there may be ways to help treat obesity with specific lifestyle modifications. The Mediterranean diet as a whole may be an effective step toward decreasing the burden of obesity and reducing its complications. Kids, teenagers specifically, should be encouraged to do some resistance training. As we mentioned, there are simple techniques that may help reduce short-term food cravings.
References:
(1) “America’s Obesity Crisis,” Milken Institute. October, 2018. (2) Am J Public Health. 2013;103:1895-1901. (3) The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, online Dec. 5, 2014. (4) J Clin Oncol. 2014;32(31):3568-3574. (5) The Lancet Oncology. online Nov. 26, 2014. (6) BMJ. online Dec. 2, 2014. (7) BMJ 2014;349:g6843. (8) Obesity Week 2014 abstract T-2658-P. (9) Obesity Week 2014 abstract T-3023-OR. (10) JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(11):1006-1014.
Dr. Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com or consult your personal physician.
٭We invite you to check out our weekly Medical Compass MD Health Videos on Times Beacon Record News Media’s website, www.tbrnewsmedia.com.٭
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO THE WEATHER.
May Day Festival
Join the Benner family for their annual May Day Festival at Benner’s Farm, 56 Gnarled Hollow Road, East Setauket on Sunday, May 5 from noon to 4 p.m. Bring the family and dance around the maypole, enjoy live music, feed and cuddle the baby animals and enjoy traditional crafts, vendors and food. Admission is $8 adults, $6 seniors and children. Proceeds benefit Homestead Arts. Call 689-8172.
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