Blueberries

They’ve ranked among the healthiest fruits for years (go, antioxidants!). Now research suggests that in addition to protecting against heart disease and diabetes and improving brain function, blueberries may also help reduce visceral “toxic” belly fat — a type of fat that has been linked to obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Ways to get them in your kid’s diet: They’re a natural go-with breakfast choice (say, tossed into a bowl of granola and milk) and are also great in summer salads and desserts. Try making ice pops by freezing a blend of whirred-up blueberries, yogurt and some honey (after age 1).

Tofu

“Whole soy foods are an excellent source of lean protein and have potent anti-cancer benefits,” says Beller. “Tofu is great for young girls because it has a protective effect as their bodies and breast tissue are developing — which lasts into adulthood.”

Ways to get it in your kid’s diet: Dice and toss tofu into stir-fries or soups; use the silken variety as a sub for yogurt in fruit smoothies; snack on lightly boiled and salted edamame (soybeans) — the kids will have fun popping them out of the shells.

Tomatoes

They’re loaded with lycopene — a substance that protects against many cancers. Cooking tomatoes makes them even healthier because the heat releases the lycopene. Hint:

Pairing tomato-y foods with a good fat, like olive oil, helps the body absorb more. Ways to get them in your kid’s diet: Pizza and pasta sauces are obvious choices, or add tomato sauce to turkey meatballs or meatloaf if you need to disguise it. A bowl of chili and salsa for dipping are good options if you’ve got a spice lover.

Low-fat Greek yogurt

It contains healthy bacteria known to boost immunity and aid digestion, and has two to three times the amount of protein and less sugar than regular yogurt. Add a drizzle of honey (after age 1) for sweetness, a bit of maple syrup or try a squeeze of agave syrup (a sweetener with a lower glycemic index, so it won’t make your child’s blood sugar — and energy level — spike and then crash soon after breakfast). Agave is available in grocery stores, either in the organic aisle or where you’d find honey.

Cabbage

It has a mild flavor and crunch that kids tend to like better than the usual salad greens. And cruciferous veggies such as cabbage, broccoli and kale contain phytonutrients known to lower the risk for many types of cancer, as well as improve digestion. It also helps clear harmful toxins from the body by triggering the release of enzymes whose job it is to whisk them out.

Ways to get it in your kid’s diet: Make coleslaw with low-fat mayo; shred and toss it into soups or Asian noodle dishes.

Salmon

It contains heart-healthy omega-3 fats, which are also known to boost brain development, fend off depression, and have superb anti-inflammatory powers. Be sure to pick the wild kind, which is lower in mercury and higher in omega-3’s.

Best way to get your kid to eat it: Pair salmon with ingredients he already likes. Glaze salmon fillets with orange juice or brush them with teriyaki sauce. Or serve it as salmon cakes, burgers or salad (mashed and mixed with low-fat mayo).

Cocoa

You probably think of the marshmallow-studded beverage, but cocoa powder actually has one of the highest concentrations of flavonoids, a compound known to improve blood pressure and heart and oral health. They may also protect skin from sun damage. Use at least 70 percent pure cocoa and check that it isn’t processed with alkali (also called “Dutch processed”), which removes most of the flavonoids.

Ways to serve it (beyond hot cocoa): Sprinkle it on pancakes, waffles or French toast, or melt some dark chocolate and dunk strawberries in it.

Black beans

“Beans are a great source of protein, as well as fiber and calcium — two things kids tend not to get enough of. The darker the color, the better they are,” says Beller. “They also help guard against heart disease and high cholesterol, which aren’t adults-only problems. I have a nine-year-old patient with very high cholesterol.”

Ways to get them in your kid’s diet: Make nachos or quesadillas with black beans, cheese, and salsa; try black-bean veggie burgers, or whip up black-bean hummus.

Basil

This herb is packed with antioxidants — vitamins A, C, and K — as well as iron, potassium and calcium and can help improve digestion. Some research shows it may even ease headaches, notes Beller.

Ways to get it in your kid’s diet: Make pesto and spoon over chicken breasts or stir into cooked pasta. Does your kid freak out at the sight of little green flecks in his food? Welcome to the club! Grind basil up superfine and hide it in sauces, soups, and that ever-popular master of disguise, meatballs.s

Cinnamon

Research shows that this spice can help regulate blood sugar, which may also minimize those all-too-common mid-morning energy crashes (kiddie meltdown!), says Beller.

Ways to get it in your kid’s diet: Sprinkle it on oatmeal, pancakes, cold cereal and yogurt, and add a few extra dashes of cinnamon to muffin or quick-bread recipes that call for it. “My kids also love it on air-popped popcorn,” says Beller. Or combine it in a shaker with cocoa and sprinkle both together for a superfood two-fer.

James Webber, a 27-year-old Western Michigan University student who grew up in Otsego and now lives on Lovell Street in Kalamazoo, is so sold on the concept that he has run barefoot every day for the past six years.

But local and national experts say there’s far more to it than simply taking off your shoes and heading outside.

A Harvard University study published in the January edition of Nature has made barefoot running the subject of much media attention in recent months.

What the Harvard study found is this: When we wear shoes, we run differently than when we don’t. With shoes, we tend to hit the ground first with our heels; barefoot, most people strike the ground with the front or mid-section of the foot.

This happens naturally since our bodies notice how much it hurts to have the heel — one big, unforgiving bone — come in contact with the pavement when we’re barefoot. Without the protection of shoes, we naturally tend to land farther forward on the foot, where many small bones spread out the impact and help us avoid pain.

Since the 1970s, runners have dealt with the discomfort that comes from heel landings by wearing ever-cushier, more-supportive and more-expensive running shoes. The shoes do a great job of preventing heel-first pain.

The downside: We keep running with heel-first impact, which transfers upward to the knees. Knee injuries are the bane of many a runner’s existence.

The Harvard researchers say they hope their study and further research will help prevent these repetitive-stress injuries.

Barefoot racers

Running in cushy shoes is a very new development when you consider all of human history, says Harvard study co-author Daniel E. Lieberman. “Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s,” he says in a report on the HarvardScience website. “For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning.”

It’s also long been recognized that some long-distance runners from the jungles and mountains of Africa and Mexico not only compete in but win races running barefoot.

“In the U.S., people are always looking for an edge,” said Carl Fried, a doctoral-trained physical therapist at K Valley Orthopedics and a runner himself. So, when Christopher McDougall’s book “Born to Run” came out in 2009, American attention was drawn to the notion of running without shoes, like the Mexican runners in the book.

“It was the flip side of the latest and greatest shoes,” Fried said. People thought, “Let’s go organic with the feet.”

While it’s true that the Africans and Mexicans described in the book run without complaint, there are some differences between them and the average U.S. runner.

“These are hardy people in deserts and jungles,” Fried said.  “In the U.S. we’re a little pampered.”

There may not be running injuries reported among the tribal groups, but there also aren’t statisticians gathering injury data in those places, Fried said.

But Fried is quick to note that, while there is not yet any good clinical trial data showing that barefoot running or its cousin — wearing lightweight, minimalistic shoes — actually decreases knee injuries, anecdotal reports are plentiful, and many trials are in the works.

Top running injury

What is known for sure is that the No. 1 injury to U.S. runners is knee pain, with patella femoral syndrome in first place, followed by iliotibial band syndrome. Both of these conditions are natural consequences of the stress to the knee that comes from landing on the heel, Fried said.

When the heel hits the pavement, he said, it’s like hitting the foot with a mallet. On the other hand, striking the ground with the many small bones in the front of the foot is more like little ball bearings acting like tiny shock absorbers for the blow.

What’s important, Fried said, is not whether the runner wears no shoes, lightweight shoes or traditional shoes, it’s the technique that matters. Landing on the front of the foot rather than the heel is the better technique, he said.

Some people, Fried said, need to stick with more traditional shoes. If you have flat feet or high arches, you won’t do well with barefoot running or minimalistic shoes.

Likewise, people with diabetes should wear regular shoes to avoid the risk of abrasions and infections, and anyone who has had surgical repair of the feet or has bunions should wear shoes that offer more protection.

For everyone who runs, shoes can minimize worry about glass and other foreign bodies, not to mention Michigan winter temperatures, Fried said.

‘More with less’

Webber raves about barefoot running.  Since he started running unshod in 2004, he hasn’t missed a single day of running, going barefoot most of the year and adding a pair of lightweight shoes when the temperature falls below 35 degrees. Webber has run three marathons, two of them totally unshod and one, in October, with lightweight shoes.

In 2009, he finished second overall in the Borgess Run for the Health of It 5K race running barefoot.  His best times have all come when he has run barefoot.

Webber said the idea of running without shoes fits in with his interest in Zen Buddhism and minimalism. “Zen has taught me a lot about listening to my body and being able to do more with less,” he said.

Webber spent six months building up the callused feet and strengthened calf and foot muscles that now allow him to run barefoot on all surfaces, even the crushed limestone of the Kal-Haven Trail, although he says the cool, smooth sidewalks at WMU are more comfortable.

For Webber, much of the benefit of barefoot running is non-physical. “I believe in myself a lot more,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun, and it connects you with the Earth.”

In addition, running barefoot has made Webber more aware of the importance of not littering — because “I step on things.”

Webber, a senior majoring in exercise science and anthropology at WMU, said that he knows of only five other people in Michigan who run barefoot and that in races where he’s competed, he’s always been the only running without shoes.

Learning good form

Whether a runner wants to reach the state of total barefoot running or move from a traditional running shoe to a minimal shoe or just learn how to run more efficiently and more safely in the shoes he or she has always worn, it’s important to learn more about good form, the experts agree.

Bryce Buffenbarger, a running coach who works for Gazelle Sports, in downtown Kalamazoo, said you can learn to run with good technique in regular shoes.

Rob Lillie, an exercise physiologist and general manager of Gazelle Sports, said Gazelle conducts running clinics Wednesday evenings where runners view videotapes of themselves running with and without shoes. They learn techniques such as using a shorter stride to allow the body to use its two biggest types of muscles — the glutes and the hamstrings — rather than the relatively weak quadriceps.

Lillie said many shoe companies are jumping on the barefoot-running bandwagon and developing lightweight running shoes. Two of the most common are the Nike Free and the distinctive-looking rubber Five Fingers models from Vibram. Both are similar in cost to standard running shoes.

Fried, Webber, Lillie and Lieberman agree that the most important thing to remember if you are moving to a barefoot or lightweight-shoe running regimen is to start slowly. Our bodies have adjusted to years of running wrong, and muscles have long memories.  It takes time to prevent injury and retrain the muscles.

“Running barefoot or in minimal shoes is fun but uses different muscles,” Lieberman says in the Harvard Science report. “If you’ve been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in your calf and foot muscles.”

There are no easy guides to determine how to ease into a new running routine, Lillie said, since “everybody is different.”

He recommends that runners learn more about how they’re currently running by reviewing videotapes of their own performance and discussing with experts ways they can improve their technique.

High speeds, extreme terrain and long vertical drops might be making the increasingly popular sport of mountain biking as risky as football, diving and cheerleading, suggests a new study.

The findings warn that taking two wheels to the trails invites the danger of a spinal injury. One of every six cases reviewed was severe enough to result in complete paralysis.

“People need to know that the activities they choose to engage in may carry with them unique and specific risks,” Dr. Marcel Dvorak, of the University of British Columbia in Canada, told Reuters Health by email. “Helmets will not protect you from these injuries, nor will wearing Ninja Turtle-like body armor.”

Previous studies had described both the range of injuries sustained by mountain bikers and the spinal injuries suffered across a variety of sports. But no one had yet evaluated the specific risks of spinal injury among mountain bikers.

Dvorak and his colleagues identified 102 men and 5 women who were seen at British Columbia’s primary spine center between 1995 and 2007 after mountain biking accidents. The average patient was 33 years old and all but two were recreational riders, they report in The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

The team couldn’t calculate the risk of a spine injury among those who mountain biked, but they figured that over the 13-year study period, the annual rate was one in 500,000 British Columbia residents. The riders accounted for 4 percent of all spine trauma admissions to the center.

Surgery was required for about two-thirds of the mountain bikers. But the most devastating injuries were the 40 percent that involved the spinal cord. Of these, more than 40 percent led to complete paralysis.

“Wrist fractures and facial fractures are common” among mountain bikers, said Dvorak. “But spine injuries are the most severe with the most profound long-term consequences.”

The majority of riders, he explained, were injured as a result of either being propelled over the handlebars (going “endo”) or falling from great heights (“hucking”). In both scenarios, the result was often a severe impact to the head that triggered trauma down the neck and spine. “The higher the jump or fall,” added Dvorak, “the higher the risk.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the researchers found no relationship between helmet wearing and the overall severity of a rider’s injuries. “Helmets are good in preventing head injuries, but they do not in any way protect your neck,” noted Dvorak.

The policy, the result of an executive order from Mayor Gavin Newsom, dictates vending machines on city property can no longer dispense Coke, Pepsi and other calorically sweetened beverages. Sports drinks and artificially sweetened water also are included in the ban.

Juices must be 100 percent fruits or vegetables with no added sweeteners.

Like others pushing bans or so-called “fat taxes,” Newsom’s goal is a thinner, healthier citizenry.

But is government the solution? Despite a soda-tax bill still pending in the Michigan Legislature, momentum seems weak, at best.

The debate has come a long way since many Grand Rapids-area school districts inked a 10-year contract with Coca-Cola in 1999 to sell the soda maker’s products exclusively in school vending machines.

In exchange, Coke agreed to give the schools $30 per student each year. The cash went toward sports programs, teacher salaries and general operating expenses.

Back then, dentists were the only ones complaining.

By 2007, those Coke vending machines looked considerably different. Coke, Pepsico, the American Beverage Association and others agreed to eventually halt soda sales to public schools nationwide.

Coke moved big-time into milk products and vending machines for high school students were stocked with other Coke products: Minute Maid fruit juices, Nestea, Dasani water and Slammers flavored milk.

Beyond the vending machine ban, San Francisco’s Newsom also wants to impose a retail fee on soda, part of a multifaceted approach to tackling obesity.

But Newsom’s supporters counter with a UCLA study released last year that found adults who drink at least one soft drink a day are 27 percent more likely to be obese than those who don’t.

Last week, a new report concluded that Michigan is the only state outside the South with one of the nation’s highest obesity rates.

The study, by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found nearly 30 percent of Michigan adults are obese. That’s an increase from 25 percent when the groups first issued the annual “F as in Fat” report in 2004.

Michigan tied with North Carolina for the 10th-highest percentage of obese adults.

Some people experience the taste of salt more intensely than others, and this taste difference might be due, at least in part, to hereditary factors, a new study suggests.

So-called “supertasters” taste saltiness, bitterness and sweetness more acutely than others, said study researcher John Hayes, an assistant professor of food science at Penn State University. This heighted salt sense can lead to an increased consumption of snack foods, which usually have saltiness as their primary flavor, he said.

Salt has been in the spotlight recently, with many public health experts calling for manufacturers and restaurants to cut back on salt added to foods. In April, the Institute of Medicine released a report urging the federal government to step in and limit salt levels in foods. Diets high in salt are concerning because salt is thought to increase the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Currently, U.S. citizens consume two to three times the amount of salt recommended for good health.

The research involved 87 participants who sampled salty foods, such as broth, chips and pretzels, on multiple occasions, spread out over weeks. They were also interviewed by a nutritionist and kept food records to gauge how frequently they ate certain foods. Test subjects were 45 men and 42 women ranging in age from 20 to 40 years.

The participants were broken up into three groups — supertasters, medium tasters and nontasters — based on their ability to taste a certain chemical compound known as propylthiouracil. Some perceived the substance to have an extremely bitter taste, while others hardly tasted a thing. How sensitive a person is to the bitter taste is genetic.

The participants then rated the intensity of taste of the various foods on a commonly used scientific scale, ranging from barely detectable to strongest sensation of any kind.

Those classified as supertasters reported tasting more saltiness in liquid-salt solutions than nontasters and medium tasters, and they were also more sensitive to changes in salt levels in broth and cheeses. Supertasters also indicated in their diaries that they ate more high-salt foods than those in the other groups.

However, supertasters reported adding less salt to foods than nontasters, presumably because nontasters need more salt to get the same perception of saltiness as supertasters, Hayes said. “However, most of the salt we consume comes from salt added to processed foods and not from the salt shaker,” he said.

Supertasters might also struggle with low salt levels in foods, because they need the salt flavor to mask the bitterness present in certain foods.

“For example, cheese is a wonderful blend of dairy flavors from fermented milk, but also bitter tastes from ripening that are blocked by salt,” Hayes said. “A supertaster finds low-salt cheese unpleasant, because the bitterness is too pronounced.”

Hayes advises consumers to lower their salt intake by reading the food label and looking for products that contain fewer than 480 milligrams of sodium per serving.

The results were published June 16 in the journal Physiology & Behavior.

The punch line of this study, appearing this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, is that to maintain a healthy weight, particularly in middle age, you don’t have to join a fancy gym, train for a triathlon, or subsist entirely on wheat germ and brown rice. You could just incorporate biking and brisk walking into your day.

This notion goes against some scientific reports stating that you need rigorous exercise to stave off obesity. The Harvard researchers found that, yes, you do have to sweat a little; slow walking doesn’t do much. But even biking as little as five minutes a day, as part of a commute, helped women gain less weight than non-bikers. Women who ramped up that biking to four hours a week were far more likely to maintain their weight compared to non-bikers.

The analysis tapped into the Nurses’ Health Study II, following more than 18,000 women for 16 years.

Wheels are turning

Obesity has been on the rise for decades in the United States, but the rates have skyrocketed in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented these statistics and displays this alarming trend through the use of an animated U.S. map, showing how obesity was nearly non-existent in 1985 but is now affecting over 30 percent of the population, at http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html. Overall, two-thirds of the U.S. population is overweight or obese.

Biking isn’t the complete antidote for obesity; diet helps too. But the Harvard study results should be of no surprise to anyone who has lived in parts of Asia and Europe where biking and walking are common modes of transportation, not a recreation.

The Harvard researchers specifically compared the United States with The Netherlands, where obesity affects only about 8 percent of the population. Over a quarter of the Dutch population bikes regularly, usually to work or to school in dedicated biking lanes. In the United States, only 0.5 percent of commuters use bikes, usually swerving among the landmines of broken glass and opening car doors.

Elsewhere, the common use of bicycles and low rates of obesity throughout Scandinavia and in countries such as Japan and China is no coincidence.

Pounds and dollars add up

Although not stated in the published report, the Harvard study results have three other significant implications. Biking and brisk walking are easier on the knees compared with jogging, making this a less painful route to fitness for middle-age and overweight people. Also, as reported last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gaining 20 pounds or more after age 50 can triple your risk for diabetes.

There’s an upfront cost for a bike, but that quickly could be compensated for from saving on bus fare or gas. Walking is free. Diabetes medicine and treatment will run you hundreds to thousands of dollars a year. Thus, these forms of exercise are ideal for those with strapped incomes.

People often have a list of excuses for why they can’t bike or walk. But the fact is that many trips are within a few miles of one’s home, even in many suburbs. Anything within 2 miles is easy walking distance. Anything within 5 miles is easy biking distance.

If the seat does have to come out of the car, said co-author Lindsay Wilson, parents should make sure their babies are always strapped in.

Wilson and Dr. Shital Parikh, both from the orthopedics division of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, reviewed five years worth of data from a national U.S. surveillance system to find records of babies less than one year old that were taken to the ER for car seat injuries.

From 2003-2007, almost 2,000 babies in the sample — so about 43,500 in the entire U.S., the authors estimated — were brought to the ER for a car seat injury. Most of those injuries happened when babies fell out of their car seat or were in the seat when it fell off a table, counter or shopping cart.

Head or neck injuries were most common, especially in the youngest babies, who were also more likely to go to the ER. About half of the injuries happened at home.

There were only a few car seat-related deaths recorded in the authors’ sample, so they weren’t able to calculate a national estimate.

Part of the reason these injuries are so common, the authors write, is that parents may assume that babies won’t be moving around because they haven’t developed good coordination yet. So they commonly leave the baby in a car seat without strapping it in, or set the seat somewhere that puts the child at eye level.

“Often parents don’t use the safety harnesses or safety strap in the seat or in the carriage and so the kids … wiggle and they slide right out,” Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, babies less than a year old go to the ER at a higher rate than any other age group. In 2006, there were 84.5 ER visits for every 100 infants – or about 3.5 million total visits. The most common cause of injury in babies is some sort of fall.

The authors hope the study will help educate parents on safe car seat use. For a lot of parents, Wilson said, “it’s just easier to leave the kid in the car seat, set them on the countertop, and go on with what you need to do.”

But if possible, Smith said, babies should instead be moved to a crib, play pen, or carrier. “Child safety seats were intended for use in motor vehicles to prevent injury in the event of a crash,” he said. “That’s their purpose and that’s what they should be used for.”

Participants ride in honor of Wish Heroes – kids who have had their special wishes granted, and will later be reunited with each other at the finishing line. The ride – a literal moving city through Michigan – is the Foundation’s largest fundraiser, crucial to granting wishes to more than 500 medically eligible Michigan children.

WHEN: The excitement kicks off on July 22, 2010, with registration at the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds and concludes on July 25, 2010, at the Fairgrounds with the Heroes Hurrah festivities to celebrate with and thank all of our riders, volunteers and sponsors!  We thank all sponsors and lead sponsor Eaton Corporation.

Visit www.wishamile.org for additional event information, including volunteer and sponsorship opportunities. There is still time to volunteer, sponsor or ride in this exciting event. For further questions, call 616.363.4607. Media inquiries should be directed to Meghan Mair or Laura Varon Brown.

CSPI’s latest report entitled “Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks” outlines health concerns posed by the nine currently approved dyes used on conventionally produced foods (http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf). According to CSPI, the dyes present “a rainbow of risks,” including allergic reactions, hyperactivity, and even cancer.

“Organic handlers do not use any synthetic dyes in organic food products,” OTA’s Executive Director Christine Bushway pointed out, noting, “It is another one of the benefits of choosing organic foods where you shop.” No synthetic dyes are allowed in organic handling, as regulated by national organic standards under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program.

Bushway added, “The good news for consumers is that already the many organic foods available in the marketplace contain no synthetic dyes.”

Other attributes of certified organic foods are that they are produced and processed without the use of toxic and synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, synthetic growth hormones, genetic engineering, irradiation, artificial flavors or preservatives, or sewage sludge. In addition, they are subject to third-party inspections and must clearly trace their ingredients from their source to the consumer.

For more information on the benefits of consuming organic foods, go to OTA’s consumer website, http://www.OrganicItsWorthIt.org.

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers’ associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTA’s Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA’s mission is to promote and protect the growth of organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public and the economy (www.ota.com).

Perfectionists, by definition, strive for the best, trying to ace exams, be meticulous at their jobs, and raise perfect children. So one might assume this drive for the ideal translates over to their health as well, with perfectionist being models for physical and mental well-being.

But new research is revealing the disorder can bring both profits and perils.

Though perfection is an impossible goal, striving for it can be a boon for one’s health, causing one to stick to exercise programs to a tee, say, or follow a strict regimen for treating chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes. But the same lofty goals can mean added mental pressure when mistakes are made and the resistance to asking for help from others in fear of revealing one’s true, imperfect self.

In fact studies show the personality trait of perfectionism is linked to poor physical health and an increased risk of death.

Researchers are just beginning to tease apart this complex trait and its relation to health.

“Perfectionism is a virtue to be extolled definitely,” said Prem Fry, a psychology professor at Trinity Western University in Canada. “But beyond a certain threshold, it backfires and becomes an impediment,” she said.

Fry and several of her colleagues recently spoke at a symposium on perfectionism and health at the Association for Psychological Science convention in Boston.

What is perfectionism?
While some might aim to be perfect in certain areas of their life — such as an athlete who must stick to a grueling workout schedule — true perfectionism comes in a generalized form.

“You should want to be perfect across a variety of aspects of your life,” said Gordon Flett, a psychology professor at York University in Canada.

“It’s natural to be perfectionistic in the thing that matters the most, like your job  — if you’re a surgeon, there’s no room for error,” Flett said. “[But] you don’t want that same person to be going home and using those same standards to evaluate family members, which causes stress,” he said. “It has to generalize.”