Ninety Percent of Americans are Missing these Disease-Fighting Powerhouses - Are You?

"What supplement can I take to replace my medication?"
This is a question I hear all the time as a doctor of naturopathic medicine.  People are often surprised when I tell them that I try to use as few pills as possible -- whether pharmaceuticals or supplements.  The foundations of health start with a healthy lifestyle:  diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management.  This is a concept that is simple, but not easy.  We've been taught that health comes in a pill, and then we can do whatever we want.

Take the one part of a healthy diet that just about all experts agree on:  eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, totaling 5-9 servings per day.  This is not exotic; no fad diet book, blood typing, metabolic typing, or anything else required.  In fact, it's so simple, that we ignore it.

Yes, 90% of Americans don't get the required amount of fruits and veggies per day.  In doing so, they miss out on not only the vitamins and minerals our cells need to function, but also hundreds of phytonutrients.  Phytonutrients are those compounds in plant foods that protect us against cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.  Ever wonder why an eggplant is purple, but a tomato is red?  No, it's not just to decorate our plates:  the variety of colors of fruits and veggies represent different phytonutrients.

No matter what your health challenges (or better yet, simply for prevention), start "eating a rainbow" each day --color your plate with at least 3 different colored fruits and veggies, and look for ways to get more servings on a regular basis.

The next time you're reaching for a medication, supplement, or the latest complex diet book, keep a food journal for a few days.  If you're not getting those 5-9 servings of fruit and veggies (mostly veggies), do that first, and see how you feel after a month.

For Nutritional Punch, You Can't Beat Plant-Based Foods

Still, 90 percent of Americans eat too few fruits and veggies, health experts say

Simple Tips for a Healthier Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving:  the holiday where we pause and reflect on what we are truly grateful for.

Okay, that took about 30 seconds... now bring on the FOOD!

On a day where food plays such a prominent role, remember that even today, moderation can make a big difference.  The easiest place to start is portion size:

• A serving of meat (such as turkey) is 3 ounces -- about the size of a deck of cards.  
• Go easy on the gravy.  
• Enjoy a few bites of dessert (yes, dessert.... even naturopaths gotta live a little, right?), but skip the seconds.
• Limit alcoholic beverages to 1 or 2 drinks.

If you're in charge of meal planning, think about simple substitutions:

• Sweet potatoes are a better source of fiber and phytonutrients than white potatoes.  Just skip the marshmallows and enjoy what nature provided!
• Ditch the white dinner rolls in favor of whole grains (100% whole wheat bread, wild rice, quinoa, etc.).

Most of all, eat slowly and mindfully.  In other words, pay attention to the food, and enjoy every bite -- you'll end up eating less that way!  Also, enjoy the company around the table -- this activates our parasympathetic nervous system, improving digestion.

Did you end up eating too much?  Try a few supplemental digestive enzymes, rather than reaching for an antacid.  Stomach acid is necessary for the proper digestion of food, and the absorption of nutrients such as calcium and vitamin B12.

Last but not least, take a little longer than 30 seconds to reflect on what you are grateful for.  Focusing on our blessings helps blessings to multiply in our lives.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Are You Being too Permissive?

In my last entry, I wrote about biology not rewarding our good intentions -- it only responds to the actual inputs of a healthy lifestyle (diet, exercise, sleep, stress management).  A particularly interesting phenomenon in this category is what psychologists call "permissiveness."

You might not have heard this term, but you're probably familiar with the scenario:  "I just did a 30-minute workout at the gym, so I'm going to reward myself on the way home with a Grande Frappuccino and muffin!"  When we do something we're not used to that's good for our health, we feel like we have more wiggle room elsewhere.  Unfortunately, this usually backfires.  Do the math:  you burned about 200 calories at the gym, and then loaded up with a 400-calorie drink.  Hey, at least you chose the apple bran muffin -- that's healthy, right?  Sorry -- at 350 calories, the 7 grams of bran fiber does not redeem this indulgence.  Bottom line?  Psychologicaly, we feel we earned that treat.  Biologically, we end up with a net gain of 550 calories that's headed straight to our fat storage.

Permissiveness is hard to avoid -- it's such a part of our human interactions, that it seems unfair that biology doesn't cut us the same slack.  What can we do?

Decide on ways to reward yourself that don't involve unhealthy behaviors such as junk food, excess alcohol, avoiding exercise, etc.  Think of big rewards like scheduling a massage, or little rewards like 10 minutes of guilt-free Farmville or Angry Birds.  Reward yourself with social interactions -- this has the added bonus of being a healthy behavior in and of itself.  (Dare I mention?  Some research has found strong social connections to be a better predictor of health outcomes than diet or execise!)

Feeling like we have to be vigilant one hundred percent of the time can be stressful and burdensome.  Seriously -- when you read a book or web site that predicts dire consequences for the slightest transgression of diet or exercise, you can be sure that the author is the only one with such strict adherence.  (And in all honesty, those authors probably aren't even that strict -- we're all human!)  So allow for treats now and then -- just keep them modest.  This acts as a safety valve, to avoid big binges down the road.

No "A" for Effort

One of the fundamental principles of naturopathic medicine is to rely on the healing power of nature, and use the gentlest form of treatment possible.  The starting point for this is always lifestyle:  a healthy diet, exercise, adequate restful sleep, and purposeful stress management.  We can debate endlessly about the best format for each of these, and how they should be applied in specific health conditions -- just browse the Internet for a few minutes, and you'll find as many opinions as there are web sites.  No matter the specifics, a healthy lifestyle has been proven over and over to result in longer life and less chronic disease.

With a background in biology, though, one conclusion I've come to is that nature doesn't give us an "A" for good intentions.  If we don't stick to these healthy lifestyle factors, we quickly become susceptible to debilitating health conditions.  Biology doesn't provide us with a pension at retirement:  "You've been a good (boy/girl) for so long, here's your gold watch -- just take it easy from now on.  Lie on the couch, have a smoke!"  I don't think so.

Have you ever broken your arm or leg?  It probably had to be in a cast for anywhere from 6-12 weeks -- and when the cast came off, that limb was significantly weaker than the opposite side.  Lack of exercise was a necessity, but it caused significant muscle atrophy in a short period of time.

A healthy diet is similar.  If you've tried to lose weight, for example, and found that you just couldn't take the pounds off, keep a diet diary for 1-2 weeks.  You could do this on paper, or through online utilities such as SparkPeople.  If you're diligent about recording everything that passes your lips, you might be surprised at how the "little" things add up:  a few M&Ms from a co-worker's desk.  Finishing up the leftovers on a spouse's or child's dinner plate.  A late-evening snack in front of the TV that's more out of habit than hunger.  We intend to follow a healthy eating pattern, but biology is unrelenting -- it counts every calorie.

If you're following an elimination diet to try to avoid foods to which you're allergic, the elimination has to be as complete as possible.  You're trying to calm down the immune system response.  Our immune system is designed to respond to the tiniest microscopic organism with a huge symptomatic response (ever been knocked flat by the flu?).  Likewise, "just a little bit" of an allergic food can keep that immune response going, leading to more symptoms.

Don't take this as all doom-and-gloom:  rather, use this information as inspiration to keep up your good habits.  For just as biology ignores good intentions, it does respond to our continued efforts.  We always have the power to make healthy choices, no matter what happened yesterday.

Rise and Shine!

Welcome back to standard time, folks... did you remember to set your clocks back this weekend?
One more question:  did you notice it was much easier to adjust to the time change this weekend than to the switch to daylight savings time in the spring?  It seems logical, since we "gained" an hour of sleep on Saturday night.  But even beyond that, this is the one weekend out of the year when the external clocks match most closely to our internal biological clocks.

Yes, we do have a biological clock -- a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN); its job is to keep track of the daily cycle of our body's functions (also known as our circadian rhythm).  Research has shown that for most folks, the SCN is actually set to a 25-hour cycle, which means that we have to reset it every day based on cues in our environment.  That's why it's easier to stay up late, but harder to wake up earlier in the morning.

Up till about 200 years ago, our biological clocks mostly relied on the signals of sunlight to reset ourselves each day.  With the advent of reliable timekeeping, we now go by a strict 24-hour day; with electric lights, we can give in to our tendency to want to stay up later, if we choose.

Use the "extra" sleep you got this weekend to honor your body's natural circadian rhythm.  Don't complain about the early sunset, but rather use it as a signal to get to bed at a reasonable time -- and enjoy the earlier sunrise these days.  Sleep is one of the foundations of health, and most adults need around 7-8 hours per night.  Getting adequate sleep helps not only with our daytime energy, but also with preventing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.

Weight Loss: Willpower or Biology?

"It's all about eating less, exercising more."

Obesity and overweight affect two-thirds of American adults.  You've probably heard this oversimplification of a plan to lose excess pounds, and from a basic science point of view, that's what it boils down to.  Unfortunately, the real life situation is more complicated.

I've talked to my patients for years about something called the set-point theory:  Our body has an internal regulator for body weight, kind of like the thermostat in your house.  When your house gets too cold, the thermostat turns on the furnace to warm it back up to its set point.  Likewise, our own weight "thermostat" (in the hypothalamus of the brain) drives strong hunger signals when we lose weight, to try to bring weight back up.  Recent research backs this up, with more discoveries all the time about these hormonal signals from the hypothalamus, combined with hormones from fat tissue itself -- particularly leptin.  When fat cells decrease, leptin levels fall, creating an overpowering biological drive to eat.

Is there anything we can do to fight against our own physiology?

• When you approach weight loss, do it gradually (about 1/2 - 1 pound per week) -- avoid extreme calorie restriction.
• Be conscious about portion sizes, and plan nutritious meals and snacks ahead to avoid temptation.  If hunger kicks in, at least you'll have healthy foods to choose.
• Regular exercise is key:  the ideal is 1 hour of moderate exercise, 6-7 days per week.  You can also try "burst" or interval training to kick up your metabolism.
• Get rid of the "diet" mindset, and think about lifestyle change:  adopt a long-term healthy approach to eating, including smaller portion sizes.  Plan on this to last a lifetime; don't look forward to going back to your "normal" (unhealthy) way of eating.

Losing Weight: A Battle Against Fat And Biology