Not to Put You to Sleep...

There are always a lot of promises for perfect health from the manufacturers of drugs and nutritional supplements.  As a naturopathic doctor, I can't emphasize often enough the importance of the basics of lifestyle.  Getting a good night's sleep is one that we too often overlook.  Adequate sleep helps protect against obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.  If you're having trouble getting your 7-8 hours per night, check out these suggestions:

Getting a good night’s rest

What Should I Eat to Be Healthy?

This has to be one of the most common questions I hear as a doctor of naturopathic medicine.  Is it vegetarianism?  The Paleo diet?  Local foods?  Raw foods?  Gluten free?  Blood type diet?  Unfortunately, there's no simple answer to this question for all people.  A lot of it depends on a person's specific health conditions:  there may be food allergies/sensitivities, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, or other situations that would dictate specific dietary prescriptions.

For most folks, though, I follow the advice of author Michael Pollan:  "Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants."  In other words, lay off the processed foods, convenience foods, and fast food meals.  Use sensible portion sizes.  Take advantage of the undisputed disease-fighting properties of the phytochemicals and fiber in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.

The U.S. is one of the only countries that has such questions about proper diet, because we have no strong food traditions.  Most areas of the world developed cuisine systems over centuries that were based around fresh, whole foods available in season -- and that keeps most folks healthy.

With our usual American gusto for taking things to extremes, some folks even develop a pattern that has been called "orthorexia" -- that is, an interest in healthy eating that becomes so obsessive as to interfere with many aspects of one's everyday life.  For this reason, I do not routinely prescribe highly specific diets to every patient.  I don't tell every patient to completely avoid dairy, gluten, and sugar.  Part of healthy eating is having a healthy relationship to food -- and a good relationship is not based on fear.

When eating healthy turns obsessive

Hold the Lipitor, Doc...

High cholesterol brings a lot of folks into my office.  Some key points of the discussion I have about this topic include:

• High cholesterol is not a disease; it's merely a marker, or risk factor, for development of cardiovascular disease.
• It's not a perfect correlation; a significant percentage of people with normal cholesterol levels have heart attacks, also.  (That's why we must look at other markers, including hsCRP, ferritin, vitamin D, etc.)
• If you are a woman with no previous heart attack or stroke, there is no evidence that statin drugs reduce your risk of dying.

A recent large epidemiological study from Norway found that our current cholesterol guidelines do not accurately reflect risk of cardiovascular deaths.  In fact, folks with too low cholesterol levels are at increased risk of death, as well as those with extremely high levels.  The authors conclude:

"Based on epidemiological analysis of updated and comprehensive population data, we found that the underlying assumptions regarding cholesterol in clinical guidelines for CVD prevention might be flawed: cholesterol emerged as an overestimated risk factor in our study, indicating that guideline information might be misleading, particularly for women with ‘moderately elevated’ cholesterol levels..."

(Interesting to note, too, that this study was funded by public health and physicians' organizations, not pharmaceutical companies...)

Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid? Ten years prospective data from the Norwegian HUNT 2 study.

Careful! Don't let your brain shrink...

...which it might do, if you consume too many trans fats, according to a new study.  This is the type of unnatural fat found in hydrogenated oils, a major component of a lot of junk foods and processed foods (chips, doughnuts, cookies, etc.).  Higher levels of trans fats in the blood of seniors is associated with smaller brain size, and less higher thinking ability.

If you want to preserve brain size and function, avoid those trans fats, and stock up on omega-3 fats (the healthy fats found in fish oil), as well as vitamins B, C, D, and E.  Just chalk this one up to the incredibly long list of benefits of those omega-3 fats.

Study: Vitamins, Omega-3s may keep brain from shrinking

How are Those New Year's Resolutions Going?

Ah yes, the excesses of the holiday season are over... now it's time to commit to a new and better you.  What are your resolutions this year -- quitting smoking, eating better, exercising more?

Whatever your resolutions are, take a moment to step back and look at the process of change itself.  Although human psychology is vastly complex, one simple principle motivates most of our behavior:  seeking pleasure, or avoiding pain.  And this is however "pain" and "pleasure" are defined.  For example, maybe you want to quit smoking to avoid the pain of smoker's cough... or the pain in your wallet (fifty dollars a carton?!?)... or the painful thought of an early death.  Or perhaps you seek the pleasure of higher energy and more physical endurance... or the pleasure of increased social acceptance... or the pleasure of being around for your grandchildren's graduation.

Does this sound too simplistic?  Give it a try -- whatever change you're contemplating, think about that behavior in terms of seeking pleasure or avoiding pain.  Be brutally honest with yourself; remember that a "seeking" mindset is not superior to an "avoiding" mindset.  By taking a few moments to examine this, you can determine if the pain of change is stronger than the pleasure of maintaining the status quo.  If not, you'll have to come up with more reasons to change... otherwise, it's better to put off the change until you're more prepared.  This lack of examination is why most New Year's resolutions don't last.

So, are you ready?  There are many different psychological models for changing behavior.  Some common denominators include awareness of the need for change, a willingness to learn, and education on the subject.  One of the fundamental principles of naturopathic medicine is Docere -- the Latin word for both doctor and teacher.  I constantly strive to educate patients, because the more informed you are about your health, the more it becomes a pleasure to seek healthy behaviors.

So let's kick off 2012 with attainable resolutions, for a more contented new year!