Fat: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Digestible fat has gotten a bad rap these days. Some diet plans have you drastically restricting fat grams without any regard as to the particular fat. My concern is that you will throw the baby out with the bath water (or the good fat out with the bad fat) in striving to purge fat from your menu.

There are many reasons we need to eat the right kinds of fatty foods—vitamin storage, cellular and nerve health, hormone production, and for an energy source that keeps your feeling full longer, just to name a few. So let’s take a closer look at which fats are beneficial, which are allowable in “small doses”, and which should be left alone altogether.

Good Fat-mono-and polyunsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature. They include olive and canola oil which are chock full of fatty goodness. The fat of cold water fish, such as salmon are also packed with Omega 3 fatty acids—and I don’t have to tell you how much your body loves these! Avocados, nuts, nut butters, and seeds fall into this good-for-you category. Eggs are more good fat than bad, so feel free to enjoy them, too; in moderation.

Bad Fat-saturated fats, on the other hand, tend to be solids at room temperature. Butter, cheese, shortening, the fat found marbled in meat and in the skin of poultry all fall into this not-good-for-you category. These fats should be eaten sparingly and are best not eaten on a daily basis.

Downright Ugly Fat-trans fats are so harmful to your health; they have literally been banned from restaurant foods in California! Where would you find these ugly oils? On the menus at your favorite fast food joint, in bags of potato chip-like snack foods, in tubs of margarine, and at your corner donut shop.

So if you want to protect your heart and brain health, remember there are good and bad (and terrible) fats out there…choose wisely and you will reap a lifetime plump with health!

The Pros and Cons of Sunshine

Ahhh…it’s finally warm enough to shed some layers and head outdoors again. Scientific researchers have told us that sunshine is good for us and that sunshine is bad for us. So what’s a person to do—seek after the sun, or run and hide from it?

As with most things in life, moderation is the way to go when it comes to sun exposure. The “pro” of sun exposure is that it is the natural way our body creates vitamin D—which is touted for its bone strengthening, immune system fortifying properties. In order to produce your daily vitamin D requirement you need to spend 20 minutes in the sun with both arms and legs exposed. Not surprisingly, experts have blamed the vitamin D deficit epidemic on the heavy use of sun block.

Now, spending more than 30-60 minutes in the sun without sun block leads to the “con” of sun exposure—skin cancer. Even sunburns work against the health of our bodies because of the free radical particles a burn produces. These free radicals speed the aging process in our bodies, skin included.

My advice*: If you are of fair to medium complexion, limit your unadulterated sun exposure to 20-30 minutes per day. For darker, rarely-burn complexions, apply sun block after 30-60 minutes. If you have been told my your doctor that you have precancerous skin lesions, or if you have a family history of melanoma, use sun block and get your vitamin D from a less sunny source.

Enjoy “D” outdoors but remember to sun bathe responsibly!

*Please note I am a researcher, not a dermatologist.

Is Stealth Sugar Ruining Your Diet?

Eating too much sugar raises your blood sugar levels dramatically, causing your body to store away all that unnecessary sweet stuff in your fat, liver, and muscle cells.  It’s easy to steer clear of sugary foods when you can recognize them in the form of a doughnut, a candy bar, or an ice cream cone. But what about all that sugar that lies hidden in processed foods?

Many times I have been nutritionally side swiped while label reading after I have eaten a food product. Here a few sneaky sugar-filled items to be on the lookout for:

• Tomato soup
• Granola—cereal and bars
• Salad dressings
• BBQ sauces, marinades
• Frozen and takeout meals…Asian varieties are especially suspect (i.e. Thai, Chinese, Japanese)
• Honey flavored cereal, nuts, etc.
• Craisins, and other dried fruits
• Vitamin-type waters

Another form of stealth sugar to be wary of is found in fruit juices which we’ve been led to believe are actually good for us—because of all the vitamins and anti-oxidants they contain. Yes, I know that I am calling into question fruit sugar, or fructose. But the reason I am is that your body doesn’t know the difference. It responds to fructose just the same way it does when it gets flooded with table sugar. Here are a few eye-opening facts about some of the fruit juices you might regularly enjoy:

# of teaspoons of sugar per 8 oz. glass

Orange juice = 6 tsp

Apple juice= 5 ½ tsp

Grape juice= 8 tsp

So if you are counting calories, be on the lookout for caches of sugar that are trying to sneak their way into your diet. Life is much sweeter without them!

Climbing Out of Sleep Debt

With 74% of adults reporting to clock less than seven hours of sleep each night, there is a far more personal “national debt crisis” looming—sleep debt! By running “in the red” year after year we fall into sleep deprived bankruptcy which shows up in our lives looking like frequent illnesses, accidents, serious disease diagnoses, and sadly, decreased longevity.

As grownups, we’ve been created to balance our “sleep checkbooks” with a ratio of one sleep deposit for every two withdrawals, or more specifically, eight hours of sleep for 16 hours of wakefulness. This balanced account allows our bodies to repair, regenerate, replenish, and restore all of the cells, hormones, and neurotransmitters we need to keep ourselves running optimally.

When you realize all the health you’re missing and all the diseases you are accumulating by being under slept, your motivation becomes renewed. One of the best ways to get a full night’s sleep is simply to plan for it. Live your day in a way that allows you to be in bed, lights out, eyelids closed, 7-8 hours before your alarm clock rings (biologically or literally).

Make sure you set the stage for a good night’s sleep before you climb into bed. Dim the lights 1-2 hours before bed, unplug from “glowing devices”, and clear your room of noise, and distractions such as children, animals, or just plain clutter. Finally, set mental boundaries governing what subjects can be reviewed as you lie there waiting to fall asleep. Think only about what you accomplished, what brought you joy, and how you blessed others. Leave the unsettling thoughts outside your bedroom.

Sweet dreams…and may your sleep account become as black as the night!

The Hunger Games

Recently people everywhere have been a-buzz about the new movie The Hunger Games; based on the best-selling novel by the same name (If you have teenagers in your home I’m sure you know all about it.) The other morning I was thinking about the book/movie’s title while I was eating breakfast. I laughed to myself because it dawned on me that there was nothing new about “the hunger games”—people have been playing that game for decades.

Obviously if you want to lose weight you need to cut down on calorie intake. So it seems intuitive that if you could skip an entire meal—say, breakfast—then even better. Think of all those calories that would never get to pass from your lips to your hips! Unfortunately, meal skipping can have the reverse effect on weight loss.

Your metabolism can be likened to a campfire. At night, while you sleep (and fast), your metabolic “fire” burns way down until all that’s left is “glowing embers”. In the morning, you were designed to begin to stir up those embers by breaking your nighttime fast with break-fast. By fueling your body early in the day, you place “kindling”, if you will, on those hot embers enabling your daily metabolic fire to roar back to life. With a food-stoked metabolic fire ablaze, subsequent meals and snacks can be readily burned.

However, if you (with good intentions) skip breakfast in lieu of some later-in-the-day fueling, it is similar to placing full sized logs on top of glowing embers—the burn potential is poor. If your body thinks it’s in starvation mode (brought to you by your own sort of Hunger Games) then it has more of a tendency to store ingested calories away as fat for suspected “calorie emergencies”—which of course, never come!

The best way not to play a part in your own Hunger Games is to eat three nutritionally sound meals and two snacks each day. Lose weight by eating more…now that could be a best-selling book!

Easing the Pain of Sciatica

Sciatica has become a “catch all” diagnosis for any leg pain that is associated with low back or pelvic problems. However, true sciatica is due to compression of the sciatic nerve, which runs deep to the gluteus maximus (buttock) muscle and down the back of the leg.

Irritation of the sciatic nerve is typically caused by tightness of, or spasm within, the slender piriformis muscle (which also lies beneath the gluteus maximus muscle). For 85% of the population, the sciatic nerve runs underneath the piriformis muscle, while 15% of us have the distinction of having our sciatic nerves puncture right through this pain-in-the-buttock muscle!

There can be underlying disc or joint issues in the low back or pelvis which can aggravate the sciatic nerve, but more commonly, the tightness of the piriformis muscle alone is the culprit for the deep ache some feel in their buttock or back of the thigh.

I have an easy self-treatment you can employ which will increase the length of your piriformis muscle and therefore, decrease the “squeeze” it’s been putting on your sciatic nerve—and you can do it without even leaving your chair!

Seated Piriformis Stretch:

1. Begin by sitting erect in your chair.
2. Cross the ankle of your painful leg or buttock over your opposite knee.
3. While maintaining a straight spine, lean forward from the hips until you feel a moderate pulling in the buttock/hip of your crossed leg*.
4. Hold this stretch x 30 seconds, repeat two-three times per day.

*If you feel moderate pulling in your buttock before you lean forward—DON’T! This position will supply enough stretch for now. When you have gained some flexibility in your piriformis muscle, progress this stretching exercise by leaning your straightened truck forward from the hips.

Hide the Good Stuff!

If you have a family that fights against the healthy changes you attempt to make to their menu, then I say it’s time for you to fly under the radar. There are ways to hide away yummy goodness in the foods you prepare; leaving those you serve unaware, yet nutritionally fortified. That’s right—“stealth health” is what I’m talking about!

Here’s a sample “incognito” dinner plan with a sweet ending:

Meatloaf (with oat bran added)—use your own recipe with the addition of ½ cup oat bran sprinkled in. For moisture and a “bonding ingredient”, use apple sauce rather than eggs.

Mashed Potatoes (mashed with equal parts cauliflower)—steam, rather than boil your potato pieces for 10 minutes, then add an equal volume of chopped cauliflower florets on top for another 15 minutes. Mash it all together when fork tender, adding some reduced fat milk, salt, and butter. (You can substitute smart blend-type butters made with olive or canola oil).

Green beans almondine (sautéed in coconut oil)—after cooking beans, toss together with toasted almond slices which have been sautéed in coconut oil (a good-for-you-fat).

Power brownies (enriched with black beans)—Drain one 14.5 oz. can of black beans and rinse them in a colander under very hot water. Pour the beans back into their cleaned can and fill with water to the very top. Puree the beans and water in a food processor. Combine the black bean puree with one box store-bought brownie mix (hold the eggs and oil—no other ingredients are required). Bake as directed. The resulting dessert will be a dense, chocolaty treat somewhere between brownies and fudge in texture. (Shhh…don’t let on to the secret until everyone has enjoyed their first bite!)

This meal’s healthy goodness can remain our little secret. I won’t tell if you won’t!

Three Ways to Slim Down for Spring

Everyone gets motivated to shed some unwanted pounds as soon as the weather warms up enough for us to begin shedding some of our clothing layers! Rather than embark on a structured, short term diet, why not adopt three slimming, lifestyle principles that are easy enough to “wear” right on through the year?

1-Eat, don’t drink, your fruit

In the Garden of Eden there were no juice bars. Fruit was created to be eaten whole—flesh and juice together. This practice keeps the sugar levels in our blood stable and protects us against insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. So skip the juice and bite into whole fruit instead.

2-Cut down on the white stuff

As Americans, we are addicted to the white stuff—bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, rice. God created grains to be eaten whole as well, which means the outer bran must accompany the soft, white internal pulp that we have grown so fond of. By eating sparingly of the “colorless” foodstuffs you will again reap the benefit of stable blood sugar, slower digestion, and less need to store away those calories as fat.

3-Sleep more

Three quarters of Americans are under slept and 2/3 of adults are overweight or obese. Here’s the connection: Sleeping less than seven hours each night creates a hormonal imbalance in the brain which acts to stimulate your appetite throughout the day and suppress the “I’m full” feeling that you should be experiencing after eating an adequately-sized portion. While the act of sleep may not burn many calories, adequate sleep can save you from consuming too many throughout the day.

Need convincing? Recently, one of my patients dropped three clothing sizes in three months just by eliminating one glass of grape juice each day and switching the bread on her afternoon sandwich from rye to a sprouted, whole grain variety. With slimming changes like these, you’re bound to have a new Spring in your step this year!

Add More Movement into Your Day

With so many time and effort-saving devices and services available these days, our lives have become quite sedentary. We drive rather than walk, hire laborers to clean our homes and manicure our yards—there are even services that will do our food shopping for us. No wonder we keep gaining weight!

Study after study shows that if we are to maintain healthy bodies and sharp minds, you and I need to be moving on purpose. Purposeful movement (which includes traditional exercise) has been proven to ward off disease, disability, depression, and dementia. In order to gain these health benefits researchers suggest we include 30 minutes of activity into our day, 3-5 times per week.

I am purposefully using the term “movement” rather than “exercise” because I want you to think outside the box of conventional “exercise” in order to rack up minutes in your “health account”. Every day activity, done at a quickened, slightly breathless pace is just as effective!

Here are some non-traditional movement suggestions to get you moving on purpose this week:

• Park farther away in parking lots, and then walk briskly to, and through, the store.
• Pretend your food shopping trip is being timed…and then get a move on!
• Perform your house cleaning in half hour, non-stop bouts.
• Do your own yard work…or at least some of it. Rake some leaves, dig some dirt, prune some bushes, or sweep some sand.
• Avoid the elevator altogether, or get out a few floors below your final destination and walk up the remaining flights. Start with one flight and then increase the number of stairs climbed each month.
• Plan physical activity into your family outings—rather than movie or board game night.
• Turn on some music and have a personal dance party (or worship-fest) for half an hour.

Whatever way you chose to move, know this—your body will thank you for years to come!

Five Foods that Fight Aging

Aging is a natural byproduct of living. Yet no one wants to look or feel older than their years. You and I can effectively fight against premature aging by learning how to slow down, and even reverse this unwanted “natural” process.

Physical aging is fueled by the presence of destructive particles known as free radicals which are created in abundance by such things as inadequate sleep, smoking, eating high fat foods—even getting sunburned. These “unstable” free radicals lash out against our healthy cells by stealing their oxygen molecules, leaving them damaged, or aged. Foods which contain high amounts of anti-oxidants have been engineered to fight back against these oxygen stealing bandits by donating their “extra” oxygen molecules to those oxygen-craving free radicals.

Two other food-based substances which have been shown to provide a powerful push back against premature aging are phytonutrients and omega-3 fatty acids. Both act to shore up your body’s cells, providing the nourishing foundation you need to age well.

Below are five must-eat foods I recommend if you are truly serious about looking and feeling younger than your years.

1- Beans

Red, pinto, black, or kidney—hands down, beans top the list of anti-oxidant foods. Inexpensive and highly versatile, eating legumes are a tasty way to fight back against premature aging.

2- Broccoli

Packed with phytonutrients, this anti-aging vegetable has been noted to fight cancer and heart-disease. Steamed broccoli tossed with fresh lemon juice and sea salt, drizzled with olive oil makes a wonderful side dish!

3- Walnuts

One of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids; walnuts can be added to pasta dishes, cereals, and salads.

4- Blueberries

Wild berries have even greater anti-oxidant “muscle” than their larger, cultivated cousins. Sometimes called “brain-berries”, these tiny morsels have been proven to protect against brain aging.

5- Green Tea

Served hot or cold, this beverage delivers a huge nutritional punch because it contains ten times more anti-oxidants than vegetables do!