Tag Archives: diet

FOOD AND MOOD

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How you feel can affect what you eat. Anyone who has eaten a carton of ice-cream because they felt lonely or bored or angry or depressed knows this. But hey, when you are in “a mood” you eat what you crave. So you need to train your body to crave food that it really needs!

But just as mood can drive us to certain foods, what we choose to eat can also affect our mood. I did not feel especially good about myself the last time I ate a batch of unbaked brownies (sometimes I like them uncooked). In fact, I was in a pretty bad mood after that, but it can go both ways. Choosing the right and healthy foods is hard, but you do feel better knowing you are treating the only body you will ever get in a healthy manner. And though it is sometimes difficult to eat right, the benefits show up gradually over time. And since everyone wants to feel and look good 6 months from now, it is helpful to take the long view…………

So, if you want to feel better in 6 months than you do right now, you can start by making sure your food intake helps to accomplish that. Again, work to train your body to crave what it really needs!

So what does your body really need? Of course, that is a long discussion, so for now lets just focus on something Americans do not crave enough. Your body needs “whole food” fruits and vegetables. I have noticed on surveys done at my office for Medicare wellness visits that many patients check NO when asked if they eat fruit and vegetables every day. I find this very discouraging. Do you know that it is recommended that you get between 5 and 10 helpings EVERY day? Are you anywhere close?

Why is this so important? One reason is because of the nutrients and micronutrients in these foods. Beta carotene. Vitamin C. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Selenium, zinc, manganese. The list goes on………….but you have other things to do. Anyway, a variety of brightly colored fruit and vegetables will give you the minerals and vitamins that should really come through food rather than a pill.

A second reason is the fiber content of whole fruits and vegetables. A glass of V8 juice may be good for you, but it does NOT equal eating whole fruit and vegetables. The fiber in the whole food helps protect against disease, including constipation and colon cancer. It also helps with weight loss.

So since Spring is here and Summer is around the corner, think of new ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. Perhaps you could plant a small garden. Even if you can only plant a single plant! A cherry plucked off your very own tomato plant tastes so much better than the one shipped to your grocery store from another state.

Try new recipes! I think about how I used to cook vegetables. I was a slow learner, I think, when it came to discovering all the delicious ways to cook that broccoli or cauliflower or carrots or whatever! (Right now I am eating delicious lima beans, but my husband made them)

Anyway………..Spring is a season of new beginnings. Make it the beginning of

A NEW YOU!

It is a season to experiment. Change your diet ………… In 6 months you will thank yourself!

THE BITTER TRUTH ABOUT SWEETS

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This year I am trying to treat my 63 year old frame a little better.  Indulging in a sugar binge in front of a screen (always one of my favorite things) didn’t seem to affect me as much when I was a young thing.  Now, I wish I had not practiced that bad habit so much.  But, of course, I did not know the damage I was doing.

I am wiser now.  I am OLDER now.  The first I like.  The second, not so much.  Anyway, I have learned of the detrimental effects of sugar on the human body.  In small amounts, it can sweeten life.  But we don’t use it is small amounts, do we?

HOW DOES SUGAR DESTROY YOU?  Let me count the ways……….

  1.  First I will state the obvious.  Sugar makes us fat!  Even our children. About 1/3 of adolescents and children in the United States are now considered  overweight.  Obesity tripled from the 1970s to 2000.
  2. With the obesity that follows high sugar consumption, there is an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
  3. Obesity is an underlying cause for joint disease.  It has been said that for every pound gained, there is an added 5 pounds of pressure on your knees.  WHAT A PAIN!
  4. Obesity increases your risk of certain cancers

THEN THERE ARE SOME LESSER KNOWN RISKS……

OBESITY is associated with a 1.5 fold increase in your risk of developing ALZHEIMERS.   It seems that this risk is most closely associated with midlife obesity.  That spare tire in middle age hurts more than just your golf game!

Finally, SUGAR CAN HURT YOU BEFORE YOU ARE BORN!   In one study, sugary beverages consumed by the mother were associated with increased weight in their school-aged children.  For every serving of a sugary drink consumed during the second trimester in this study, there was a 0.15 kg/m2  increase in fat mass.  Even that BUN IN THE OVEN is not safe.

So needless to say, many of us need less sugar in our diet.    Sugar is an ADDICTIVE ENEMY, so it may be best to try to avoid it completely for about 6 weeks to lessen the craving for it.

It is a challenge, but one well worth it.  Take it and let me know how you feel afterward!

 

WHEN YOU EAT………DO NO HARM!

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LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE BE THY FOOD.  That was uttered by the Greek physician Hippocrates, who lived 460 – 374 BC.  Today we know more about the way certain foods can help us to prevent or even reverse some significant life-altering diseases.

One of these life-altering diseases that affects almost everyone in the United States is cardiovascular disease.  According to the American Heart Association, in the United States, 48% of people over the age of 19 have some degree of cardiovascular disease (CVD).  The category of CVD includes coronary heart disease (CHD), heart attack, angina, heart failure, hypertension, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and aortic aneurysm.  Many people have CVD and just don’t know it.  Your vessels may only be partially blocked with plaque and not yet screaming at you, but that does not mean you shouldn’t be worried.

So….when my patients do get worried, what do I tell them?  I remind them how important their diet is!  How do you let food be your medicine?  Well, the good news is that there are a lot of risk factors for CVD that are modifiable, and diet is among them.   In fact, a worldwide study named INTERHEART looked at people in 52 different countries.  This study identified 9 risk factors that could be modified to decrease CVD.  These 9 risk factors were responsible for >90% of the risk of having that first heart attack!  WOW!  So what are these 9 factors you can change or alter?

  1.  smoking
  2.  high blood pressure
  3.  diabetes
  4.  dyslipidemia
  5.  abdominal obesity
  6.  DAILY INTAKE OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
  7.  regular alcohol consumption
  8.  regular physical activity
  9.  psychosocial factors

FOCUS on number SIX,  and you will help numbers two through five.

The AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION is promoting a HEALTHY HEART LIFESTYLE and calling it LIFE’S SIMPLE SEVEN

  1. don’t smoke
  2. get regular physical activity
  3. keep a normal blood pressure
  4. have a normal blood glucose level
  5. have a normal total cholesterol level
  6. keep a normal weight
  7. EAT A HEALTHY DIET

Again, focusing on number SEVEN  will help accomplish three through six.   No matter how you look at things, your diet is important and plays a factor in your health and longevity.  Food is medicine, one way or the other.  There is good medicine.  There is bad medicine.

It’s your choice!!