Are you confused about what to eat? Most Americans are. We have towering stacks of health and diet books and they often seem contradictory. Nutrition news, too, may report conflicting information. Stop reading the news, and you can feel you're being left behind pretty quickly.
What's hot comes and goes: remember the Vitamin C craze? Or, how Vitamin E supplementation was so important? How about betacarotene? Now we're hearing about Vitamin D all the time. How much is necessary? How much is safe?
It's important to remember that as sciences go, nutrition is in its infancy. A lot of research is being done all the time. Much of it is funded by organizations that have a stake in the result. When new drugs are approved, the drug companies publish the studies that show the drug has positive results, contradictory studies (which may equal the positive studies) simply aren't published and the FDA is fine with this. Furthermore, the publishing industry, being for profit, recognizes that diet books, cookbooks, and health books are very popular and their motivation in publishing so many of these titles is to make money: these are not public service items. Anyone can write these books and the research cited in them is usually done on young, healthy people, the type of people who will be healthy on pretty much any diet for a short time at least. And, speaking of diets, if you restrict calories in any way, people will lose weight in the short term, which is what allows all diet books to honestly claim their method works.
The last part of this cautionary tail is this: the USDA, the agency that brings us the USDA Food Pyramid was established during the Great Depression to achieve two goals: to help feed starving children and to find a market for farmers. Our children are no longer starving (at least not calorie-wise) and the way we subsidize farming has lead to corn and soy being ubiquitous. It's driven down prices of certain commodities, making those foods seem inexpensive (when actually we're paying for them through taxes and with our health) and making other, not subsidized, food seem expensive (mostly fruits and vegetables). Lobbying efforts keep the USDA Food Pyramid, a political tool: it is not a good guideline for how to eat healthfully.
Fortunately, there's good news. If you sift through the research, the studies, and the books, there is a common thread on how to eat healthfully. It's blissfully simple: eat close to nature. What's that mean? Eat whole, fresh foods as much as possible.
Yesterday I met with a client who's looking and feeling great. She's in her second month of my six-month program. She saw her doctor a couple of weeks ago - all her tests were the best they've been in years - including that her cholesterol level was down 40 points. I asked her what she attributed it to. She replied she's doubled her intake of vegetables.
It seems amazing that with all the books, magazine articles, and scientific studies it should come down to this, but it does. Just eat real foods.
And now, I'll do the only thing that seems to make sense at the moment. I'll sign off. But, I'd love to know what you think - do you believe it can really be this easy?
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Body Breakdowns, Grief, and Acceptance
“Wholly unprepared, we embark upon the second half of life…we take the step into the afternoon of life; worst still, we take this step with the false assumptions that our truths and ideals will serve us as before. But we cannot live the afternoons of life according to the programme of life’s morning – for what was great in the morning will be little in the evening, and what in the morning was true will in the evening have become a lie.” Carl Jung
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become." Carl Jung
I'm feeling philosophical today. Perhaps it's the exhaustion that comes from a weekend of too much stress, fun, long hours, late party, and the springing forward of a clock when the body has no idea what that means. With all that, there's also the bone-numbing tiredness and realization that this body can't roll with the flow the way it used to.
So be it.
I accept it.
My husband even complimented me - me! - for how well I handled my exhaustion yesterday. Which is lovely, because, quite frankly, I can be a bitch when I'm tired. However, yesterday I did what was seemingly selfish - I put in my earbuds, parked myself in front of the computer, did my work, and (mostly) ignored my family.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for everyone else is take care of yourself. I didn't cook, clean, or do laundry. But I didn't yell or grump at anyone either. I accepted my exhaustion and in accepting it, I got done what I could and allowed time to take care of what I couldn't take care of otherwise: resting my body. As Jung says, we can't live in the afternoon as we lived in the morning, but we also get to choose how we live. When I was younger, a weekend like this wouldn't have thrown me so.
I've bumped up against the limitations and the breakdowns of my body a few times. In my 30s I went through infertility and the grief and anger that my body wouldn't do for me such a seemingly natural thing as getting pregnant. I raged, cried and mourned the loss of my "perfect" body and finally accepted it (and then, ironically and happily, got pregnant three times). In my 40s I was diagnosed with kidney disease and told by an insensitive doctor that he was so, so sorry for the horror that my life would be (huh? I seem to still be perfectly fine!) And again, when I turned 50, I suffered the angst of realizing there were things I wanted to do that I probably wasn't going to get to do since my life was half over and my body was not the strong, young thing it had been. I raged and cried and mourned the loss of time and again accepted. And as Jung says, I turned my thoughts from all that had happened (or not happened) to me and focused on what I could become.
It's been many years since I could easily pull an all-nighter, or even a half-nighter. With age, along with (hopefully) wisdom comes the body's changes. You can accept it and work with it, or you can be miserable about it. I suggest, that if this is where you are in your life, acknowledge and experience your emotions. Write about them, talk about them, cry about them. And then know that as long as you're here, you're in the driver's seat. The road may be a different one than you thought you'd drive on, but you are driving. Look out the front window - as Wayne Dyer says, you wouldn't drive a car by looking in the rearview mirror, and that's no way to live your life either. If you're not on the road you want to be on, start moving forward, enjoy the scenery, and think of how you can get to where you wanted to go. Or pick a new destination. But, make sure it's a destination you're interested in getting to.
And don't let anyone else tell you what you can, should, or will still do. We don't know the limits of what we can accomplish but when we think we do, we automatically limit ourselves. There's a fine line between honest acceptance of what is and what cannot be changed, and being open to realizing how much can be changed. If I listened to the people who said post-menopausal women can't lose weight, I'd be twenty pounds heavier and accomplishing less than I do now because when I was heavier, I had less energy. If I assumed I didn't have the brain cells at age 55 to be back in school (and many people have told me they feel too old at this age to learn new things), I wouldn't be embarking on this new career that I love. So, check yourself out honestly, honestly see how things feel and what you want and then point yourself in the direction of your dreams and go!
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become." Carl Jung
I'm feeling philosophical today. Perhaps it's the exhaustion that comes from a weekend of too much stress, fun, long hours, late party, and the springing forward of a clock when the body has no idea what that means. With all that, there's also the bone-numbing tiredness and realization that this body can't roll with the flow the way it used to.
So be it.
I accept it.
My husband even complimented me - me! - for how well I handled my exhaustion yesterday. Which is lovely, because, quite frankly, I can be a bitch when I'm tired. However, yesterday I did what was seemingly selfish - I put in my earbuds, parked myself in front of the computer, did my work, and (mostly) ignored my family.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for everyone else is take care of yourself. I didn't cook, clean, or do laundry. But I didn't yell or grump at anyone either. I accepted my exhaustion and in accepting it, I got done what I could and allowed time to take care of what I couldn't take care of otherwise: resting my body. As Jung says, we can't live in the afternoon as we lived in the morning, but we also get to choose how we live. When I was younger, a weekend like this wouldn't have thrown me so.
I've bumped up against the limitations and the breakdowns of my body a few times. In my 30s I went through infertility and the grief and anger that my body wouldn't do for me such a seemingly natural thing as getting pregnant. I raged, cried and mourned the loss of my "perfect" body and finally accepted it (and then, ironically and happily, got pregnant three times). In my 40s I was diagnosed with kidney disease and told by an insensitive doctor that he was so, so sorry for the horror that my life would be (huh? I seem to still be perfectly fine!) And again, when I turned 50, I suffered the angst of realizing there were things I wanted to do that I probably wasn't going to get to do since my life was half over and my body was not the strong, young thing it had been. I raged and cried and mourned the loss of time and again accepted. And as Jung says, I turned my thoughts from all that had happened (or not happened) to me and focused on what I could become.
It's been many years since I could easily pull an all-nighter, or even a half-nighter. With age, along with (hopefully) wisdom comes the body's changes. You can accept it and work with it, or you can be miserable about it. I suggest, that if this is where you are in your life, acknowledge and experience your emotions. Write about them, talk about them, cry about them. And then know that as long as you're here, you're in the driver's seat. The road may be a different one than you thought you'd drive on, but you are driving. Look out the front window - as Wayne Dyer says, you wouldn't drive a car by looking in the rearview mirror, and that's no way to live your life either. If you're not on the road you want to be on, start moving forward, enjoy the scenery, and think of how you can get to where you wanted to go. Or pick a new destination. But, make sure it's a destination you're interested in getting to.
And don't let anyone else tell you what you can, should, or will still do. We don't know the limits of what we can accomplish but when we think we do, we automatically limit ourselves. There's a fine line between honest acceptance of what is and what cannot be changed, and being open to realizing how much can be changed. If I listened to the people who said post-menopausal women can't lose weight, I'd be twenty pounds heavier and accomplishing less than I do now because when I was heavier, I had less energy. If I assumed I didn't have the brain cells at age 55 to be back in school (and many people have told me they feel too old at this age to learn new things), I wouldn't be embarking on this new career that I love. So, check yourself out honestly, honestly see how things feel and what you want and then point yourself in the direction of your dreams and go!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Meat, Mess, My Birthday and More
Before last week, I wouldn't have made this my birthday dinner, but this is now and all else came before. The menu: meatloaf (yup, the real deal), baked potatoes, asparagus, and just to keep things in keeping with the old me (the one from before last week, not the one that's now the age of a common highway speed limit) - vegan chocolate cake.
What gives? Last week, I listened to two lectures that shook up my view of food, like nothing else has done....ever. The first was given by Sally Fallon who is the director of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Dr. Weston Price was a dentist, who in the 1930s traveled to various places around the world, studying the health and diets of "primitive" people. He then compiled his observations and now people like Sally Fallon have been following up his ideas and amassing research to support it. It turns out that there are certain commonalities surrounding the diets of "primitive" people regardless of where they lived or what foods were available to them. I won't go into them all here, but the one that struck the biggest chord with me (a resounding twang, really) was that they all ate animal protein. Somehow, this did for me something that nothing had ever done for me before - it was the first reason that ever made sense to me that there might, just might be a reason to eat meat after all. Because Dr. Price found that all the "primitive" groups he visited enjoyed great health. Likewise, he found that when he returned to these people after they started eating more modern diets, their health had declined.
The other lecture was on the advantages and dangers of soy - or so it was billed. It was mostly on the dangers of soy. Again, I'm not going to go into detail, but I'd always assumed that the anti-soy stuff I heard had been fueled by the meat and dairy industry. As it turns out, much of the pro-soy stuff I'd heard had been fueled by the soy industry which just goes to show how naive I am!
So, out with the soy milk and tofu and in with meat loaf for my birthday dinner, because, well, I really, really love meat loaf! However...and this is a big however - that meatloaf was made from grass-fed cows who live out in the sunshine the way cows are meant to live. I assume you've heard of the Vitamin D deficiency epidemic in the U.S. and I assume you've heard that we cannot easily get Vitamin D from food. However, according to Fallon, animals raised in sunshine make plenty of Vitamin D and if you eat such animals (or products made from their products - ie, milk), you can get Vitamin D from food. Which got me thinking, that perhaps, just perhaps, this epidemic is being fueled by our factory farming practices and that we're consuming these animals and their products which are deficient themselves. I also learned that the Vitamin D in plant based milk substitutes (soy, nut, and hemp milks) is Vitamin D2, whereas the Vitamin D in animal milk is D3. What's it matter? It seems that D3 helps put calcium in bones, whereas D2 leeches calcium from bone and deposits it in soft tissue.
However, now that I wrote all this, I have to caution you that with any nutritional topic, the research is all over the place, on every side of every issue. It kind of makes your head spin (or, at least it makes my head spin).
So, what's a person to do? How do you decide what to eat? I think you pay good attention to your body. How does your food make you feel? Are you healthy? Are you energetic? How are your moods? I even throw into the mix, do I feel like I'm being a good steward of the earth and it's living creatures by my food choices? And, when you go to your doctor, what clues can you get from your physical exam and lab results?
My head stops spinning when I realize that almost everyone agrees that whole foods, in their natural form are healthiest (and I write this knowing that someone, somewhere has probably written something about how Twinkies are perfectly nutritious).
And then I just loosen up and enjoy a slice of meatloaf, with a baked potato and asparagus. As for the vegan chocolate cake...not so great - but that probably had something to do with my replacing ingredients willy-nilly even though I'd never made the recipe before. It wasn't my best effort but somehow, my family managed to choke it down (without complaint). I'd say it was more of a vegan chocolate crumble...all over the table, but then again, one of the potatoes exploded in the oven. Perhaps it was all just birthday fireworks. Happy birthday to me!
What gives? Last week, I listened to two lectures that shook up my view of food, like nothing else has done....ever. The first was given by Sally Fallon who is the director of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Dr. Weston Price was a dentist, who in the 1930s traveled to various places around the world, studying the health and diets of "primitive" people. He then compiled his observations and now people like Sally Fallon have been following up his ideas and amassing research to support it. It turns out that there are certain commonalities surrounding the diets of "primitive" people regardless of where they lived or what foods were available to them. I won't go into them all here, but the one that struck the biggest chord with me (a resounding twang, really) was that they all ate animal protein. Somehow, this did for me something that nothing had ever done for me before - it was the first reason that ever made sense to me that there might, just might be a reason to eat meat after all. Because Dr. Price found that all the "primitive" groups he visited enjoyed great health. Likewise, he found that when he returned to these people after they started eating more modern diets, their health had declined.
The other lecture was on the advantages and dangers of soy - or so it was billed. It was mostly on the dangers of soy. Again, I'm not going to go into detail, but I'd always assumed that the anti-soy stuff I heard had been fueled by the meat and dairy industry. As it turns out, much of the pro-soy stuff I'd heard had been fueled by the soy industry which just goes to show how naive I am!
So, out with the soy milk and tofu and in with meat loaf for my birthday dinner, because, well, I really, really love meat loaf! However...and this is a big however - that meatloaf was made from grass-fed cows who live out in the sunshine the way cows are meant to live. I assume you've heard of the Vitamin D deficiency epidemic in the U.S. and I assume you've heard that we cannot easily get Vitamin D from food. However, according to Fallon, animals raised in sunshine make plenty of Vitamin D and if you eat such animals (or products made from their products - ie, milk), you can get Vitamin D from food. Which got me thinking, that perhaps, just perhaps, this epidemic is being fueled by our factory farming practices and that we're consuming these animals and their products which are deficient themselves. I also learned that the Vitamin D in plant based milk substitutes (soy, nut, and hemp milks) is Vitamin D2, whereas the Vitamin D in animal milk is D3. What's it matter? It seems that D3 helps put calcium in bones, whereas D2 leeches calcium from bone and deposits it in soft tissue.
However, now that I wrote all this, I have to caution you that with any nutritional topic, the research is all over the place, on every side of every issue. It kind of makes your head spin (or, at least it makes my head spin).
So, what's a person to do? How do you decide what to eat? I think you pay good attention to your body. How does your food make you feel? Are you healthy? Are you energetic? How are your moods? I even throw into the mix, do I feel like I'm being a good steward of the earth and it's living creatures by my food choices? And, when you go to your doctor, what clues can you get from your physical exam and lab results?
My head stops spinning when I realize that almost everyone agrees that whole foods, in their natural form are healthiest (and I write this knowing that someone, somewhere has probably written something about how Twinkies are perfectly nutritious).
And then I just loosen up and enjoy a slice of meatloaf, with a baked potato and asparagus. As for the vegan chocolate cake...not so great - but that probably had something to do with my replacing ingredients willy-nilly even though I'd never made the recipe before. It wasn't my best effort but somehow, my family managed to choke it down (without complaint). I'd say it was more of a vegan chocolate crumble...all over the table, but then again, one of the potatoes exploded in the oven. Perhaps it was all just birthday fireworks. Happy birthday to me!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Faux FAQS
You'd ask these questions if you thought of them. But, I did first (you were wondering though, weren't you?)
Q: What do you do?
A: The mainstay of my work is the "6 Month Program", where I meet with the client, either in person or by phone twice each month for a 50 minute session. In these sessions, we'll discuss your specific health concerns and I'll help guide you to make better food and lifestyle choices. In each session we'll add a few simple changes you can try. Small steps are easier to stick to than big steps. Likewise, changes that resonate with you, that you feel you can and want to make are more beneficial than changes you don't want to make. A major principle of my work is that everyone is different, no diet or lifestyle will fit everyone. None of my clients get the exact same program or the exact same recommendations. Clients also receive a variety of resources (including, but not limited to book(s), informational printouts, recipes, and food samples - again, you'd get what I think will be of interest and benefit to you specifically).
Q: Why six months?
A: Because studies have shown that six months is about the length of time it takes to solidify new habits. By the end of the program, you should be well on your way to having the habits of healthy living that you can continue on your own. Also, we need time for you to make changes in small, baby steps - otherwise, most people either won't remember what to do or will give up in frustration, feeling overwhelmed trying to make a lot of changes at once.
Q: How do I know I'd want to work with you?
A: You won't until you spend some time with me! I offer free 50 minute health consultations. This allows us some time to work together and get to know each other. It also gives me a chance to explain the program to you in better detail. I'll know by the end of the session if I can be of service to you and you'll see how you feel about working this way, and with me, too. Most people enjoy the consultation - it's a chance to focus totally on yourself, in a confidential, non-judgmental environment for almost an hour. Where else can you get that? Many people also realize, in the course of the consultation, some things they can and want to do to improve their health. Be assured, there will be NO sales pitch and NO follow-up from me. Should you decide you're interested in the program - great. Should you decide you're not interested - still great. If you're interested, please visit my website at www.madlyhealthy.com and complete the Health History form - or just send an email from there.
Q: Who do you work with?
A: At this point I'm working with anyone, except those with major life-threatening illnesses. My particular interests (at this point) are middle-age women who have a sneaking suspicion that even when peri- or post-menopausal we can have more energy, less weight, better sleep, and more purpose than we're often lead to believe (because we can!). I'm also very interested in working with adolescents (I like to think I'm something of an expert since I'm currently living with three and remember my own adolescence in excruciating detail).
Q: What do you do?
A: The mainstay of my work is the "6 Month Program", where I meet with the client, either in person or by phone twice each month for a 50 minute session. In these sessions, we'll discuss your specific health concerns and I'll help guide you to make better food and lifestyle choices. In each session we'll add a few simple changes you can try. Small steps are easier to stick to than big steps. Likewise, changes that resonate with you, that you feel you can and want to make are more beneficial than changes you don't want to make. A major principle of my work is that everyone is different, no diet or lifestyle will fit everyone. None of my clients get the exact same program or the exact same recommendations. Clients also receive a variety of resources (including, but not limited to book(s), informational printouts, recipes, and food samples - again, you'd get what I think will be of interest and benefit to you specifically).
Q: Why six months?
A: Because studies have shown that six months is about the length of time it takes to solidify new habits. By the end of the program, you should be well on your way to having the habits of healthy living that you can continue on your own. Also, we need time for you to make changes in small, baby steps - otherwise, most people either won't remember what to do or will give up in frustration, feeling overwhelmed trying to make a lot of changes at once.
Q: How do I know I'd want to work with you?
A: You won't until you spend some time with me! I offer free 50 minute health consultations. This allows us some time to work together and get to know each other. It also gives me a chance to explain the program to you in better detail. I'll know by the end of the session if I can be of service to you and you'll see how you feel about working this way, and with me, too. Most people enjoy the consultation - it's a chance to focus totally on yourself, in a confidential, non-judgmental environment for almost an hour. Where else can you get that? Many people also realize, in the course of the consultation, some things they can and want to do to improve their health. Be assured, there will be NO sales pitch and NO follow-up from me. Should you decide you're interested in the program - great. Should you decide you're not interested - still great. If you're interested, please visit my website at www.madlyhealthy.com and complete the Health History form - or just send an email from there.
Q: Who do you work with?
A: At this point I'm working with anyone, except those with major life-threatening illnesses. My particular interests (at this point) are middle-age women who have a sneaking suspicion that even when peri- or post-menopausal we can have more energy, less weight, better sleep, and more purpose than we're often lead to believe (because we can!). I'm also very interested in working with adolescents (I like to think I'm something of an expert since I'm currently living with three and remember my own adolescence in excruciating detail).
Q: You're a vegetarian. Does that mean you're going to try to recruit me to be a vegetarian if I work with you?
A: Absolutely not! I have many reasons for being (mostly) vegetarian. What's important to me may not be what's important to you. We're all different and there's no one diet that's right for everybody (or every body). If you work with me, I'll help you find the best diet for you.
Q: Yeah, you say that now, but what's with all the vegan cookbooks you recommend?
A: Vegan cookbooks are great regardless of your dietary preferences. They always have interesting recipes using lots of vegetables and for some reason I don't know, they're often written with great humor. I prefer baking vegan for two reasons: you never have to wait for the butter to soften and you can eat the cookie dough without worrying about getting salmonella (and the results are excellent). And what's the point of buying a cookbook of the same, old recipes you're used to making?
Q: I'm not sick, why would I work with a health coach or counselor?
A: Many healthy people work with health coaches to increase their vitality and to learn how to keep their good health so they can have a long, healthy, and productive life. Some people enjoy looking at their health holistically and learning not just what to eat to stay healthy but to explore how other aspects of their life affect their health. And, in this day and age, of skyrocketing health costs, staying healthy will ultimately save you money.
Q: What's "holistic"? It sounds weird. Are you going to wave crystals over my head?
A: No crystals here but no judgments about them either. Think of "holistic" as "whole-istic". Anyone (like me) who works holistically sees all of you as one and so we'd look at all aspects of your physical health and your life to build the healthiest and happiest you. If you look at conventional medical news in recent years you can see a move toward this: for example, studies have been published showing a correlation between flossing your teeth and cardiovascular health - everything is connected! Another example, when people don't sleep well, they often overeat and even if they don't, they have difficulty losing weight if that's their goal. So, dieting won't help and someone just looking at your diet won't help in that situation either. Determining what's in the way of a consistent good night's sleep will.
Q: Do you offer any other services besides the 6 Month Program?
A: Yes! I also offer supermarket tours and tours of the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany. I can take you shopping and show you how to find the healthiest options when you food shop. I also offer pantry tours - either of mine or yours, again to teach you how to up the nutrition and healthfulness of the foods you buy. I am currently working on a class for teenage girls on body image and will soon be offering a class on "Sugar Blues". In the future I plan on offering cooking classes and movie/discussion/healthy food events. If you have a class you'd like me to develop for your group, please let me know.
Q: I'm not ready to commit, but I'm interested. What should I do?
A: Keep reading the blog, feel free to comment on the blog. Also, if you send an email to me at madlyhealthy@me.com, with your email address, and first and last names, I'll add you to my contact list for my monthly newsletter.
A: No crystals here but no judgments about them either. Think of "holistic" as "whole-istic". Anyone (like me) who works holistically sees all of you as one and so we'd look at all aspects of your physical health and your life to build the healthiest and happiest you. If you look at conventional medical news in recent years you can see a move toward this: for example, studies have been published showing a correlation between flossing your teeth and cardiovascular health - everything is connected! Another example, when people don't sleep well, they often overeat and even if they don't, they have difficulty losing weight if that's their goal. So, dieting won't help and someone just looking at your diet won't help in that situation either. Determining what's in the way of a consistent good night's sleep will.
Q: Do you offer any other services besides the 6 Month Program?
A: Yes! I also offer supermarket tours and tours of the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany. I can take you shopping and show you how to find the healthiest options when you food shop. I also offer pantry tours - either of mine or yours, again to teach you how to up the nutrition and healthfulness of the foods you buy. I am currently working on a class for teenage girls on body image and will soon be offering a class on "Sugar Blues". In the future I plan on offering cooking classes and movie/discussion/healthy food events. If you have a class you'd like me to develop for your group, please let me know.
Q: I'm not ready to commit, but I'm interested. What should I do?
A: Keep reading the blog, feel free to comment on the blog. Also, if you send an email to me at madlyhealthy@me.com, with your email address, and first and last names, I'll add you to my contact list for my monthly newsletter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)