Our physical signs of health are measurable. Body weight tends to be one of the first things your doctor measures. But the number on your scale isn’t the only way to gauge your health. Other signs of our health, such as joy, happiness, compassion, patience and gratitude are more difficult to quantify. These deeper mental and emotional values are also a vital part of our lives. The purpose of this newsletter is explore, inspire, and strengthen your transformation to a healthier life.
A recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NEJM 07/13/2017) shows that an improved diet is consistently associated with decreased mortality. I will call this healthier diet the Longevity Diet. Unhealthy diets have been linked as a major factor contributing to death and health complications, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol.
Over time, people who reported increased consumption of whole grains, vegetables and n-3 fatty acids (also called omega-3) as well as decreased sodium intake lived longer, had a lower body weight measurement (BMI) and were more physically active.
These results indicate that making more healthy food choices and improving diet quality decreases the risk of disease and leads to a longer life.
The goal of our weight-loss and longevity center is to create longer and healthier lives. Wellness, according to Dr. Andrew Weil, physician and founder of the Integrative Medicine Fellowship program at Harvard, is about health promotion and disease prevention (see video below).
“The first wealth is health,” American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1860.
Emerson’s quote, cited by Harvard economist and health expert David E. Bloom in Finance and Development’s lead article, reminds us that good health is the foundation on which to build—a life, a community, an economy.
There are many paths to wellness, just like there are many global populations, languages, and religions. There are many roads in these different cultures and our own that still need to be paved and a variety of angles that can obstruct our ability to reach our goals as a nation.
“The great disparities in health—evident, for example, in the a 38-year gap in life expectancy between Japan (83 years) and Sierra Leone (45 years)—raise issues of equity and point to the need to press forward on multiple fronts.”
The three jobs of a medically supervised weight-loss and longevity program, like ACCORD, are:
1) to enrich (health is the greatest wealth), 2) to empower and 3) to educate. The word “doctor” is derived from the Latin word docere meaning teacher.
The American Heart Association recommends that you be aware of five key numbers: Total Cholesterol, HDL (good) Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar and Body Mass Index (BMI). A high BMI number means you are overweight or obese. Obesity rates vary state-to-state, but remain high nationwide. Across the United States, more than one in three adults and one in six children (ages 2-19) are obese — and one in 11 young children (ages 2-5) are obese. Adult obesity rates range from a high of 37.7 in Louisiana to a low of 22.3 in Colorado. People who are overweight or obese have increased risks for diseases and conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. 25% of young adults who try to join the military are ineligible due to fitness or weight concerns.
A person’s ideal body weight varies by gender, age, height, and frame. Your body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference provide good indicators of whether you are at a healthy weight. A body mass index of 18.6-24.9 ( less than 25) is a healthy number in the adult population. Waistline smaller than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men indicates another healthy number. Comparing the prevalence of obesity, there are currently more obese women than men.
Get your numbers checked and keep track of what you eat. Always try to balance the number of calories that you consume with the number that you burn off from activities. Paying attention to your portion sizes helps. Many of the major health risks that men and women face can be prevented by maintaining a good diet and taking early action with screening tests.
When you take these simple steps and know your risks and know your health numbers, you improve your chances of living a healthy life.
Stressful jobs and tense working conditions are unhealthy. The strain and stress of your job can lead to a lowered immune system, sleep loss, anxiety, depression and weight gain. According to an article in WebMD ( page 12 ), the physical impact of a stressful, competitive and ungrateful work environment raises blood pressure, increases weight, especially around the mid-abdominal area, and even causes earlier mortality rates. Rising stress levels increase inflammation in your body and raise the hormone cortisol. Cortisol causes weight gain, elevated diastolic blood pressures and bone loss. High blood pressure is an important indicator of health because it contributes to heart disease, stroke, and premature death.
When your co-workers increase your anxiety and unease, you can try to overcome it or move on to escape it. When all you hear is rumbling and grumbling, it is time to leave. Your decision is clearer if you focus on finding others who share your healthier views on life, and not to surround yourself with emotional and mental turmoil.
If you decide to stay at your current job, think about using supplements that are anti-stress and anxiety, such as omega – 3 oils. Fish oil or hemp oil are good examples. Also, it is a good idea to use supplements that are anti-inflammatory. These include green tea, dandelion tea, vitamin C and curcumin.
There are other healthful coping mechanisms out there for combating chronic stress. Consider adding a mind/body practice to your daily routine. This practices include: yoga, meditation, writing a journal, devotional practices, such as prayer, guided imagery, creative visualization and breathing exercises.
Adding aerobic exercise is also anti-inflammatory. Keep track of your progress with the app Runkeeper
Here are 10 meditation apps to focus your mind and body. The app Aura is personalized and focuses on gratitude.
And finally, if you want to manage the stress in your life, the Harvard Health Blog suggests finding the time to provide volunteer work or engage in some sort of community service. When you do, your body produces the hormone oxytocin that, in your brain, boosts trust and empathy, while decreasing stress and anxiety.
Sharon Stone, actress and survivor of brain hemorrhage with stroke, is co-creator of Planet Hope, a foundation for homeless and abused mothers and children. She continues to raise money for amFar, the global Foundation for Aids Research, using her fame and a knack for auctioning off ingenious items, including kisses from herself and George Clooney, to raise $300 million for the organization. She learned her philanthropic instincts form her parents.
Most people are trying to lose weight, or at least trying not to gain it, but the actress Charlize Theron wanted to gain weight for her role in the movie “Tully”.
The actress put on nearly 50 pounds to realistically capture Marlo’s post-pregnancy body, which proved physically, mentally and emotionally taxing . After a three-month junk-food diet of In-N-Out burgers and eating mac and cheese pasta in bed, she says she experienced depression for the first time. She said, “Yeah, for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar.”
Her weight gain changed her body and affected how she felt mentally. She developed depression.
She eventually lost the weight over a year and a half, which made her empathetic to moms who struggle to get back in shape, particularly as they get older.
Her weight loss program was achieved doing the exact opposite of what she did to gain that weight for the movie.
It’s harder to lose weight if you are older because your metabolism slows down. The supplements Carnitine, Co Q-10, and Green Tea help increase your metabolism and are thermogenic (fat-burning). The weight loss process is a journey. Find out which supplements work best for your weight loss by taking our genetic DNA cheek swab test.
Working long hours can increase our income and profit, but it poses a serious risk to our health. People who overwork, what some refer to as “workaholics”, are going to lead America’s workforce to an early grave. Extra work and extra shifts can lead to long-term physical and mental health repercussions.
According to a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll, nearly 10.8 % of U.S. full-time workers are diagnosed with depression, after controlling for age, gender, income, education, race, marital status, region, and obesity status.
Stress is prevalent at the workplace, and all that stress is taking a toll on our bodies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Perpetual stress “increases the rate of wear and tear to biological systems,” contributing to back and muscle pain, headaches and exhaustion.
In addition to depression , overwork and the resulting stress can lead to all sorts of health problems, including impaired sleep, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, anxiety, immune-system problems and heart disease ( usually from heart attack, sudden cardiac death, heart failure, or arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms). Research has shown that those who spend four or more hours sitting per day have a 125% increase in heart disease risk, and a 50% increased risk of death from any cause.
Among industrial workers, overtime raises the rate of mistakes and safety mishaps.
Several known ways to reduce stress include exercising, eating healthy, not smoking, seeking out quiet time and getting support from friends and family.
Jessica Cardin, an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neurogenetics, Yale University, says “Success often requires integration, rather than segregation, of work and life — more a juggling act than a high-wire balance routine.” So multi-tasking of more than two things isn’t healthy, taking a lunch break and leaving the premises for your lunch hour is definitely therapeutic.
References:
https://biznology.com/2017/03/8-ways-refresh-brain-youre-overworked/
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/work-stress.aspx
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/General-Health-Status
Like most goals in life that are possible, you have to have a mindset to lose weight. You have to believe you can do it. As one women in our weight loss program wrote beneath her “After Photograph“ – “ Todo es Posible ” (Anything is Possible).
The ability to lose excess weight starts in our head.
The wire sculpture ( see above ) named “Wonderland” by Barcelona-based artist Jaume Plensa in downtown Calgary, Canada is a good example. The sculptor had these words to describe his artwork:
“My vision for Wonderland is to inspire everyone who experiences the sculpture,” Plensa said last year when installation began. “I believe the architecture of our bodies is the palace for our dreams.”
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Reader’s Digest recently published a review of weight loss based on scientific research. One of the recommndeatopn is to “Practice Mindfulness”. Periodically , People magazine provides inspirational stories about people losing 100 pounds. Each personal transformation has their own advice, but certain patterns and strategies emerge:
1. Set non-weight goals. Like this month, I want to begin to walk 10,000 steps.
2. Don’t get discouraged. Find a supportive environment . You can share your struggles and successes on our online social media support community SLIMDOWN®
Jon Gabriel, the author of The Gabriel Method, a book in which he shares his weight-loss lost over 200 pounds without surgery. He writes: ” I lost over 200 pounds and have kept it off for over a decade, so I can tell you from experience that of everything I’ve ever tried, there is nothing as powerful as using your mind to change your body.”
“I don’t care how well you eat, how much you exercise, or how many books you read; if you’re not dealing with the mental and emotional stresses in your life and integrating your mind into your healing process, you’ll never achieve your weight-loss goals long term.”
3. Track your efforts. Write it down. How many glasses of water did you drink? Did you “go back for seconds”? Eat a big dessert?
The bottom line is if you believe, dream, or want to change your habits, they become lifestyle changes.
Incontinence is the involuntary leakage of urine. When the loss of urine happens during routine activities such as laughing, coughing, sneezing, sex, and exercising (walking, jogging, or running), or lifting something heavy, it is called stress urinary incontinence (SUI).
With mild SUI, pressure may be from sudden forceful activities, like exercise, sneezing, laughing or coughing. If your SUI is more severe, you may also leak with less forceful activities like standing up, walking or bending over. Urinary “accidents” like this can range from a few drops of urine to enough to soak through your clothes.
There are three types of urinary incontinence: urge, stress, and mixed. Urge urinary incontinence is the complaint of “involuntary leakage accompanied by or immediately proceeded by urgency.” Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the complaint of “involuntary leakage on effort or exertion” such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, and exercise. Genuine stress incontinence is urodynamically proved involuntary loss of urine when intravesical pressure exceeds that of the urethra without simultaneous detrusor contraction. Mixed urinary incontinence is the complaint of “involuntary leakage associated with urgency and also with exercise, effort, sneezing, and coughing.”
Urinary incontinence affects about 12 million Americans and is more common in women than men. As women age and near the time of menopause, they have reduced levels of estrogen that may cause thinning of the lining of the urethra (the tube that empties urine from your bladder), vaginal tissue become less elastic and the pelvic floor muscles that weaken. These issues can lead to bladder control problems that are quite bothersome. Vaginal delivery is one of the highest risk factors6 for developing urinary incontinence, but prevalence has been observed and measured in nulliparous physically active females.
In female athletes, physical exercise may be a risk factor for UI because of increased intra-abdominal pressure generated during high-impact exercises, which overloads the pelvic organs, predisposing them to U
The proportion of urinary leakage in the different sports was: gymnastics 56%, ballet 43%, aerobics 40%, badminton 31%, volleyball 30%, athletics 25%, handball 21% and basketball 17%
Vaginal delivery is one of the highest risk factors6 for developing urinary incontinence, but prevalence has been observed and measured in nulliparous physically active females. “It can occur during various physical activities, but is especially noted in exercise that involves chronic, repetitive motion and involves high impact landings, jumping, and running.”
Female athletes involved with track and field (long jump, triple jump, high jump [see photo above], hurdles), gymnastics (floor exercises, asymmetric bars, trampolining), basketball, volleyball, handball, combat sports (karate, judo), bodybuilding, and horseback riding are at highest risk, although frequency of SUI is noted in tennis players, skiers, skaters, and joggers.
If you want to improve your health and lose weight, you should use a grocery list before you shop for food. A recent article comparing the weight of those people who shopped for food using a grocery list and those who didn’t showed that making a list before shopping led to more weight reduction.
A couple of things were key:
1. Don’t shop when you are hungry
2. What you buy is important – Include healthy green leafy vegetables in your daily diet. The best are the ABC’s
Arugula, Broccoli, Cabbage (Red, Green,or Purple; cooked or raw), Spinach and Kale
According to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition and Education Behavior, using a Grocery List Is Associated With a Healthier Diet and Lower BMI Among Very High-Risk Adults.
Researchers went door to door collecting demographic information, height and weight, and details about a person’s diet. This was in lower-income neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that are considered “food deserts,”meaning residents who live there have few options for healthy food. Most of the residents in the neighborhood had household incomes below $20,000 and the majority were African-American.
What researchers found when they asked more than 1,300 residents about their grocery shopping habits was that nearly a third said they always shopped with a list. Some 17% said they sometimes shopped with a list, while 26% said they never bothered.
The group that planned before they shopped weighed less than the other groups. On average they weighed at least 5 pounds less than those who did more free-range shopping.
People who live in food-insecure neighborhoods often suffer disproportionally from obesity-related illnesses and chronic conditions.
So here are some free Apps for shopping with a list:
Grocery IQ ( for iPhone)
DietPoint (for Android and iPhone)