I would suggest not, and studies would concur. As I've been saying, your genes have a code in them, but you can turn that code on or off by your lifestyle choices. Here's a brief article about a study from the Journal Of Internal Medicine.
If you expect to live into your nineties because your parents did, think again. A new study from Sweden has found that lifestyle factors are much more important than heredity in determining who lives longest. The researchers from Gothenburg University found that not smoking, drinking moderate amounts of coffee and having low cholesterol and good socioeconomic status at age 50 (based on housing costs) plus being in good physical working order at age 54 are key to living to 90 or longer. The study began in 1963, enrolling one third of all 50-year-old men in Gothenburg. Since then, a new group of men has been added to the study every 10 years (women were first included in 2003). The original group of men - all born in 1913 - were examined at ages 50, 54, 60, 67, 75 and 80. Of the 855 who enrolled at the start, 13 percent were still alive at age 90. The study was published online on Dec. 22, 2010 by the Journal of Internal Medicine.
Once again, it comes down to how we eat, move, think and rest to determine our future with regards to our level of wellness.
Until next time...BE WELL!
Dr. Bruce
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Do Pills Work?
This was the question posed to me just last week. The question came to me from my 14 year old son, Drew. It came in response to him communicating with someone who takes pills (over the counter and prescription) on a regular basis for multiple nagging health issues, from colds, to allergies and more, and who seems to be sick enough to miss school on a regular basis. It was one of those moments that we often run into as parents that we should consider teachable moments. I saw it as an opportunity to help him learn how to become healthy naturally, and still see that sometimes medications are necessary.
I am sure my son would have enjoyed a brief “yes” or “no” answer, but unfortunately this question doesn’t always have such an answer. And unfortunately for him, he was blessed with a father that can be verbose, and loves to present analogies to bring home a point. But, fortunately for him, we had only a few brief minutes as he asked this question while we were in line to drop him off at school!
Let me say this. Sometimes the only thing one can do to improve one’s health is to take a drug. If you’ve got an infection so bad that your immune system can’t handle it, sometimes the help of an antibiotic may be needed. That being said, I heard noted wellness guru Dr. Andrew Weil comment on this situation. His thought process is that the pill doesn’t actually heal the person, but it keeps the “bug” or infection at bay long enough to allow the immune system to catch up and knock out the invading bacteria. This makes a lot of sense considering the immune system doesn’t just shut down because we take an antibiotic, but rather the antibiotic provides an assist to our own innate intelligence that is fighting off the invader.
So in that sense, it could be said that pills do work. They work to assist us in becoming healthy again. But that still doesn’t give us reason to have the mentality that I see all too regularly, the mindset that says “for every ill, there is a pill” and that pills are the solution to health. Think of it: How could putting a foreign substance (drugs) in our body, actually make us healthier? In actuality, the ONLY way to truly become healthier is to eat better, move better, think better and rest better. More on that later.
But back to the question at hand, I think what my son actually meant was “Are pills necessary?” The answer is sometimes yes. I’ve used the following analogy before, but it bears repeating and it is what I told my son that morning. If your house is on fire, you have to call the fire department. They come in with their two tools, axes and hoses. They spray down your house, chop holes in parts of your home, all for the sake of saving your house and putting out the fire. This is analogous to taking medications, or having surgery when your body has a health crisis (ie, your “house” is on fire). It’s something that has to be done, but it does have its side effects. However, after the fire department puts out the fire in your house, and you need to rebuild your house, you don’t call them back out to help you. Hoses and axes won’t rebuild your home. Similarly, with your body, after the crisis is over, drugs and surgery won’t help you rebuild your body into a healthy “house”. Instead, it is time to contact a “re-modeler” to help you rebuild your body and restore it to its optimum capacity. That’s where our office excels as we teach people exactly how to make the changes necessary in eating, moving, thinking and resting well.
So in essence, what I am saying is, yes pills can help in crisis times. But we cannot rely on those same things if we want to get truly healthy. This doesn’t mean one should automatically drop their medications and start on a path to eating, moving, thinking and resting well, but relying ONLY on medications would not put you on that path. Talk to your health care professional about how to go about pursuing a wellness oriented lifestyle.
Remember our wellness mantra: To BE well, we must EAT well, MOVE well, THINK well and REST well. I know it’s trite sounding, but it is so innately true. If I could play a game with you right now I’d ask you to name a disease process. After you name it I ask you if it would be managed better, or potentially totally eradicated by following our wellness mantra. The answer is most likely “yes” for any illness we name off. It really is the pathway to wellness, and it really is that simple, not always easy, but simple.
Until next time...Be Well!
Dr. Bruce
I am sure my son would have enjoyed a brief “yes” or “no” answer, but unfortunately this question doesn’t always have such an answer. And unfortunately for him, he was blessed with a father that can be verbose, and loves to present analogies to bring home a point. But, fortunately for him, we had only a few brief minutes as he asked this question while we were in line to drop him off at school!
Let me say this. Sometimes the only thing one can do to improve one’s health is to take a drug. If you’ve got an infection so bad that your immune system can’t handle it, sometimes the help of an antibiotic may be needed. That being said, I heard noted wellness guru Dr. Andrew Weil comment on this situation. His thought process is that the pill doesn’t actually heal the person, but it keeps the “bug” or infection at bay long enough to allow the immune system to catch up and knock out the invading bacteria. This makes a lot of sense considering the immune system doesn’t just shut down because we take an antibiotic, but rather the antibiotic provides an assist to our own innate intelligence that is fighting off the invader.
So in that sense, it could be said that pills do work. They work to assist us in becoming healthy again. But that still doesn’t give us reason to have the mentality that I see all too regularly, the mindset that says “for every ill, there is a pill” and that pills are the solution to health. Think of it: How could putting a foreign substance (drugs) in our body, actually make us healthier? In actuality, the ONLY way to truly become healthier is to eat better, move better, think better and rest better. More on that later.
But back to the question at hand, I think what my son actually meant was “Are pills necessary?” The answer is sometimes yes. I’ve used the following analogy before, but it bears repeating and it is what I told my son that morning. If your house is on fire, you have to call the fire department. They come in with their two tools, axes and hoses. They spray down your house, chop holes in parts of your home, all for the sake of saving your house and putting out the fire. This is analogous to taking medications, or having surgery when your body has a health crisis (ie, your “house” is on fire). It’s something that has to be done, but it does have its side effects. However, after the fire department puts out the fire in your house, and you need to rebuild your house, you don’t call them back out to help you. Hoses and axes won’t rebuild your home. Similarly, with your body, after the crisis is over, drugs and surgery won’t help you rebuild your body into a healthy “house”. Instead, it is time to contact a “re-modeler” to help you rebuild your body and restore it to its optimum capacity. That’s where our office excels as we teach people exactly how to make the changes necessary in eating, moving, thinking and resting well.
So in essence, what I am saying is, yes pills can help in crisis times. But we cannot rely on those same things if we want to get truly healthy. This doesn’t mean one should automatically drop their medications and start on a path to eating, moving, thinking and resting well, but relying ONLY on medications would not put you on that path. Talk to your health care professional about how to go about pursuing a wellness oriented lifestyle.
Remember our wellness mantra: To BE well, we must EAT well, MOVE well, THINK well and REST well. I know it’s trite sounding, but it is so innately true. If I could play a game with you right now I’d ask you to name a disease process. After you name it I ask you if it would be managed better, or potentially totally eradicated by following our wellness mantra. The answer is most likely “yes” for any illness we name off. It really is the pathway to wellness, and it really is that simple, not always easy, but simple.
Until next time...Be Well!
Dr. Bruce
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Sunday...A Day Of Rest....A Day Of Planning
Here we are at the beginning of another week, 1 full week into 2011. The first week is in the books and we can't affect anything that happened in the last 7 days. You CAN look back on it and see where you did well, and where you think you need improvement. Some of us may have done well with our plans for the year, some of us have already dropped the ball on some of our commitments. If you fall in the latter group, don't despair, this is a new week, and one can always start over.
Here's a way to decrease your chances of not fulfilling your plans. It comes down to one simple word: plan. I heard a speaker say once, "People don't plan to fail, people fail to plan." I agree 100%. None of us say to ourselves, "I want to become less healthy this year" That would be silly. If asked, we'd all say, "I want to be healthier at the end of this year", right? Of course. So, what is a healthy year made of? It's made of healthier decisions made on a monthly basis. A healthy month comes from putting together several healthy weeks. A healthy week comes from the decisions we make daily, and we can affect each day by taking time to plan each week. Here's a way to do just that.
Here it is Sunday as I said, this is a great time to plan the week. Look at your week and see what the schedule looks like. Look for some times you can get in your exercise for the week, even if sometimes a day may only allow a 20 minute brisk walk. Schedule it in. Plan your exercise for the week. Put it in your PDA/Smart Phone and make sure it beeps at you to remind you about it. Planning it makes it a priority, and increases your chances of getting it done, rather than just saying "I am going to exercise x times this week."
The same goes for the other 3 pillars of wellness that I preach: eating well, thinking well and resting well. Look at your schedule and make sure you note days that may challenge you in your attempts to eat healthier. There may be a time when you know a luncheon is coming up where you can't control the menu. For that day, make sure your other meals/snacks are especially healthy, and plan to not over-indulge in the bad foods you have.
Also check your schedule for challenges in getting in enough rest and down time. This is an important pillar of wellness as well. Make sure you set aside some time daily/regularly to think/plan as well. The planning I am talking about doing is part of thinking well. It helps us get focused on the important things that need to be addressed. Use that time to create your to-be-done lists and follow through on them, thus making them "ta-dah" lists.
The point of this is to create a healthier year by planning out your months/weeks/days regularly. Make it a new habit that every Sunday evening (or another day if your schedule is one that doesn't allow it to be Sunday) to plan and create your new, healthier future.
I hope you find this thought process beneficial, I know I do.
Until next time...Be Well!
Dr. Bruce
Here's a way to decrease your chances of not fulfilling your plans. It comes down to one simple word: plan. I heard a speaker say once, "People don't plan to fail, people fail to plan." I agree 100%. None of us say to ourselves, "I want to become less healthy this year" That would be silly. If asked, we'd all say, "I want to be healthier at the end of this year", right? Of course. So, what is a healthy year made of? It's made of healthier decisions made on a monthly basis. A healthy month comes from putting together several healthy weeks. A healthy week comes from the decisions we make daily, and we can affect each day by taking time to plan each week. Here's a way to do just that.
Here it is Sunday as I said, this is a great time to plan the week. Look at your week and see what the schedule looks like. Look for some times you can get in your exercise for the week, even if sometimes a day may only allow a 20 minute brisk walk. Schedule it in. Plan your exercise for the week. Put it in your PDA/Smart Phone and make sure it beeps at you to remind you about it. Planning it makes it a priority, and increases your chances of getting it done, rather than just saying "I am going to exercise x times this week."
The same goes for the other 3 pillars of wellness that I preach: eating well, thinking well and resting well. Look at your schedule and make sure you note days that may challenge you in your attempts to eat healthier. There may be a time when you know a luncheon is coming up where you can't control the menu. For that day, make sure your other meals/snacks are especially healthy, and plan to not over-indulge in the bad foods you have.
Also check your schedule for challenges in getting in enough rest and down time. This is an important pillar of wellness as well. Make sure you set aside some time daily/regularly to think/plan as well. The planning I am talking about doing is part of thinking well. It helps us get focused on the important things that need to be addressed. Use that time to create your to-be-done lists and follow through on them, thus making them "ta-dah" lists.
The point of this is to create a healthier year by planning out your months/weeks/days regularly. Make it a new habit that every Sunday evening (or another day if your schedule is one that doesn't allow it to be Sunday) to plan and create your new, healthier future.
I hope you find this thought process beneficial, I know I do.
Until next time...Be Well!
Dr. Bruce
Dr. Weil on Health Care in America
Here is part of an interview with Dr. Andrew Weil and his input on health care in America. I thought it was interesting and worth the read.
Kupfer: Where do you see the nation’s healthcare system going?
Weil: Unless we transform it, it’s going to steer us into bankruptcy. At the moment the debate is mostly about health insurance, but that’s not the root problem. The root is cost, and I don’t think we can look to politicians to bring costs down. Both Republicans and Democrats are so beholden to the big-insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies that they are not free to act. If Congress can stop the big insurers from disqualifying people on the basis of preexisting conditions, that’s great, but these are little steps. Real change is going to come only if people get aroused enough to start a movement that shifts the balance of political power.
Also, if we don’t get serious about our health, it’s going to bankrupt us as a society. We already have the worst healthcare outcomes of all the developed nations, and we spend more on healthcare than anybody else. We’re spending something like 17 percent of the gross domestic product on it, and it could soon be 20 percent. That is simply not sustainable. And this is before the baby boomers reach old age and become the heaviest consumers of healthcare. We want universal healthcare, but we cannot extend our present disease-management system to all of our citizens. No one could pay all those bills.
Kupfer: Specialized medicine is the most expensive. How did we end up with so many specialists and so few generalists in American medicine?
Weil: The reason is obvious: specialists get paid more and have more prestige. But research has shown that countries and states with more primary-care providers have healthier citizens. To balance the system we could try forgiving student loans for people who go into primary care, but we need political organizing to promote these ideas.
Kupfer: Do you think there’s an opportunity now to get holistic practices covered by national health insurance?
Weil: Yes, but the priorities of insurance reimbursement are completely backward. We happily pay for interventions, diagnostic tests, and drugs, but we don’t pay for doctors to sit down and teach patients how to eat or how to relax. We talk about prevention, but that’s not where the money is going. One way to change those priorities is to conduct outcomes-and-effectiveness studies. Let’s look at five or ten common ailments that now cost us huge sums of money, such as type 2 diabetes or chronic back pain. Because conventional medicine has no magic-bullet treatment for these conditions, people often try complementary and alternative therapies. We could compare conventional treatment with integrative treatment (which might make selective use of conventional medicine) and assess medical outcomes and costs. I’m quite certain that integrative approaches would produce better results at lower costs. If we could get the data and show it to the people who pay for the nation’s healthcare, then they might change their reimbursement policies and start to pay for preventive and integrative medicine.
Kupfer: Where do you see the nation’s healthcare system going?
Weil: Unless we transform it, it’s going to steer us into bankruptcy. At the moment the debate is mostly about health insurance, but that’s not the root problem. The root is cost, and I don’t think we can look to politicians to bring costs down. Both Republicans and Democrats are so beholden to the big-insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies that they are not free to act. If Congress can stop the big insurers from disqualifying people on the basis of preexisting conditions, that’s great, but these are little steps. Real change is going to come only if people get aroused enough to start a movement that shifts the balance of political power.
Also, if we don’t get serious about our health, it’s going to bankrupt us as a society. We already have the worst healthcare outcomes of all the developed nations, and we spend more on healthcare than anybody else. We’re spending something like 17 percent of the gross domestic product on it, and it could soon be 20 percent. That is simply not sustainable. And this is before the baby boomers reach old age and become the heaviest consumers of healthcare. We want universal healthcare, but we cannot extend our present disease-management system to all of our citizens. No one could pay all those bills.
Kupfer: Specialized medicine is the most expensive. How did we end up with so many specialists and so few generalists in American medicine?
Weil: The reason is obvious: specialists get paid more and have more prestige. But research has shown that countries and states with more primary-care providers have healthier citizens. To balance the system we could try forgiving student loans for people who go into primary care, but we need political organizing to promote these ideas.
Kupfer: Do you think there’s an opportunity now to get holistic practices covered by national health insurance?
Weil: Yes, but the priorities of insurance reimbursement are completely backward. We happily pay for interventions, diagnostic tests, and drugs, but we don’t pay for doctors to sit down and teach patients how to eat or how to relax. We talk about prevention, but that’s not where the money is going. One way to change those priorities is to conduct outcomes-and-effectiveness studies. Let’s look at five or ten common ailments that now cost us huge sums of money, such as type 2 diabetes or chronic back pain. Because conventional medicine has no magic-bullet treatment for these conditions, people often try complementary and alternative therapies. We could compare conventional treatment with integrative treatment (which might make selective use of conventional medicine) and assess medical outcomes and costs. I’m quite certain that integrative approaches would produce better results at lower costs. If we could get the data and show it to the people who pay for the nation’s healthcare, then they might change their reimbursement policies and start to pay for preventive and integrative medicine.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
You Should Be Committed
Some would say I should have been committed long ago! Commitment is a word that I think too few pay attention to anymore. We jump from job to job, relationship to relationship, fad to fad etc. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes change is needed, but in this day and age, we go into things half-heartedly so often that the chances of success are fairly poor from the start. I am thinking on this concept today as I celebrate 20 years of marriage to a woman who probably should be committed for marrying me, and for putting up with me for the past 2 decades haha.
When it comes to our health, we have a habit of looking for the quick result with the least effort. When you think of commitment, the terms "quick result" and "least effort" don't go hand in and with that word, do they? Of course not. So often we look for health in a capsule, the fad diet, the 20 second ab workout, or the electrical stimulation unit that will gives us a 6 pack. I can see the attraction, and I understand the desire to find the "secret remedy" to optimum health, but it doesn't exist.
All things that are worthwhile take an investment of time, and to consistently invest your time requires commitment to a goal. The goal has to be so great as to keep us focused on it and running toward it, and this time of year is a great time to start looking at your 2011 goals.
Don't wait until 1/1/11 to start setting goals, start now. Start writing them down, reworking them as you get clearer about what you want. Set goals for yourself in multiple areas of your life including physical, mental, social, financial, and spiritual. Ask yourself, "What would I like my life to look like in those areas at the end of 2011?". Then create a plan that will get you there. It's easy to say I'd like to get to Alaska, but if you don't have a map, you may never get there. It's easy to set goals, but without a plan (map) we probably won't get there. Without a plan, goals are just pie in the sky wishes. Plan your work, and then work your plan.
To keep committed to your goals, have them written down where you can see them regularly. You might find that you need to have them in multiple places: on your laptop, in your PDA/phone, on a tablet in your bedroom by the bed, taped to your bathroom mirror (not your rear view mirror please!). Read your goals every day and see yourself achieving them, see what your life will be like when you achieve them, experience in your mind what it will feel like to be successful with each specific goal. I find that reading them on Sunday nights, before I start my week, causes me to make daily/weekly plans to get me closer to my goal, so maybe give that a try.
Anyway, to live a really wellness oriented lifestyle, it means more than watching one's weight. It encompasses being the best you can be, being what you were created for, pursuing your purpose in life. To do that, we have to stay committed!
I hope you find these ideas help you in your goals to live a wellness oriented life!
Until next time...BE WELL!
Dr. Bruce
When it comes to our health, we have a habit of looking for the quick result with the least effort. When you think of commitment, the terms "quick result" and "least effort" don't go hand in and with that word, do they? Of course not. So often we look for health in a capsule, the fad diet, the 20 second ab workout, or the electrical stimulation unit that will gives us a 6 pack. I can see the attraction, and I understand the desire to find the "secret remedy" to optimum health, but it doesn't exist.
All things that are worthwhile take an investment of time, and to consistently invest your time requires commitment to a goal. The goal has to be so great as to keep us focused on it and running toward it, and this time of year is a great time to start looking at your 2011 goals.
Don't wait until 1/1/11 to start setting goals, start now. Start writing them down, reworking them as you get clearer about what you want. Set goals for yourself in multiple areas of your life including physical, mental, social, financial, and spiritual. Ask yourself, "What would I like my life to look like in those areas at the end of 2011?". Then create a plan that will get you there. It's easy to say I'd like to get to Alaska, but if you don't have a map, you may never get there. It's easy to set goals, but without a plan (map) we probably won't get there. Without a plan, goals are just pie in the sky wishes. Plan your work, and then work your plan.
To keep committed to your goals, have them written down where you can see them regularly. You might find that you need to have them in multiple places: on your laptop, in your PDA/phone, on a tablet in your bedroom by the bed, taped to your bathroom mirror (not your rear view mirror please!). Read your goals every day and see yourself achieving them, see what your life will be like when you achieve them, experience in your mind what it will feel like to be successful with each specific goal. I find that reading them on Sunday nights, before I start my week, causes me to make daily/weekly plans to get me closer to my goal, so maybe give that a try.
Anyway, to live a really wellness oriented lifestyle, it means more than watching one's weight. It encompasses being the best you can be, being what you were created for, pursuing your purpose in life. To do that, we have to stay committed!
I hope you find these ideas help you in your goals to live a wellness oriented life!
Until next time...BE WELL!
Dr. Bruce
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Art Of Being Grateful
It's Thanksgiving, and a time when we are supposed to give thanks. But do we? Or do we look at this holiday only as a time to stuff our faces, sit around and watch football, and hang out with family? There's nothing wrong with that, and I'll probably do a little of each. But, are we thankful? Really Thankful?
You'd be surprised at the benefits of living a life of gratefulness. It changes your whole physiology (your insides). Studies have shown that practicing gratefulness has a whole myriad of health benefits. It can literally add years to your life, and life to your years.
There are several ways to start living this style of life. I teach my patients these when they are having issues with depression or with anxiety. One would be to buy a small notebook that you keep with you. You can use this as your gratefulness journal. You can either carry it with you and write in it as the day goes by about what your grateful for, or you can have a specific time every day that you sit down to use it. Every day, your task is to write down 5 things you are grateful for. Now, the goal is not just to create a list of things you are thankful for, but to experience exactly why you are thankful. How do we do that?
When you pick something you are thankful for, don't just write it down. Instead, write it down, then write a brief sentence or two as to WHY you are grateful. For instance, if I were to write down I am grateful for my wife, I'd might say the following: "I am grateful for my wife because she is beautiful inside and out, and I could not ask for a better mom for my kids. I enjoyed sitting with her by the fire pit and just shooting the breeze last night". That is a real example that I used recently.
You can do that once a day and list 5 things, or you can go through the day and write things down as they come to you or you experience them. Or you can do a combination of the two where you spend 5 minutes writing in your journal daily, but you also keep it with you so you can write down other things that you might experience throughout the day. If you're ever feeling down, stressed, depressed or frustrated, take it out and read through some of the entries.
Lastly, every night before you fall asleep, think on those things again. The bible tells us in Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." So every night review your day and focus on those things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable etc and be thankful for them. It's a great way to drift off to sleep.
Until next time...BE WELL
Dr. Bruce
You'd be surprised at the benefits of living a life of gratefulness. It changes your whole physiology (your insides). Studies have shown that practicing gratefulness has a whole myriad of health benefits. It can literally add years to your life, and life to your years.
There are several ways to start living this style of life. I teach my patients these when they are having issues with depression or with anxiety. One would be to buy a small notebook that you keep with you. You can use this as your gratefulness journal. You can either carry it with you and write in it as the day goes by about what your grateful for, or you can have a specific time every day that you sit down to use it. Every day, your task is to write down 5 things you are grateful for. Now, the goal is not just to create a list of things you are thankful for, but to experience exactly why you are thankful. How do we do that?
When you pick something you are thankful for, don't just write it down. Instead, write it down, then write a brief sentence or two as to WHY you are grateful. For instance, if I were to write down I am grateful for my wife, I'd might say the following: "I am grateful for my wife because she is beautiful inside and out, and I could not ask for a better mom for my kids. I enjoyed sitting with her by the fire pit and just shooting the breeze last night". That is a real example that I used recently.
You can do that once a day and list 5 things, or you can go through the day and write things down as they come to you or you experience them. Or you can do a combination of the two where you spend 5 minutes writing in your journal daily, but you also keep it with you so you can write down other things that you might experience throughout the day. If you're ever feeling down, stressed, depressed or frustrated, take it out and read through some of the entries.
Lastly, every night before you fall asleep, think on those things again. The bible tells us in Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." So every night review your day and focus on those things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable etc and be thankful for them. It's a great way to drift off to sleep.
Until next time...BE WELL
Dr. Bruce
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Beating The "Holiday 5"
Yes the holidays are upon us. In just a few short weeks, turkey with stuffing, apple pie, pumpkin pie, candied yams and more will be available to us, along with many alcoholic libations. Tasty and enjoyable stuff for sure. I look forward to my first taste of pumpkin pie in almost a year.
However, when left unchecked, the holiday celebrations lead to the dreaded "Holiday 5", or in some cases the "Holiday 10". We are talking about the extra pounds put on because of the excess calories, and the poor quality of foods that we have available to us more commonly.
Over the last 2 years, I've worked hard on limiting the holiday poundage with some quality wins. Here's what I do now and recommend.
1. Understand that plenty of opportunities to splurge will occur. Accept that fact and be prepared for it.
2. Before going to a situation where you know you'll have sweet foods, alcohol, or high quantities of calories, have a snack. Yes, eat a snack. But, make it a healthy snack. Some pumpkin seed and a piece of fruit for example. Eat this about 30 minutes before the party so you don't arrive famished and ready to consume the first pretty looking food that appears (and most food looks much prettier when we're starving). Have your snack and 8oz of water.
3. Indulge in your favorite recipe. Don't completely ignore the pie or candy you love so much. You'll not enjoy yourself. But, limit the quantity. Eat it slowly and enjoy it. Plan ahead to only have "x" amount.
4. Don't fill your plate. This is a good rule all the time, but especially at holiday time. There's so much to choose from as you go down the line at Thanksgiving or Christmas. So put food on your plate, eat it and enjoy it, and then see how you feel. Again, take your time so you stomach starts to feel full.
5. If you know you want to taste everything, just take smaller quantities as you go through the line. Often we fill our plates with large servings and feel bad that we don't have room for something else we like, so we go back and get round two of the rest of everything.
6. Keep up with your exercise. Plan it out weekly so that you're getting the calorie burn you need. It's more vital than ever to do this now, especially since you know things will come up to get in the way of your exercise plan.
7. Finally, EVERY chance you get to eat healthy, DO IT! The next opportunity to indulge in sweets is just around the corner for you, so behave every second that you can!
Mainly, it's important to be prepared and to think about what you're doing. I want you to enjoy the holidays and the tasty foods, but not to the point of regretting it on January 2nd. I enjoy the challenge though. I weigh myself on Thanksgiving morning and monitor it all throughout the holidays, then have a final check on January 2. Last year it was only 1.5 pounds heavier, and I did enjoy my holiday. I hope you can find a way to enjoy and not regret it as well. Have a great holiday season!
Until next time...BE WELL!!
Dr. Bruce
However, when left unchecked, the holiday celebrations lead to the dreaded "Holiday 5", or in some cases the "Holiday 10". We are talking about the extra pounds put on because of the excess calories, and the poor quality of foods that we have available to us more commonly.
Over the last 2 years, I've worked hard on limiting the holiday poundage with some quality wins. Here's what I do now and recommend.
1. Understand that plenty of opportunities to splurge will occur. Accept that fact and be prepared for it.
2. Before going to a situation where you know you'll have sweet foods, alcohol, or high quantities of calories, have a snack. Yes, eat a snack. But, make it a healthy snack. Some pumpkin seed and a piece of fruit for example. Eat this about 30 minutes before the party so you don't arrive famished and ready to consume the first pretty looking food that appears (and most food looks much prettier when we're starving). Have your snack and 8oz of water.
3. Indulge in your favorite recipe. Don't completely ignore the pie or candy you love so much. You'll not enjoy yourself. But, limit the quantity. Eat it slowly and enjoy it. Plan ahead to only have "x" amount.
4. Don't fill your plate. This is a good rule all the time, but especially at holiday time. There's so much to choose from as you go down the line at Thanksgiving or Christmas. So put food on your plate, eat it and enjoy it, and then see how you feel. Again, take your time so you stomach starts to feel full.
5. If you know you want to taste everything, just take smaller quantities as you go through the line. Often we fill our plates with large servings and feel bad that we don't have room for something else we like, so we go back and get round two of the rest of everything.
6. Keep up with your exercise. Plan it out weekly so that you're getting the calorie burn you need. It's more vital than ever to do this now, especially since you know things will come up to get in the way of your exercise plan.
7. Finally, EVERY chance you get to eat healthy, DO IT! The next opportunity to indulge in sweets is just around the corner for you, so behave every second that you can!
Mainly, it's important to be prepared and to think about what you're doing. I want you to enjoy the holidays and the tasty foods, but not to the point of regretting it on January 2nd. I enjoy the challenge though. I weigh myself on Thanksgiving morning and monitor it all throughout the holidays, then have a final check on January 2. Last year it was only 1.5 pounds heavier, and I did enjoy my holiday. I hope you can find a way to enjoy and not regret it as well. Have a great holiday season!
Until next time...BE WELL!!
Dr. Bruce
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