-
The Missing Piece From Your Low-Sodium Diet
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2013 CommentIf you've been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor has likely prescribed a low-sodium diet. The recommended intake for dietary sodium is 1,500 milligrams per day, with an upper limit of 2,300 milligrams per day for people who are not at risk for high blood pressure based on age, medical history or ethnicity. The average American takes in 3,400 milligrams per day, about three-quarters of which comes from processed and restaurant foods rather than from the actual salt shaker.
Sticking to a low-sodium diet in this country is not easy. It's not just a matter of avoiding unhealthy foods like cured, processed meats (bacon, sausages) and fast food meals. It can also mean avoiding some nutritious foods like whole-wheat bread, cottage cheese, vegetable soups, olives and calorie-controlled frozen dinner entrees. And after all that effort, at the end of the day, reduced-sodium diets on their own aren't always enough to reduce the risk of stroke from high blood pressure.
-
Sugar-Free and Fat-Free Claims: Don't Fall for Them
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2013 CommentYou know better: Products labeled "sugar-free" and "fat-free" are not shortcuts to flat abs and tank-top arms. While it may be tempting to reach for the sugar-free cookies or the fat-free cheese, don't let that temptation get the best of you. Give yourself a little slap on the wrist, step away from the Oreos and hightail it out of that grocery aisle—stat!
-
To Supplement or Not to Supplement?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2013 CommentHealthy living: Accept no substitute. There is none. There, I've said it.
I've said it before now, and at every opportunity. Lifestyle is medicine, and the best we've ever identified. Feet (physical activity), forks (dietary pattern) and fingers (not holding cigarettes!) are the master levers of medical destiny. We can round out that list to the "Super Six": feet, forks, fingers, sleep, stress and love. Deal effectively with all of these, and almost everything else is substantially less important.
-
Spring Cleaning Your Kitchen Cupboards
Tweet Share on Facebook April 25, 2013 CommentWhile it's still chilly enough here in New York to warrant wool sweaters and boots, I'm simply too bored of these winter clothes to continue wearing them. I'm ready to dress for spring: bright colors, open-toe shoes and all. But spring also prompts the annual organizing of my closets, when I move out the winter sweaters to make room for the spring dresses. This year, I just can't get myself motivated enough to dive into what is usually a very time consuming project.
-
7 Steps to Successful Family Meals
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2013 CommentBeing a parent at mealtime is tough. With picky eaters, sudden refusals to eat previously enjoyed dishes, vegetable rejections, fights over who sits where and, at least in my house, over who gets the pink cup, real-life mealtimes don't always resemble the calm and joyous scene depicted by Norman Rockwell in his famous Thanksgiving dinner painting.
[See What Do Happy Families Know That You Don't?]
If I were a betting man, I'd wager that, far and away, the most common child-related dinner table battles revolve around one of these two themes: eating vegetables and cleaning plates.
-
Digestive Enzymes: Help or Hype?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 23, 2013 CommentAs interest in food intolerance grows, supplemental digestive enzymes are gaining traction with consumers. Increasingly, when patients show me their multivitamin labels, there are a handful of digestive enzymes listed among the vitamin and mineral ingredients. I've also read online testimonials from folks who swear that enzymes marketed as providing "digestive support" for gluten work as promised—and enable them to eat bread and pasta, bloat-free.
What are these enzymes, exactly? Should you be taking them?
-
The Part-Time Fast: Should You Try It?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 23, 2013 CommentHave you seen "Eat, Fast and Live Longer?" The recent PBS special chronicled the quest of popular British journalist and TV personality Michael Mosley toward weight loss and better health. Even if you haven't seen it, there's a good chance you've heard about, or perhaps you've read, "The Fast Diet," Mosley's best-selling book, or one of the many available 5:2 Diet books. Yet another—"The 2-Day Diet"—will soon be added to the crop of books that prescribe some form of fasting for weight loss.
At first glance, the idea of going without food for more than a few hours at a time may have little appeal. After all, if eating gives you energy, it makes sense that going without food for any period of time can make you feel sluggish, not to mention extremely hungry. It also makes sense that if you skip meals or try to subsist on little or no food for hours on end, you're more likely to finish that fast with a feast—a recipe for overeating. (Seriously, don't burgers, fries, chips, cupcakes and ice cream look extra good when you haven't had food in a while?)
[See How to Conquer Food Cravings.]
-
TEDMED 2013, and the Idea of Idea Overload
Tweet Share on Facebook April 22, 2013 CommentAs I began writing this column, the TEDMED conference—my inspiration for it—was ongoing in Washington, D.C. I wasn't there. I was in Boston, writing in the lobby of the Westin hotel, watching police patrol the pavilion between the hotel and the Boston Convention Center, where I was scheduled to give a talk, and which, like the rest of Boston, was on lockdown. My session wound up being canceled. Sometimes, a good idea just doesn't work out as hoped.
Which brings us back to TEDMED, and the primacy of good ideas. Since after all, that is what TED is famously all about: ideas worth sharing.
-
Best Brunch Choices for Healthy Eating
Tweet Share on Facebook April 22, 2013 CommentSpring is finally here, which means tank tops, spring flowers and brunch season! Whether celebrating a birthday, recovering from last night's festivities, or simply enjoying the sunshine, everyone seems to have a reason to brunch on spring weekends. Who doesn't love soaking up the sun and drinking mimosas with friends? But with decadent food options like syrup-drenched pancakes, crispy bacon and hash browns, it's easy to overdo it. We've all been there. Let me help you conquer the brunch bonanza.
-
Building Your Kitchen Confidence
Tweet Share on Facebook April 19, 2013 CommentConfidence: It makes a difference. It can land you that job interview, get you a first date or help you deliver a successful speech. But, can it help you lose weight or eat a healthier diet?
It turns out, confidence in the kitchen is a critical part of eating a healthier diet. The research shows that people who have higher "perceived self-efficacy" in the kitchen—that is, those people who are more confident in their cooking abilities—tend to have better overall diets. Not surprisingly, the research also reveals that confident cooks tend to enjoy cooking. This joy of cooking (and kitchen confidence) can be cultivated; for example, studies have demonstrated how cooking classes help increase a person's cooking confidence, and this usually translates into eating more fruits and vegetables and having less reliance on high calorie take-out foods.
