Smart Bytes™
Feeling nutrition info overload? I will help you sort through to find what’s important to you. Read more. . .
Fighting Inflammation with Your Fork: What matters?
Identifying a food as “anti-inflammatory” comes close to giving it “super food” status, since avoiding or reducing chronic low-grade inflammation offers potential to reduce risk of cancer, heart disease and more. The scientific-sounding explanations of what makes a food or diet anti-inflammatory, however, aren’t always as solid as they seem.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods?
You may have heard of certain foods that supposedly promote or fight off inflammation. Yet a Columbia University study of more than 2200 adults found that a scoring system, introduced in a book for the general public, that was designed to rate the inflammatory impact of foods turned out to be unrelated to blood values of CRP (C-reactive protein), a marker of inflammation that can be measured in the blood. Continue reading
Drainers & Fillers
How often do you get to the end of a day and feel totally spent….as if your inner “well” has run completely dry?
Drainers & Fillers out of balance make it hard to live a healthy lifestyle
Many kind and wonderful clients over the years have described feeling that way often. They came to me seeking help in addressing a weight or health problem. Yet as we talked, it didn’t take long to see that they were involved in a chicken-or-the-egg scenario: They weren’t eating well or exercising because they were burned out, lacking the time and physical or mental energy to do so. And because they pushed so hard in life without taking care of themselves, they became more and more zapped of energy.
What I learned in working with these clients is that we probably all benefit from stopping now and then to look at the balance in our lives of Drainers and Fillers.
Fiber & Breast Cancer Risk: What you need to know now
Can dietary fiber reduce breast cancer risk? A new analysis adds fresh insights to a Smart Bytes discussion of just a few months ago about a previously published analysis on this subject. This new analysis includes additional studies and drills down to see if fiber’s effects differ by amount and type of fiber.
Secrets for Eating More Vegetables – And loving it!
Can eating more vegetables fit realistically in your life and actually be fun? It’s one of the most common goals among audiences to whom I speak, clients, and friends. Despite over 20 years of messages that we need to eat mor
e, average U.S. consumption remains essentially unchanged, with only a quarter of adults consuming even the minimum target of 5 servings/day, much less the larger amounts linked with optimal health.
To get some ideas on how we can boost vegetables and fruits AND enjoy it, I’m turning to Mary Lynn Farivari, RD, author of one of my favorite sources of inspiration as I cook for family and friends: Healthy Palate, Delicious and Simple Recipes to Enhance Meals with Fruits and Vegetables. Continue reading
What to Do About Vitamin D & Cancer Risk: New Insights from Top Researchers (Part 2)
Is a vitamin D supplement a smart choice to reduce cancer risk?
Vitamin D’s potential to reduce cancer risk – and maybe even improve outcome of its treatment – is a field of research that is hot, hot, hot. As we discussed in last week’s post on the research, for now we have far more questions than answers. While we wait for answers, what do we do about vitamin D? Here are insights from some top researchers on the subject. Continue reading
Vitamin D & Cancer Risk: New Insights from Top Researchers (Part 1)
Good evidence supports the potential for vitamin D to play a role in reducing cancer risk. However, optimal levels remain unclear, since some studies raise concern that body levels of vitamin D that are too high could pose risk.
Does vitamin D help lower cancer risk? If so, how much is best? (Image courtesy of NCI)
Vitamin D’s relationship to cancer was a major session at the latest research conference sponsored by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), and new studies are underway to provide clearer answers. Here are insights from top researchers in the field to help us as we try to figure out what we should do while we wait for those answers. Continue reading
Soup: How to make it a smart strategy for nutrition & weight control
For many people, soup brings an image of a cozy comfort food that just has to be good for you. Here, an update on what studies say about soup and some tips on how it can be both quick and healthy.
Soup can be a delicious way to enjoy vegetables & beans
Buffets: 3 steps to beat a weight control challenge
Scientists have discovered something about mice that may help people trying to avoid weight gain over the holiday season. Turns out that you can’t make a normal mouse overweight on regular lab chow – they automatically eat only the amount needed to maintain a healthy weight. So how do researchers studying obesity get usually normal-weight mice to become overweight? The Cafeteria Diet. When mice get access to many different high-calorie foods, they can’t seem to help but overeat.
Buffets can pose a challenge for healthy eating
This behavior is similar to what happens to many people faced with buffets. Fortunately, humans don’t need to resort to lab chow – we can realize the problem and learn to deal with it.
Cholesterol Won’t Go Down? Check your healthy eating strategy
I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve told me healthy eating doesn’t work to lower their blood cholesterol. Indeed, some people’s cholesterol is resistant to diet. Yet more often than not, when I ask what they’ve tried, it’s “A low-fat diet”. The good news: if that sounds like you, you haven’t begun to see the impact of a broad-based strategy of healthy choices on your blood cholesterol and overall heart disease risk.
Relying on a “low-fat diet” to reduce your blood cholesterol and heart disease risk is like leaving for vacation with just one thing in your suitcase.
Broader strategies have proven potential to drop LDL cholesterol as effectively as the starting dose of the powerful statin medications, and can address other heart health risks to boot. Don’t worry – a broader strategy doesn’t have to be harder, and it can pay off with broader health benefits.
Extended Sitting: Why researchers see health impact & What you can do
Put aside thoughts of whether or not you meet recommendations for walking or other moderate activity, and answer two questions of newly recognized importance: How many minutes a day do you spend butt-in-chair or-car? And of that time, how much is extended sitting versus up-and-down?
Are too much sitting and too little activity independent health risks?
The potential relevance of these two questions to your risk of cancer and other chronic diseases was one of the major topics emerging from last week’s research conference held by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR).
Since I’ve been back from the conference, I’ve been plowing through the latest findings. There’s enough here that I will be making some simple changes in my life, and will be more intentional about encouraging them in my work with clients and in speaking.