Entries in exercise (8)

Thursday
Jul152010

Cancer and Carbohydrates?

DateThursday, July 15, 2010 at 11:01PM

Many years ago one of my clients brought me an article that discussed how carbohydrate intake is related to cancer.  This article peaked my interest and since that time I have followed research linking carbohydrates to incidence of cancer.

Research over the last few years has consistently linked high insulin levels to development of certain types of cancers and cancer reoccurrence.  A high glycemic carbohydrate diet can increase production of insulin, which in turn can increase cell growth of tumors in the body.  When insulin levels are high, tumor cells can get the food they need to divide and multiply.

What about pancreatic cancer?

A group of researchers examined the records of 89,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health study in 2002.  They found that women of normal weight who ate large amounts of refined starches, such as white bread and potatoes, slightly increased their risk of pancreatic cancer. Women who were overweight, did not get a lot of exercise, and ate a lot of starchy foods were 2.5 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than if they ate other types of healthy carbohydrates.

One of the co-authors of the study, Charles S. Fuchs, discussed how replacing starchy foods that increase insulin levels with healthy carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables can improve your health by not only lowering risk of cancer, but diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well.

What does this study show us?  Although cancer does exist for multiple reasons one possible cause is consuming refined starchy carbs. Continually eating these types of foods makes the pancreas work harder to produce more insulin.  Besides increasing storage of fat, increased levels of insulin can stimulate tumors to grow.

Take home message?  Eat your carbohydrates from whole real foods – fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, and avocados.  If you eat starches, eat limited amounts and stick to brown or wild rice, quinoa, buckwheat and other truly whole grains. 

AuthorSusan Dopart | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged , , , , , , , , in , ,
Saturday
Jun122010

Sleep Eating?

DateSaturday, June 12, 2010 at 3:43PM

Are you someone who rarely wants to eat in the morning?  Do you eat most of your calories after dinner or wake up at night to eat?  You may be suffering from Night Eating Syndrome (NES).

NES is defined as someone who eats at least a third of their total calories after dinner and wakes up at least 2-3 times per week at night to eat.  This disorder is rarely spoken about by health care professionals or patients due to embarrassment or lack of knowledge.  Many individuals with NES are overweight due to night eating and sometimes are not even aware of what they ate.

NES is usually triggered by a stressful period of life event such as a divorce, death of a loved one or loss of a job. It is thought to have a genetic component as well.  It can be difficult to treat and there is no clear cut therapy for change.

What can you do if you think you have NES?  Various treatments exist but here are some simple things to start off with:

  • Even if you are not hungry, eat at least 3 meals a day starting with breakfast.  Normalizing your meals and making yourself eat in the morning can help with regulating your body to start to eat at normal times
  • Increase physical activity and exercise.  Exercise not only helps to increase your metabolism but can also regulate the circuits in your body to want to eat at regular times
  • Keep a food and sleep diary.  This can help both you and your health care professional in sorting through how to best help solve the problem
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and medications such as Zoloft (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)) can be helpful bridges in getting you to where you want to be with your lifestyle

NES can be treated successfully.  Admitting to yourself and your health care professional that you may have NES is the first step towards recovery and healing to get you on the path towards change.  Changing this disorder can change your waistline and your life.

AuthorSusan Dopart | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged , , , , , , , , , , in ,
Sunday
May162010

The Third Type of Diabetes?

DateSunday, May 16, 2010 at 12:48PM

Many people know there are 2 types of diabetes.  Type 1, formerly called juvenile-onset diabetes and type 2 or adult-onset diabetes.  Gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced diabetes resembles type 2.  

But did you know there is a third type of diabetes known as LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) or type 1.5 diabetes?

What are the differences?  Type 1 diabetes usually occurs in babies to young adulthood.  Those that have some type of genetic pre-disposition to diabetes get a virus such as mononucleosis or the flu bug which triggers the pancreas to stop producing insulin. This type of diabetes requires life-long insulin therapy.

Although Type 2 diabetes used to occur later in life we are now seeing young children and adolescents develop type 2.  It is brought on by a combination of genetics, weight, poor diet choices, and inactivity.  Insulin resistance precedes adult onset diabetes and occurs when your insulin becomes almost “sleepy” or sluggish, which increases carbohydrate cravings, weight issues and fatigue.  This type of diabetes can usually be controlled with lifestyle and oral medications.

The third type of diabetes is not as well known or understood.  Rather than the insulin being resistant, with LADA or type 1.5, an individual’s insulin becomes deficient.  The cells of their pancreas stop producing as much insulin as they once did - like a slowly developing type I diabetes.

This individual is usually thin, has slowly increasing blood sugars and develops diabetes over many months or years.  This type of diabetes is caused by the person’s immune system which develops antibodies that attack the pancreas hence lowering the amount of insulin produced over time.

Many times this type of diabetes is misdiagnosed or treated as type 2.  What do you do if you suspect you have LADA?  Ask your doctor to check a blood test called the c-peptide and measure over time.  C-peptide is a simple blood test which measures how much insulin your pancreas is producing.  Knowing the value can determine whether your antibody levels need to be checked.

What can you do in terms of your lifestyle?  Diet balance is essential and eating plenty of protein, healthy fats and moderating your carbohydrate intake with non-starchy sources such as fruits and vegetables can help give the pancreas a rest and keep your blood sugars normalized. 

Exercise helps the insulin you do make much more effective and efficient - up to 50%.  Besides diet and exercise, sleep and stress management are invaluable in keeping your system healthy.

If you suspect you may have LADA lifestyle and self-monitoring are of utmost importance.  Knowing what to do and what parameters to check can keep your system in good health.

AuthorSusan Dopart | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , in
Thursday
Mar252010

HOW Much Exercise Do You Need to Maintain Your Weight?

DateThursday, March 25, 2010 at 5:39PM

How much exercise do you need to maintain your weight?  This week’s Harvard study reports 60 minutes a day of moderate intensity exercise 7 days a week.

Sixty minutes a day 7 days a week?  Did I hear that one correctly – 7 hours a week? 

The researchers were not studying prevention of diabetes, cancer, heart disease or how to lose weight – just how to maintain it.

If you want to prevent diabetes, studies show walking 30 minutes per day can lower your risk by 58%.  For men, thirty minutes of exercise per day lowers the risk of morbidity and mortality by 50%.

However, these researchers were not looking at disease prevention.  They analyzed 34,000 healthy US women of normal body weight to see how much exercise was required to MAINTAIN their body weight over 13 years. 

The Los Angeles Times quoted:  “we wanted to see in regular folks - people not on any particular diet - what level of physical activity do you need to prevent weight gain over time," said the lead author of the study, Dr. I-Min Lee, an epidemiologist and associate professor of medicine at Harvard University. "It's a large amount of activity.  If you're not willing to do a high amount of activity, you need to curtail your calories a lot."

I can relate.  I have terrible genetics.  And because I like to eat, I am at the gym by 6 AM most days.  I figure if I want to look like my job and not become diabetic or obese there is not a choice – like taking a shower or brushing my teeth. 

Some days I’m on autopilot but the rewards of not having diabetes, heart disease in addition to maintaining a healthy weight are the payoffs.  Being comfortable in my body, having good energy and restful sleep keeps me motivated to stick to the program.

Even if you unable to exercise this much, the health benefits of some exercise out weigh coach potatoism.  Remember, it’s prevention not prescription.

AuthorSusan Dopart | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged , , , , , , , , in ,
Thursday
Mar112010

Finding your Recipe for Weight Loss

DateThursday, March 11, 2010 at 7:05PM

How do we lose weight?  This magic question seems to elude and allure us to weight loss programs and gimmicks.   Water cooler conversations focus on the person who lost weight – how they did it, what are they eating, how long did it take?

I’ve thought about and wrestled with both the question and answer to weight loss since I was a little girl, which is the reason I became a dietitian.  I was a little round as young as second grade and always wanting the second ding-dong or ho-ho after school (who knew what a trans fat was in the 70’s?).  Why was I was always hungrier and bigger than my skinny friends - was it just that I needed to eat less calories or exercise a bit more?

Both the Los Angeles and New York Times have written about restaurant calorie counts, begging the question whether counting calories is the answer.  Health writer Jeannie Stein from the LA Times wrote several informative articles last week, one which asked “Does menu labeling really alter Habits?” 

New York Times article “In the Obesity Epidemic, What’s One Cookie?” discussed Michelle Obama’s strategy of “small changes add up,” in which one eats either 100 calories less or burns 100 calories more.

Is that enough? The challenge of weight loss is unique in that we are genetically diverse as human beings with different metabolisms and lifestyles.  And our food supply and large restaurant portions does not play to our advantage.

It might be time to stop looking for a simple answer and come up with a solution tailor made to your needs.  Ask yourself:

1.  Where do I store my weight?  If you have a lot of belly fat you may be eating too many carbohydrates (processed and starchy) and need more lean protein and good fats to keep your appetite under control.

2.  Instead of focusing on calories, think about how much food your body requires to be NO LONGER HUNGRY versus full.  Studies show when we shift into mindful eating it actually starts re-wiring our brains to be satisfied with less food.

3.  Exercise and activity are not really an “option” if health and weight loss are your goals.  Make exercise like brushing your teeth every day– something you do to keep all the systems in your body – including your metabolism- working at full capacity.

Think about what will work for you and focus on the REWARDS of what you want rather than the limitations.  That is how I found my answer.  Although I needed to look like my job, my driving force was to feel comfortable and healthy in my body.  Finding the path and answer to your water cooler question becomes the recipe for weight loss. Your recipe is the key to prevention and not prescription.

AuthorSusan Dopart | Comment3 Comments |
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , in
Page 1 2 Next 5 Entries ยป