Blog - Susan B. Dopart M.S., R.D.

Entries in prevention not prescription (14)

Wednesday

Apr212010

Paring Without the Knife

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 6:45PM

This week’s LA Times article by Michael Hiltzik regarding the man who had gastric band surgery and died 3 days later was jarring. A 6 foot 6 inch man who weighed 300 pounds sought out surgery thinking he could get a better job weighing less. He was only 36 years old, a schoolteacher with 6 children who had his whole life to live.

I remember back to the initial days of being a clinical dietitian at UCLA and taking care of those who had had gastric bypass surgery. More than a few had severe health problems and some died of complications related to the surgery. These experiences in themselves biased me towards not being an advocate for weight loss surgeries.

Personally I feel the surgery is treating the symptom, not the cause. Research shows many who lose weight regain the weight within a 5-10 year period of time. Why? They have not dealt with the underlying root cause of their weight issues.

Many individuals are genetically preprogrammed to be overweight or have a weight issues. However, a healthy lifestyle of exercise/activity and an individualized eating plan can do wonders for weight management. It may be hard work but no surgery is required.

The conferences I attend on how weight loss surgeries change appetite, hormones, and result in high amounts of weight in a short period of time do sound appealing. However, both the short and long-term complications scare me.

A client of mine had bypass surgery and lost half her weight 6 years ago. She bought a new wardrobe, and was thrilled with her new self. However, since she had not dealt with the emotional issues that brought on the weight in the first place, she regained most of the weight within 5 years. She found herself in my office distraught and needing lifestyle skills to manage her weight.

Another one of my clients who had lifelong issues with weight was considering bypass surgery and after speaking with someone who had it decided against it. He realized if he set his mind to it he could lose weight. He sought out my services and is losing weight at a good clip due to his efforts of mindful lifestyle eating and exercise.

There are several types of weight loss surgeries which all require eating a very small amount of food. If one tries to overeat, there are physical consequences. Why give the control of your body over to a “forced” control of food?

If the emotional issues of eating are not dealt with, no amount of surgery will keep it off forever. Most people find a way to eat around it. Healing your relationship with food is hard work but instead of physical it requires emotional surgery but no knives are not required.

Seek out help from a qualified professional who can bring you on a safe journey of lifestyle intervention. You’ll save yourself more than the physical scars and financial burdens – you might even safe yourself from death – fast or slow….

Remember, it’s prevention not prescription.

Susan Dopart |

Eating with Utensils...A Lost Art to Good Health?

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 8:55PM

After watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution one gets a clear picture of the sober situation of food and weight issues in America. The show starts out by Jamie trying to make changes in a town called Huntington, West Virginia – coined the unhealthiest city in America.

The series opens with Jamie trying to modify elementary lunches from processed fake foods to real whole foods. The high resistance to change radiates from the kitchen staff to the superintendant of schools to a DJ who is quite influential in the community.

Jamie meets the most heat when he requests that the children eat with forks and knives versus just a spoon and their hands. No utensils are used since the children are eating pizza, chicken fingers and French fries. When they are shown different vegetables the children are not able to identify them. In fact, one appalling statistic is that a pile of French fries is counted as 2 vegetable servings per child.

When the forks and knives are taken out the children need to be taught how to use them. Is the skill of using utensils becoming a lost art?

You need utensils to eat real healthy food. Without these basic skills we are creating a lifestyle where older children eat their food with one hand and use the other hand to text or play games. This creates a perfect storm for mindless eating.

Mindful healthy eating requires utensils. Continuing to feed our children processed fake foods is creating a generation of children with increased risk of diabetes and heart disease who will have shorter lives than their parents. Eating fruits, vegetables and food made from scratch rather than out of a box with multiple ingredients is the mission of Food Revolution which will hopefully change food in school lunch programs.

It is our responsibility at home and in the schools to educate, equip and model how to eat and appreciate the benefits of healthy real food. It is an investment this country cannot afford to pass up.

If we can teach our children at an early age to eat with utensils and enjoy whole real food we might start to get a hold on obesity in America….resulting in mindful eating and good health. Remember, it's prevention not prescription.

Susan Dopart |

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Diabetes,

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution,

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mindless eating,

prevention not prescription,

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Children & Youth,

Health and Lifestyle

Friday

Apr022010

Obesity, Insulin Levels and Cancer?

Friday, April 2, 2010 at 10:25AM

Last week’s LA Times article on Obesity’s Role in Cancer was timely. We know excess weight is critical in the development of diabetes and heart disease. But now a correlation between increased weight and cancer?

About ten years’ back one of my clients brought in an article linking high insulin levels to cancer. Since one of my specialties is diabetes I follow all the research on diet affecting insulin levels. Now cancer was in the mix as well?

Research over the last few years has linked high insulin levels to development of certain types of cancers and its reoccurrence. A diet high in processed carbohydrates increases production of insulin, which in turn can increase cell growth of tumors in the body. When insulin levels are high, tumor cells are fed, thus dividing and multiplying.

So is there a connection between carbohydrates and cancer? Hmm…let me rethink that plate of pasta.

A group of researchers examined the records of 89,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health study in 2002. The women who were overweight, did not get much exercise, and ate a lot of starchy foods were 2.5 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who ate 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.

In 2007, a major report called Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective was published linking cancer to diet, physical activity, and weight. The most profound finding of the report linked excess body fat to six types of cancer, including colon, kidney, pancreas, and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and endometrium and post-menopausal breast cancer.

So let’s break it down. Excess weight and eating starchy carbs increase insulin levels which can increase growth of tumors and cancer risk. Our romance with the taste and feel of comfort food - starchy carbohydrates - may not be achieving the health we so desire.

To keep your insulin levels normal try eating some protein at each meal or snack along with a healthy source of carbohydrate like fruits, veggies, nuts/seeds, and add some healthy fats. I’ve recently used spaghetti squash in place of pasta with meatballs and it was a pleasant surprise.

Imagine a salad with greens, goat cheese, pine nuts, avocado, tomatoes and some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Healthy CAN be tasty and enjoyable AND help you prevent cancer!

Harvard researcher Walter Willett, M.D. states “Obesity is approaching smoking as a cancer risk.” Perhaps now is the time to tackle the problem of food with the same vengeance as the anti-smoking campaigns. Remember it’s prevention, not prescription.

Susan Dopart |

HOW Much Exercise Do You Need to Maintain Your Weight?

Thursday, 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.

Susan Dopart |

Peel over Pill for Prevention

Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10:45AM

After attending the Natural Foods Expo in Los Angeles you might have been led to believe the way to eating “naturally” is to pop a pill or drink a beverage laced with green tea extract, quercetin, or Curcumin. These hot breaking news nutrients can have tremendous benefits for your health.

But are taking supplements really “natural?” Can we take what is in Mother Nature and replicate the benefits in a pill? So far the research is leaning towards eating your nutrients. However, the lure of a magic pill for benefiting your health remains. Here’s what we know right now:

So far we’ve identified about 13,000 nutrients in foods known as phytochemicals or phytonutrients. Phytochemicals are substances that plants naturally contains to protect themselves against sunlight, bacteria or viruses and oxidation – kind of like a natural sunscreen. Simply put, once we eat these plants, our immunity increases, and we become more resistant to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and other medical problems.

It is estimated there are over 100 phytochemicals in just one serving of a fruit or vegetable. For example, a carrot can contain as many as 100 different carotenoids, whereas a beta carotene supplement has only one type of carotenoid. Furthermore, you receive the benefit of the fiber and fullness of the actual food when you eat the carrot.

Apples contain the phytonutrient quercetin. Extensive research by food scientist Rui Hai Liu at Cornell University found that both the apple skin and the fruit contain nutrients to help lower cholesterol and inhibit or kill cancer cells.

Curcumin is responsible for the yellow color in the popular Indian curry spice turmeric. Known for being an anti-inflammatory agent and antioxidant, some research shows turmeric can be helpful in preventing development of medical issues related to oxidative damage such as cancer and heart disease.

UCLA Neurologist John Ringman studied Curcumin supplements in Alzheimer’s patients. The study results showed no differences in patients treated with Curcumin supplements versus a placebo. However, this study and others do show Curcumin has poor or uncertain absorption when taken in supplement form versus used as a food spice.

Tea contains a type of phytonutrient called EGCG. Green tea contains the most EGCG of all the varieties of tea. However, all tea leaves are good sources. EGCG has been linked with a lower risk of heart disease and lower cholesterol levels. It is also associated with reduced rates of prostate, stomach and colon cancer. However, studies to date show drinking the tea has the most potent and effective benefits.

The discovery of nutrients in foods is ongoing. The research shows eating your phytochemicals through food instead of popping a pill is currently the path to health and definitely more “natural.” I guess Mom was right when she told us to eat a balanced diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables. Make sure to consume a mixture of color to obtain your phytonutrient needs. Remember, it’s prevention, not prescription!

Susan Dopart |

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Alzheimer's,

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cancer,