Once Upon a Thigh: January 2009

Table of Contents

Letter from the Editor

As I have been preparing to write this newsletter, I have been amazed at the wealth of information that is free to help you be the BEST YOU you can be this year. The great thing is that most of them are free. I have been looking at realage.com and they have a great program that helps with motivation, exercise and diet. They have a great Basic Soup Recipe that I am going to make this weekend. Then they have 7 adaptations to the basic recipe. You will receive success tips sent to you by doctors, snack ideas that stop cravings and work out information. Their information is also found in Good Housekeeping magazine this entire year. They talk about dieting smart not hard. I would change it to eating smart, because we all need a change to healthy.

Another site for DMBA insurance members helps with monetary incentives if you are physically active for at least 30 minutes, five days a week and replace soft drinks and sweets with water and fruit every day. They know we can't be perfect, so they give us a goal of accomplishing this 80% of the time which for Jan. and Feb. will be 32 days of physical activity and 47 days of kicking the sugar habit. At the end of the year you and your spouse can each receive up to $200 based on your participation.

Check with your insurance company and see what programs they may offer for healthy lifestyles.

Insulin Resistance Testing and Lab Testing
If your last IR test was over one year ago, you might want to consider retesting. The resulting number can be a reassurance to you that you are on the right track or that you need to be more serious about your health. If you have been taking the medication, and exercising and trying to eat healthy, then let's retest now. If not, then let's be as best as we can on the three items listed for three months and then retest. We do the IR testing in our office now and would prefer to do the test on Tuesday or Friday, but if those days don't work for you, then call me and we can probably arrange another time. Remember to fast for 12 hours prior to the test. You may drink water, no bottled water. Often times the bottled water has other ingredients in the water, but because of the small amount do not need to list them. I want to be sure the IR number that I receive is an accurate one.

As I have been testing your cholesterol, or blood chemistry, I have been looking more at the glucose number. It would be best when you come in for lab test for cholesterol or liver enzymes, that you come fasting. A fasting sugar number of 126 indicates diabetes. I have been doing the math and talking with you about how close to 126 you are. With IR your glucose is typically higher than people who do not have IR. Again, a healthy weight, which results from a healthy diet and exercise program is the best plan for not progressing to diabetes.

Come in and let's check the % of fat that you are currently. Often times we exercise, and watch what we eat, only to find out we have gained weight. It is hard to keep motivated when your goal is to lose weight and you are doing all that you can do and the scales do not reflect your efforts. The special scales that we have will let us know if you are building more muscle or getting more fat. As we exercise, fat is replaced with muscle which weighs more.

Common Cold
As we enter the winter months, most of us will experience one to three colds. Most of us keep working, and forget our body can be a self healing entity if we allow it to be. Increasing fluids (not fruit juices) and RESTING both allow our body to take charge. I have also found a great help in quicker healing of this virus. AIRBORNE is an over-the-counter tablet that is placed in water and then drunk when it is dissolved. I am sure you have heard about the school teacher who developed it after being sick so often as she taught school.

Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
Check the labels on any fruit drink or juice that you may purchase. The sugar content of common fruit drinks is too high to be healthy. In my fridge is a bottle of All Natural Nantucket Nectars. It is a 17.5 ounce bottle with pictures of an orange and another non-identifiable fruit on the label. As I read the label it assures me that it is ALL NATURAL, with no high fructose corn syrup added, and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives are present and it is pasteurized. So far, so good. As I continued reading the serving size is actually 2 servings per bottle. It contains 20% fruit juice and the sugar is 30 grams for one serving. So if I do the math correctly, dividing the sugar by 4 then I have 7 1/2 teaspoons of sugar in one serving of the juice. Most people would drink the entire bottle at once, giving them a total intake of sugar of 15 teaspoons. You would not sit down and eat 7 1/2 tsp. of sugar would you? Be a wise consumer-I know you are.

USA Weekender
Steven R. Covey has a great article on YOUR Healthiest year ever. He states that when we lose control over our life, we look for control in other areas to help us. Look to your health. "Once you know what is important, it is easy to say no to the unimportant." The following are 12 new findings.

  • Eat right, breathe easy: Recent study indicates chronic heart burn can cause asthma. To curb GERD: eat smaller meals; limit trigger foods and ask your doctor if you should be taking medication.
  • Boost your fitness with food: HDL, the good cholesterol, reduces the risk of heart disease and limits the damage of LDL, the bad cholesterol. In an Italian study, seniors with high HDL levels had greater lower-body fitness and did better in walking tests than those with low HDL levels. To boost your HDL: try exercise, weight control and a diet high in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, nuts, avocados and olives. A Finnish study also showed that about 2/3 of a cup of berries daily for 2 months helped raise HDL and reduce high blood pressure.
  • For energy, move it: Regular exercise, even if non-strenuous, can help you out of a rut. Both low and moderate intensity exercise upped energy levels by 20% in sedentary young adults who reported fatigue. Participants who rode exercise bikes for 20 minutes 3 times a week for six weeks reported less fatigue and more energy.
  • Sweat it out: Metabolic syndrome is common with people with IR. Quick bursts of high intensity exercise can help and even reverse metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels and abdominal fat).
  • Ditch depression with D: A low thyroid can cause depression, but Covey mentions a low Vitamin D. (So, come in the office and let me check your vitamin D levels if this is a problem for you.) Omega 3 fatty acids found in salmon, walnuts, flaxseed, scallops and cod liver oil also help fight depression, mood disorders, schizophrenia and dementia.
  • Go soft on sleep: Hard beds for back pain sufferers aren't the best choice. In a Danish study those who slept on water beds or body conforming foam mattresses had less pain and more sleep.
  • Get soles: If you have foot pain, check with the podiatrist. You may need to have a customized insole.
  • Go from good to grape: Fruit can reduce the risk of heart disease, especially grapes which lower blood pressure and grape seed extract helps lower cholesterol.
  • Make like a fish and swim: Low impact water exercises can ease pain and improve function in people with osteoarthritis of the hip and knee.
  • Network your way to happiness: You already know you can be influenced by the moods of those around you. Look for those who can be a positive influence in your life.
  • Pop some pine bark: (I am not endorsing this as I have not read any literature on it). Pyenogenol is an herbal supplement that has been helping lower blood pressure and glucose levels in Type 2 diabetics.
  • Look for the salt: Caesar salads (McDonalds grilled caesar without dressing had more than double the salt - 890mg - than a large order of fries - 350mg), cottage cheese (Cream O'Weber 1/2 cup has 400mg) and maple and brown sugar flavored instant oatmeal had more than 3 times as much sodium as the plain kind. Remember that the recommended daily limit for salt is 2,300 mg or 1 tsp. Processed foods are the worst offenders, especially anything with tomato sauce or tomato paste in it.
Good luck with the above information.

Potpourri of Thoughts
 Talk with you next month. You can always e-mail me at ladlecarol@yahoo.com or call me at the office.

Happy New Year!

-- Carol

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