there is no finish line...enjoy the ride...

Prevention Is Thy Cure

I don’t talk much about my day job, but let me start off by saying, I love what I do.  I get to work in an area that aligns with my passion for health by marketing solutions that improve the quality of life by leveraging technology.  Whether it’s Personal Health Records that enable citizens to monitor their own health and wellness, and that of their loved ones, or Remote Patient Monitoring thereby empowering individuals to self monitor their condition(s) and become more aware of their own health recovery.  All the solutions I sell to government and health institutions are designed to increase health quality, while reducing overall costs. 

I’m always surprised where I get the inspiration for my blog content.  The great thing about blogging is there is no preselected topic or a schedule to maintain.  I just write when something catches my attention and aligns with the purpose and theme of my site that I think you may be interested in reading.  And today, my inspiration came while meeting a healthcare executive that’s about to embark on an impressive transformational initiative that reminded me of an article I read in the Globe and Mail at the beginning of the year.  The title of the article was “Wellness Model Emphasizes Illness Prevention”.   (I’ve also copied the article below for your convenience)

I’ve often said the majority of North Americans don’t care about their health until they’re faced with a health crisis that forces them to care.  I’m often challenge when I say this, but how can you argue the fact that 50% of Canadian’s don’t meet the minimum physical activity and healthy eating recommendations, or 55% of Canadians and over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.  Approximately 20% of Canadians still smoke (and amazingly, male smoking is back on the rise) and alcohol consumption has increased to the point that many no longer know or choose to care what is consider unhealthy.  The Heart and Stroke Foundation published a study conducted in 2010 that an amazing 9 out of 10 Canadians are jeopardizing the quality and length of their lives by ignoring these and other risk factors that they’re in complete control of.

In Canada, over 40% of your tax dollars feed an ever ravenous healthcare system, but did you know that the use of the system you pay into is wildly disproportionate.  People with one or more of the five major chronic illnesses consume over 66% of our health services.  If Canadian’s attitudes towards their personal health and illness prevention continue, the statistics above will surely worsen (and take note, the situation in the USA is even worse).  Healthcare institutions throughout North America and around the world are continually exploring options and solutions to keep up with the demand for health services, while at the same time the people that complain most about the quality of care are the same people that take little or no interest in their lifestyle choices that directly affect their health.   

Besides being a health advocate that is concerned about the quality of health of individuals and the greater population, I’m also a businessman that is witness to a healthcare system that has the potential of either bankrupting our country if current spending trends continue, or my larger concern is that the quality of life for so many will be compromised when governments and health institutions have the difficult decision of selecting which programs are to receive funding and which ones will not because of a lack of funding. 

So the day of waiting for the crisis has arrived at our door step.  The question is what can you do about it?  The answer has been under our noises for decades.  The cure to prevent many chronic illnesses and recover our critically ill healthcare system is one in the same....PREVENTION through healthy lifestyle choices. 

I’m not sure if we’re actually seeing more marketing and media push in the area of illness prevention, or if it’s just that I have a heightened sense of awareness given my passion for the topic and the career I’ve chosen.  Regardless, there seems to be more and more information available and the article below from the Globe and Mail is just one of many examples I’ve read or seen on television. 

I’ve often said, “If you don’t take time for your health today, you will have lots of time to be sick in the future”.  I’m not so sure this statement is entirely  true, because if things go unchanged and the health of North Americans continues to deteriorate at its current rate, we will run out of money to treat the volume of people with chronic illnesses and the expanding services they demand, and you may not have as much time to be sick in the future as you once thought. 

Make your health and the health of others a lifelong priority so you can “Enjoy the Ride”....Rob

CHRONIC DISEASE

Wellness model emphasizes illness prevention

The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Nov. 24 2011, 2:28 PM EST

Dr. John Haggie is a strong proponent of the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

As a surgeon practising in Gander, Nfld., he has first-hand experience with serious medical conditions that could be prevented with early intervention.

Among his examples, Dr. Haggie points to a patient who is about to lose her leg due to complications of type 2 diabetes. “This outcome could have been avoided at any number of points,” he says. “Better childhood nutrition and fitness could have prevented the obesity that led to the development of this woman’s diabetes. Better drug coverage could have improved her blood glucose management. Even something as simple as having her feet checked by a nurse, which costs about $20, could have saved this woman’s leg and tens of thousands of dollars to the health care system.”

As president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Haggie is promoting a transformation of the health care system that will focus on illness prevention and health promotion. “The current acute disease model of health care is 20 years out of date. Today, the biggest burden on the system comes from largely preventable chronic diseases and their complications,” he says, noting part of the challenge in promoting health is that many highly effective interventions are based in the community, not in hospital or doctors’ offices (for example, programs to encourage youth fitness and smoking cessation initiatives). As a result, they are not funded by medicare.

“We have to convince the government to invest in primary and secondary prevention initiatives. The evidence shows that an upfront investment more than pays for itself down the road,” says Michael Cloutier, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Diabetes Association. He notes that just a two per cent reduction in diabetes prevalence rates would result in a nine per cent reduction in direct health care costs.

Unfortunately, the tools and medications that promote health are not accessible to all Canadians. Almost two-thirds of people with diabetes report that they cannot afford to comply with their prescribed therapy to effectively manage their disease. “A lot of people have to choose between paying for their rent or for their medications. Many more – especially those in remote and lower income communities – cannot afford healthy food. The result is more diabetes-related complications, poorer quality of life for these individuals and an increasing strain on our health care system,” says Mr. Cloutier. “We need to create a standard of care for chronic disease management across Canada.”

The Canadian Medical Association is advocating for co-ordinated investments in health promotion and disease prevention that will eliminate these gaps.

“Our goal is to ensure that by the end of the end of the next Health Care Accord, Canadians will have the best health in the world,” says Dr. Haggie.

“There is no reason why we can’t do that. By emphasizing health promotion now, we will see results by 2020.”

Four Habits to Live By

This week, Dr Les has summarized what I shared with you in a post I wrote in November 2010 titled, "Lifestyle Choices for Positive Health".  The following are the four habits to live your life by to avoid the most common chronic health issues that are so prevalent within our healthcare institutions. If you integrate these four simple habits into your daily routine, your body will repay you with a long, healthy and active life. 

So if these habits are so simple, why do we see our healthcare institutions struggling to treat an increasing number of people with serious, preventable diseases? 

I don’t believe anyone wishes for poor health at any time in their life, but unfortunately North Americans and cultures that have adopted their lifestyle have not made the four habits Dr Les describes below, part of their daily routine.  They would rather wait for a serious health crisis to occur before springing into action, but unfortunately, it’s often too late and these people end up fighting poor health for the remainder of their years.

Just remember, if you don’t make health a priority today, you will probably have plenty time to be ill in the future.

Enjoy the Ride….Rob

Four Habits to Live By.....Dr Les

In a previous blog, I made the comparison of great health to great snow. Different elements in the weather determine the quality of snow just as the combination of measurable “lifestyle elements” determines the quality of our health.  

You probably aren’t thinking about snow right now. You are probably thinking about summer vacations, building a new deck, having friends over for a BBQ.  You might have signed up for a triathalon or marathon and are wishing you had more time to train.  Life is complex with many competing priorities.

Yet consciously or unconsciously you have made lifestyle choices that have created the habits that have determined the quality of your health. Your habits, more than your words, articulate the principles that you live by.  Your guiding principles then are your beliefs in action. In other words, what you do is a better indicator of your beliefs than what you say. The validity of the principles that guide your life is determined by the outcomes of adherence to these beliefs.

I want to share the principles of my health paradigm.

1. The body is an ecosystem that must be kept in balance.
2. In order to maintain order and balance, the primary communication is through the nervous system.
3. If order and balance are maintained, the body has an inner wisdom that allows it to be self-regulating and self-healing.
4. Health is an outward expression of the inner state of order and balance of our body’s ecosystem.

Our body’s ecosystem is much like the earth’s ecosystem. It is not just one element that keeps our ecosystem healthy and in a state of order and balance.

Thurman Fleet was a distinquished WWI vetern. After surviving horrific wartime experiences and a prolonged recovery from severe injuries, he studied health and healing extensively before deciding to become a chiropractor. While I don’t agree wih all his teachings, his description of the quality of health being the interplay between four basic elements is excellent. Our health is either improved or compromised depending on how much we keep these four physical elements in balance.

The four elements are:

1. Nourishment: Clean air, water and fuel for energy and the building blocks of repair.
2. Movement: We are designed for movement. Recent studies have shown that sedentary jobs increase the risk of ill health.
3. Recovery: This is rest and the restorative miracle of sleep. Inadequate sleep results in elevation of cortisol, the hormone associated with stress. This in turn leads to myriad health concerns including weight gain.
4. Elimination: We must eliminate the waste products of energy production and the cellular debris created with our body’s building and repair processes. Toxins inhaled, ingested or absorbed from our environment must also be eliminated.

Most of my patients are aware of the importance of a good diet and regular exercise but they often ignore the value of quality sleep and regular elimination. This model (based on Fleet’s teachings) reflects the critical interplay and influence of each element of our ecosystem. Nourishment and movement directly impacts our quality of sleep and elimination, just as movement is impacted by recuperation and elimination. Ignore any of these separate elements at your peril. At some point your capacity for training will be dictated by the quality of your ecosystem!

Remember: “First we make our habits; then they make us.”  Which is more important – sitting to watch TV or going for a bike ride or hike with your family? Your choice. 

Adding Life to Your Years....Dr Les.

Right Information! Wrong Conclusion?

For decades I have been an advocate for natural health.  It’s my belief that “good health” is a natural and normal state for the human body, not illness and disease.  To achieve and maintain good health, one must stick to the basics, ie. Eat a healthy diet, exercise daily, attempt to reduce the stress in your life, receive adequate sleep, etc.  If you notice, I didn’t say anything about taking prescribed or over-the-counter medication for months, or in many cases years.  

Given the way medication is advertized in the media and prescribed by our doctors, one may think drugs are a prerequisite for good health.  It’s my belief if you’re taking a prescribed medication; it should be your doctor’s responsibility to find the root cause of your health issue and get you off the medication as soon as possible.  But we all know that we live in a world where our “healthcare system” actually implies, “illness care” and health has very little to do with the system. 

So you can understand how I enjoyed reading Dr Les Davidson’s blog post below, describing how a doctor in a recent news article could review the same research information and come to such a different conclusion, and recommendation for his patients (and readers).

Enjoy the Ride ….. Rob 

 

 

Right Information, Wrong Conclusion

The majority of my time as a chiropractor is spent treating mechanical issues like lower back and neck pain. Although my practice is not focused on the management of general health conditions, spines don’t come without a body.  Take Dave’s body for instance:

Dave has lived a life of adventure - skydiving with a few rough landings, riding his Harley with a few rough landings and ...well you get the picture. At 63, he is already a marvel of medical science having died once from cardiac arrest. They revived him, put in a couple of stents and he was back on his Harley in no time flat.

I have been providing chiropractic care to Dave for over 25 years. He says that if he knew he was going to live this long he would have taken better care of himself. He stops by the clinic regularly for an adjustment. The adjustments help him remain agile enough for his physically demanding job repairing heating and air conditioning systems, limber enough so he can play with his young grandson and active enough so he can look forward to his next adventure.

During one of his visits he mentioned a Maclean’s interview with oncologist Dr. Agus, author of, "The End of Illness."  http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/23/the-end-of-illness/

“Hey Doc. It says here that science can help inflammation so I can continue to work until I reach Freedom 85.”

Yes and No.

The right information!

Dr. Agus’ strategies for the end of illness can be condensed to two commandments:

1. Cut down on daily sources of life-threatening inflammation
2. Take an active part in your own health care

I concur completely!

I also agree with the following statements made by Dr. Agus:

The strategies employed by medicine in the fight against infectious disease are not effective with chronic illness

1. Systemic inflammation is a common factor in many chronic diseases
2. Each person's health needs are different and unique
3. Prolonged sitting is a significant health risk
4. Some vitamin therapies are contraindicated
5. The body is a system
6. Regular sleep is critical to good health
7. Health care is stuck in the diagnostic model - wait for symptoms to emerge and then treat a disease that is already in progress
8. Each person's health needs are different and unique

The wrong conclusion?

1. Everyone should consider the flu vaccine regardless of age or underlying health.
2. Everyone over the age of fifty should take one baby aspirin daily
3. Everyone over the age of fifty should be on statin drugs like Lipitor and Crestor

How can the same information result in such opposing conclusions? We filter information through different perspectives or lenses!

Dr. Agus subscribes to the importance of modifying lifestyle risk and yet maintains that the answer to good health is with more pharmacy. He focuses on the benefits and downplays the risks associated with Aspirin, Lipitor and Crestor. For more information on this topic, read Rob's post title: "Would you like Lipitor with your burger". 

My perspective is that the continuum of care that "integrative health" offers, empowers patients with knowledge so they can implement conservative care to support their body in optimizing function and then draw upon pharmacy and surgery as a last resort.

Dr. Agus is concerned with the money spent on vitamins which could be better spent on medications. Yet Americans already spend over $200 billion each year on prescription medications.

It is critical to become educated. For example in “The Great Cholesterol Con,” cardiologist, Malcolm Kendricks outlines the risks of statins and the shift to selling statins to treat inflammation.

Dave (my patient), like many of us as we get older, have issues with inflamation and pain. My concern is that Dave will look to Dr. Agus’ recommendations as cutting-edge solutions to his health issues. My question for Dave and for us all:

Do you think symptoms such as inflammation are an appropriate response of the body to certain health challenges, diet or lifestyle factors?

If yes, then why would we take medications that will suppress this appropriate and natural response? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on changing the factors that cause the inflammation?

Dave had already quit smoking. We encouraged him to eat  healthier and continue to be active. He left the clinic with Vitamin D and Fish Oil supplements to help his body shift from inflammation ‘naturally’.  Like I did for Dave, I perscribe the same for you, good health "naturally".

Adding Life to Your Years ..... Dr. Les

HEALTH & DIET MISCONCEPTIONS

It’s now the beginning of March and I'll bet a few of you declared a New Year’s resolution to achieve better health this year.  If studies are correct, 78% of you have given up on that crazy notion and reverted back to your old ways and are using inaccurate misconceptions to justify your change of heart.

I wrote a blog a while back about all the excuses I hear why people don’t exercise.  Well here are some popular misconceptions I hear when it comes to starting or sticking with healthy habits.  The following ideas might seem like reasonable assumptions, but the research suggests otherwise. Here are eight misconceptions that might be getting in the way of your healthy resolution.

1.      My doctor will tell me if I have a weight problem

If you think your doctor will alert you that your weight is putting your health at risk, think again.  You’re better off looking at yourself in the mirror for an accurate assessment. And be honest with what you see.  A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that less than half of those who were overweight and only two-thirds of those who were obese were told during the past year by their doctor that they were too heavy.  Doctors are trained to treat illness, not prevent it, so don’t expect them to tell you to lose the weight until you have a weight related crisis to deal with.  And by then it could be too late.

Furthermore, according to Dr. Christine Gerbstabt MD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and author of “Doctor’s Detox Diet”, “weight is a touchy subject, especially for women, which might partially explain why female physicians are less likely to bring up weight with their patients. Plus, doctors sometimes figure that their patients have the resources to address weight issues on their own because there's so much diet and fitness information available to the public domain."  Which we also know is untrue.

2.      I'll eat less calories if I skip breakfast

Please drill this into your head: Skipping breakfast won't save you calories. "People have this notion that if they don't eat breakfast they'll save calories, or can cheat-eat later in the day, but it really doesn't work that way," says Gerbstadt. "Your body needs food in small increments throughout the day to stay powered, and research shows that people who eat 400 to 600 calories at breakfast are less likely to be overweight." Starting your day with a morning meal can help jump-start your metabolism by 10 percent and prevents you from overindulging on snacks and large meals later in the day because you're ravenous.

If you typically don't feel hungry in the morning, I suggest you skip dinner - just once or twice - to reset your appetite clock.  Many people say they're just not hungry when they wake up, but this is because they ate too much at dinner, or ate unhealthy snacks all through the evening up until bedtime. Another suggestion is to stop eating after 7:30pm in the evening, this way, you'll be sure to wake up hungry.

3.      Taking the stairs takes too long

Sorry, but taking the elevator at work isn't just lazy, it's inefficient, too.  Nothing frustrates me more than seeing a person take the elevator for one to five floors.  Worse still, if they're overweight and holding a can of Coke or a bag of chips.  I work with a guy that almost never takes an elevator, (only if he has to climb greater than 20 flights of stairs!).  And it should be no surprise that he’s in amazing shape.  A Canadian study calculated that when you factor in the time you spend waiting for an elevator to arrive; taking the stairs will actually save you about 15 minutes each workday. Researchers timed hospital workers making trips between one and six floors, and found that it took 2.8 times longer per floor to travel by elevator than by stairwell. So the next time you catch yourself complaining about being too busy to work out, taking the stairs is a healthy way to gain a few minutes to your day.

4.      I lost 10lbs, that’s good enough

Don’t settle with mediocrity.  Losing 10 pounds may feel good, but if you're overweight or obese, a small dip in weight is only the beginning and not the finish line.  Your goal weight should be very close to your graduating high school weight, (assuming you weren’t overweight when you graduated). 

I’m training a 50+ year old fellow right now who had a starting weight of around 240lbs and when asked what his goal weight should be, he was somewhat surprised when I suggested his high school weight, which was around 170lbs.  Six months after starting, his weight is a very healthy 179lb, with only 9lbs to go!  When we started, I said we would focus on healthy lifestyle choices (Diet, Exercise, Rest, Reduced Stress) and the weight will take care of itself.  The results below speak for themself:

While short-term studies have concluded that obese people can see significant improvements in their heart health after a 5 percent weight loss, a new 10-year Swedish study found that you most likely need to lose twice this much to yield meaningful results. Obese people who lost 4 percent of their body weight showed no significant improvements in terms of major health risk factors, like blood pressure, diabetes, or any of a number of weight related degenerative diseases. 

5.      I’ll just work off that extra Big Mac

You probably know a thing or two about calories; like you need to eat less of them and burn more of them if you want to see the number on the scale go down, but chances are you may underestimate the effort associated with "burning" those extra calories off your body.

According to the Mayo Clinic, one MacDonalds Big Mac (540 calories) requires over an hour of stationary rowing to burn it off.  A study in the American Journal of Public Health found that when teens read a sign that said it takes 50 minutes of jogging to burn off a bottle of Coca Cola, sales fell 50% compared with those teens who just read the number of calories, suggesting that people have a false sense about how many calories they consume versus the exercise required to burn off those extra unhealthy calories.  People I speak with have a false understanding how easy it is to consume calories and how hard it is to burn them off.  So, my advice is to always be mindful of what you eat, because unless you’re training for an Ironman, exercise alone won’t address your weight gain associated with the consumption of unhealthy high calorie foods. choices

6.      I'm in control of what I'm eating

Sure you're in control and you have no one to blame for eating that extra cookie, or slice of apple pie but yourself, but no matter how strong your willpower, you may be consuming more food without even knowing it. A number of studies show that there are sneaky, subliminal factors that affect how much we serve ourselves. Not only do people dish out and eat larger portions when using bigger spoons, plates and bowls, as I spoke about in my Portion Control blog post a few months ago, but they also tend to eat more when their food is a similar color to their plate, say researchers from Cornell University.  Mindless-eating expert Brian Wansink found that people were more likely to dish out a big helping of pasta Alfredo on a white plate than a red one. No wonder when I vacation in Tuscany the Itialians serve their pasta in those brightly colored bowls in reduced quantities. 

7.       It's too expensive to eat healthy

I often get the excuse from all income brackets that it’s too expensive to eat healthy.  Times may be lean, but eating healthy doesn't have to be a luxury.  A 2011 study in Health Affairs calculated that following the USDA's MyPlate guidelines would only cost an extra $380 a year in groceries, or $1.04 a day. Also, findings from George Washington University researchers show that obese women earned $5,826 less per year than their thinner counterparts - so maybe eating right is worth the investment, both physically and financially.

Eating healthy doesn't have to be exotic or gourmet.  To see just how much it would cost to shape up your eating habits, try tallying a week's worth of food and meal receipts – count everything and don’t cheat.  Include your $15 lunch to your $4 Starbucks cappuccino - and then compare it with 7-day's worth of well planned healthy groceries.  Studies say it’s usually less expensive compared with how much you're spending dining out and eating on the run.

8.       A little snack won't hurt

Well, that depends on your perception of what qualifies as a snack and how often you're noshing between meals.  Remember point #5 above, and it’s not just what you eat that counts, but when you eat it.  Investigating the snacking habits over the course of a year, researchers found that healthy midmorning snackers lost 7 percent of their body weight compared with those who ate their healthy snack later in the day, who lost 11 percent of their body weight. Why? Midmorning snackers usually didn't stop at just one snack and tended to eat another later in the day too, as opposed to afternoon snackers.

The problem with snacking is that people don't know what a snack is.  A snack is nutritious and filling; it bridges meals and is no more than 200 calories.  Snack packs, cookies and candies aren't snacks - they're treats. You need to know the difference and know that there is a limit.

Summary

Hopefully, those of you that started down the path of healthy choices back in January are still committed to those resolutions as the day you started.  If not, hopefully this little post will re-focus your commitment and get you back on track. 

Enjoy the Ride….Rob

Happy Valentine’s Day - Top tips for a Healthy Heart

It’s Valentine’s Day and I felt it was only appropriate to share my top 10 tips to for maintaining a healthy heart. There are many steps you can take to prevent heart disease and concentrating on key lifestyle areas such as eating, exercise, smoking and drinking, and considering other factors like diabetes and stress are all great places to start. Here are my 10 top tips for a Happy Valentine heart

1. Stop smoking. Quitting smoking is the single most important thing you can do to live longer. If you are a smoker, you are twice as likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker. But from the moment you stop smoking, the risk of heart attack starts to reduce. With public smoking bans introduced just about everywhere, there has never been a better time to give up.
2. Cut down on salt. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Avoid foods like chips, salted nuts, canned and packet soups and sauces, baked beans and canned vegetables, pork pies, pizzas and processed meals from a package. Many breakfast cereals and breads that appear healthy also contain high levels of salt, so keep your eye on these too.
3. Watch your diet. A healthy diet can help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease, and can also help increase the chances of survival after a heart attack. You should try to have a balanced diet, containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, oily fish and limit you consumption of starchy foods. Avoid foods like cookies, cakes, pastries and dairy products that are high in saturated fats and most importantly, all forms of sugar.
4. Monitor your alcohol. Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. Binge drinking will increase your risk of having a heart attack, so you should aim to limit your intake to one (for women) and two units a day for men.
5. Get active. The heart is a muscle and it needs exercise to keep fit so that it can pump blood efficiently round your body with each heart beat. You should aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day. If this seems too daunting, start off gently and build up gradually. Keeping fit not only benefits your physical health - it improves your mental health and wellbeing too.
6. Manage your weight. The number of people who are overweight in Canada and the United States is rising fast - already more than half of the adult population is overweight or obese. Carrying a lot of extra weight as fat can greatly affect your health and increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. If you are overweight or obese, start by making healthy changes to what you eat, and try to become more active.
7. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your Doctor. The higher your blood pressure, the shorter your life expectancy. People with high blood pressure run a higher risk of having a stroke or a heart attack. High levels of cholesterol in the blood - produced by the liver from saturated fats - can lead to fatty deposits in your coronary arteries that increase your risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and diseases that affect the circulation. You can help lower your cholesterol level by exercising and eating high-fiber foods such as porridge, beans, lentils, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
8. Learn to manage your stress levels. If you find things are getting you down, you may fail to eat properly, smoke and drink too much and this will increase your risk of a heart attack.
9. Make sure you can recognize the early signs of coronary heart disease. Tightness or discomfort in the chest, neck, arm or stomach which comes on when you exert yourself but goes away with rest may be the first sign of angina, which can lead to a heart attack if left untreated.
10. Know your Numbers. Monitor the top ten health indicators and take the necessary action if they trend negatively. Knowledge is Power, but it takes Action to flick the Switch.

Happy Valentines and Enjoy the Ride.....Rob

Paula Deen – Deceit and the Quick Fix

I’ve commented frequently about the unhealthy state of the average North American’s diet and how it’s accepted, and in some cases sensationalized through programs like Man vs. Food.  This past week, Paula Deen came out of the closest, so to speak. One look at her and it really shouldn’t be a big surprise what came walking out of the closet.  The cookbook author and television personality, known for her high-fat and fried foods, has been a closet Type 2 Diabetic for three years.  Keeping an illness like Diabetes private (especially Type 2 Diabetes, which is generally self inflected) is obliviously a personal choice that should be respected, but to continue to promote her unhealthy recipes to her loyal fans for three years when these very recipes are the source of her disease is unconscionable.

This kind of deceit is already low enough, but let's be clear, Ms. Deen is not coming out to inform her fans that all those years of eating her unhealthy recipes will increase their chances of becoming a Type 2 Diabetic like her.  No, she's come out of her closet for finaincial gains, as she is to become the official spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures her Type 2 Diabetes medication, Victoza.  So now in addition to promoting her unhealthy eating habits, it's Deen's new role to help us see "Diabetes in a new light," according to the company's website. Their sales slogan is: "Live a life that's delicious."  With a slogan like that, it almost makes you wish that you had Type 2 Diabetes like her.

As their new spokesperson with a loyal following of viewers; no doubt many of them will also have Diabetes.   I can already see them lining up to ask their doctors if the $500-a-month Victoza drug that Ms. Deen is promoting to manage her Diabetes is right for them.  Besides, isn't this why companies employ celebrities.

So let’s look at the “Delicious” hard facts of what Deen and her new employer are spinning.  Instead of promoting a healthy diet and regular exercise, which will prevent this disease, they’re suggesting that you continue with your reckless lifestyle, which consists of life-threatening complications like, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disorder, amputations, dental problems, pregnancy complications, and the catchall other complications categories include coma, greater risk of death from pneumonia, trouble with physical activity, and no surprise depression, because Novo Nordisk has a drug fix that will mask the symptoms.

More than 28 million North Americans, have diabetes today, and at the current growth rate, 1 in 3 of us will have it by 2050, and 90 percent of these cases are Type 2 diabetes, which obesity is the # 1 risk factor.  Although recent obesity numbers may have flattened for the first time in 30 years, the poorer and minority groups are getting larger and are also the demographic that have less access to healthcare to manage their illness and won't be able to afford Deen's $6,000 a year drug fix.

I’m thinking many people that read this blog will like Ms. Deen’s spin of, I’ll eat whatever I want and take a pill to manage the negative consequences of my reckless behavior, over my message of healthy diet and regular exercise.   I know a number of people that suffer from Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes and while a diabetic's life is manageable, it's anything but “delicious” .

The life of a diabetic is something less than what is being marketed by Deen and Novo Nordisk.  That said, they’re no different to other drug companies that promise to medicate away the symptoms associated with depression, gas, incontinence, clogged arteries, fibromyalgia and dozens of other preventable health conditions that result from our North American lifestyle. 

Paula Deen is actually an insignificant player in the bigger promotion and marketing of drug products made by multi-national pharmaceutical companies that believe in treatment over prevention (there’s no money in prevention).  Unfortunately, what Deen does represent is North America’s continued and growing love and acceptance with behaving recklessly just because there‘s a potential pharmaceutical fix that's just around the corner.  The only thing that’s healthy about this story is Paula Deen and Novo Nordisks’ income statements.

Enjoy the Ride …. Rob

Is Losing Weight a Losing Battle?

As I was relaxing with my morning paper today I came across this article on the second page of the Globe and Mail that I thought was intriguing, especially at this time of year (I have copied it below in its entirety for your convenience).  As I read it, I thought about my brief time on this planet and how a person’s weight has always been a topic of discussion for as long as I can remember.  Most recently and the focus of my attention has been how weight directly affects the quality of a person’s life, both physically and mentally.  I dedicate many words in this blog to the physical implications of a healthy weight, but not so much to the mental stress overweight carries.  No matter what Oprah says, and this is only my personal observation and opinion, people that are overweight or obese are generally not as happy with their life as people who are “healthy” thin (you can be un-healthy thin too). 

I can remember as a kid, my mother asking if she looked good and she was never overweight a day in her life.  Most of the women that are close enough in my life to even discuss the subject have at some time been focused on their weight, and given the crowd of guys I’ve hung out with over the years; (cyclists, triathletes, runners, etc), well they're also particularly interested in the topic.  In fact, I joked that hard core cyclists are more concerned about their weight than international super models. 

This is actually a complex topic.  Just look at all the books, web sites, news articles, magazines,  blogs, etc. that are dedicated entirely to the subject.   With all the opinions floating around to explain the complexities of a person’s weight, it really just comes down to two issues, 1) health and how your weight affects it, and 2) vanity, how you and others perceive your size.  The article below and I would have to say, most attention on the topic deals with the latter.  And even many health advocates are simply hiding behind the "be healthy"trend and are really promoting vanity packaged up with the health wrapper.

Now is the time of year when every second commercial is from some diet company that feeds off the insecurities of an individual’s self image.  Now that more than 65% of North Americans are either overweight or obese, the market share for these vampires has grown significantly (pardon the pun).  The fact that there is so much attention in the media, internet, etc. focused on this one topic, even if you don’t have a weight issue, like my mother, you still think you do.  Given the majority of people in North America DO have an unhealthy weight and have issues with their appearance; the industry of “Diet” is preparing to receive revenues of unprecedented proportions to “Fix the Problem”.  To further fuel the fire, I even heard on talk radio the other day a scientist say that being overweight should be considered a “disease” and treated as such.  This is as low as it can get, as this person is using science to justify their next financial grant to perform more “junk science” on a issue where the cause and effect are well know. 

So the question I have, given the content of the article below, are the people that put out the best seller diet books and expensive diet programs simply setting themselves up for an attractive income statement, or do they really care about the health of the people that purchase their products and diet systems?  My personal opinion is to follow the money and you’ll find your answer.  The answer is simple and inexpensive, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly and your weight will take care of itself.

However, if you do engage in one of the many diet programs, pick one that has an end point of eating a well balanced food plan with lots of fresh organic fruits and vegetables, a healthy amount of high quality protein, healthy fats and limit the sugar and starchy carbohydrates.  And do it with a bigger purpose than just fitting into a smaller size. Vanity will only get you so far.  Don’t become another statistic of the majority of people that lose a load of weight, only to gain it all back again when they lose their short-term motivation.  Do it because you want to increase the quality of your life 20 years from now.

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

It’s time to shed the tyranny of dieting – losing weight is a losing battle

Globe and Mail Update    Jan. 07, 2012

Elizabeth Renzetti

One of the commercials in a new campaign to counter childhood obesity in Georgia shows a boy sitting on a folding chair, who says quietly, “Mom, why am I fat?” I was hoping his mom, sitting across from him, might say, “Well, son, let’s talk about how Congress thinks that the tomato sauce on pizza qualifies as a vegetable in school meals …” but she didn’t. She bowed her head in silent shame.

The contentious campaign, called Strong4Life, features a parade of sad-faced, overweight children wondering how they ended up this way. The ads are directed at the kids, and not at the advertisers who push ChoccyMallow Breakfast Surprise, or the restaurant chains that hand them a plate the size of an elephant’s foot and invite them to pile it high for less than the cost of a cauliflower.

My favourite ad – and I say “favourite” in the same way that I have a favourite Friday the 13th movie – is the one featuring a grim girl, her arms folded above the slogan: “It’s Hard to Be a Little Girl if You’re Not.” Why not go all the way, I thought, and borrow the slogan that the manufacturers of RyKrisp used to prey on women’s insecurities in the 1950s: “Nobody Loves a Fat Girl!”

The fat girl volcano is this way, ladies, if you’d like to follow me, and toss yourselves in. The line is long, and stretches through the centuries. I know this thanks to a new book, Louise Foxcroft’s Calories & Corsets: a History of Dieting over 2,000 Years, which reveals that our obsession with slimness, and our demonization of fat, has an impressive history. There is no better time to read it than in this month of wretched self-loathing.

As long as people have looked down at their muffin tops (or their suet crusts) and winced, slimming gurus have lined up to profit from the shame. The first diet bestseller was published in the 15th century, writes Ms. Foxcroft, a British historian of medicine. Three centuries later, the noted gourmet Brillat-Savarin was an early proponent of the low-carb diet, a bit like a Reign of Terror Dr. Atkins. Lose weight, he advised, or “become ugly, and thick, and asthmatic, and finally die in your own melted grease: I shall be there to watch it.” I doubt Weight Watchers will be adopting that slogan any time soon.

Dieting, over the years, has been sold as a moral imperative, a patriotic duty, a Christian obligation. In the mid-20th century you could turn to Pray Your Weight Away or Devotions for Dieters, which included this desperate plea to the Almighty to save a sinner from pie: “I promise not to sit and stuff/But stop when I have had enough. Amen.” It wasn’t just that you hated your chunky thighs; God was repulsed, too.

Ms. Foxcroft is very canny about the way health concerns are used to disguise what is essentially an aesthetic distaste for chubbiness. Fat has long been seen as a moral and intellectual failing: “The stupid, heavy, non-intellectual person, or the idiot, is generally fat and flabby,” wrote one 19th-century English doctor.

Not much has changed, even if we now put pillows around our language to guard against offence. “No one wants to be fat,” Tara Parker-Pope wrote recently in a fascinating and much-discussed article in The New York Times Magazine. “In most modern cultures, to be fat … is to be perceived as weak-willed and lazy.”

At the centre of her piece, The Fat Trap, is a paradox: Dieters, including Ms. Parker-Pope, actually work incredibly hard at losing weight. I doubt the physicists at CERN pay as much attention to numbers as the successful dieters she interviews, who weigh every gram of food that goes into their mouths and calculate every calorie burned on their bikes. But maintaining your new slim figure, as science shows, is very difficult and most people regain their spare tires, unless they’re willing to devote every waking moment to banishing thoughts of doughnuts. Losing weight, which is supposed to liberate, instead becomes a prison.

In America alone, the diet industry is worth $40-billion, slightly more than the GDP of Costa Rica. Every person who fails at a diet and embarks on another fattens the pocket of whoever is selling some chimerical notion of beauty. To what end, you have to wonder. For centuries, people in the West have been trying to lose weight – not for reasons of health, but for reasons of status – and it’s a losing battle. Maybe it’s time to refashion the RyKrisp slogan, and spell it out in chocolate chips: “Nobody loves a fat girl … except herself.”

Is Something You're Eating Making you Sick?

If you eat cheeseburgers and french fries all the time, or drink six Coca Colas a day, you likely know you are shortening your life. But eating a nice slice of whole wheat bread--how could that be bad for you? 

What most people don't know is a dietary staple that humans have been eating for thousands of years may be causing serious health complications for many.  That staple is wheat; well not so much wheat, but the Gluten within wheat.  A very good friend of mine is fighting her second battle with cancer and only now, in her 50’s has she discovered that she is Gluten intolerant and her cancer events and her gluten intolerance may be linked.  In addition to this kind of more serious condition, do you wake each morning with thick mucus congestion, blow mucus for an hour after waking, or do you have asthma, or get the bi annual flu or head-cold, sore throat, fever thing, or suffer from frequent ear, nose and throat infections.

Well, new research shows that people with wheat allergies and gluten intolerance in particular have these symptoms, in addition to serious conditions like heart disease, cancer and even death.   After nearly a year of researching this topic, in today's blog I want to reveal the truth about gluten, explain the dangers and provide you with a simple system that will help you determine whether or not gluten is a problem for you.

Background:

Gluten is a protein contained in many grains, including wheat, barley, rye, and oats. It is even found in more unusual grains, such as spelt, kamut and even in beer. Wheat or gluten intolerance plague many people and cause gastric disturbances, but research now shows chronic health conditions are triggered by gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity, and the extreme form of wheat allergy called celiac disease.

Gluten sensitivity creates inflammation in the entire body, beginning in the gut. It is a form of autoimmune disease. Celiac disease, the chronic and most severe type of gluten intolerance, affects 1 in a 100 people. This represents over 3.5 million in North America alone. Less severe symptoms of gluten allergy or gluten sensitivity may affect as much as 1/3 of the entire North American population.

An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported on a study with over 30,000 patients. The data was collected from 1969 until 2008. Divided into three groups, the patients either had celiac, had intestinal inflammation but not full-blown celiac disease or had gluten sensitivity. Those individuals with full blown celiac disease had a 39% higher risk of death. The risk was 72% for those with intestinal inflammation, and 35% for those with gluten sensitivity.

Another study looked at the blood tests of ten thousand people from 50 years ago and compared them to tests on 10,000 people today. The study discovered a 400% increase in full-blown celiac disease. The results were measured by elevated antibodies in the blood, called TTG antibodies, which increase when there is a reaction to gluten.

Many people suffer from gluten intolerance and are not aware that this is the cause of their symptoms. Symptoms can include irritable bowel disease, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, osteoporosis, anemia, cancer, autoimmune disease, MS, and neurological problems such as depression, anxiety, dementia, schizophrenia, nerve damage, migraines, epilepsy, and autism.

The Real Cost of Gluten

Undiagnosed gluten problems cost the North American healthcare system billions of dollars.  Dr. Peter Green, Professor of Clinical Medicine for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University studied all 10 million subscribers to CIGNA and found those who were correctly diagnosed with celiac disease used fewer medical services and reduced their healthcare costs by more than 30%. Unfortunately only 1 % of those with the problem were actually diagnosed. That means 99% are walking around suffering without knowing it, costing the healthcare system billions of dollars.

Why haven't you heard much about this?

Well, actually you have, but you just don't realize it. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity masquerade as dozens and dozens of other diseases with different names.

Gluten Sensitivity: One Cause, Many Diseases

A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 "diseases" that can be caused by eating gluten. A few more common ones include, osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, autism and neuropathy (nerve damage).

We used to think that gluten problems or celiac disease were confined to children who had diarrhea, weight loss, and failure to thrive. Now we know you can be old, fat, and constipated and still have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Of course, that doesn't mean that ALL cases of depression or autoimmune disease or any of these other problems are caused by gluten in everyone--but it is important to look for it if you have any chronic illness.  By failing to identify gluten sensitivity and celiac disease, we create needless suffering and death for millions. Health problems caused by gluten sensitivity cannot be treated with medication.  They can only be resolved by eliminating 100 percent of the gluten from your diet.

The question that remains is: Why are we so sensitive to this "staff of life," within our diet?

There are many reasons...

There is fairly strong Paleolithic evidence that 10,000 years ago humans did not consume many grains. We were hunter-gatherers who subsisted mostly on vegetables and meats.  10,000 years is a mere blip on the evolutionary scale with over 99% of our genetic make-up already in place, before we ever started consuming grains.  Wheat was introduced into Europe during the Middle-Ages, and 30 percent of people of European descent carry the gene for celiac disease (HLA DQ2 or HLA DQ8), which increases susceptibility to health problems from eating gluten.

American strains of wheat have a much higher gluten content (which is needed to make light, fluffy Wonder Bread and giant bagels) than those traditionally found in Europe. This super-gluten was recently introduced into our agricultural food supply and now has "infected" nearly all wheat strains in America.

To find out if you are one of the millions of people suffering from unidentified gluten sensitivity, just follow this simple procedure.

The Elimination/Reintegration Diet

While testing can help identify gluten sensitivity, the only way you will know if this is really a problem for you is to eliminate all gluten for a short period of time (2 to 4 weeks) and see how you feel. Get rid of the following foods:

• Gluten (barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, wheat, triticale--see http://www.celiac.com/ for a complete list of foods that contain gluten, as well as often surprising and hidden sources of gluten.)

• Hidden sources (soup mixes, salad dressings, sauces, as well as lipstick, certain vitamins, medications, stamps and envelopes you have to lick, and even Play-Doh.)

For this test to work you MUST eliminate 100% of the gluten from your diet--no exceptions, no hidden gluten, and not a single crumb of bread.  Then eat it again and see what happens. If you feel bad at all, you need to stay off gluten permanently. This will teach you better than any test about the impact gluten has on your body.

But if you are still interested in testing, below are some things to keep in mind.

 

Testing for Gluten Sensitivity or Celiac Disease

There are gluten allergy/celiac disease tests that are available through medical Labs. Ask your doctor.  All these tests help identify various forms of allergy or sensitivity to gluten or wheat. They will look for:

• IgA anti-gliadin antibodies
• IgG anti-gliadin antibodies
• IgA anti-endomysial antibodies
• Tissue transglutaminase antibody (IgA and IgG in questionable cases)
• Total IgA antibodies
• HLA DQ2 and DQ8 genotyping for celiac disease (used occasionally to detect genetic suspectibility).
• Intestinal biopsy (rarely needed if gluten antibodies are positive--based on my interpretation of the recent study)

When you get these tests, there are a few things I found to keep in mind.

In light of the new research on the dangers of gluten sensitivity without full blown celiac disease, consider any elevation of antibodies significant and worthy of a trial of gluten elimination.  Many doctors consider elevated anti-gliadin antibodies in the absence of a positive intestinal biopsy showing damage to be "false positives." That means the test looks positive but really isn't significant. Given the new research we can no longer say that. Positive is positive and, as with all illness, there is a continuum of disease, from mild gluten sensitivity to full-blown celiac disease. If your antibodies are elevated, you should go off gluten and test to see if it is leading to your health problems.

So now you see--that piece of bread may not be so wholesome after all! Follow the advice I've shared and find out if gluten may be the hidden cause of your health problems. Simply eliminating this insidious substance from your diet may help you achieve lifelong vibrant health.

Now I'd like to hear from you...

Are you one of the millions that have been lead to believe gluten is perfectly safe?

How do foods that contain gluten affect you?

What tips can you share with others about gluten and your diet?

Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.

Enjoy the Ride .... Rob

 

Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine

My step brother Gerry Patterson forwarded me this TED video and it reminded me of this famous quote: “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” -- Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)

Hippocrates made this statement over 24 centuries ago and if there was ever a case that supports this philosophy, this is it.

Dr. Terry Wahls, was diagnosed with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis in 2003 and after all the leading scientific efforts failed her, she took matters into her own hands.   After understanding the foods that are necessary for optimal brain health, she developed a diet based on these findings, and went from being restricted to a motorized wheel chair to the freedom of a self propelled bicycle, and is here to tell her story of this amazing recovery through proper nutrition.  Furthermore, she is here to tell us all her story, so we can take preventative action and avoid her personal struggle.

While modern medicine spends billions of our dollars researching and developing drugs and pushing them onto the public through our health providers, or performing unnecessary and ineffective medical procedures as we accept lifestyles that do nothing more than reduce the quality or destroy our lives.  I think we deserve more for the money we pay into a healthcare system that basically focuses on illness treatment and does little to prevent these very illnesses from ever occurring through healthy diets and regular exercise.

What we find through Dr. Wahls' story is everything she discovers has been preached for years.  We know that eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, leafy greens and lean protein is good for us.  What she's done by saving her own life, is back this understanding up with clinical trials and the rigor of scientific method.  For many, her recovery will seem like a miracle, but actually, it's the science behind "Mother Nature" that's the real story.

 

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

 

Pizza is now a Vegetable....no really!

If you've been following my blog long enough, you know by now that I'm a huge advocate for fresh (organic if possible) fruit and vegetables in every person's diet.  Well, thanks to the US Congress, I have to be a little more specific about the word “vegetable”.  On Tuesday of this week in Washington DC, the United Sates Congress declared that PIZZA is in fact, a VEGETABLE!  No really, I can't make this stuff up.  That's what I call Genetically Modified vegetables! 

This ruling was declared so pizza would remain part of the school lunch program across America.  You see, pizza has a certain amount of tomato paste on it, so the powerful lobbyists arguing on behalf of the frozen processed food manufacturers were able to convince the US Congress that pizza met the standard of a vegatable.  I know that kids right across America are rejoicing the infinite wisdom of their political leaders, because now they can say, "Dude, like Pizza is totally a Vegetable and I can totally eat as much as I want".  

I've never seen a field of pizzas growing in the hot summer sun, but then again, there are still a few states I haven't traveled to.  I’m not even sure what kind of vine they grow on, or how they are harvested.  But if the US Congress says it's so, it must be true.  I would be interested if any of you have seen this exotic vegetable growing anywhere near you?

Evidently, these pizza/vegetables only grow in the United States because it’s the only place on earth where their government officials have completely lost their minds.  It's not like America doesn’t have enough health issues to contend with.  But yet again, we see the special interests of Big Food outweigh the health of American children.

Below is the full story from the Huffington Post.  

Let me know your thoughts? 

Enjoy the Ride ….. Rob

How Pizza Became A Vegetable Through The Magic Of Influence-Peddling

On Tuesday, Congress decided that pizza is a vegetable. I have to imagine that this news instilled confusion in many Americans, as many Americans are (a) familiar with pizza, (b) familiar with vegetables and (c) sane.

But, to provide specifics that will in no way dispel your lingering thoughts that we are governed by morons but at least allow you some anthropological insight into how a group of morons who have been given permission to sit in a fancy room in Washington, D.C., and grunt at each other actually think, here is their thinking: Pizza is a vegetable for the purposes of determining what goes into public school lunches by virtue of the fact that pizza traditionally includes a schmear of tomato paste. (Botanically speaking, tomatoes are actually fruit, but we're going to have to just let that slide.)

At any rate, you may still be wondering how it came to pass that Congress arrived at the conclusion that pizza could count as a serving of vegetables. Wonder no more! Congress was guided along this path by lobbyists. And lobbyists can do all sorts of things, by magic! (Except provide nutritious lunches for children.)

NOTE FROM ROB:  Read this: From the Associated Press:

The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year. These include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, putting new restrictions on sodium and boosting the use of whole grains. The legislation would block or delay all of those efforts.

The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to only count a half-cup of tomato paste or more as a vegetable, and a serving of pizza has less than that.

Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration's much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs. This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress.

"School meals that are subsidized by the federal government must include a certain amount of vegetables," the AP reports, "and USDA's proposal could have pushed pizza-makers and potato growers out of the school lunch business." It would have pushed vegetable growers into the business, but their lobbyists aren't as powerful, it seems.

In addition to this, the move to classify pizza as a vegetable gained traction because of popular, reality-transforming political philosophies on the role of government.

Piling on to the companies' opposition, some conservatives argue that the federal government shouldn't tell children what to eat. In a summary of the bill, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and ... provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."

This sort of makes it sound like local school districts would be serving heirloom tomatoes and quinoa if the federal government just got out of the way. At any rate, I'd recommend that you remember this the next time you hear someone say that the government should get out of the business of "picking winners and losers." (Winner: salt! Loser: fighting obesity!)

Here's a fun fact! If a child incorrectly identifies "pizza" as a "vegetable" on a standardized test, there's an entirely different group of lobbyists who will argue that public school teachers have failed America's children.