Get Some Sleep!

Ahhh sleep. Just the word “sleep” makes you feel all cozy, doesn’t it? A good night’s sleep is something we all need but for many of us it feels like more of a privilege than a right. Not sure if you’re getting enough? Here are some signs that you are sleep deprived:

• Absolutely need an alarm to get up
• Difficulty waking up in the morning
• Poor performance at work or school
• Clumsiness
• Difficult decision making
• Moody or irritable

Just because you go to bed every night does it mean you’re really getting the kind of sleep that your body depends on? What many of us don’t realize is that it’s the quality and the timing of our sleep that really make a difference.

What is a good night’s sleep? You many know that your sleep cycles are made up of stages. In the first two stages you become drowsy and your body prepares itself for deep sleep – your body temperature goes down and heart rate slows. The next two stages are considered deep sleep. At these stages, the blood flow to the brain decreases as it redirects to the muscles to restore physical energy and immune functions. About 70-90 minutes after falling asleep we go into rapid eye movement (“REM”) or dream sleep and then hit this phase three to five times during the night. This stage is responsible for processing emotions, retaining memories, and relieving stress. If you are constantly being woken up by a snoring bed partner, the TV, or nature calling, you will have trouble getting to this stage – where the real restoration happens.

What time is bedtime? Every creature within nature, including human beings, operates according to what are known as circadian rhythms – patterns of physiological functioning that repeat every 24 hours. Think about it: animals wake up with the sun and sleep when it sets. Some flowers open their petals in daylight and close them at dusk. It is no different for us, though the changes in our bodies are harder for us to notice. For example, the production of the stress-fighting hormone cortisol increases early in the morning to help us fight through the stress of our day and the decreases at night. As mentioned earlier, when we sleep our blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature decrease and then rise again in the morning. Unfortunately things like electric light and the graveyard shift have created a disconnection between us and these natural cycles.

After the sun sets, digestion and cortisol levels go down, making us feel lethargic. This is our natural time to go to bed. Sounds ridiculously early, right? Think of all the other creatures that go to sleep at this time. Feel like you could stay up all night? Take a look at what you had for dinner. If you have a huge meal at this time, you may end up staying up late because your body will struggle to digest your dinner. Or you may feel too bloated and full to go to sleep.

Just as cortisol production increases when we get up, certain things happen when we go to bed at night. Between the hours of 10PM – 2AM, our bodies do amazing things. Our gallbladder, our liver and our blood begin go into detoxification mode and the adrenals do the majority of their recharging and recovering. Also at this time our blood flow redirects to the muscles to repair damaged tissue and restore physical energy and immune functions.

So if you’re constantly staying up at this time or eating huge or late dinners and snacks, your energy is being used up to catch up on emails or digest a meal rather than detoxify you. Doing this on a consistent basis can cause your body begin to break down.

Give it a shot: be lame and go to bed a few hours after the sun sets and get up when it rises. Try it for a week and see how you feel.

Here are some great ways to improve sleep:

• Listen to relaxation cd’s or white noise
• Avoid eating a big dinner or right before bed, especially sugars and grains
• Sleep in complete darkness
• Don’t drink too many fluids a few hours before bed
• Don’t watch TV before bed or while in bed – it disrupts sleep
• Don’t read something too stimulating before bed, like my newsletters
• Write in a journal to get all your crazy thoughts out
• Avoid caffeine, especially in the afternoon
• Take a hot bath or shower before bed, try adding lavender
• Drink chamomile or lavender tea

Food Rules

My hero, Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food", has just come out with a new book "Food Rules - An Eater's Manual". It's a mini-manual of 64 eating rules that he gathered from not only doctors and scientists but also chefs and his own readers. I know you might be thinking, "please no more rules!", but from what I have already heard about it, these are straightforward, intuitive, and rather amusing rules that will certainly stick in your memory, such as "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of your milk". My absolute favorite so far is "The whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead."

I haven't gotten my own copy yet, but I'm sure when I do I will certainly have more favorites to share with you. Until then, I'll leave you with Michael Pollan's definition of the recurring message of his fabulous book, "In Defense of Food" which is simply this: "eat food." Sounds obvious right? What he means is eat real food rather than edible food-like substances; what the majority of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is made up of. At the end of the book he gives some additional clues on how he further defines "eat food."

Take a look at them below. I'd love your comments on what makes sense to you and if you have your own "eating rules":

• Don't Eat Anything Your Great Grandmother Wouldn't Recognize as Food. Think yogurt versus "Go-Gurt" (which still makes me cringe by the way).
• Avoid Food Products Containing Ingredients that are a) Unfamiliar, b) Unpronounceable, c) More than five in number or that include d) High fructose corn syrup. Take a look at what's in your refrigerator. What passes the test?
• Avoid Food Products that Make Health Claims. Sounds counter intuitive, but does a carrot really need to convince you that its good for you? Of course not! According to Pollan, margarine was one of the first industrial foods to claim it was healthier than the traditional food it replaced and what did it turn out to do? Give people heart attacks!
• Shop the Peripheries of the Supermarket and Stay Out of the Middle. You are much more likely to get real food by shopping this way as the peripheries tend to contain the fruits, vegetables, meats, and some quality dairy and the middle aisles contain overly processed food-like substances. However, this is not entirely fool-proof.
• Get out of the Supermarket Whenever Possible. This means get as much as possible from the Farmer's Market or join a CSA. By doing this you are guaranteed to eat in season and will be supporting your local community. I know, I know, for those of you who live in the Northeast there isn't much available but there are certainly some winter farmer's markets and just get yourself pumped for the abundance of them once Spring and Summer hits!

Winter Skincare Tips

T’is the season of dry hands and cracked lips! At this point we're doing everything we can to keep our skin from feeling like sandpaper over the next couple of months and chances are the vanilla mango lotion that Santa left in your stocking is not going to cut it. In fact, there are a lot of things that we do to help our skin that may actually be making it worse. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an article by Dr. Ben Kim on how to have healthy and beautiful skin the natural way. These are especially useful in the wintertime when the dry air is constantly depleting our skin from necessary moisture. Here are some of his top tips:

Minimize Use of Soap and Hot Water - Skin requires regular sebum production to promote resistance against water and microbes – regular use of hot water and almost all types of soap can dry out the sebum production glands. If you are exposed to any chemicals, grease, gas, oil, or other harsh substances, use a natural soap and water to remove them. Otherwise consider washing with just lukewarm or cool water only.

I know it’s hard in the wintertime to stay away from taking long, hot showers, but repeated use of hot showers and baths can cause skin to become dry and unhealthy. Instead wear warmer clothes and invest in a hot water bottle – I can’t live without one from the months of November to March. Place it on your stomach to help calm you to sleep or throw it on the bottom of the bed to keep your feet nice and toasty!

Do Not Use Anti-Bacterial Soap - Millions of friendly bacteria live on your skin; these bacteria take up room and resources, making it difficult for unfriendly bacteria to establish colonies on your skin. Friendly bacteria in your skin also produce various substances that protect you against unfriendly bacteria. Unfortunately anti-bacterial soaps do not discriminate, so their use increases your risk of infections, including acne.

Minimize Use of Makeup, Perfumes, Colognes, Shaving Cream, Deodorant, and Other Personal Care Products and Cosmetics that Contain Toxic Chemicals - When your skin is bare, as nature intended, it receives the most nourishment, getting cleared of waste products, breathing with your environment, and cleansing from the inside out. Those who use an unnecessary amount of personal care and cosmetic products tend to look worse at a much earlier age than those who don't bother with such products. The less stuff you put on your skin, the healthier and more beautiful it will be in the short and long term.

Eat Plenty of Water-Rich Foods - Healthy skin requires strong and steady blood flow, as your blood circulation brings your skin cells nourishment, and clears away waste products that your skin cells are constantly generating. Dark leafy-green vegetables are arguably the single best food group for promoting healthy skin via healthy blood flow with their high water content and nutrient density. Shoot for daily consumption of leafy green vegetables such as kale, collards, bok-choy, spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, arugula, dandelion greens, and mesclun greens.

Eat Foods Rich in Vitamin A, Carotenoids, and Healthy Fats. Vitamin A is extremely important for maintaining the function of your skin cells. Make sure your diet has enough healthy fats to effectively synthesize vitamin A from carotenoids found in dark green, yellow, and orange vegetables like spinach, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Or get it from foods that have actual vitamin A like organic eggs and butter.

Eat Foods Rich in Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Flavonoids - Both groups of nutrients are strongly associated with healthy blood vessels, which are essential to experiencing optimal blood flow to and from your skin cells.

Great Natural Sources of Omega-3's:

- Dark green leafy vegetables

- Walnuts

- Wild salmon

- Sea vegetables

- Freshly ground flax seeds

- Free-range eggs

Great Natural Sources of Flavonoids:

- Acerola cherries

- Citrus fruits

- Kale

- Spinach

- Goji berries

- Kidney beans

- Raw cacao

It's Like...

I’m not sure what it is, but something gave me to urge to write about one of my new friends: butter. You may be wondering why someone who is all about nutrition is advocating butter -- it’s super-fattening and unhealthy right? Think again. For years and years I avoided using butter for that very reason, from opting have olive oil with my bread at restaurants to completely ignoring it when a recipe called for it. It was not until I started my training at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and began noticing that I felt horrible on my vegan diet that I began to appreciate the benefits of butter.

I learned that the reason I might be feeling so terrible is because I was deficient in some essential nutrients, especially vitamin D. Certain vitamins, A,D,E, and K are fat soluble. At the time there was hardly any fat in my diet so I wasn’t absorbing any of these nutrients! A well-known health counselor, Andrea Beaman from the first season of Top Chef suggested having just a little bit of butter with my grains – in my oatmeal, with rice, or sprouted bread. Her reasoning was 1) organic butter from grass-fed cows is rich in vitamin D (what I was missing) and is one of the most easily absorbed source of vitamin A and 2) butter helps lubricate your intestines and make hard-to-digest food more digestible.

After accepting that butter might not be the worst thing I could possibly eat, I began learning more and more about its health benefits. Much of this information came from two speakers at the IIN--Sally Fallon, the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Annemarie Colbin, founder of the Natural Gourmet Institute and author of “The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones”. The Weston A. Price Foundation is a non-profit charity that publicizes the research of Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist in the 1930’s who travelled all over the world to study native diets of supremely healthy people in villages that had not yet been plagued by modern, processed food. He found that in villages in the Swiss Alps the villagers had a significant amount of butter in their diet and even used it in sacred ceremonies in their churches. These people were not fat; they were strong, beautiful, and healthy.

The Foundation notes that between 1920 and 1960 heart disease rose to become the #1 killer in the United States. In that same time period, butter consumption plummeted. Contrary to popular belief, butter contains many nutrients that might even protect against heart disease. Here are a few more reasons to add a little butter here and there:

Thyroid function. Butter is high in vitamin A and iodine, both essential for the thyroid, which the body depends on to regulate its metabolism.

Protection against infections. The fatty acids in butter protect against gastrointestinal infections, especially for children and the elderly. They are also a great immune booster.

Brain & nervous system development. The fat and cholesterol in butter is necessary for brain and nervous system development in children. Human milk is extremely high in saturated fat and cholesterol for this reason. Children brought up on low-fat diets are said to not do as well.

Strong bones. Vitamin A and D in dairy, including butter, is essential for the absorption of calcium into the bones. I'm sure you've heard that having low-fat dairy supposedly helps build strong bones. Remember these vitamins are fat soluble, so when you have something like skim milk, you are not even absorbing the calcium!

Preventing arthritis. Butter has an “anti-stiffness” factor that prevents calcification of the joints (aka degenerative arthritis).

Anti-tumor and anti-aging properties. Saturated fat found in butter has anti-tumor and anti-aging properties. And you thought saturated fat was evil!

To learn more, check out “Why Butter Is Better” on the Weston A. Price Foundation website.

By now most people are aware of the dangers of hydrogenated oils and “trans-fats” and as a result no longer purchase products like margarine. However, I still see other kinds of fake butters out there, made from things like olive oil and soy. They may boast that they contain no trans-fats, but they are still made up of highly processed, rancid vegetable oils. Yes, rancid. They also have colors added to them because margarine and other fake spreads are actually lovely shade of gray. Yum!

So go for the real thing. Raw and cultured butter is the best, but since it can be hard to find, the next best thing is organic. Try very hard to find butter that is made from grass-fed cows. The nutrient levels will be much higher.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what to do with butter, but in any case here’s a recipe that will showcase it nicely:

Butter and Radishes

A couple of bags of radishes

Softened organic butter

Sea salt

Slice off the top of the radishes so that the bottoms are flat. With a small sharp knife, cut a cone-shaped opening in the top of each radish. Fill with softened butter and sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy!

Old Habits Die Hard - Or Do They?

Step One

The driving force behind my passion for health and wellness? My dad. From insisting that we don’t leave the table until the broccoli is gone to encouraging us to get off the couch and go ride our bikes, he was constantly pushing a healthy lifestyle. When my brother and I started rummaging through the cabinets for Chewy Chips Ahoy to cure our snack attack he would say “how about an apple?” Are you kidding Dad? How could an apple compare to those magical, chemical-tasting treats – with an apple you can’t even remove all the chocolate chips and save them for the end (I know, I was a strange kid). Our early evening enjoyment of “Saved by the Bell” was constantly interrupted when the lights of my dad’s car came up the driveway as we frantically trampled from the living room to the kitchen to stash away all our snacky-snacks. As much as I resisted though, it stayed with me. Here I am now, a health counselor. And my dad is the perfect beacon of health, right? Well, let’s just say he doesn’t always “walk the talk”. As I got older I began learning of his little secret habits – daily indulgences while outside of the house, of course. A daily muffin doused in butter – DAILY! Seriously dad? I imagine that started around the time when the word “muffin” automatically meant healthy. Sure, a healthy version of cake. Just as a milkshake can instantly become healthy when it is labeled “smoothie” and a candy bar can become healthy with the label “energy bar”. In fact I believe the “reduced fat blueberry muffin” at Dunkin Donuts is 450 calories while the glazed donut is only 220. Not that I’m suggesting either is a good choice for breakfast, but it’s funny.

Anyway, back to you Dad! When I began my training at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, my dad and I would have mini “coaching” sessions where we would talk about his health goals and what he’s eating, just as I do with any client. Naturally, we started with breakfast. Sure enough, he tells me that each morning he goes to his little coffee shop to read the paper and have a muffin. "Dad you have high cholesterol, why not try making some oatmeal?” I suggested. "There are loads of great toppings you can mix in to make it delicious."

"Ohhh no, I like my routine and I’m not giving it up. I’m just not going to make breakfast at home."

There I was, defeated. A few weeks later I said, "Are you sure you don’t want oatmeal? Come on Dad, oats! You’re Scottish – you people like oats!" Nope. Another couple of weeks went by and while driving in the car I told him how we tend to gravitate towards the foods that our ancestors ate and that I think my heritage has something to do with why I can't possibly go without my steel cut Irish oats in the morning. And he said “You know what, my grandfather in Scotland would always have an oat porridge for breakfast.” Bingo! Thanks Paddy, I think that might have done it. Four months later, Dad has oatmeal at least three times a week and he, and I quote “can’t even LOOK at a muffin anymore.” Fifteen year muffin habit – kicked.

Step Two

Next project? Chewing. Yes, we’re taking baby steps here. You might think it sounds ridiculous but I bet you anything you are terrible at chewing too. Pay attention next time you eat and you’ll see. My idea to push chewing as Phase 2 was after I had to sit alone at lunch last week while my dad walked around the café awkwardly bending and coughing and twisting to move the rice he inhaled out of wherever it was stuck. That was fun.

We all inhale our food. Since when did life become such an emergency? When we don’t take the time to chew our food, we are missing out on so much. For one thing, we aren’t really paying attention to when we’re full. Look around you. Does it look like people know when to stop eating? We inhale our food at our computers, in our cars, in front of the TV, walking down the street, etc.

It is SO important to chew our food, especially grains. Digestion of grains and other carbohydrates begins in the mouth as they are broken down by our saliva. Thorough chewing releases the full nutritional value of the food and makes the nutrients available for maximum absorption. When you properly break down the food in your mouth, you give the poor stomach a break – it doesn’t have to work as hard to digest and assimilate the nutrients into your bloodstream. That means more energy and less digestive distress!

Give it a try: focus on chewing each bite 30 times. I’m not joking. Those who practice Macrobiotics must chew each bite 100 times! By learning to slow down you will begin to notice things, like how the food really tastes, how it smells. Think about where it came from and what type of energy was put into getting it on your plate. You will notice that your body will begin to feel wonderfully light as your digestion becomes more efficient. Not only that, but you will probably eat less. Do you know what happens when you eat less? Yep, you lose weight my friends. When I visited a yoga retreat a few weeks ago, I was required, as was everybody else, to have breakfast in silence. So I got my usual steel cut oats and topped it with some delicious walnuts and raisins and sat alone with my food and a cup of hot tea. With nobody to talk to and no stress of finding somebody to sit with I just sat and slowly chewed and savored every bite of my food. I ate one third of the amount that I normally eat when having my oatmeal in front of my computer every morning! And I stayed full all the way until lunch. So please, chew your food and you’ll be amazed by what happens.

GINGER OATMEAL
With all this talk of oatmeal, I must share with you my favorite breakfast recipe. Do yourself a favor by going with the highest quality stuff – steel cut oats, or Irish oats. The problem for most of us is that it takes much longer to cook than instant oatmeal, but fear not – I have a trick:

1 cup of steel cut Irish oats (like McCann’s)
4 cups of water
¼ cup chopped nuts of your choice (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds)
¼ cup dried fruit of your choice (raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, goji berries)
2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1 tbsp gentle sweetener (maple syrup, raw honey)
1 tbsp dark chocolate chips (if you’re feeling naughty)

Night before: Bring water to a boil, add oats and stir. Turn off the heat and cover. Go to bed.

Next morning: When you get up the oats will have been slowly cooking all night - all you have to do is heat it up and serve! Add a cup of oats to a bowl (or Tupperware to bring to work). Mix in any toppings you desire. My favorite combination is toasted hazelnuts, raisins, grated ginger and maple syrup. On Fridays I treat myself by adding in the dark chocolate – it instantly melts into the hot oatmeal and is to die for. Enjoy!

Serves 3

Apples Everywhere!

Yes, I know, how predictable - writing about apples in the Fall. But, I wanted to share with you some things that I've learned about apples recently that has given me a whole new appreciation for them. Before, I could care less about apples - I prefer berries and tropical fruits like mango (mmmm.....mango). After listening to one of my favorite speakers, John Douillard, speak about the practice of Ayurveda (the "science of life") and the importance of living in harmony with your environment, I finally got it. When was the last time I saw a mango growing in New England? Mangos are great, but there's a reason why apples grow in abundance in the Fall.

All summer, our bodies accumulate heat. That heat, if we don't do anything about it will dry out and cause digestive distress and excess mucus in the winter. Bad news for the upcoming cold and flu season. So how do we make sure we get rid of that excess heat and prevent accumulation of dryness in our bodies? Just look at what nature gives us - apples! Apples help draw out excess heat from the body and cleanse our intestines of built up impurities to prepare us for the long, dry winter. If this isn't reason enough to eat as many apples as possible in the next month, check out the list of other benefits below:

• helps body cool and disperse accumulation of summer's heat
• high fiber - helps to cleanse the intestines of impurities and heat
• cleanses the body of excessive mucus built up
• sweet and astringent taste - assist in improving intestinal ailments that result from excessive heat
• high in vitamin A, C, and calcium
• benefits low blood sugar conditions and emotional depression associated with it
  

Eat them straight up, chopped up in your cereal or yogurt, dipped in almond butter or honey, enjoy cider, or try baking a delicious pie to take advantages of the medicinal amounts of apples our environment has harvested. Once winter hits, you can still eat apples but they are better eaten cooked with cinnamon - we don't want to "cool" the body down in the coldest time of the year do we?

Happy New Year?

It's that time of year when everything starts to rev up again. School has begun, everyone is back to work from vacation, the new season of "The Office" has started - everybody is getting back into a routine. We have grown so accustomed to operating in the school year cycle that for many of us, September feels more like a time for renewal than January. In fact, I learned last week that in France they even have a name for it - la rentree - literally meaning "the return". It's basically a giant back to school for the whole country. Everyone is coming back from their one to two month break (they really know how to live over there don't they?) and are ready to start fresh.

The Jewish celebration of the new year, Rosh Hashanah, also falls in September. It is seen as a time for reflection on mistakes made in the past year and for planning changes for the year ahead. Although many of us don't refer to September as the beginning, we do things that suggest it is really THE new year.

So forget about waiting for January first, what's your New Years Resolution? Maybe it's finally getting back into a workout routine. Remember that place called the gym? Or maybe you need a health coach to help you kick those cravings once and for all (wink wink). Whatever it is now is the time to buckle down and take the steps to make positive changes in your life you have been wanting to make. The bus is leaving, are you on it?