November is American Diabetes Month

November is American Diabetes Month.  According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report there are nearly 30 million Americans living with diabetes. There were 1.7 million new cases in 2012 and 25% of Americans over 65 have diabetes. This disease does not discriminate; young and old, male and female, and people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are affected by diabetes.  Most of us have a family member, friend or co-worker who is living with diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association is busting some common myths about diabetes and lifestyle management for people living with diabetes.

Myth: Diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar.
Fact: Type 1 diabetes is caused by genetics and unknown factors and type 2 diabetes is caused by lifestyle choices and genetics.

Myth: Diabetes is not a serious disease.
Fact: Diabetes is a growing epidemic that takes a physical, emotional and financial toll.

Myth: You have to lose a lot of weight for diabetes to improve.
Fact: Losing 7% of your body weight can offer significant health benefits.

Myth: People who use insulin are unsafe drivers.
Fact: Most people who use insulin can operate motor vehicles safely.

Myth: Healthy foods won't raise my blood glucose.
Fact: Eating too much of any food, even a healthy food like fruit, can lead to high blood glucose.

Myth: People with diabetes can't get tattoos.
Fact: It is considered safe as long as diabetes is well controlled.

Myth: People with diabetes are more likely to get colds and other illnesses.
Fact: People with diabetes are not more likely to get ill however the illness can make blood glucose difficult to control.

Myth: It's possible to have just "a little" diabetes.
Fact: Everyone who has diabetes runs the risk of serious complications.

Myth: People with diabetes can feel when their blood glucose level goes too low.
Fact: Not always, some people can't feel symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Myth: People with diabetes cannot eat sweets or chocolate.
Fact: If eaten in the correct portions as part of a healthy meal plan, or combined with exercise, sweets and desserts can be eaten by people with diabetes.

For more information on diabetes and lifestyle management visit the American Diabetes Association at diabetes.org.

-Julie

fatty mc faterson.

I remember when i was little snackwells was a huge thing. they were the no-fat or low-fat snack. it's funny, the different trends that surface and resurface in nutrition... back then, fat was the enemy. fast forward 15-20 years and i think peoples relationship with fat has come a long way, but there's definitely still some room to grow.

So probably by now you're used to me telling you how each of the things i've chosen to write about are things our bodies really, truly need. fat is no different. Dietary fat is essential for the digestion, absorption, and transport of the fat-soluble vitamins and phytochemicals such as carotenoids and lycopenes. It depresses gastric secretions, slows gastric emptying and facilitates digestion. basically all that boils down to… you need it. (Side Note: your fat-soluble vitamins are A, E, D and K)

Another topic related to fat that might have heard of are fatty acids. Again, the name refers to its chemical structure… which isn't really that important for you to know. what you do need to know is that they are important sources of fuel because when the body metabolizes them they yield large quantities of ATP (ATP=the energy your cells need to do anything). 

So lets talk about the different kinds of fat. the not so nice fats are your saturated and trans fats. saturated fats come mainly from animal food sources. this is your cheese, fat on a steak, full fat dairy products (think solid at room temperature). These fats can raise your LDL in your cholesterol, which is bad. There's also a potential that they can aid in developing type 2 diabetes. trans fats are mostly synthetically made through food processing. When looking at the ingredients list you'll see things like "partially hydrogenated palm oil". These fats can also increase your LDL (bad cholesterol) and decrease your HDL (good cholesterol). 

Now for the good stuff. monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). Studies show that a diet rich in MUFAs and PUFAs can improve your blood cholesterol and fight against heart disease and may even aid in preventing type 2 diabetes. foods made up of these fats are liquid at room temperature, such as olive oil. you'll also find them in things like avocado, nuts, and even some fish and poultry. 

as you can see, there's some really good choices when it comes to putting fat in your diet. fat should be 20-35% of your diet every day. i'll say that again in case you didn't get it the first time… fat should be 20-35% of your diet every day. So while i'm all for egg white omelets and no dressing on salads, and all that good stuff… but maybe, just maybe, we are depriving ourselves of something our bodies really need in our strive to be healthy. 

I'm definitely not saying to go crazy in this category. but i am saying maybe it's okay to add a full egg to your omelet. maybe it's okay to make your own salad dressing with some olive oil, and it's definitely okay to add avocado to anything and everything. when it comes to dairy, stick to the low-fat options. You could go no fat too… i just think the low fat stuff tastes better. if you guys haven't figured it out yet i'm trying to teach you that it's all about balance. there's no tricks or gimmicks to being healthy. depriving yourself and not giving any wiggle room in your diet…. in my experience those are the types of things that cause us to give up on being healthy. i find that with my diet when i restrict something… it's the very thing i later end up binging on. And if you think your diet is really healthy and you workout all the time and don't see any results… maybe it's time to start digging a little deeper into what you eat. 

on the flip side, there are some of us that have no problem indulging in dietary fat… aka fast food, ice cream, etc. word of caution my friends… you could be setting yourself up for some serious health issues. do i love in-n-out? heck yes i do. Do i eat it every week?… sadly, no. i let myself indulge, but in my day-to-day diet i really try to be aware of what i'm putting in my body. and that's really the bottom line here… balance. hopefully i've given you some food for thought here. questions? you know the drill, email me, message me, text me, call me, we'll chat. 

Leslie

Carbs… dun, dun, dunnnnnnn.

Back from vacation and it's taken me a little bit to get back in the swing of things. Seriously, how do pregnant people work full time?! Finally arrived to my second trimester, feeling good and looking forward to the increased energy everyone keeps promising I'll get.

Anyways, to continue in my basics series I thought I'd address carbs. I had a professor that wouldn't let us call them carbs in her class because of the negative association that dirty little word had. We were instructed to call them by their full name, carbohydrates. I'm going to rebel this entire blog post and use carbs. So what's the big deal about these guys? Seems like these days everyone's avoiding them. Low carb this, no grain this… I kinda feel bad for the little guys.

So what are carbs? Get ready for the boring science part…. Carbs are manufactured by plants and are a major source of energy. In nutrition they're categorized as monosaccharides, disaccharides and oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. So what does that mean? Well… a lot of it is structural chiral carbon stuff… which I don't even like thinking about because it just brings back nightmares from organic chemistry. Personally, I don't think this part is really important for your every day person just trying to eat a healthy diet… but it is important to know the terms and know that those things are carbs. Basically monosaccharides are single chains that are the building blocks for the other categories. The monosaccharides you're probably most familiar with are glucose, galactose, and fructose. When these guys combine in different ratios and patterns that's how you get your more complicated saccharides.

Sorry if that put you to sleep… I may have dozed off once or twice myself there. Back to the stuff that hopefully actually interests you. Why are carbs important?  There's a specific type of monosaccharide that has a long, scientificy (yeah, totally just made that word up) name… for the sake of making this easy we are gonna refer to it as it's street name, blood sugar. Our brains depend on a regular, predictable supply of blood sugar… in fact, it's the only thing that feeds our brain because it's the only thing that can get past this blood brain mechanism our bodies have. So basically what I'm saying is… if you don't eat carbs your brain won't get fed and will have problems functioning correctly. Now, our bodies do have mechanisms to oxidize fat and make these things called ketones that our brains can use when we are in a pinch… but it's not something you want to do to it on a regular basis. Trust me, just eat your steady supply of carbs.

So why don't people like carbs? Why are they avoided like the plague? Well… I think it's because people don't know how to use carbs the right way. There's two types: simple carbs, and complex carbs. Hopefully you're somewhat familiar with that. Your simple carbs are your refined sugars, white breads, white pastas, everything that tastes good pretty much. Complex carbs are your veggies, whole grains, etc.  Simple carbs take little digestion. They enter the blood stream quickly and cause your blood sugar to spike high and then drop. Complex carbs take a little more digestion and absorption. When they hit your blood stream they don't cause the rise and fall the the simple carbs cause. One of the keys to weight loss and maintaining healthy weight? Healthy blood sugar. You want that sweet spot, the not too much of a rise or fall with your blood sugar. This is part of why eating often is important. Your body and your brain will thank you and function better.

When a dietitian gives you a meal plan, chances are you'll see 40-50% carbs. That does NOT mean you get to go eat a whole bunch of simple carbs and live it up. You'll feel gross and probably see an increase in weight gain (which is why people really have an issue with carbs). However, if you make most of those carbs complex carbs like veggies and whole grains you will notice yourself being fuller longer, less cranky, and honestly probably pooping better (surprisingly pooping hasn't come up much in my blog yet… but it is a staple in my conversations. Healthy input means healthy pooping). All that can equal weight loss too, added bonus.

Lets talk about one thing real quick. Fruits. Okay, some people put these in the world of simple carbs and need to be avoided. Me? I think that's a little harsh. I mean fine, take away my cake and ice cream… but a banana? Get real. Fruit has natural sugars and a lot of other added bonuses like antioxidants. I don't think they need to be avoided… unless you're in some kind of super strict body building champion competition and know what you're doing. But for every day life, I'd say you can eat fruit with no worries. If you have Diabetes, it's a little different, we can chat about that outside of the blog. Other than that eat your fruit and your veggies and your carbs!

Send me your questions. I know this stuff is a little complicated and I know I didn't address everything I could have, but I don't want this thing to get too long and boring. I promise after this basics series we will move on to some more fun topics.

Thanks for reading,

Leslie