Food & You: The Body-Mind Connection

There's no doubt about it: what we eat, and how much we eat, has a direct impact on our physical health. But did you know that those same choices also influence mood, mental alertness, memory, and emotional wellbeing? Food can act as medicine, have a neutral effect, or it can be a poison to the body and mind.

When food acts as poison, it creates inflammation, which alters the body's balance of nutrients, hormones, and neurotransmitters. This directly affects your body's ability to manage and heal from stress or illness.

While some body-mind effects are due to naturally occurring nutrient content in food, much is due to hidden additives. Below, are four common culprits. If you're experiencing symptoms that interfere with your quality of living, talk with Dr. Bossio about the role these or other foods may play in your health.

Foods that Impact Body-Mind Wellbeing

Caffeine: The most socially accepted psychoactive substance in the world, caffeine is used to boost alertness, enhance performance, and even treat apnea in premature infants. Caffeine is frequently added to other foods, so be mindful of total consumption. Too much caffeine (500-600 mg daily) interferes with sleep quality, which affects energy, concentration, and memory. Caffeine can aggravate other health conditions, cause digestive disturbances, and worsen menstrual symptoms and anxiety.

Food Dye: Those brightly colored, processed and packaged foods come with a rainbow of health risks. Listed on ingredient labels as "Blue 2," or "Citrus Red," food dye has been documented to contain cancer-causing agents (e.g., benzidine). They're also associated with allergic reactions and hyperactivity in children. Dyes are sometimes used to enhance skin color of fruits and veggies. A number of dyes have been banned from use in foods and cosmetics around the world.

Sugars: Increased sugar consumption (as much as 30% over the last three decades for American adults), is linked to decreased intake of essential nutrients and associated with obesity, diabetes, inflammatory disease, joint pain and even schizophrenia. Too much dietary sugar can result in blood sugar fluctuations, causing mood swings, anxiety, irritability, headaches, and increased depression. Sugars that can act as poison include High Fructose Corn Syrup, table sugar, artificial and "natural" sweeteners.

MSG: Monosodium glutamate is a flavor enhancer common in packaged and prepared foods. Although the FDA considers MSG "generally safe," some individuals experience a complex of physical and mental symptoms after eating MSG-containing foods. Symptoms vary but can include headache, sweating, nausea, chest pain, heart palpitations, and overstimulation of the central nervous system which can lead to alterations in sleep, mood, and immunity.

Becoming aware of your food choices, why you make them, and how you feel mentally and physically is an important first step in understanding your personal body-mind food connection. It may be helpful to keep a mind-body food journal to provide a clear picture of how your food choices affect your health.

References

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Eating Well for Super Immunity in the Winter Months

A healthy immune system is vital for helping your body deal with infections caused by viruses, bacteria, fungus, and environmental toxins. As the winter months approach, it becomes even more important to support your immune system by consistently eating a balanced diet, exercising, and making healthy lifestyle choices. But the real fuel for a strong immune system is using food as medicine.

Super Soup
An immunity-boosting diet includes light, easily digestible meals throughout the day, especially soup. A myriad of health benefits and flavors are derived from the herbs, vegetables, and broth. Soups also can help curtail the onset or ease the symptoms of colds and flu. Look for soups that include immunity-enhancing ingredients such as ginger, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and a variety of veggies and herbs in a broth-base. As always, food made from scratch is best!

Super-Immunity Diet Guidelines

• Include healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil.
• When it comes to seasoning your foods, incorporate a variety of herbs and spices for flavor.
• For veggies, choose steamed broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, leafy greens, and sweet potatoes.
• Fermented foods such as miso and yogurt help promote healthy intestinal flora and combat harmful bacteria in the GI tract.
• Limit red meat; instead, eat moderate amounts of fish and poultry.
• It's also smart to limit sugar in your diet. Studies have shown excessive sugar intake can interfere with optimal immune system function.
• As far as beverages, the constituents in green tea have been shown to be both anti-inflammatory and immune enhancing.

Cheers to your good health this winter!

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References

The Healthies Kids on the Block

Raising healthy kids sounds pretty simple: Provide good nutrition and 60 minutes of daily physical activity. Do that, and you'll reduce your child's risk for obesity, diabetes, and other chronic disease. But you're up against a host of unhealthy temptations including advertising, peer pressure, and an abundance of junk food in shiny packaging.

The first and most important step you have to take for your child's health is modeling healthy habits in front of them. Make a healthy lifestyle a family affair. Keep things simple. And don't give up when kids get picky. The tips and resources provided below will keep you on track.

Keep Kids in Motion. Once kids return to school, they are sedentary for the better part of the day. Outside of school, make sure your kids have opportunities to stretch, strengthen, and build endurance for 60 minutes daily. Make time for creative play at the park where children can engage all the major muscle groups. Provide opportunities for trying new sports or creative movement classes. Get the whole family involved with obstacle courses, biking, or hiking. When the weather outside is frightful, visit an indoor pool, playscape, climbing gym, or bounce-house facility.

Limit Screen Time. With more schools incorporating digital devices into curricula, it's important to monitor your child's free time on the screen. For younger children, set a daily limit of 30 minutes, and for older children, set a limit of 60 minutes for all media--TV, movies, and games.  Consider having a "digital-free zone" in your home: one room designated just for reading, games, and music sans the headphones. Also, make one day a week (e.g., Sunday) a "device-free day" for all family members. Play games or get physically active, together.

A Balanced Diet, Not a Food Fight. No matter their age, kids can be picky eaters. Offer your child choices at meals that are acceptable to you, health promoting, and palatable. Model the healthy eating habits you want your child to have whether they are at home or out with friends.  When it comes to getting kids to try new foods, get creative: Blend veggies into homemade smoothies. Serve raw veggies with hummus. Make zucchini-based brownies. Add fresh berries and dark chocolate nibs to a small serving of frozen yogurt. For the youngest kids, try renaming foods--steamed broccoli with cheese becomes "Hot-lava-covered trees." Kids' palates change as they age; what they like/don't like at age 3 is likely to be different at 13 and even 23!  Introduce and reintroduce healthy selections at all meal and snack times. And don't fight about food...that only creates a lousy mood for everyone at mealtimes. Sometimes, it really is okay to skip the asparagus and still have dessert.

Tame the Sweet Tooth. Sugar intake for children is recommended to 3-4 teaspoons a day. Cutting back on soda, candy, and cookies is only the first step. Read labels to identify added sugar that can be hidden in foods including bread, condiments such as ketchup, and canned and frozen foods. Make your own frozen treats from fresh fruit, and cut down on packaged foods.

Sleep Well. During sleep, children's bodies generate hormones important to healthy growth and development. A good night of rest allows children to wake energized for the following day. Research has shown that sleep plays a role in maintaining a healthy weight and promoting a positive mood. Try to keep kids to a daily sleep-wake routine, especially during the school week.

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References

Stop Metabolic Syndrome Before it Starts

Metabolic syndrome is killing America. This group of risk factors - which includes a large waistline or "apple shape," a high triglyceride level, a low HDL "good" cholesterol level, high blood pressure and high fasting blood sugar - can raise your risk of stroke, double your risk of heart disease and multiply your risk of diabetes by five.

You must exhibit at least three of these risk factors to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. Although the risk of developing metabolic syndrome is closely linked to obesity, a lack of physical activity at any body size, as well as insulin resistance, genetics and aging may also increase your risk for metabolic syndrome. As a general rule, everyone should pay attention to metabolic health. Luckily, committing to a healthy lifestyle can help you prevent metabolic syndrome and its related disease states.

Here are 5 areas to be mindful of:

1. Maintain a balanced diet of whole foods. Limit unhealthy foods. Instead, reach for fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and the Mediterranean diet are centered on real, whole foods and provide excellent guidelines for eating for your health, metabolic and otherwise.

2. Get up and move! Moderate exercise - such as taking a brisk walk - for 30 minutes each day will drastically improve your body's defenses against developing metabolic syndrome and a host of other ailments.

3. Reduce your sugar intake. Honey was the primary sweetener until the Middle Ages when sugar was introduced. Still, due to primitive production techniques, both sweeteners were primarily reserved for the well-to-do. In fact, up until the last few hundred years, the majority of people, especially the poor, had no sweeteners at all in their normal diet, so obesity was seen primarily among the wealthy. Observational data and international research suggest a strong link between sugar-laden diets and metabolic syndrome, obesity, hypertension and diabetes. One of the easiest ways to reduce your sugar intake is to ditch soft-drinks and other sugary drinks, including processed juices. You can also cut out candy and cut back on how often you enjoy a sugary dessert. Missing the sweet in your life? Enjoy a piece of fruit, or opt for a small amount of raw honey as a sweetener. Another suggestion? Substitute stevia for sugar as your daily sweetener.

4. Keep stress to a minimum. Research now shows that chronic high stress levels can significantly increase the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and obesity. In fact, it is reported that three-quarters of American health care spending goes toward treating such chronic conditions. To help cut back on your stress, consider setting limits for yourself, learn to say "no" without feeling guilty, meditate, give yoga a try or set aside time everyday to read a good book. Whatever it is that calms your nerves and allows you to recharge, do that!

5. Maintain a healthy weight for your body. If you are overweight or obese, implementing and sticking with the lifestyle changes listed above will naturally help you shed pounds. Losing weight can help reduce insulin resistance, blood pressure and your risk of diabetes. Find a body composition scale in your area to get a better idea of what your body's ideal weight is.

No matter your size, shape or current state of health, it is a good idea to consult Dr. Bossio to determine if you are at risk for, or living with, metabolic syndrome. For more information, visit the resources below.

Resources

What is Metabolic Syndrome? National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Blood Sugar Basics. BloodSugarBasics.com

Metabolic syndrome. Mayo Clinic.

Stressful Life Events and the Metabolic Syndrome: The Prevalence, Prediction and Prevention of Diabetes (PPP)-Botnia Study. American Diabetes Association.

Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Huffington, Arianna. 2014. New York, NY: Harmony Books. Thrive.

Mediterranean Diet. Wikipedia.

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