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As we continue to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us are wondering how we can boost our immune systems. You most likely know you should take more vitamin C, but here are some other ways you can give your immunity a powerful boost: Tackle That Stress When we’re stressed, our bodies produce stress […]
As we continue to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us are wondering how we can boost our immune systems. You most likely know you should take more vitamin C, but here are some other ways you can give your immunity a powerful boost:
When we’re stressed, our bodies produce stress hormones like cortisol, which weaken our immune system. This means when we are under chronic stress, our immune system is under constant attack.
It’s important to find healthy ways to tackle stress. Try exercise, meditation, and psychotherapy to help relieve the burden.
When you eat a typical Standard American Diet (SAD), full of refined grains and sugars and unhealthy fats, you change your gut’s microbiome (the beneficial bacteria that). And guess where 80% of your immune system is? In your gut!
Eat a healthy diet of grass-fed meats, dairy, and organic produce to give your body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and to keep your gut microbiome nice and strong.
Exercise is important to keep our hearts, muscles, and bones strong. But in addition, exercise helps us burn through those stress hormones I talked about a little while ago. And, research has found that even a little bit of exercise can have improved microbiome diversity, which leads to a stronger immune system.
You most likely know that when you don’t get enough sleep, you feel cranky and in a fog the next day. But what you may not know is that too little sleep night after night decreases our immune function. Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. Do your best to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, even on weekends. Also, put those electrical devices away at night. The blue light those devices emit interferes with your body’s natural sleep cycle.
These 4 things may seem like common sense, but are you actually doing them? Making some lifestyle changes to ensure you are tackling stress, eating right, exercising, and getting enough sleep will keep your immune system strong so it can keep you healthy.
RESOURCES:
You hear it from everyone: your doctor, your friends and family, and the talking heads on TV, that you should eat right if you want to live a long and healthy life. But with so many differing opinions on what it means to “eat right,” it’s easy to feel confused and overwhelmed. This is where […]
You hear it from everyone: your doctor, your friends and family, and the talking heads on TV, that you should eat right if you want to live a long and healthy life. But with so many differing opinions on what it means to “eat right,” it’s easy to feel confused and overwhelmed.
This is where a registered dietician (RDN) can come in. These professionals work with people to develop a healthy and realistic eating plan that offers long-term benefits. Because let’s be honest – fad diets aren’t healthy and they don’t even really work. You can’t stick to a fad diet.
1. You Have a Chronic Disease Such as Hypertension or Diabetes
It’s important to understand how the foods you eat affect your health outcomes. A registered dietician can develop a meal plan that will help you manage your condition.
2. You Have Had or are Planning to Have Gastric Bypass Surgery
Gastric bypass surgery helps people lose weight because it creates a much smaller stomach that can only handle very small amounts of food. This makes it tricky to ensure you get all of the nutrients you need. An RDN can create an eating plan that packs the most nutrients into the smallest punch.
3. You Often Experience Digestive Issues
Chances are the foods you are eating are not agreeing with you. You need expert guidance from an RDN to make better food choices that don’t upset your condition.
4. You Need to Gain or Lose Weight
There is science behind gaining and losing weight. To do either in a healthy manner requires guidance from a trained RDN.
5. An Aging Parent
When you are caring for an aging parent, it can be difficult to ensure they are getting proper nutrition and proper hydration. You also have to deal with food and drug interactions. An RDN can create a special diet for your aging parent to ensure their health and safety.
For all of these reasons, and more, it’s a great idea to work closely with a registered dietician. If you are interested in having someone help you create an optimal meal plan for you or a loved one, please reach out to me.
RESOURCES:
https://www.eatright.org/food/resources/learn-more-about-rdns/10-reasons-to-visit-an-rdn
https://www.ahealthiermichigan.org/2019/03/11/top-10-reasons-to-consult-with-a-registered-dietitian/
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/8-reasons-to-see-a-dietitian/
Finally, protein is getting its much-deserved attention. For decades, most discussions revolving around macronutrients focused on fat and carbs, namely how much should we be eating of both. But there SHOULD be focus on protein. Protein builds our entire body, from muscles and bones to hormones and other biochemicals. If we don’t get enough protein […]
Finally, protein is getting its much-deserved attention. For decades, most discussions revolving around macronutrients focused on fat and carbs, namely how much should we be eating of both.
But there SHOULD be focus on protein. Protein builds our entire body, from muscles and bones to hormones and other biochemicals. If we don’t get enough protein in our diet every day, our health and well-being are compromised.
Okay, but how can you ensure you are getting enough protein and what if you don’t eat meat at all or are trying to limit meat consumption? Though animal-based protein delivers all of the essential amino acids we need, you can get sufficient protein from plant-based sources.
Here’s how you can get more protein into your diet without eating more meat:
Protein powders can be the perfect way to get some more protein in. There are vegan powders on the market as well as powders made from animal sources (whey). They key is to find a powder that offers around 25 grams of protein per serving, is clean and does not come with added sugars or unnecessary fillers. Read those labels to be certain of what you are getting.
If you try and eat more foods that offer the highest protein grams per bite, you’re going to be eating a lot of the same foods such as a protein powder, eggs, lentils etc. A better approach, and one that will add variety to your meals, is to pair lower protein sources with higher ones.
So this might look like adding a tablespoon of hemp seeds, which contain 4 grams of protein per tablespoon, to your morning smoothie and adding a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds (10 grams) to your salad and have some almond butter on an apple as a snack (another 4 grams per tablespoon). Right there you’ve added 18 grams of protein to your daily intake.
Like a good pasta dish with Bolognese sauce? Whether that sauce was made from beef or lentils, there is one single source of protein right there. But what if you now had chickpea pasta instead of regular pasta? You’ve just added a second source of protein to your meal. And what if you add some tofu to your side salad, you’ve now added another source and really upped your daily intake.
If you use these 3 simple but effective tricks, you can ensure you get enough protein into your diet without having to eat any more meat!
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If you’ve ever tried to lose weight you know it can be challenging! You think you’re doing everything right: You’re cutting calories, upping your water intake, and exercising, yet you’re still not getting any real kind of results. It’s very possible that, though your efforts are commendable, you’re following outdated or just simply wrong advice […]
If you’ve ever tried to lose weight you know it can be challenging! You think you’re doing everything right: You’re cutting calories, upping your water intake, and exercising, yet you’re still not getting any real kind of results.
It’s very possible that, though your efforts are commendable, you’re following outdated or just simply wrong advice and it’s stopping you from finally losing that weight.
Here are 3 things that may be keeping you from losing weight:
A lot of people focus too much on the number on the scale. It doesn’t go down quickly enough for them, and so they quit.
But that number doesn’t tell the full story. If you are exercising, which you should be, then without question you are putting on some muscle. Obviously, if you are actively weight-lifting or resistance training, then you are putting on quite a bit of muscle, though you may not be able to see it yet if you have a layer of fat.
Muscle weighs more than fat. So you may be losing fat but putting on muscle, and so the number on the scale may go up at times. Better to look at your overall body composition and pay attention to how your clothes fit than focusing on the scale.
You may think if you go at it hard 7 days a week at the gym, that you’ll lose weight faster. In theory, this may be true, but in actuality, over-exercising can cause problems and hamper your weight loss efforts.
Studies have shown that excessive exercising is not only unsustainable for the long term, but it can also lead to too much stress on the body as well as impair the production of adrenal hormones that regulate stress response.
Simply put, forcing your body to burn more calories by exercising too much is neither effective nor healthy. It is a better choice to lift weights and do some cardio 3-4 times per week.
You’ve probably heard that protein helps you lose weight because it makes you feel fuller longer. And this is true. It also helps your body build new lean muscle, and that can increase your metabolic rate.
But what you may not know is that if your body does not get enough protein, it will overeat in an effort to get more. This is called the Protein-Leverage Hypothesis (PLH). Studies have found that people subconsciously increase their intake of food in an effort to get more protein BECAUSE the body prioritizes protein over fats and carbohydrates.
So, if you are always feeling hungry, try upping your protein and giving your body what it demands.
While this list of weight loss mistakes isn’t exhaustive, we have found these 3 are the top mistakes people make. If you stop focusing on what the scale says and instead focus on how you look and feel, stop over-exercising, and make sure you get enough protein, you are setting yourself up for weight loss success. And once you taste that first hint of success, it will propel you to the finish line.
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When it comes to macronutrients, carbs and fat tend to get all of the attention. “Do low-fat diets work?” “How many carbs should I eat a day?” Poor protein, which is undoubtedly the MOST important macronutrient, usually gets left out of the conversation. Why is Protein So Important? You’ve probably heard that protein is the […]
When it comes to macronutrients, carbs and fat tend to get all of the attention. “Do low-fat diets work?” “How many carbs should I eat a day?” Poor protein, which is undoubtedly the MOST important macronutrient, usually gets left out of the conversation.
You’ve probably heard that protein is the building block of your entire body. That’s pretty important! Protein is not only responsible for building our muscles, but also all of our connective tissue, or organs, our bones, and even hormones and other important chemicals in the body. Without adequate protein intake, your health and body composition will suffer.
But now for that all-important question: Just how much protein does a person really need to eat each day?
This has been a long debate in the world of nutrition. Most official dietary guidelines endorse a fairly limited. This is common for all nutrients whether it’s protein, vitamin D, or vitamin C, the guidelines are always typically low. This is because the guidelines are to ensure people don’t develop a deficiency. Guidelines have little to do with helping people optimize their health.
For instance, most guidelines recommend 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight or 0.36 grams per pound. This comes out to just 56 grams of protein a day for the average male and just 46 grams a day for females – granted these averages are calculated considering that the average man and women are far more sedentary than active.
Again, these small amounts will help prevent outright deficiency. But many studies have now shown that it’s simply not enough for optimum physical health.
It’s also important to take into consideration lifestyle factors when determining the amount of protein you should eat instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach. For instance, someone who works out 5 days a week with a focus on lifting weights should absolutely eat more protein than someone who is sedentary. People 55 and older should also be eating more protein than, say, someone in their 20s, as older people lose muscle mass each year, which makes them more susceptible to falls.
So, the average male should really be looking to get anywhere from 56-91 grams of protein per day and the average woman should aim for 46-75 grams.
There is a myth that says eating too much protein can cause kidney damage or osteoporosis. However, there is absolutely no clinical or scientific data that backs up these claims. Protein restriction has been found to be helpful for people with pre-existing kidney problems, but it has NEVER been shown to cause kidney damage.
In fact, a high protein diet has been shown to lower blood pressure and help fight type 2 diabetes, two conditions that can lead to kidney disease.
So, in conclusion, seeing as eating adequate protein is critically important for health and there are no negative side effects of eating too much, it’s better to err on the side of caution and eat at the upper end of the adequate protein range.
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There is much controversy surrounding dairy. Most of us grew up drinking gallons of milk throughout our childhoods. It gave us calcium for strong teeth and bones and a lot of protein to help us grow. But then conflicting sentiments throughout the nutrition world caused many adults to give up dairy and seek non-dairy alternatives. […]
There is much controversy surrounding dairy. Most of us grew up drinking gallons of milk throughout our childhoods. It gave us calcium for strong teeth and bones and a lot of protein to help us grow.
But then conflicting sentiments throughout the nutrition world caused many adults to give up dairy and seek non-dairy alternatives. But what is the real truth about dairy? Is it good for us or is it not good for us?
Well, recent research conducted at McMaster University in Canada suggests milk is indeed good for us. The researchers followed over 35,000 people from 21 different countries and found that dairy was associated with a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease. Other studies have found that dairy is beneficial for skeletal health and may lead to fewer bone fractures as a person ages.
The truth is, cow’s milk is packed with nutrients and is an excellent source of protein. Some studies have even linked the consumption of milk intake to a lower risk of obesity in both children and adults.
Now, if you are someone that is lactose intolerant, these studies may not be very compelling for you, as your body simply cannot adequately digest dairy. In this case, you need to find non-dairy alternatives. Finding healthy options was quite difficult in the past but there are a number of healthy options on the market today.
Whether it’s almond milk or cashew milk, this dairy-free milk option is made by grinding nuts into a pulp that is mixed with water. Once the solids are strained off, the liquid that is leftover becomes “nut milk.”
The positives of nut milk are that it’s generally lower in calories than regular full-fat milk and it’s often fortified with vitamin D that is naturally found in cow’s milk. Obviously, if you have a nut allergy then this would not be a good option for you. Some varieties on the market also contain added thickeners such as carrageenan or guar gums, which can be hard to digest for certain individuals. And the flavored varieties often have added sugars. So read those labels!
Soy milk is made by soaking, crushing, cooking, and straining soybeans, leaving behind a high protein liquid. The pros of soy milk are that it is high in protein as well as iron, magnesium, and often fortified with calcium and vitamin D. The cons are that it’s not suitable for those with a soy allergy and often contains thickening agents and added sugars.
If you do have nut or soy allergies, rice milk is a good option. It’s typically used by processing brown rice and is usually fortified with vitamin D and calcium. On the con side is the fact that it’s fairly low in protein and high in carbohydrates.
If you are not lactose intolerant, you may want to just stick with regular milk, as it offers a lot of health benefits. But if you do need a non-dairy alternative, nut milk, soy milk, and rice milk are good options.
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As the events of COVID-19 continue to unfold, many of us are focusing on how we can keep ourselves and our families as healthy as possible. While social distancing and increased hand washing can be very effective at stopping the spreading of the Corona virus, it is equally important to keep our immune systems strong. […]
As the events of COVID-19 continue to unfold, many of us are focusing on how we can keep ourselves and our families as healthy as possible. While social distancing and increased hand washing can be very effective at stopping the spreading of the Corona virus, it is equally important to keep our immune systems strong.
With this in mind, here are some of the absolute best foods you can eat to help support your immune system:
Blueberries are loaded with powerful antioxidants. In fact, they contain a type of flavonoid called anthocyanin, which has antioxidant properties that can boost your immune system. A 2016 study found that flavonoids play an essential role in the respiratory tract’s immune defense system. The researchers found that people who ate foods rich in flavonoids were less likely to get sick with respiratory tract infections and the common cold.
Turmeric is the aromatic spice that makes curry yellow. It is also often used in alternative medicine thanks to its active compound curcumin. Curcumin has been shown to improve a person’s immune response because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Popeye knew that spinach would help him be stronger. But I wonder if he knew how good it was for his immune system. Spinach contains vitamin C & E, as well as beneficial flavonoids and carotenoids. Not only are vitamin C & E great for the immune system, but research shows flavonoids may help prevent common colds in otherwise healthy people. So, it stands to reason it may help protect against other viruses as well.
Most of us, when we feel an illness coming on, reach for more vitamin C-rich foods. But what is it about vitamin C specifically that makes it so good for our immune systems?
Vitamin C is believed to increase the production of white blood cells. These are the cells responsible for attacking foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses.
Some popular citrus fruits high in vitamin C include:
Unlike other animals whose bodies do produce vitamin C, humans must get their vitamin C from the foods they eat or through supplementation. So be sure to add more citrus fruits to your diet.
We can’t talk about vitamin C without mentioning that ounce for ounce, red bell peppers contain even more vitamin C than most citrus fruits. So if you prefer veggies to fruits, then be sure to eat more red bell peppers.
While this is not an exhaustive list of immune-boosting foods, it will get you started eating right so you can stay healthy during this pandemic. It’s also important to stay hydrated and eliminate sugars and trans fats from your diet as well.
SOURCES:
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/foods-that-boost-the-immune-system