Cutting Unnecessary Carbs

Posted on March 11, 2019 | 1 comment

I had lunch with a friend at a casual Mexican place recently. He ordered a burrito without the tortilla (too many carbs), but ate a whole basket of corn chips. Many people make this same choice…cutting out carbohydrates in some way but eating more in another.

To be sure, most of us could easily eat less carbohydrates, but I think we are focusing on the wrong carbohydrate sources. Perhaps we shouldn’t focus on the tortilla as much as the chips that go with it.

I think of this in terms of “necessary” and “unnecessary” carbs. In the example above, the tortilla is a necessary part of the burrito, but the chips are an unnecessary addition. If people are interested in cutting out carbs, skipping the chips make more sense than forgoing the tortilla. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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Exercise and allergies, just in time for the pollen to arrive.

Posted on March 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

Springtime is arriving in our area, which means warmer weather, blooming flowers, green grass, and, for many, seasonal allergies. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you may want to know if it is safe to exercise outdoors. The short answer is yes, provided you take the right precautions. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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If exercise is medicine, why didn’t your doctor give you a prescription?

Posted on February 25, 2019 | 2 comments

What if I told you that there is a prescription your doctor could give you that would prevent and treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes as well as lowering your risk of heart attack, stroke, and most cancers. It can also decrease depression, improve memory and cognitive function better than any other available treatment, and reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. And it can help you maintain a healthy body weight, increase your strength, and help you live longer. You would insist your doctor prescribe this for you, right?

The good news is that this prescription exists. The bad news is your doctor may not tell you much about it. This is because it isn’t a drug or other medical treatment—it’s exercise!

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Diagnosis and treatment of heart disease explained.

Posted on February 18, 2019 | 1 comment

Coronary artery disease or heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis, a process which involves the accumulation of cholesterol plaques in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. These plaques can narrow the blood vessels and reduce blood and oxygen delivery to the heart, leading to symptoms like chest pain (ischemia). The plaques can also rupture and form a blood clot, blocking oxygen delivery and causing a myocardial infarction—a heart attack.

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What you need to know about your heart.

Posted on February 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

February is American Heart Month, with a focus on encouraging all of us to make heart-healthy choices to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. I thought that sharing some information about the heart, how it works, and how to keep it healthy would be an appropriate way to celebrate. This is also the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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It’s not about the diet. What you really need for successful weight loss.

Posted on February 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

If you are starting out 2019 by trying to lose weight, you are probably interested in finding the “best” diet. Unfortunately, there is no best diet for everyone, but there are some characteristics that you should look for in a diet. For example, a weight loss diet should be low (but not too low) in calories, reduce added sugar and excess carbohydrates, restrict portion sizes, emphasize healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, and promote healthy eating habits.

 

Real weight loss success depends on more than selecting the right diet. In fact, as long as your diet is low in calories, you will lose weight. However, this weight loss may be temporary and you, like many others, will gain it back later. There are factors beyond the specific diet you follow that are critical for losing weight and keeping it off. Since successful weight loss requires regular exercise, these same factors apply to exercise behaviors, too.

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Focus on flexibility: why stretching should be part of your workouts.

Posted on January 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

The benefits of regular exercise include increased endurance, strength, and flexibility along with increased energy expenditure for weight loss and weight maintenance. These benefits will vary depending on the type of exercise you perform.

Endurance (aerobic) exercise will improve your cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance. These improvements allow you to exercise at a higher intensity or for a longer duration. Aerobic exercise like walking or jogging is also effective for burning calories.

Resistance training (weight lifting) will improve your muscular strength. The practical benefit is that you will have an easier time completing physical tasks at work or at home, something that is increasingly important as you get older.

Ideally, your exercise program will include a combination of endurance and resistance training. But there is another type of exercise that you should also include—stretching. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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The not-so-sweet truth about sugar and your health.

Posted on January 21, 2019 | 2 comments

You are probably aware that eating too much sugar is bad for your health. Excessive sugar intake causes hormonal changes and inflammation that can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. For decades an emphasis was placed on lowering fat intake, especially saturated fat and cholesterol, to reduce the risk of obesity and heart disease.

Unfortunately, much of this advice was misguided and while fat intake went down, sugar consumption in processed and prepared food increased. This is now seen as a primary cause of the current obesity and diabetes epidemic. The impact of sugar on health and steps you can take to reduce sugar intake are the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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Lose big by not winning! Why weight loss competitions probably won’t help you lose weight and what to do instead.

Posted on January 14, 2019 | Leave a comment

There are numerous community and workplace weight loss competitions and fitness challenges underway in our area right now. These programs are a popular way to start making health improvements with friends or coworkers. Many people find the competition aspect of these programs to be motivating. Even those who are reluctant to start a diet or exercise program are more likely to give it a try. But this raises the question, are “biggest loser” type weight loss programs effective at promoting lasting weight loss? This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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Get out of debt—health debt—in 2019.

Posted on January 7, 2019 | 1 comment

Getting out of debt is a worthwhile goal and a common New Year’s resolution. This almost always means financial debt, which is a burden for millions of Americans. Many individuals and families have gotten themselves into debt by spending too much and not saving enough. For most, this situation has been years in the making, has no simple solution, and will have an impact lasting years into the future. Reducing this debt is essential for achieving financial health.

This is not the only type of debt we face—many people are also in health debt. Poor eating habits and increasingly sedentary lifestyles have led to an obesity epidemic. The problem is widespread, since most Americans are overweight, fewer than half of US adults meet minimum recommendations for physical activity, and about one in six adults smoke. Alone and especially in combination, these poor health habits are the major causes of the most common, and preventable, diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

Even if we have not been diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease or other health problems, our lifestyle has put us on that path. Small changes in what we eat or how active we are have added up over the years to create a condition of poor health. And our overall health and potential complications get worse year after year, so the longer we are overweight and inactive, the worse our health is likely to be in the future. That is our health debt. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

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