Archive for Patient Education
Weight Loss and Stress Management
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Stress can have adverse effects on all areas of our health, especially our body weight. Many people indulge in sugary or fatty comfort foods when they are under stress, significantly raising their calorie intakes and cholesterol levels. Stress also increases the body’s production of the hormone cortisol, which can lead to the buildup of fat around the abdomen.
In today’s hectic world, stress can become a chronic condition. Long term stress not only makes it difficult to calm down, but it also hinders our memory and concentration while we work. It is important to find ways for our bodies and minds to cope with stress, for the sake of our health and overall quality of life. If you feel overwhelmed by the demands of daily life, consider some of these suggestions:
- Exercise the negativity away. Regular physical activity decreases the amount of cortisol in your body while raising your level of endorphins—chemicals that create a feeling of relief and relaxation. Not only does working out diminish existing tension, it can also reduce your body’s physiological reactions to future stress.
- Express your anxiety, frustration or aggravation in a journal. Putting your thoughts down on paper can help you release the emotional weight caused by life’s stressful situations. Journaling also allows you to organize your thoughts and possibly find solutions to your problems.
- Try breathing exercises. For a few minutes, inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, hold it for a couple of seconds, and then exhale slowly through your mouth. This is a simple technique that can be done almost anywhere.
- If you find breathing exercises to be helpful, you may want to look into meditation. You can teach yourself to meditate through any number of resources or you can take part in a yoga or meditation class. Though you may feel only minimal results at first, you could start to experience significant benefits in just a few sessions.
- Find healthy hobbies that help you relax and distract you from the daily grind. These can be as simple as reading, gardening, cycling, listening to music or any number of activities you enjoy. Taking part in these pastimes may not make your problems go away, but it will alleviate some of the physical and mental pressure they cause.
Wellness flows: Losing weight, adding water
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At the start of new exercise or diet routines, the standard suggestion advocates drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. How much water you actually need depends on your weight, level of activity, the temperature and humidity of your environment, and your nutritional intake. Diet makes a difference because if you eat plenty of water-dense foods like fruits and vegetables your need to drink water will be diminished.
The health site Calories Per Hour offers some specific advantages to getting adequate water intake while trying to lose weight:
- Initial weight loss is largely due to loss of water, and you need to drink an adequate amount of water in order to avoid dehydration.
The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently; dehydration slows down the fat-burning process. - Burning calories creates toxins (think of the exhaust coming out of your car), and water plays a vital role in flushing them out of your body.
- Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume; a reduction in blood volume causes a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles; and a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles can make you feel tired.
For more on hydration and weight loss and for the full list of advantages, read “Why Drinking Water is Important for Weight Loss” at www.caloriesperhour.com.
Water a crucial element in healthy lifestyle
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Water is such a simple and basic part of life that we might take for granted just how important it is to our health and wellness. Fact is, to get healthy and stay healthy, maintaining proper hydration is crucial.
To understand how important water is to wellness and weight loss, it helps to understand the building blocks of the human body. The body is composed of 60 percent fluids of your total body weight and 70 percent of your muscles. The fluids are comprised of water and other bodily fluids, such as lymph and synovial fluids. During the course of our daily activities, the body constantly loses fluids in perspiration and through urinating. How much of these fluids are lost will depend on our activities and the temperatures that are prevailing at the time.
If you are in weight-loss journey, it is important to note that during the summer months especially, we tend to be more active in the heat with sports, gardening and vacationing. Increased activity plus the higher temperatures will cause us to sweat more. Sweat will evaporate on the skin helping your body to cool down. This happens during the cooler months, but during the summer months that the body is at greater risk for it to become dehydrated.
The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Karla Campbell, RD, presents “Hydration: How Much is Enough?” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 1 at our Newport Beach location.
Creative picnics bring healthy fare
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Summer months will soon bring the allure of holiday picnics and outdoor-recreational dinning. Picnic food need not be synonymous with unhealthy food and the nutrition experts at the N.E.W. Program are ready to show you how a little time in the supermarket will help you make the most of your outdoor dinning experiences.
Pick these picnic entrées
- Turkey or chicken breast sandwiches with low-fat cheese, sandwich pickles, tomatoes, and spinach leaves.
- Hummus stuffed into whole wheat pita bread with bean sprouts, diced tomatoes, and sliced grapes.
- A green salad topped with grilled chicken. Pack the dressing separately.
- Whole wheat wraps with smoked salmon, capers, tomato, avocado, hummus, spinach, and shredded carrots.
- Cumin, black bean, and corn salad. Rinse and drain a can of black beans and a can of sweet corn. Mix with a drizzle of olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of cumin.
- Ricotta, spinach, and Parmesan whole wheat wrap. Place 2 cups loosely packed raw spinach leaves in food processor and grind. Mix in 1/2 cup fat-free ricotta and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, and wrap in a whole wheat burrito.
- Mediterranean tomato salad in whole wheat pita. Dice fresh tomato and cucumber, mix with a thinly sliced red onion and black olives, drizzle with a little olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper and stuff into a pita pocket.
The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Karla Campbell, RD, presents “A Trip Through the Supermarket: Options for the Holiday Picnics.” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 81 at our Newport Beach location.
Set specific goals for summer fitness routine
Posted by: | CommentsSummer is right around the corner and after weeks of cold or wet weather, it’s time to focus some attention to outdoor activities to bolster or kick-start weight loss. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends setting goals for exercise that correspond to your needs and fitness level.
The U.S. Surgeon General has determined that lack of physical activity is detrimental to health and recommends moderate activity: 150 calories per day or 1000 calories per week. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests all adults engage in 30 minutes or more of moderately intense physical activity daily.
The following list includes reasons to exercise and because of their diversity, there’s something for all fitness levels: Optimal physical health, fat loss, cardiovascular fitness, and sports performance.
The multi-disciplinarian approach at the N.E.W. Program includes exercise and fitness professionals such as popular Orange County trainer Nick Moran. Moran has over 25 years of training experience, and has been a professional athlete in two sports. He has six years experience at the NHL (National Hockey League) level as a player, coach, personal trainer, and member of the selection committee for men’s and women’s Junior Olympic teams and is currently a professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter.
The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Nick Moran, presents “Fitness by Nick – Setting Summer Goals, Choosing Your Exercises.” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 11 at our Newport Beach location.
Green tea, salmon a winning combination
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This Green Tea Poached Salmon dish contains ingredients that are good for both your health and waistline; they are delicious as well. Salmon is one of the best food sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are best known for their role in heart health. You might not know, however, that omega-3 fatty acids may also play a role in slowing the aging process and keeping your brain function from declining as you get older.
Green tea is high in antioxidants and may play a role in weight control. For a balanced meal, serve the salmon with a mixed green salad.
Check out the next blog entry for a Green Tea Poached Salmon recipe.
Fueling the furnace helps maintain weight loss
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Whether weight loss comes from medical intervention, surgical assistance or dietary restrictions, maintaining that loss is dependant on the balance between the amount of calories consumed verses the amount of calories expended – also known as metabolism.
The N.E.W. Program focuses on “Nutrition-Exercise-Weight loss” and their expert staff can help you design a comprehensive strategy that is best for you.
For a discussion on metabolism, see Raise Your Metabolism and Burn More Calories at www.caloriesperhour.com. It includes tips and suggestions on maintaining a healthy metabolism.
Metabolism an individual factor in wellness journey
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Weight loss/gain, exercise and our individual metabolism rates can sometimes seem like a confusing Rubik’s Cube as we seek our paths to wellness. No one ‘answer’ exists, but understanding the factors involved in weight maintenance and metabolism will serve as a road map to your golden treasure chest.
Dr. Justin Braverman
The Mayo Clinic’s online health site explains that metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. During this complex biochemical process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function. Even when you’re at rest, your body needs energy for all its “hidden” functions, such as breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells.
The number of calories your body uses to carry out these basic functions is known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR) — what you might call metabolism. Several factors determine your individual basal metabolic rate:
- Your body size and composition. The bodies of people who are larger or have more muscle burn up more calories, even at rest.
- Your sex. Men usually have less body fat and more muscle than do women of the same age and weight, burning more calories.
- Your age. As you get older, the amount of muscle tends to decrease and fat accounts for more of your weight, slowing down calorie burning.
Energy needs for your body’s basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren’t easily changed. Your basal metabolic rate accounts for about 60 to 75 percent of the calories you burn every day.
Most experts agree that weight training and aerobic exercise will increase metabolism both while you are exercising and after your exercise activity is done. They disagree, however, on how long after exercise your metabolism remains increased.
When you are exercising aerobically, your focus should be on burning calories and working your cardiovascular system. Because it takes more calories to exercise, your metabolism is sped up during the activity. When you are lifting weights or doing other resistance work, focus on the activity itself which not only burns calories but increases muscle strength, tone and endurance.
The combination of aerobic activity and weight training will result in a body that has more muscle and less fat – so the end result will be a higher metabolism.
The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Dr. Justin Braverman, presents “Exercise, Metabolism and Prevention of Weight Gain.” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 4 at our Newport Beach location.
Controlling stress a factor in controlling weight
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The journey to wellness involves the mind, body and soul. While the previous statement sounds cliché, it reveals the hard truth that many factors – other than food and exercise – can play prominent roles in our health and wellness. External stress can trigger a series of events that may come back to haunt you on the scale.
Stress contributes to weight gain in several ways. Cortisol is a stress hormone. When we’re under stress, the fight or flight response is triggered in our bodies, leading to the release of various hormones. Whether we’re stressed because of constant demands at work or we’re really in danger, our bodies respond like we’re about to be harmed and need to fight for our lives. To answer this need, we experience a burst of energy, shifts in metabolism and blood flow, and other changes.
A recent study done at the University of Rochester looked at workplace stress levels and how they can have an effect on weight. For complete article, visit the Pittsburg Post Gazette.
The N.E.W. Program’s Lifestyle Management Program is designed to provide the coaching and insight needed to make the key changes needed to succeed. The N.E.W. Program offers dedicated assistance with lifestyle modification and many other programs such as structured support groups, exercise groups, and private consultations with a dietitian and physicians, all at the center, on a daily basis.
‘Tune-Up’ can put weight loss back on all cylinders
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Successful weight loss clients, whether they use surgery for leverage or not, identify new habits and a new lifestyle that results in a healthier stable weight and a better ability to live the life that they’ve wanted. Of course, finding the habits that work requires some up-front practice. Even though everyone enjoys healthier living, staying healthy requires maintenance.
Dr. Justin Braverman
Sometimes a person will be doing well and then either hit a plateau or, for some reason, begin to regain weight. If this has happened to you, it’s important to recognize it and then get back on track. The need to get back on track is something everyone experiences now and then in life and to make the process easier we have developed a simple program to assist our clients. The N.E.W. Tune-Up Program is designed specifically to help you get back on track quickly and to regain your success.
This program is short and focused. It is not for people that need to establish a completely new lifestyle from scratch, but instead it helps people who already know what lifestyle they want get back there quickly. The program focuses on maximizing weight loss, permanently.
Through The N.E.W. Tune-Up Program we will help you reset your goals and re-establish the lifestyle patterns you need to maintain permanent success.
The Tune-Up Program is a structured eight-week nutrition and exercise coaching program. It includes an initial comprehensive primary client assessment that consists of an executive medical evaluation, an evaluation of eating patterns and baseline activity level, and a comprehensive nutritional assessment.
It begins with a one-week metabolic re-adjustment followed by a structured nutritional progression over the next three weeks. The meal replacements used for the nutritional progression, the vitamins and all nutritional supplements needed to complete the entire program are included. Regularly scheduled nutrition re-assessment and dietary coaching will help clients develop the eating patterns and choices necessary for weight loss success.
Weekly Lifestyle Management workshops, exercise group meetings, and support group sessions are also provided to help clients develop the necessary tools to maintain permanent weight control. Finally, at the end of the eight-week program a thorough medical re-assessment will be completed.
If you have hit a plateau, or even regained some weight, remember that this happens to almost everyone in our society now and then. Realize that the important thing is to not be too hard on yourself, and consider using our Tune-Up Program to help you get back on track. The first step towards better health and a return to a healthier lifestyle is to recognize that it is something you want. Once you know this, give us a call, we’ll be glad to help.
