Health Tips: Your Mood on Food

When you eat may have a great effect on your weight and mood. Here are the rules for timing your meals.

1)     Always eat breakfast. Your blood sugar should go down at night from fasting during the sleeping hours and you should want to eat in the morning. If you cannot face bacon and eggs, try plain organic yogurt with fruit and nuts. If you like your yogurt sweet, add plain or flavored Stevia. Stevia is a South American herb that tastes sweet but is not sugar and has no calories. Look for flavors like chocolate, orange, hazelnut and vanilla cream. A shake made with Whey or rice protein or a nutritious shake powder is another alternative. Eggs are better than oatmeal for stabilizing blood sugar and carrying you through to lunch. Any healthy food you enjoy can be eaten at breakfast. Try smoked salmon or lox straight or chopped in scrambled eggs, for a change. Smoked salmon can be enjoyed carb-free, with fresh lemon juice sprinkled on, and capers on the side. Nut butters spread on celery or apples are another carb-free choice.

2)     Skip bread for lunch. The all-American sandwich is making almost all Americans obese, it seems. Bread at lunch can also give you a blood sugar crash at 3-4 p.m. that will leave you sleepy and lethargic and have reaching for coffee and carbohydrate-loaded snacks. Try lettuce wraps for sandwiches, switch to gluten-free bread if you are not over weight and get at least moderate exercise. Eat salad and a protein source to lose weight, and feel bright all afternoon. Dress the salad with an olive oil dressing, mixed with lemon juice or vinegar and flavored with herbs of choice. Most bottled dressings are made with unhealthy oils, such as Canola, Soybean, or other type of processed oils. Processed oils should be avoided completely and only virgin, raw oils are healthy.

3)     Dinner should be eaten before 8 p.m. If you work late, eat protein and/or fat for a snack.  Carbs like bread or crackers will convert quickly to sugar and then get stored as fat. Try plain organic yogurt sweetened with Stevia (no calorie natural herbal sweetener) and sprinkled with raw nuts for crunch. Have celery or an apple with a small amount of nut butter. 

4)     Try skipping all bread and grain products (and skip sugar) for a week and see how you different you feel. You may experience a lighter mood, increased energy, and less aches or pains. Add a good quality fish oil product and increase slowly until you are taking 6 capsules a day for a few weeks.  You also may find out that you are much easier to get along with when your blood sugar is stable.  Don’t be surprised if your co-workers start checking your lunch bag or having salads delivered to you. Life may look brighter if you are not serving it up between two slices of bread.

Dr. Anne Dunev, PhD, Naturopath (Doctor of Natural Medicine), 

Certified Nutritionist & Certified Health Educator.  

Fishing for Compliments

Dr. Anne Dunev is a Naturopath and Certified Nutritionist who works in our offices. This article regarding the importance of fish oil in our diets is one that I found very interesting. I hope you will as well. 

Fishing for Compliments 

by Dr. Anne Dunev, PhD

In our office we recommend fish oil supplements for many of our patients. When I had a practice in Ketchum, Idaho, I could barely keep fish oil caps on the shelf. Because of the dryness at that altitude, dry skin is a big factor. Dry skin equals discomfort and early wrinkles. Once a woman started on fish oil supplements, she would come back and buy more for her mother, daughter and friends.

With our current fat-phobia, fish oil supplements are a great way to add a controlled amount of fat into the diet comfortably. I am a big proponent of good fats, and I think that many of our current chronic disease conditions would improve drastically if we flipped our eating around to include plenty of healthy fat and jettisoned the breads and sugar.

But if you aren’t ready for such a drastic change, fish oil supplements have wonderful benefits, besides balancing your skin and improving wrinkles.

The brain is the only organ in the body that uses fat (fatty acids), so fish has been called “brain food”. Do eat wild caught fish, rather than farm raised, as often as you can, such as salmon, cod and halibut. If mercury is a concern, limit tuna, and particularly swordfish. Concerns about health risks from mercury in fish are not shared by all. Fish contain a less toxic form of mercury called methyl mercury cysteine. The ocean is rich in selenium and that binds some of the mercury, making it less toxic.

In Japan, the amount of mercury ingested from the high fish consumption greatly exceeds what is recommended as safe. However, Japanese children excel in school and out-perform American children. And there are no health issues apparent in Japanese kids that would indicate the mercury is poisoning them. So, mercury in fish does not seem to a reason to avoid eating fish a few times per week.

Pregnant women and very small children are more vulnerable. Mercury poisoning from methyl mercury chloride is a concern at any age, so avoid silver dental fillings.

The best fish oil supplements undergo molecular distillation to remove mercury, and the benefits of fish oil outweigh the risk of contamination.

Fish oil is anti-inflammatory, so helpful for joints, ageing, arthritis and autoimmune disease. Fish oil may lower cholesterol levels. It is helpful for dry eye symptoms and helps you maintain a healthy weight by keeping blood sugar more balanced, and cutting cravings. Fish oil helps depression and mood, and may help normalize blood pressure.

Dr. Anne Dunev, PhD
Naturopath (Practitioner of Natural Medicine),
Certified Nutritionist, and Certified Health Educator

You can make an appointment to see Dr. Dunev by calling our offices: (818)729-9149 Or visit our website: http://www.lisabenestmd.com/nutrition/index.php