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7 Nutrition Tips to Navigating a Healthy and Balanced Holiday

By Lara Zakaria — ©12/2018

Trying to avoid putting on that classic winter weight? Year after year, that scale starts to budge up this time of year, leaving you feeling bloated and frustrated. You’re not alone, most of us struggle finding navigating a healthy and balanced holiday season.

It can happen to the best of us. You’re on a roll for months, eating healthy, getting your workouts in, and staying on plan. But it’s inevitable – pumpkin spice season roles up and all of a sudden, it’s parties, and cocktails, and big dinners – oh my!

Generally, I try to say pretty low carb overall, leaning on a plant-based “paleo-ish” diet (it’s simply what works for me and personally makes me feel best). But as the weather starts to cool down, there is something just so enticing about those Fall and Winter treats. I find myself gravitating to more sugary foods and drinks. 

Decadent warm pumpkin spice lattes, winter-themed cocktails with creamy liquor or ginger beer, holiday parties with tempting appetizer platters, and family dinners with all the classics (and then some!). As if that’s not enough, this year I got to celebrate 3 weddings in addition to birthdays and housewarmings!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m eternally grateful to have the opportunity to indulge during the holidays and for the time I get to spend with my loved ones from near and far. But I also really value being healthy and feel like I can be most present when I invest in my health and maintain my selfcare routine. That includes how I nourish my body with food. 

For the record, I’m not here to tell you that you should punish yourself for enjoying a holiday meal (and even dessert!). You don’t need to starve yourself or do double workouts to “pay” for your extra calories. 

In recent studies about longevity, researchers found that maintaining meaningful relationships may be just as (possibly more) important as eating right and exercising. That means that the extra calories you eat during the holiday season are less likely to affect your health long-term if you’re enjoying them with friends and family. Key word: ENJOY.

So, with that said, allow me to offer you the following suggestions to find your balance of healthy this holiday season: 

  1. Start hydrating early. With all the parties, the holidays are a time for boozy cocktails and extra wine. So, if you’re not compensating by hydrating a little extra, you’ll arrive at the holiday table already dehydrated. Start your day with water (try warm lemon water for extra credit), hydrate throughout the day, and choose fruit flavored water instead of dehydrating drinks like soda, coffee, or alcoholic beverages whenever possible.
  2. Introduce “smart carbs” into your winter routine. If you’re feeling the sugar cravings creep up during the cooler months, this is a good time to introduce some mineral-dense, grounding root veggies into your routine. I love roasting butternut squash, sweet potatoes, onions, and beets along with cruciferous favorites like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli. They make an amazing dish topped with olive oil, tahini (ground sesame paste),and aromatic herbs to curb carb cravings. Experiment with delicious winter one-pot stews and soups that feature root veggies – super easy and great to have on hand when hunger strikes! 
  3. Balance your meals and snacks with protein, fiber-rich veggies, and healthy fats.  Even when you indulge in more bread than usual, sugary treats, and decadent beverages – and this is important – do not skimp on the healthy stuff! So many of my clients attempt to “save calories” by skipping out on the main meal not realizing they’re setting themselves up for a vicious cycle of sugar crashing and cravings that lead to more binging. When you eat your veggies, protein and good fats you will help keep blood sugar and insulin levels balanced, helping you avoid crashes and more sugar cravings.
  4. Lighten up your cocktails. You don’t need to give up cocktails entirely, instead think about how much sugar is loaded in your drink. Most of us end up imbibing more frequently during the holidays at various parties and celebrations. Out socializing? Consider skipping high calorie beer and creamy drinks like eggnog, or those that contain simple syrup, ginger beer, triple sec, juice or sodas. Instead, opt for mixers like club soda with fresh fruit or herbal infusions like mint or fresh cranberry or just a splash of juice. Hot toddies and wine are usually safer choices. Alcohol makes us lose our inhibitions so we’re more likely to binge on foods we normally wouldn’t eat, so have a balanced meal or snack (see tip #3) before you drink and stay hydrated to stay in control. (Pro tip: one glass of water for every serving of alcohol). 
  5. Plan your holiday get togethers around activities instead of around food. Seeing friends from out of town? Plan a hike or a ski trip instead of happy hour. Family football games, tag, or soccer can be a great tradition. Plan a long walk, ice skating, or bike ride after brunch or dinner. If the weather doesn’t permit outdoor fun, play board games or active games like charades or twister. The idea here isn’t to burn off extra calories (though that’s a nice side effect), but rather to keep you busy and away from mindless snacking. 
  6. Eat mindfully during your meal. It’s easy to get caught up and with everything around you and forget to really focus on and enjoy your meal. Slow down, take a few deep breathes before you begin eating and really take in all the delicious scents. Take a moment to express your gratitude for the meal, all the variety of colors and flavors. Take your time to chew well, enjoy the flavors, and take a break – put your fork down and get lost in the conversation and company of the loved ones that surround you. This practice can go a long way in keeping you from overeating and even the meal even more memorable.
  7. Experiment with healthier recipes and offer to contribute to the meal. There’s no reason not appreciate traditional foods with a modern healthy twist. Avoid highly processed white flour, sugars and vegetable oils – swap them out for nut flours, natural sweeteners, and heart healthy fats like olive or avocado oil. Try some recipes using dates, apple sauce, pumpkin, maple syrup, and ghee. Trust me your family will only notice how much better it tastes! To get you started, below are 2 of my favorite holiday (or any day) classic recipes with a twist.
  1. Cauliflower Mash

  2. Prep: 10 mins

    COOK: 25 mins

    READY IN: 35 mins

    Ingredients

    • 1 Tablespoon ghee or olive oil
    • 1 medium Head Cauliflower cut into large florets, stem sliced ½ 
    • 1 butternut squash, peel, seed and cut into ¾ -inch cubes
    • 1 medium Yellow Onion chopped
    • 2-4 cloves of garlic, mince
    • 2 teaspoons curry powder
    • 1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
    • Sea salt to taste 
    • 1 cup vegetable broth

    Instructions

    1. Heat the ghee or oil in a large cast-iron pan over medium heat. Add the cauliflower, butternut squash, onion, garlic, and seasoning. Mix to coat the vegetables in the oil and spices; stir frequently for 8 minutes.
    2. Turn down the heat to low and add the broth. Cover and cook until the vegetables are completely tender, 10–15 minutes.
    3. Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor and pulse the mixture until it is creamy. You may also use a potato masher if you don’t have a food processor. It will be thick, similar to the consistency of mashed potatoes. You may need to add a little more water to thin out the mixture out to desired consistency (but be careful not to add to much).
    4. Check seasoning and add more as needed. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

    Roasted Root Veggies

    PREP: 15 mins

    COOK: 30 mins

    READY IN: 45 mins

    Ingredients

    • Favorite mix of root veggies: Carrots, beets, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, onion, sweet potatoes, turnips, yams (diced into equal size 1-inch squares)
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon dried sage and basil
    • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
    • ¼ teaspoon chili pepper (optional)

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
    2. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well combined. 
    3. Place in a baking dish, bake for 20 minutes, then switch to broil (high) and cook for another 10 minutes to crisp vegetables.

    Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce

    Ingredients

    • ¾ cup pineapple, diced 
    • 1 Lemon, juiced
    • 1 Pomegranate, seeded
    • 2 cups cranberries
    • Small pinch of sea salt o taste
    • Mint leaves (to garnish)

    Instructions

    1. In a food processor, blend orange, lemon, pomegranate. Add the cranberries at the end and pulse briefly until coarsely chopped
    2. In a medium sized sauce pan, bring the mixture to a slow boil on medium high. Turn down the temperature to low and allow to simmer for another 15 minutes. The liquid should evaporate enough to leave you with a thick 
    3. Serve with mint leaves garnish

 

What You Can Expect From A Detox: A Functional Medicine Doctor Explains

From: Mind Body Green

by  Dr. Martha Calihan

Have you ever thought about doing a “detox” but weren’t really sure what that meant or what it would involve? Maybe you were worried about a lot of digestive upset and GI symptoms. Or maybe you assumed it’d be very expensive or involve only drinking juice for a week.

As a doctor of functional medicine, I frequently have patients ask me about detoxes, especially since there isn’t yet a lot of research in this area.

There are, however, some really good reasons to consider a detox as part of your health program — and the start of the new year can be an excellent time to experience the many benefits of a good detox.

Detox 101: What You Need To Know

To begin with, it’s important to have a good understanding of what detoxification really is and how it can affect your health.

The body has some amazing and very intricate processes to deal with all the substances to which we are exposed — from our food to environmental chemicals, hormones, pesticides, and so on. Our liver is the major organ of detoxification, and there are a host of specific detoxification pathways that help keep the body unencumbered from toxic accumulation. When we eat food, it’s broken down and eventually passes through the liver, which filters the blood, removing any toxins. From there, much of the toxic burden passes through the bile into the intestines, where it can exit the body.

A good detox program has several goals. First, we want to reduce, for a time, the burden on the digestive system and the liver, to allow it the resources to function at an optimal level. We also want to support the detoxification pathways with the proper and necessary vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients.

Plus, we want to reduce the burden on our immune system of repeated exposure to the excessive inflammatory foods that are too often in our diets. And finally, we also want to make sure that the digestive tract is functioning well so that the toxins can be easily excreted from the body.

What a Typical Detox Might Look Like

It’s helpful to plan your program with the help of your health care practitioner to make sure you’re being supported in a way that’s most appropriate for you. A detox could last anywhere from a week to a month, depending on one’s health concerns.

It often starts with reducing the amount, and types, of food you ingest. This is to reduce the burden on the digestive and immune systems. So in the first several days of a detox you’ll eat a small variety of fresh whole foods, or perhaps just a quality protein shake that is supplemented with the proper nutrients.

Virtually all programs will have you avoid specific foods, typically the most inflammatory foods, including wheat, dairy, corn, and soy at the minimum. You’ll also be avoiding sugar, caffeine, and alcohol.

Further specifics will depend on an individual’s particular situation and goals. But in general, during the course of the detox, all processed foods are avoided and the goal is to consume only fresh, organic when possible, foods.

The program might also include specific supplements to support detoxification at the cellular level. Milk thistle is commonly recommended to support the liver, the major organ of detoxification. Dandelion rootartichoke, and beet are all additional nutrients that support detoxification.

You’ll need good hydration to have effective elimination, too.

What You Might Experience During a Detox

During the first several days, you may notice some food cravings, particularly for sugars and other carbs. These can be addictive substances, and there can be a sense of withdrawal from them. You might experience some fatigue or other physical symptoms. Typically these will subside in a day or two.

But eventually, you are likely to notice that you actually feel better. Your energy may increase; you may notice reduced joint pain, brain fog, fatigue, and lethargy. You are likely to lose some water weight and feel less puffy. Your mood may be improved and you might sleep better.

This all can happen because you are supporting your body to function more efficiently with the reduced burden of toxins and inflammatory foods.

When you’ve completed your detox, the food reintroduction process is just as important as the removal phase, because this is when you can pinpoint which foods make you have symptoms. It’s wise to reintroduce one food at a time and give it two or three days to see how you feel before you add in anything else. You might be surprised by what you learn.

I’d encourage anyone to think about a detox program to help you feel a real increase in your energy and well-being and to lower the toxic burden on your body. The experience will probably change the way that you eat, even after the program, as you’ll have gained an awareness of what you feel like when you eat certain foods. It can help set the stage for long-lasting healthy choices.

You can generally do a program several times a year; it’s a great way to mark the changing season and give your body a boost. I suggest that you work with your health care provider to choose the best program for you and give it a try. You might just feel amazing!

Food Bites with Dr. Hyman – Summertime Success

Here is some great advice from Dr. Mark Hayman. Enjoy!

Dakota C asks: Do you have any tips for staying successful on Dr. Hyman’s programs during the summertime?  Please help me navigate the best ways to stay on track!

Dear Dakota,

No matter where you live, summer can be a bittersweet time of year. For most, summertime means a relaxed lifestyle filled with longer days, warmer weather, and time off from school and work to enjoy the outdoors and hopefully some vacation time.

Along with the warmer weather and outdoor activities comes the pressure (both internal and external) to get your body “beach ready.”  This leads us to worry about sticking to our diets despite the abundance of treats – ice cream, burgers on the grill, and s’mores.  This is a great question to kick off the summer season; read on for tips to eating a healthy diet, exercising, and enjoying an UltraHealthy summer.

  1. Eat smaller, nutrient-dense meals every 3-4 hours and make sure to include the right mix of carbohydrates. Eating small meals more frequently and including protein with each meal helps to control blood sugars more easily. A typical meal featured in my programs includes calories that come from 15 to 30% carbs, 30 to 40% healthy fat, and 30 to 40% protein.Clearly, keeping insulin down and controlling blood sugars are keys to a healthy diet and lifestyle.    But how do you figure out your ideal range of calories from carbs?  As I always say, there is no one-size fits all approach in Functional Medicine, which is why I always invite readers to experiment with the ideal combination of fat, protein, and carbs that works best for their individual biological needs.If all this talk about blood sugar, insulin, and carbs leaves you curious about what your ideal intake is, follow this general two-step rule:

STEP 1: Get to know YOU!  Learn what is going on beneath the surface in your body and you will be better able to feed yourself properly and achieve your ideal weight, ward off cravings, and cool off the inflammation that is making you sick, tired, and fat.  You need to think about your entire body as an ecosystem – each part dependent upon the whole to thrive.  While conventional medicine typically breaks the body into separate parts (such as skin vs.  gut vs. thyroid), Functional Medicine looks at how each of these systems impacts the other to determine our final health outcomes.

I suggest you take the self-assessment quiz that I use with my own patients to learn how your specific symptoms impact your total health and understand how to properly nourish yourself.  Remember, there are several triggers for a single condition which means that the reason you may require a certain diet might be completely different from the reason why someone else needs that same exact diet!

STEP 2Determine your ideal carbohydrate intake Click here to view a chart that will help you determine your carb intake needs based on your personal health status.

Remember:  food is information that communicates messages of health or sickness with each bite.  So make each meal a conscious choice to best nourish your body!

  1. Fast track your exercise routine with interval training. If exercise were a pill, it would be the biggest blockbuster drug of all time. Not only is exercise beneficial for your bones but studies show it enhances mood, increases energy levels, helps combat chronic disease by raising HDL, manages weight, and leads to healthier sleep patterns.  Knowing this is one thing; acting on it is another.I always say make exercise fun by weaving it into your summer plans.  Play Frisbee at the beach, ride bikes at the park, walk to the farmer’s market, hike to a beautiful destination before napping under a shady tree, or rent a kayak for date night instead of heading to your favorite restaurant. As important as it is to have fun, ensuring you exercise smarter, not harder, is critical to making the most of your exercise routine.  Use interval training to help maximize your time while relaxing with friends, not logging hours at the gym! Interval training relies on bursts of activity that elevate your heart rate to its max, followed by a brief cooling down activity before you begin the next interval cycle of high intensity aerobic activity.  Whether you swim, walk, run, dance, hike, or bike, switch up the intensity and it will help to achieve better results.
  2. Make this summer one where you smile a lot! Experiment with the following to invite more relaxation, well being, and joy:
  • Get more rest – take a 20 minute nap, read a book, watch a funny movie, get a massage, or sit quietly journaling
  • Stay hydrated – drink lots of water; switch it up by adding fresh lemon or lime or blending in fresh watermelon with mint – not only does this make a delicious, refreshing thirst quencher, it also adds important electrolytes back into your diet
  • Make meditation a priority – find an app like Headspace or Insight Timer to help incorporate meditation every day – even if only for 5 minutes
  • Eat your sunscreen – antioxidants naturally project your body’s skin cells from the inside out; eat more brightly colored vegetables and fruits like blueberries, watermelon and cherries
  • Shop locally and eat fresh – check out local harvest for your nearest farmer’s market
  • Connect – hang out with your friends and family more and definitely stay connected to our community and of course, me.

Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, MD.

The One Diet That Can Cure Most Disease: Part I

If I told you there was one diet that could cure arthritis, fatigue, irritable bowel, reflux, chronic allergies, eczema, psoriasis, autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease, migraines, depression, attention deficit disorder, and occasionally even autism and that it could help you lose weight quickly and easily without cravings, suffering, or deprivation, you might wonder if Dr. Hyman had gone a bit crazy.

But it’s true. And the story goes like this.

Food is medicine. Bad food is bad medicine and will make us sick. Good food is good medicine that can prevent, reverse, and even cure disease. Take away the bad food, put in the good food and magic happens.

The problem with current medical thinking is that it treats diseases individually, requiring specific diagnoses and labels: “You have migraines,” “You have depression,” “You have psoriasis.” And then you get the migraine pill, the antidepressant, and the immune suppressant.

What if you didn’t have to treat diseases specifically or even need to know their names? In fact, I often see patients — like one I saw yesterday — who came with 20 pages of analysis from a dozen doctors from the Mayo Clinic. Her “diagnoses” were “muscle pain, fatigue and insomnia,” and she had been given no recommendations for treatment. Not very helpful!

I recently saw a patient treated at Harvard by multiple specialists. She was on 42 pills a day for severe allergies, asthma, and hives. She even died twice and had to be resuscitated after anaphylactic shock. In just a few short weeks, simply by changing her diet, she got off all her medications, and her allergies, hives, and asthma were gone.

Another patient, who suffered for decades with reflux and irritable bowel and whose symptoms weren’t controlled with acid blockers and “gut relaxers,” got complete relief from his symptoms one week after changing his diet.

What if you could just treat the whole person with dietary changes, upgrading the information given every day to your body through food? Food is information carrying detailed instructions for every gene and every cell in your body, helping them to renew, repair, and heal or to be harmed and debilitated, depending on what you eat. What if you could send messages and instructions to heal your cells and turn on healing genes? And what if, by some simple changes in your diet, you could get rid of most of your chronic symptoms and diseases in just one week (or maybe two)?

That is entirely possible. Some people call it detox. Some people call it an elimination diet. I call it the inclusion and abundance diet.

I call it UltraSimple!

The best part of this approach is that you don’t have to trust me or any “expert.” You simply have to trust your body. It will tell you very quickly what it likes and doesn’t like.

If you are constantly putting in information that is making your body toxic, sick, and fat — hyper-processed industrial junk food, sugar, flour, chemicals, additives, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, inflammatory foods, or what I call anti-nutrients — it acts like poison in the body. It inflames your gut and your cells, leading to whole-body inflammation that you experience as pain, allergies, headaches, fatigue, and depression and that leads to weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease.

This one diet, The UltraSimple Diet– getting the junk out, getting inflammatory foods out, adding healing, detoxifying, anti-inflammatory foods — has the power to heal in a way that medication can’t and never will be able to.

I have used it for decades with tens of thousands of patients with remarkable results. We are beginning studies at Harvard that will look at how to tackle the toughest diseases with a simple change in diet.

This approach can work faster and better than any medication. The power of this simple diet change — getting rid of the bad stuff and putting in the good stuff — can often reverse the most difficult-to-treat medical problems and give people the experience of profound wellness, even if they don’t have a serious illness. It is something everyone should try just once. Most of my patients say, “Dr. Hyman, I didn’t know I was feeling so bad until I started feeling so good.”

Let me share a story, one that is very common in the world of functional medicine, which is the science of treating the roots causes of disease, the science of creating health.

One patient, a medical school professor and doctor, came to see me after struggling for years with psoriatic arthritis. He was crippled by pain and inflammation, despite taking powerful immune-suppressing drugs, including an ibuprofen-like drug, chemo drugs, and a drug called a TNF alpha-blocker that suppresses the immune response so much that its side effects include overwhelming infection, cancer, and death. Still, he wasn’t better, and at 56 years old, he was planning to quit. He couldn’t operate any longer and could barely walk up the stairs. He had psoriasis all over his skin, and it was destroying his joints. He also had reflux, depression, canker sores, constipation, and trouble with concentration. His liver function tests were abnormal, and he was overweight.

He had a horrible diet. He ate oatmeal with milk and sugar for breakfast, tuna with soup and cookies for lunch, and fish or meat with vegetables and potato or pasta for dinner. He snacked on cookies and protein bars. He avoided chocolate and fatty foods. He ate out more than five times per week and craved sweets and caffeine, consuming three to four cups of coffee and one diet soda per day. He drank about 12 alcoholic beverages per week, including wine and the occasional scotch.

So I put him on The UltraSimple Diet, getting rid of industrial food, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar and adding whole, real foods. I also got rid of the most common food allergens and sensitivities.

At his first follow-up visit, he arrived pain-free and said he hadn’t felt so good in years. He reported an 80 percent reduction in pain, could climb stairs more quickly, and was no longer limping. All his pain and stiffness were gone. His hands had been swollen and difficult to open, but now the swelling was gone and he could operate again. And he had quit all his medications after the first visit (even though I told him not to). His reflux and migraines were gone. His mood had improved, and he was less irritable. He was no longer constipated. And he lost 15 pounds.

If there is one thing I could encourage everyone to do, it is to take just one week to see just how powerful a drug food can be. There is nothing to lose but your suffering. It doesn’t take months or years to see change. It happens in days or weeks.

In my next blog, I will explain exactly what this diet is, why it works, and how it heals your body. And I will show you how to get started.

Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below — but remember, we can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your comments to those about taking back our health!

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, M.D.

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a five-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.