Prioritize Your Sleep

Getting enough quality sleep is essential for optimal health. In fact, I believe it forms the platform for our health, from which we can then work on choosing nourishing foods, moving and strengthening our bodies, enjoying time with friends and family or making new connections, and focusing our energies on things that are important and things we enjoy. For those of us who have difficulty sleeping (like I do), we know how miraculous a night of great sleep can makes us feel. For those with chronic sleep deprivation, you may have lived so long in this state that you don’t recognize the effects of insufficient sleep, and you may think you function fine on just 5 hours a night. According to Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley and director of its Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab (and author of Why We Sleep, 2017), sleep loss is linked to Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, bipolar, suicide, stroke, chronic pain, cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, infertility, weight gain, obesity, and immune deficiency. Adults 45 and older who sleep fewer than six hours per night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime, as opposed to those sleeping 7-8 hours per night. Those getting less than seven hours of sleep per night on a regular basis and considered chronically sleep restricted. So, I always encourage my clients to prioritize sleep and make a goal to work on trying to get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

 Ditch This Pantry Item

For decades we have been told to avoid fat, that fat makes us fat. This is not true. Fat is one of the three essential macronutrients necessary for powering our bodies. The key is choosing the right fats for the right usage and avoiding harmful fats. The harmful fats to avoid are those oils found in plastic containers at the grocery store- namely canola oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, as well as margarine and buttery spreads. These oils are highly processed and are already damaged (oxidized) by heat and solvents used in the processing before they are put in the container, rendering them rancid and stripped of nutrients. Then they are deodorized to mask the rancid smell. They are then packaged in transparent, plastic containers which allow them to be further oxidized via light and heat. These hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated industrial seed oils are also found in most processed foods, fast foods, and often in restaurant food.

Once you throw these out, what do you use? If you are cooking, use fats that are solid at room temperature, which means they don’t degrade the same way under heat. These fats include coconut oil, butter, ghee, lard (pork fat), tallow (beef fat), duck fat, chicken fat, or lamb fat (for animal fats, look for pastured, well-raised animals). Use unsaturated oils for non-heated purposes, like dressings. These include cold-pressed and extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, sesame oil, macadamia nut oil, and walnut oil.

Be Carb Selective, Not Carb Phobic

There’s a lot of anti-carb sentiment out there, and with some good reason. Carbohydrates are what spike our blood sugar and stress our insulin, which over time leads to metabolic dysfunction and disease. In the shorter term, if we are constantly spiking our blood sugar, we can notice mood issues like anxiety, depression, difficulty focusing, fatigue after eating, and weight gain, among others. The key to selecting carbs is to look for whole food forms of carbs and focus on fiber. Fiber is important for digestive health, feeding the microbiome, and stabilizing blood sugar. Eating fiber-rich foods also has been shown to reduce rates of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Carbs like vegetables, whole fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and less starchy carbs like sweet potatoes are all great choices to obtain fiber and many micronutrients. Aim for approximately 25-30 grams of fiber/day. The carbs to avoid are sugary drinks (including fruit juice, which is stripped of all fiber); sugar; processed carbs like flour, bread, pasta; and processed foods with added sugar.