Get in Your FnVs with These Grain Alternatives! Good morning! We hope you tried a salad a day last week and saw how easy it was to hit the goal of 7 servings of fruits and veggies (FnVs) each day—6 if you use XVOO in your dressing! In these next few weeks, we’re moving beyond the obvious salad onto different ways to substitute and replace grains with FnVs in some of your favorite dishes. You probably remember the old government-issued food pyramid from the low-fat craze of the 90’s… The same food guide pyramid that told us to eat seven servings of grains per day (keep in mind this was the SAME food pyramid which also incorrectly told us eggs were a dairy product—which isn’t even anatomically correct!). Importantly, eating all those grains crowds your plate of more nutrient-dense foods like FnVs and protein. So, for the next two weeks we will be showing you how to replace those grains with FnVs, which are more nutritious and carb/diet friendly. This week, we start with pasta, noodle and rice substitutes and recipes. Need a little guidance in the kitchen? Ask us! We have a retired chef on board. Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti Squash is probably the OG pasta substitute. It’s a squash that, when cooked, produces strings of squash which resemble noodles/pasta. It can be prepared in the oven or nuked, and then treated like pasta or noodles with toppings. PREPARING SPAGHETTI SQUASH How to Prepare Spaghetti Squash:
RECIPES The recipes for spaghetti squash are endless! But here are a few to get started. Noodled FnVs In 1991 as part of the raw food movement, it started with “zoodles” (noodles made out of zucchini) and quickly progressed to boodles (noodles made out of beets), coodles (noodles made out of carrots) and now most all FnVs can be noodled—even red cabbage! PREPARING FNV-BASED NOODLES In the early days, folks had to invest in a large countertop spiralizer. Now, most grocery stores sell them pre-noodled for you fresh and frozen. RECIPES here are the recipes ready to go with your purchased veggie noodles. Keep in mind-they can replace pasta/noodles in a hot dish-but are also great as an alternative to lettuce in a salad! Firm fruit can also be spiralized! Guests at the next BBQ will be dazzled by your spiralized fruit salad and kids will gobble up your fruit crumble recipe. Other "Noodley" Options Palmini—hearts of palm pasta—is a fairly new player to the market. There is an entire line of palmini pasta alternatives, including lasagna noodles. These cook up a little firmer, more al dente than typical veggie noodles. RECIPES Once prepared, they hold up well to almost any pasta dish you can dream up. But here are a few recipes to get you started… Shirataki noodles have been around awhile, they are made from the fiber of the Konjac plant. They are decidedly NOT for everyone except for those adventurous eaters out there (WE like them! J) RECIPES If you decide you are curious, here are a few recipes to consider. Rice Alternatives As with the noodles, riced vegetables are more nutritious and carb/dieter friendly. And just like the noodles, they also can be made at home or purchased fresh or frozen by the Green Giant and Trader Joe’s and Palmini has a hearts of palm rice version of their products too. PREPARING RICED FnVs If you choose make your own at home, here is how. RECIPES Once you have your riced veggies, here are a few recipes to consider:
Well, we've left a lot on your plate for this week. Make sure to continue logging your FnVs intake, and we'll see you next week for breakfast and dessert! Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: EAT MORE FRUITS-n-VEGGIES (FnVs)! Strive for seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Use the calendar to log your servings, as well as your exercise, sleep, sugar and water goals! Click to view and download the log.
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We hope you enjoyed the weekend and are ready to learn some strategies for incorporating more fruits & veggies (FnVs) into your diet. Probably the fastest way to get to your seven FnVs servings every day is to incorporate salads and soup into each day. Since it is summer, we will suggest a salad a day. To be clear, this does not mean pasta or potato salad. The salad-a-day strategy requires some advance planning, shopping and prepping but it’s so worth it! Salad Options Start by deciding if you want small side salads with meals or salad as a meal itself, then decide on your greens. There is always the tried and true iceberg or romaine, but maybe you want to experiment with one of these greens. Constructing a salad is as simple as greens, protein, some crunch, herbs and dressing. But if you want more detailed instruction, here is a good article to help you “freestyle” your salad or recreate a composed salad. Freestyle not your thing? No problem! Here are a few recipe roadmaps, but feel free to take a detour if you are so inclined:
Now for the dressing… Bottled dressings are rarely health-promoting and are often full of mystery ingredients (think UPFs!). We suggest you make your own! Here are a few recipes to consider. The best health-promoting fat you can use in a dressing is EXTRA virgin olive oil. Its benefits are so powerful it is the primary fat in the MIND diet (Mediterranean-Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay). Extra virgin olive oil (XVOO) consumption has been found to reduce neuro-inflammation in mice. In a recent observational study, those who consumed more extra-virgin olive oil had a 28% reduced risk of developing dementia; this held true even when the researchers controlled for other healthy behaviors in their analysis. In addition, XVOO is known to enhance absorption of certain nutrients, like lycopene, which is found in tomatoes. Remember the X in XVOO when in the grocery store aisle--extra virgin matters! In fact, we believe in the value of an XVOO-based homemade dressing so much that if you use one, you can count it as a serving of FnVs to your chart for the day! Woo-hoo! (We are not implying that XVOO is a fruit or veggie). FAQs for Salad Skeptics: If you don’t have the time to make salads, try one of these bagged salad kits with a little XVOO, fresh lemon and salt/pepper. And if you tend to make so much salad that you have leftovers, consider waiting to add the dressing until you’re ready to eat your helping of salad—or try one of these ideas. Pre-dressed salads are prone to sogginess and thus, food waste. Not sure how to store leftover produce? Here are tips for FnVs and here are tips for lettuce and salad greens. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: EAT MORE FRUITS-n-VEGGIES (FnVs)! Strive for seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Use the calendar to log your servings, as well as your exercise, sleep, sugar and water goals! Click to view and download the log. Introducing Your NEW Mini Resolution: FnVs! Happy Monday! Welcome to a NEW mini resolution! If you’ve missed any past Motivated Mondays 2024 emails, you can view all of them here on our website. One aspect of a healthy brain diet is prioritizing fruits and vegetables. To be clear, fruits & veggies shouldn’t comprise the entirety of one’s plate, but a substantial portion is recommended. This month, our mini resolution will be to strive for 7 servings of fruit and vegetables (FnVs) a day. You might be saying, “Hey, why so many? The government says I only need 5 servings a day!” Keep in mind, government recommendations for nutrition are minimal standards to support life and prevent overt disease (think scurvy or rickets). We are looking to optimize our nutrition to build brains which are resilient to degeneration. A recent meta-analysis found that in a stepwise fashion, every 100 grams of FnVs each day (1/2 cup) was related to a 13% reduction in the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. So, we are reaching beyond the government recommendations. In addition, another study found that replacing 10% of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in the diet with minimally processed foods participants lowered risk of dementia by 19%. In other words, by focusing on increasing consumption of minimally processed foods (in our case FnVs), UPFs are crowded out reducing the negative impact. UPFs have gained a great deal of attention lately for their role in the development of chronic diseases, we will have a future micro-resolution around UPFs. Crowding out UPFs aside, what’s so brain-special about FnVs? FnVs are chock full of micronutrients, water and fiber which either outright prevent neurodegeneration or slow disease progression once it has initiated:
Each Monday in July, we will provide you with a different strategy to achieve your daily goal, including recipes. We will also continue to log added sugar consumption, exercise, hydration and sleep. Record it all on the calendar below. Wondering what counts as a serving of fruits & veggies? Here is a handy graphic you may refer to when logging your intake! Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. We’ll see you next week for your first strategy. In the interim, here are two past editions that parlay nicely into this month’s mini resolution: Buying Organic Produce—Is It Worth It? Why is Nutrition Research So Confusing? TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: EAT MORE FRUITS-n-VEGGIES (FnVs)! Strive for seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Use the calendar to log your servings, as well as your exercise, sleep, sugar and water goals! Click to view and download the log. The content provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Please also note this content is based on current research. However, new research could yield new or conflicting information.
MOTIVATED MONDAYS MID-YEAR RECAP Hello and Happy Monday! As we’ve introduced each new mini resolution, we've asked you to continue to work toward each previous mini resolution. So before we move onto the second half of Motivated Mondays for 2024, we thought we’d take this opportunity to recap our past mini resolutions to remind you of the benefits of each—all of which contribute to "brawnier" brains! You can find the content for all of our 2024 Mini Resolutions by clicking the archive link below! In February, we resolved to remove added sugar from our diets. A diet high in added sugar promotes neuro-inflammation, damages blood vessels in the rain, reduces the integrity of the blood brain barrier and promotes the development of amyloid all which lead to injury and even death of brain cells. We provided tips for recognizing added sugar on the label and recipes/meal ideas for dining without added sugar. In March, we addressed sleep. We provided sleep hygiene tips and the rationale behind them to help members improve their sleep score. We discouraged the routine use of crutches such as naps and sleeping pills. Sleep is a “magical” time, during sleep our glymphatic system is activated which flushes metabolites from our CNS and our memories are consolidated (filed and stored). Sleep loss ravages one’s health. No body system is left untouched by chronic sleep loss, but the brain is particularly vulnerable. Sleep and sugar have a bi-directional relationship. A diet high in added sugar can impair sleep latency (the time to fall asleep) and lead to frequent nocturnal awakenings due to frequent urination or restlessness, resulting in low sleep quality due to incomplete sleep cycles. Failure to gain quality sleep or adequate sleep duration can affect hunger hormones, leading to increased consumption of sugary snacks during the day (an estimated 500-600 calories more per day!). In April and May, those without an exercise habit resolved to start exercising and those with an exercise habit resolved to optimize the intensity to include activities with a cumulative weekly MET of 1200. We provided tips, tools and suggested gadgets to help members make that happen. You may recall that exercise boosts the production of BDNF—brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also known as “miracle grow” for the brain! Exercise also benefits the brain much in the same way it benefits the heart—with blood flow that delivers O2 and nutrients. In addition, exercise “uses up” excess blood sugar which is linked to Alzheimer’s (so much so that Alzheimer’s has been referred to as Diabetes Type 3). People who exercise have bigger brains, in a good way! Sleep and exercise are also bi-directional! This means those who exercise sleep better and those who sleep better have the energy to exercise. In addition, both sleep and exercise have a positive impact on how the mind responds to stressful situations and also the body’s resilience to stress. Chronic stress is a risk factor for cognitive decline. (We’ll have a future resolution around stress!) In June, we resolved to improve hydration by drinking 8 cups of water and also to became familiar with the odor and color of our urine to make informed decisions about our water consumption: drink more or drink less. The brain is 80% water! An episodic reduction in total body water (TBW) hydration by just 1-2% results in impaired cognitive performance. There is evidence that chronic dehydration leads to the build-up of misfolded proteins in the brain (amyloid) which impairs communication between brain cells. Dehydration is also thought to accelerate Alzheimer’s disease. Remember, these resolutions build habits that, if maintained throughout the year, contribute to optimize lifestyle actions that are beneficial for building brawny brains. So, we urge you to stick with these resolutions - we help you do just that with our comprehensive logging calendar each month!
We’ll see you next week for our NEW resolution but, in the meantime, we encourage you to email us with any feedback you have so far: what resolutions have you found the easiest to maintain? The most difficult? What new or interesting techniques helped you in achieving your goals? Please email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your responses. Thank you, and have a safe and Happy 4th of July! Do you know how to detect dehydration? We hope you are finding new ways to quench your thirst and stay hydrated. If you've been following along with our Drink Up! mini resolution, then you know we are suggesting drinking 8 cups of water a day AND we are encouraging folks to check their urine for hydration status! Here is that chart again in case you need it. But are there other ways to detect dehydration? Signs & Symptoms of Dehydration:
Dehydration Devices Wearable devices which detect hydration levels are rapidly entering the market. Here are a few:
That’s all for now. Next week, we’ll recap our Motivated Mondays progress thus far. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: DRINK UP! DRINK 8 CUPS OF WATER PER DAY* *Log your water intake AND make note of your urine color (ideal color = light, like lemonade; darker color may indicate dehydration) Click to view and download the log. Aging and Dehydration Welcome to Week 2 of our resolution to drink up! This week, we would like to start with why we are more susceptible to dehydration as we age and share strategies to drink more water. Evolutionarily speaking, the human body has been considered its own portable water supply. 80% of the human total body water is carried in our muscles. And as mentioned last week, 80% of our brain is composed of water, much of which is found in specific types of cells called astrocytes. In essence, our body creates water cisterns or reserves upon which to rely in times of scarcity (i.e., reduced water consumption). Our water reserves also function as thirst centers, informing the brain to drink up. But as we age, the number of astrocytes in our brains reduces, limiting the availability of water to support brain function. In other words, smaller reserves/thirst centers = less signaling to the brain. The icing on the cake? As we age, these signals to our brains register smaller amounts of water as “enough,” further limiting our thirst receptors. Furthermore, age-related reductions in muscle mass mean a smaller water reservoir from which the body can rely on when consumption is inadequate. This loss of muscle mass is exacerbated by inactivity and low protein consumption. The bottom line is older adults are unlikely to feel thirsty even when they are dehydrated. This is why understanding your own urine (color and smell) is so important! Your urine will let you know if you need fluids before your brain will. Creative Ways to Drink More Water How can you drink more water? Here are some tips: If you find water boring, make it fancy:
Consciously make it part of your day:
Or you can even eat your water! Roughly 16% of our daily water intake comes from food. Choosing foods higher in water content can be a better option when trying to stay hydrated. Some options include:
That’s all for now. See you next week for an interesting look at signs of dehydration. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: DRINK UP! DRINK 8 CUPS OF WATER PER DAY* *Log your water intake AND make note of your urine color (ideal color = light, like lemonade; darker color may indicate dehydration) Click to view and download the log. Introducing Your NEW Mini Resolution: Drink Up! We hope you had a nice weekend! What will we resolve to do this month? This month, we have hydration on tap—no pun intended! The specifics of our resolution can be found below (scroll down past the blue box!). But first, let's discuss hydration and brain health. You may be asking yourself, what does being well-hydrated have to do with cognitive decline? The answer is: quite a bit! The brain is made up of 80% water. An episodic reduction in total body water hydration by just 1-2% results in impaired cognitive performance. This impairment to cognition is even more pronounced in older adults, so much so-that ruling out dehydration-related delirium is part of the differential diagnosis when a patient presents with neurobehavioral symptoms similar to Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or dementia. This is especially meaningful when you consider dehydration is one of the top ten diagnoses responsible for hospital admissions in the elderly. (Next week we will dive into the reasons the elderly as so prone to dehydration) What about folks who are chronically dehydrated? Maybe they are physically active, spend time outside, live in a warm climate or don’t like to drink water. Whatever the reason, these folks are at increased risk for developing cognitive impairments-the kind which cannot be reversed by restoring hydration status. There is evidence that dehydration leads to the build-up of misfolded proteins in the brain (amyloid) which impairs communication between brain cells. Dehydration has also been observed to accelerate Alzheimer’s disease. The National Association for Medicine’s general recommendation for adults is 13 cups a day from both fluids AND food. However, individual needs vary significantly. Variables impacting how much water an individual needs (more or less) to consume each day vary according to:
June's Mini Resolution Specifics For our purposes this month we will be looking to consume and log 8 cups of water a day, and we also want you to become familiar with the color and odor of your urine, because it is a good indicator of hydration status. A well-hydrated individual’s urine is ideally the color of lemonade or light beer with a slight odor. If it is darker than suggested or if it has an overly strong odor or one isn’t urinating with some degree of frequency, dehydration may have set in. (Alternatively, if you want to be more scientific, you can purchase urine sticks and review color changes in specific gravity section on the chart provided—this is NOT for everyone!) Here is a link to understanding the color of your urine. If your urine is consistently darker than you think it should be, here are a few reasons that may explain why. Keep in mind, urine can also be red, brown, purple or green for reasons NOT related to hydration (foods, supplements, medications, infections, etc.). If in doubt, try contacting your concierge physician for guidance. By the way, you CAN over-hydrate! This is why becoming familiar with your urine is so important! Below is your logging calendar. Notice we continue to log sleep, exercise and meals with added sugar! Remember, these resolutions build habits that, if maintained throughout the year, contribute to optimized lifestyle actions that are beneficial for building brawny brains. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: DRINK UP! DRINK 8 CUPS OF WATER PER DAY* *Log your water intake AND make note of your urine color (ideal color = light, like lemonade; darker color may indicate dehydration) Click to view and download the log. Fitness Tracker Benefits & Considerations
At this point in your exercise journey, you may be considering a fitness tracker but perhaps you are confused about which is the best option for you. Your decision will depend on your personal activity and what features are important to you. Below are a few considerations to contemplate before heading to the mall or firing up the computer to make your fitness tracker purchase:
We hope this information will help you narrow down your for those of you looking to purchase a fitness tracker. If you’d like some more guidance, feel free to contact your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. We’ll see you next week when we kick off with a new mini resolution. Until then, have a great week! Resisting a Sedentary Lifestyle for the Long Haul Over these past few weeks, we’ve been talking about exercise—planned and intentional physical exertion—as a critical component of a comprehensive lifestyle program to improve cognitive function and prevent cognitive decline. Equally important, but in different ways, is physical activity—as in the type that simply occurs through living your life, known as Activities of Daily Living or ADLs. Moving often throughout the day to avoid sedentary behavior is another critical component for your comprehensive lifestyle program for brain health. Not-so-fun fact: The benefits of planned, intentional physical exertion are cancelled out if the individual finds themselves sedentary the rest of the day. People who do so are called "active couch potatoes." 10,000 Steps a Day And that brings us to the idea behind walking 10,000 steps a day. You see, that recommendation is actually not about going for a 5-mile walk or jog. Instead, it is about avoiding sedentary behavior. It is a metric for physical activity. Sitting is problematic, so the objective is to fight gravity by standing up frequently and moving the body often. Do your ADLs keep your body in motion, or do you sit for most of the day? Even if you exercise with intention one hour a day, you are still considered sedentary if your steps are limited on average to about 2,700 steps a day (note: if you jog 5 miles a day (10,000 steps) but your step count outside that intentional activity is in the 2,700-step range, then you are still considered sedentary). Are more steps equal to better health? Research has demonstrated more steps (i.e., movement/fighting gravity) equals reduced BMI, and lower rates of diabetes and hypertension, and better cognitive function. At present, they have not elucidated the magic number of steps, just that getting in more steps equals more physical activity, which, in turn, equals better cognitive function. Tips to Help You Stay Active So, now that we know a little bit more about counting our steps, how do you move even more? Defy gravity more? Step up your step count? Even if you are not necessarily logging your daily steps, it still counts towards your health! Below are some ideas, feel free to incorporate those that will work best for you. If you are solely interested in your daily step count, here are a few top-rated pedometers to consider. Increasing general movement throughout the day:
Getting around:
At work (if you are working in an office setting):
Exercise & Brain Health This year, Motivated Mondays is dedicated to fighting cognitive decline. Exercise has been extensively studied as a critical component of any brain health program.
Exercise increases brain volume (bigger brains!), causes the secretion of BDNF (Miracle Grow for the brain!), improves blood flow to the brain bringing with it critical oxygen and nutrients, "uses up" excessive blood sugar and makes cells more sensitive to insulin, improves sleep which combats oxidative neurological stress, and improves our physiological resilience to stress and anxiety. As mentioned above, even if one exercises with intensity for one hour a day, those brain benefits are offset if the rest of the day is spent sitting. Thus, we want to exercise AND engage in physical activity throughout the day. Here is an interesting look at five things that happen when we stop exercising. For our Track 1 participants—we focused on getting started, overcoming obstacles and staying motivated. For those in Track 2—we focused on intensity and explored three modalities- cardio-respiratory exercise, strength training and mind-body exercises. ...for both tracks - KEEP GOING! CHOOSE YOUR TRACK: BEGINNER OR INTERMEDIATE Click below for this week's mini resolution tailored to your needs & goals—at the beginner (starting a new routine) or intermediate level (optimizing an existing routine): Week 4 Happy Monday! Please click above for your tailored mini resolution track. Today, in Track 1 we're discussing what's next... and in Track 2, we explore mind-body exercises. ...Now how about some R&R? By now, everyone may be feeling the effects of their new exercise program... maybe you notice some new/different aches and pains? What is the value in a rest day and what are the means of facilitating active recovery? A rest day doesn’t necessarily mean a day on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Active recovery facilitates healing by delivering nutrients to the muscles via increased blood flow and is typically a better option for healing than a Netflix binge. A few recovery options include:
It is advisable to schedule an occasional rest day. How often you need those rest days will be determined by how hard you are working (i.e., harder work = need for more rest). If you don’t schedule it, your body will schedule it for you! |
MICHELE MCCAMBRIDGE, MPH, MSMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. ArchivesCategories |