Posted by We’ve all said it— “Monday, I start my diet.” “January 1st, to the gym I go!” Heck, I’ve said the gym thing several times. Except replace “gym” with “yoga class.” Anyway, we put so much pressure on ourselves to start each year on the right foot. The holidays really can knock us for a loop. The last 6 weeks of 2019 have been filled with stress— finances, errands, gift buying, food preparations, year-end work deadlines, and family drama, to name a few. We usually stress-eat our way through it all, and the scale shows it in January. It doesn’t help that your Aunt Karen makes the best sugar cookies this side of the Mississippi and you ate 5 of them (okay, 10) at Christmas dinner. Yeah, shedding weight is a great goal and a common one listed by those proclaiming their new year resolutions. But do you want to know my three suggestions for a better you in 2020? I’m glad you asked.
I often dramatically tell my patients that if I were on my death bed and I had three pieces of health advice to leave behind, I’d say this:
- Drink your water
- Get good sleep
- Avoid sugars
Seriously, your health will dramatically improve if you faithfully do these 3 things. In my years of practice, I have found that these 3 things, or lack of achieving these 3 things, are the basis for the majority of complaints and illnesses that I see. Let’s dive in to the importance of each, shall we?
Water Consumption
Water is a necessity of life. I am shocked every day at how many patients tell me they only have a sip or two of water a day, and it’s usually when they brush their teeth or take their medications. There are several recommendations of how much water a person should consume daily. I normally suggest 3-4 bottles a day (64 ounces). I say “morning, noon, mid-afternoon, and dinnertime.” Boom, done. (EXCEPTION: If you have heart or kidney failure, please adhere to your doctor’s recommendations). The excuses I hear for not drinking water are endless, but I normally hear, “I don’t like the taste” or “it makes me nauseous” and “I’ve never needed much water.” If you’re used to exclusively drinking beverages like coffee, tea, soda, and juice, water will certainly not taste as satisfactory in comparison. Your taste buds are used to those specific stimulations, and water just doesn’t do it for you. But let me tell you, you better learn to like it, and fast. Proper water intake reduces headaches, muscle cramps, constipation, joint swelling, urinary tract infections/ kidney stones, and dizziness. It also is imperative for your metabolism and basic cellular functioning. The more water you drink, the less likely you are to consume unhealthy beverages, and that’s always a plus. Dehydration is something that scares the daylights out of me in my 70+ year old patients. My elderly patients for some reason don’t drink enough water, and they easily get UTIs and delirium from it. They say they just don’t think to drink water through the day. Hospitalization is near certain for them, and it can turn south quickly into kidney failure and even sepsis. WATER. IS. IMPORTANT. Fun fact: “In the year 2004, approximately 518,000 hospitalizations were primarily due to the dehydration. Nearly 5.5 billion dollars in hospital charges were resulted from dehydration admissions (Kim, 2007).” PREVENTABLE, y’all. That’s a lot of money for not chugging your water when you could’ve.
Sleep Quality and Quantity
Lack of sleep is a big problem in our world today. We’re busy, overworked, stressed out, and have a tough time unplugging. I’ve personally struggled with this very issue since becoming a mom. And understandably, women complain of sleep insufficiency more than men. Sleep issues affect up to 70 million Americans (Strine and Chapman, 2005). While the recommendation is to get at least 8 hours nightly, most of us probably fall in the 6 hour range. Not sleeping enough hours and not sleeping well are the main complications for many patients’ depression, anxiety, irritability, migraines, and mood swings. When we don’t sleep well after even one night, we’re on edge, annoyed at little things, and just feel “off.” Researchers have even compared driving fatigued to driving drunk—claiming it’s an equivalent impairment. Being awake for 24 hours straight is equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.10 (National Sleep Foundation, 2019). Sleep is when our brains recover from all of the information it processed in the daytime. It’s crucial for healing and for mental clarity. Oftentimes, when I’m treating someone’s mood disorder, I attempt to fix their sleep first. I educate patients on sleep hygiene, ensure they understand what prevented them from sleeping well in the past, and follow their sleep improvement closely. Without the foundation of good sleep, our efforts in improving their mood imbalances or even tension headaches will be pointless. Here’s what Harvard has to say about sleep hygiene if you’re curious about how to improve yours.
Sleep apnea is an under diagnosed and MAJOR problem I see regularly in the office. Having untreated sleep apnea is dangerous to one’s health and is many times the reason people (and their spouses) sleep terribly. If you are over 50, male, have high blood pressure, a BMI of 35 and over, snore, awaken often while sleeping/stop breathing during sleep, are exhausted during the daytime, and have a larger neck, you have a severely high risk of sleep apnea. Just having 4 of these puts you at moderate risk. Ask your doctor for a sleep specialist consult. Untreated sleep apnea is detrimental and can be deadly! Click on this link for more on sleep apnea and to screen yourself for the disorder.
Sinful Sugar
Ah, my favorite topic. Not because I love sugar, but because I love how people’s lives improve 180 when they don’t eat it anymore. The number of newly establishing Type 2 diabetic patients to our practice I see is increasing, and the age of onset is getting younger. The number of diabetics I have been treating for a while, though, that are becoming less diseased is also increasing— because I lecture and educate tirelessly on cutting sugars/ carbohydrates out of their life. I harped on one particular patient for 2 full years on reducing her carbohydrate intake. She finally listened this past fall and saw a dramatic improvement in weight and blood sugar levels in just 3 months. This is not an exaggeration when I say how dangerous sugar is and can be for all ages and all people when consumed past a certain daily amount. The big scare has always been that fat makes you fat. Let me tell you: sugar makes you fat. This is an excellent source that explains why: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/sugar-vs-fat-which-is-worse-for-weight-gain/
So how do you start 2020 off with kicking sugar to the curb? Don’t eat breads, pastas, potatoes, rice, cereals, chips, crackers, candy, yada yada yada. And no, wheat bread isn’t significantly better for you. You can get much better fiber benefit from veggies than you ever could from wheat bread. Focus on animal and plant-based proteins, vegetables, fats like avocados, nuts, fish, and cook with olive oil. Think I’m exaggerating? Hang with me and see patients with me for a week. You’ll see how, without exception, each one of my uncontrolled diabetics and each one of my overweight/obese patients eats a diet primarily of carbohydrates will little consumption of nutritional and energy sustaining foods. Become diligent about knowing the carbohydrate content of each food item on your plate, and you’ll think twice about how much you want that pasta. Sugar is inflammatory, is a fleeting energy source, and is not necessary to consume past a minimal amount daily.
OK now that I’ve yelled at you for several paragraphs, here’s the lesson to take away:
In 2020, work on improving daily habits. Choose habits that are supportive of your health. Choose a lifestyle that will be conducive to living well. Work on how you treat yourself. You deserve hydration, you deserve to rest well, and you deserve good quality food sources. You have one body in this life— treat it well and treat it right. Now, go put your glasses on, because 2020 vision is upon you.
References
Hyman M. Sugar or Fat: What’s Worse for your Waistline? 26 February 2016. Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials. Retrieved from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/sugar-vs-fat-which-is-worse-for-weight-gain/.
Kim S. Preventable Hospitalizations of Dehydration: Implications of Inadequate Primary Health Care in the United States. Annals of Epidemiology. 17 (9): 736. September 2007. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1047279707003080.
National Sleep Foundation. Drowsy Driving vs. Drunk Driving: How Similar Are They? 2019. Retrieved from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/drowsy-driving-vs-drunk-driving-how-similar-are-they.
Strine T. and Chapman D. Associations of frequent sleep insufficiency with health-related quality of life and health behaviors. Sleep Medicine 6: 23-27. 2005. Retrieved from http://advestahealth.com/wp-content/themes/twentythirteen/health_topics/notenoughsleepreducesqualityoflife.pdf.
Piece of Mind 