I always tell people that I’m not a great cook but nevertheless I cook all the time. It's difficult to be healthy without some basic skills in the kitchen and beyond that, some understanding of how to put things together in a healthy way. Here are what I think are some of the most important benefits of learning this fundamental skill.
 
You’ll be more empowered
One of the reasons I was drawn to working with nutrition was the level of dis-empowerment I saw around cooking and food in the US. People are so used to things being ready to go and convenient that they lose the knowledge of how to put simple things together themselves and what real food is made from. If you want to be in charge of your own health then you have to have some knowledge and skills to clean up your diet.
 
You’ll make better choices
Healthy foods like vegetables are much more available and appealing when we choose them from a beautiful selection at the store or market. If you eat out a lot you are unlikely to see as many healthy foods offered. People who eat at home more, eat less sugar and processed carbohydrates and fewer calories.
 
You know what’s in the food
When you cook at home, you are in control. When you eat out, you’re not always sure how the food is sourced or prepared. Did the chef add sugar or use a highly processed oil to cook with? Was the chicken organic or natural or am I consuming hormones and antibiotics? At home, I can use coconut oil and eliminate unnecessary sugar from recipes. I have control of the quality of the ingredients I cook with. As I work to help people understand how to upgrade their food quality they will only reap the full health benefit from that if they cook at home.
 
You’ll save money
If you are someone that balks at the cost of buying organic produce or 100% grass fed beef then you may think that being healthier is expensive but add up what it costs you to eat out and you’ll realize that it would definitely be cheaper to prepare meals yourself.
 
It is an act of self-care
When you prepare meals at home, whether just for yourself or for a family, it is a more mindful experience than simply opening a pre-prepared meal and shoveling it down in front of the TV. The time taken encourages us to enjoy each mouthful and appreciate the meal. The process of digestion actually begins when you start thinking about the meal and preparing it. Your body produces saliva and digestive juices in readiness. You get more benefit from the meal because you are able to better digest it and absorb the nutrients.
 
 
You might even have fun!
Cooking can be enjoyable. If you buy good food and take the time, it tastes great!  You can also share the process and the food with family and friends. I always tell my clients to have fun with it when they are trying out new foods and branching out. Getting healthy should never be about deprivation!
 
Because it is so important to me to empower my clients, we now offer cooking classes through Ways to Optimize. Our Chef Dee Iraca provides some cooking courses that she tailors to you! She is a culinary nutritionist so focuses on what is tasty and healthy. We also combine her cooking classes with our nutrition offerings to fine tune things for you even more.  We have some really great Special Deals that you can purchase until the end of the year to get started now or kick off your New Year with a healthier focus.
 
Enjoy your holidays!

As I’ve been focused on writing a new workshop on Anxiety, I’ve been digging more into the many connections between food and nutrition on the one hand and mood and brain functioning on the other. Despite the fact that there are so many logical links between the two, what I find is that many people really don’t think of nutrition and food as serious contenders when they are considering ways to deal with their mental health. More often than not, people go straight to pharmaceuticals or to a therapist before they consider cleaning up their diet.
 
If you think about it though, you already know that food makes a difference in how you feel and your brain functioning. If you’ve ever been really hungry, you have probably experienced feeling grumpy and angry, plus it’s hard to focus and you make more mistakes. If you’ve never been really hungry then just ask anyone you know who’s been on a very calorie restricted diet and they will confirm…It is just not fun!
 
For more evidence on this matter of hunger impacting mood, we can look at Judges’ decisions, which we tend to hope and believe will be logical and balanced. But no, not entirely! Did you know that Judges make more lenient decisions just after they have eaten breakfast or lunch, whereas before a meal break they are more likely to rule unfavorably?
 
This is a blood sugar issue and something that many people overlook as a very simple way to improve their mood and brain functioning.  Just in the last week I’ve had several clients who skip breakfast or go most of the day without food. Sometimes people are trying to eat less to lose weight (which is often counter productive anyway!) and sometimes people say they are just too busy to pay attention to it.
 
Clearly many people are just not connecting the dots and realizing the impact that food has on their brain. Blood sugar is just the tip of the iceberg. We also need to consider neurotransmitters, hormone balance, micronutrient deficiencies, gut health, and more. But if these links are just not tangible enough for you, then how about this?
 
Recently, the SMILES Trial was published. It is the first randomized controlled trial to test whether dietary improvement can actually treat (yes, I did say ‘treat’) depression. In the trial, dietary changes from a junk food diet to a real whole foods diet reduced depression in 30% of the participants.
 
I can only imagine what the results could have been if the participants had taken a deeper nutritional dive and been given more individualized dietary changes to work on.
 
So if I haven’t already made it clear, if you’re experiencing mood or brain functioning issues, I highly recommend paying attention to your diet. The brain is a key organ connected to the rest of our body and it cannot function well without the body functioning properly. If you can fix your body, you can likely fix your brain.
 
If you have questions or need further help the please reach out to us. We’d love to support you!
 

​In my last article I talked about cholesterol, all of the important roles it has in the body, as well as some of the misinformation that connects cholesterol with cardiovascular disease.

This time I want to help you understand the numbers on you’re the blood tests your doctor performs so you are more empowered in your healthcare decisions.
So let’s start here:

What are “good” and “bad” cholesterol and what does it all mean for your health?  Well I’ve got news for you!  It is not what you think it is!

HDLs and LDLs are not actually types of cholesterol but lipoproteins.  These are special particles our body puts together because fats aren’t water-soluble. (You know, in the same way that oil and vinegar don’t mix!).  In order to transport fats and cholesterol through the bloodstream (which is watery), fats or lipids combine with proteins to form lipoproteins.

These particles transport fats around the body, moving them in and out of cells, for all those important functions we talked about last time.  It’s important to know that cholesterol is the first line of defense for damage to the blood vessels and rushes in to make repairs and protect membranes when needed.  It also works to protect cells and tissues from free radical damage.

“Bad” Cholesterol?
LDLs carry 75% of the cholesterol in our bloodstream and are the most actively involved in cell and tissue repair and protection.  HDLs carry the remaining 25% but are essentially a recycling system for cholesterol, taking it back and forth from the liver.

So given that LDLs sound so useful, why have we been told that they measure “bad” cholesterol?

Because damage to the blood vessel membranes sets off an immune response, the blood get’s thicker and the vessels contract.  LDLs rush to help and bring cholesterol to help repair tissue.  Such areas can be sites where plaque builds up.  LDLs are not the cause of the plaque but the result of the need for repair but they have nevertheless been given a bad rap.

Research shows that low levels of LDLs are associated with increased risk of anxiety, cancer and depression. Women with low cholesterol levels tend toward having babies prematurely and having infants with low birth weights.  The obsession with driving down LDLs and cholesterol with medications is frequently over aggressive.

“Good” Cholesterol
We’ve also been told that high levels of HDLs are a good thing, because they transport cholesterol out of cells to be recycled in the liver. But the cholesterol that HDLs carry isn’t taken out of the body; that cholesterol is redistributed to cells and tissues.  Hmmm.

So I guess you can tell at this point that it’s a lot more complicated than you thought.  The blood test you get once a year might not be telling you very much that’s useful.  In order to know whether there is really something to be worried about we need to go deeper.

Here are the risk factors we really need to be concerned about:

Small-Dense LDL particles
Blood levels of very small (or otherwise called dense) LDLs can be problematic because they can pass through artery walls and stay in the blood stream longer being more prone to oxidation.

Standard blood test results can be deceiving as you may have a large number of these damaging small LDLs but, since small LDLs contain less cholesterol than large LDLs, you might still have a low LDL number on your blood test and think you are in good shape.

Lipoprotein(a)
Lp(a) is a special type of small LDL particles that is hereditary and is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease and blood clotting.

Remnant Lipoprotein
This lipoprotein can be taken up by macrophages and transformed into a foam that is the building blocks of plaque.  It is highly correlated with cardiovascular disease.

HDL2b
This is the largest type of HDL particle and a good way to measure how well excess cholesterol is being removed.

Triglycerides
Elevated triglycerides, typically due to excess sugars and carbohydrates, are correlated with heart disease.  Look at the triglycerides to HDL ratio.  Less than 2 is ideal.  Greater than 4 is too high.

We offer comprehensive lipoprotein particles testing if we need to get the full picture of what is going on with your lipids so get in touch if you need help or have concerns.

​What does cholesterol do in our bodies?

• Cell membranes – This is kind of technical but cholesterol keeps the cell membranes at just the right level of fluidity and permeability and helps regulate what goes in and out.  In other words we need the cholesterol for the cells to function properly.
• Memory and learning – Cholesterol is needed for the neurons in the brain to form connections.  (One of the main benefits of sleep for learning and memory is due to the fact that cholesterol production is highest when we sleep.)
• Digestion of fats – Bile acids are made from cholesterol and this allows us to digest fats and access fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
• Vitamin D –It isn’t just the sunlight that increases our vitamin D levels.  Cholesterol is a precursor to vitamin D.  Vitamin D is best known for its role in calcium metabolism and bone health, but new roles are continually being discovered for it, including in mental health, blood sugar regulation, the immune system, and cancer prevention.
  • Hormones - Cholesterol is the precursor to all steroid hormones, including:
  • Glucocorticoids (blood sugar regulation)
  • Mineralcorticoids (mineral balance and blood pressure regulation)
  • Sex Hormones (many functions)

Sounds important, right?  Well that’s because it really is!

So why do we think of cholesterol as the enemy?
Cholesterol has been one of the most maligned and misunderstood substances of the twentieth century.

Eating foods high in cholesterol was thought to raise blood cholesterol levels.  At the same time, high blood cholesterol has been painted as the enemy or our arteries and the main cause of heart disease.

The popular version of cholesterol goes something like this: when you eat fatty foods, especially foods rich in animal fat, the saturated fat and cholesterol in these foods ends up in your blood and sticks to your arteries. Since saturated fats are solid outside your body, they will be solid inside your body too — (despite the 30-degree increase in temperature – ha ha!). Arteries are much like pipes. When they get caked up with grease, blood flow is impaired, and a heart attack ensues.

OK, so that is just not true!

The truth is that atherosclerosis, where plaque builds up in the arteries, is actually caused by inflammation.  Initially it is caused primarily by the consumption of industrial seed oils like canola oil, which are degenerated due to the heat and pressure of processing.  Other causes of inflammation in the body can then accelerate and exacerbate the process.

Since cholesterol is found in fatty foods that contain a greater proportion of saturated fat, these high cholesterol foods are likely not the culprits of atherosclerosis and heart disease.

So, bring back cholesterol in your diet!  Bonus – it’s found in delicious foods that you are going to love reintroducing!

Want some help navigating all of this?  Get in touch for some personalized suggestions.  We can help you with your diet and offer comprehensive cardio metabolic blood testing which is a step above what you'll get from your doctor.

Check our blog next time for more info on your cholesterol blood test numbers and what to look for.