I’ve got a three-part series for you all to start out new year with some education for you on the WHAT, the WHEN, the WHY to eat.

To empower yourself to take back your relationship with your mind and your relationship with your food and body. And get back to where you want to be so you can be spending time where you want to spend it.

As a reminder, I’m an emergency medicine physician by night with two little crazy boys at home, and my passion is my extra work on lifestyle medicine and coaching.  Lifestyle medicine is all about the evidence behind sleep, food, exercise, mindfulness and health behavior theory change and I can’t wait to share it with you!

TODAY IS THE WHAT TO EAT.

We’ve had decades of misinformation about what to eat.

Super frustrating to feel like you are being pinged from one side to the other.  But when we are talking about how to improve overall long-term health, prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer, sleep better, improve energy and cognition, and maintain weight….  The data is clear.

A whole food, unprocessed, mostly plant-based lifestyle is the answer.

The problem is that 80% of chronic disease are preventable and are related to lifestyle choices.

When you eat refined processed foods and lots of animal products, you are raising the inflammation in your body. This is causing shifts in biochemical processes that end up causing disease and stress hormones that negate even healthy eating.

For instance refined and processed carbohydrates and added sugars, as well as saturated and trans fats and hydrogenated vegetable oils, shown to cause inflammation in too many studies to mention.

Similarly, the rise of insulin (both how fast and how high) has been linked to obesity and diabetes and metabolic syndromes.

These foods are typically responsible for raising the spikes of certain hormones. Which are leading to dysregulation and an imbalance of energy and hence: weight.

If weight imbalance and chronic disease are 80% preventable, that raises is something super exciting, though, this means that we can FIX IT!

We are talking about lifestyle transformation, one built on evidence and empowerment, that will diminish inflammation and the hormonal dysregulation that underlies the development of most chronic diseases …. and obesity.

What you eat will do both of these things.  Whole foods, unprocessed, mostly plants, avoidance of refined and processed grains and oils.  And it is real food and still tastes great, you just might need to learn a bit and need help how to adjust what you are family are doing now.

And while some of the fads like keto and paleo and atkins might get you weight loss benefits, they don’t have any data to show that they can prevent or reverse the diseases we are talking about.

We eat real food, no boxes. And eat the rainbow.

Back atcha with WHEN and WHY to eat later…

Till then,
Best in health,
Heather

PS.  Remember, who you are matters, you are valuable, you are worth this, you are your WholeYou.