Category Archives: Whole Person Health

Looking Beyond The Hype: Digging Deep into the Reality of Supplements

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Market research conducted in August 2018 found that the Vitamin and Supplement Manufacturing industry in the US ballooned to profits of $31 billion. This number is a clear sign of the American public’s great desire to pursue a greater level of whole health and integrative nutrition. The debate, however, still continues to thrive in regards to the safety, efficacy, and even necessity of taking supplements. While supplements aren’t new, it’s still worth exploring and discussing them before jumping on the bandwagon.

The Rising Popularity of Supplements

A commissioned study from 2017 found that 76% of respondents say that they consume dietary supplements. The supplements they take commonly come in the form of pills, powders, and even herbal teas. The common responses when asked why they took supplements were to “improve” and “maintain” their health. Another 15% claimed that taking supplements boosted their immune system and that they were getting sick less often. Word of mouth and social media have all been conducive in spreading the glowing reviews of satisfied users to entice other people into using dietary supplements, as well.

The Unforeseen Risks

The issue begins when the supplements that people purchase are fake and contain harmful elements that end up compromising their whole person health. Even when the supplements are authentic, there’s a risk to combining different ones and using them with medication. Taking too much of certain nutrients like iron can cause hemochromatosis, as warned by the FDA. Popular supplements like St. John’s Wort originally enjoyed a reputation of being effective in boosting moods and chasing the blues away. It wasn’t until later when people found that it curbs the efficacy of antibiotics and even antiretrovirals. You just might be risking your health because of a post that you read online, so it’s best to be careful.

A Life Without Supplements

Consumers that are skeptical or have heard horror stories about fake ones wonder if it’s possible to survive without them. It actually is; it’s just going to involve a lot of dedication. A lot of the vitamins and nutrients that supplements claim to give you are readily available in the food we consume regularly. When you carefully plan the food that you eat, you can actually get the nutrient count that you need. You can try to create a food plan that maximizes your nutritional intake or you can have a health coach or dietitian help you out.

Finding the Right Balance

There are supplements that do as advertised and there are all-natural diets that work. It is entirely possible to reach some sort of compromise between supplements and diet; all that’s needed is due diligence. Read up on different findings to build a study-based and fact-based opinion on supplements and nutrition. There’s a wealth of information out there about integrative nutrition. If that isn’t enough, you can always ask your trusted nurse coach or other healthcare professional for their educated opinion.

At the end of it all, doing research about supplements will safeguard your whole person health. As a consumer, it’s your responsibility to see if something trendy is worth dabbling into. Always avoid putting your health at any unnecessary risk.

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For more whole health discussions like this, listen to my weekly radio show Living Above The Drama. Also available on iHeartRadio.

Author Credit: Allie Oliver

Healthy Habits: Eat More Colors

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The living world around us is filled with color. Look around and you may see blue sky, green grass, aqua oceans, and an unlimited array of tress, flowers and plants bursting with intense, vibrant color. Health is associated with color as well. When we are healthy we have pink cheeks, bright eyes, and a healthy flush to our skin. Quite interestingly, aging is the gradual loss of color. This fading of color marks the slowing or ebbing of life vibrancy.

It is no wonder then that colorful foods are the healthiest foods we can nourish our bodies with. They contain nutritional benefit in the form of phytonutrients, which means plant nutrients. The fruits and vegetables with the most vivid colors contain the highest amount of these important plant nutrients. Their hues act as a table of contents for the phytochemicals found inside the plant.

Listed below is a color guide for choosing the fruits and vegetables that will provide these powerful healing plant nutrients. Make a conscious effort to include a variety of these healthy colors in your daily diet. Not only will you get more nutrients, but your meals will become more fun and enjoyable.

  • Orange: Contains beta-carotene, an antioxidant that supports immune function.
  • Yellow-Orange: Provides vitamin C, which detoxifies and inhibits tumor cell growth.
  • Red: Holds lycopen, an antioxidant that reduces cancer risk.
  • Green: Contains folate and iron, which are essential to building healthy cells and genetic material.
  • Green-Light: Provide indoles and lutein, which eliminates excess estrogen and carcinogens.
  • Green-White: Hold allyl sulfides. These can destroy cancer cells and support a healthy immune system.
  • Blue (fruits): Contain anthocyanins that destroy free radicals.
  • Red-purple (fruits): Provide reservatrol, a plaque reducer and mineral chelator.
  • Brown (legumes, whole grains): Are high in fiber, carcinogen remover and digestive aid.

Filling your diet with many colorful fresh fruits and vegetables is a great way to ensure your body is getting all the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients you need to stay healthy, happy, and vibrant. Think ‘rainbow’ the next time you prepare your plate.

For more whole health discussions like this, listen to my weekly radio show Living Above The Drama. Also available on iHeartRadio.

10 Tips Anyone Can Use To be Healthier

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10 Nurse Coach Tips For Improving Whole Person Health

Everyone loves “tips”, especially when it comes to improving their whole person health. Here is a short but powerful list of things we can all do to be healthier, thinner and more energetic. The best part is they are easy to do and aren’t expensive. Share these tips with your health coaching clients and patients too:

  •  Drink more water. Sometimes we overeat because we are actually in need of more body fluid, so drink more water, especially when you are hungry.
  •  Move more. The simple act of physically moving is a great way to get more exercise, improve circulation and reduce calories.
  •  Eat less starch. Complex carbohydrates are the main culprit in producing excess insulin, which is a major player in diabetes, heart disease, stroke and obesity.
  • Eat out less. Americans are eating 75% of our meals outside the home. The amount of salt, MSG and chemicals in the foods eaten outside the home is unhealthy and preparing food at home is not only healthier but also less expensive.
  • Enjoy a hobby that relaxes you. Nurses with hobbies have lower blood pressure and are less stressed from being able to redirect their energies and attention into something they love to do.
  • Keep plants or have a pet. Statistics show that people who keep pets or take care of plants are less depressed and more social. In nursing homes, residents are given plants to take care of to reduce depression.
  • Have regular personal quite time. Nurse coach and other healthcare focused careers, while rewarding, can be quite stressful at times. Meditation, prayer, chanting, contemplation are all ways to slow down the nervous system and help improve sleep and digestion.
  • Pay down your debt. The amount of debt a person maintains exerts a major influence to the amount of stress they have in their lives. Owe less, live longer.
  • Be sure to get 8 hours sleep. You might be able to function on less but for your body to rest and rejuvenate 8 hours is the ideal.
  •  Eat breakfast. People who eat breakfast live 7 years longer than those who don’t because the body functions more efficiently when eating is on an appropriate schedule.

For more whole health discussions like this, listen to my weekly radio show Living Above The Drama available on iHeartRadio.Join the conversation. 

Food and Mood Are Intimately Connected: A Whole Health Perspective

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Food and Mood by Dr. Georgianna Donadio of The National Institute of Whole Health

After completing an interview for a national magazine on “Food and Mood” I was reminded about how intimately our mood and our food are connected– a topic explored more deeply in our Accredited Whole Health and Wellness Nutrition program. The magazine article was about “what foods help our moods.” But maybe the larger question is: “What do our moods have to do with what we eat?”

It’s interesting that the emphasis is usually on how things from outside of us affect our inside. In reality so much of what is going on inside of us affects our outsides. This is really evident in terms of weight loss and weight gain. The way we feel about ourselves, work, life, and whether we are fulfilled or dissatisfied has more to do with what or how much we choose to eat, than eating a food has to do with how it “makes us feel.” In Whole Health, everything affects everything.

One of the reasons diets don’t work is because the “work” is being done on the outside of the problem instead of the inside. I have been a nutritionist for over 30 years and have seen tens of thousands of patients who want to change the way they look or the way they eat. When we start to “work” on the goal, within a relatively short period of time, they become aware that there are underlying feelings and emotions associated with not eating foods that help them to “medicate” or mask their feelings.

They often become discouraged because the feelings are uncomfortable and sometimes painful. It is human to avoid pain and move towards pleasure. It takes courage to truly tackle and confront the underlying issues of food and mood, focusing on the inside of the problem, instead of the outside.

Here is an exercise you may find some value in. If you are dealing with mood or food issues, keep a journal for 10 days. Write down everything you eat. Include how you feel when you don’t eat what you want and how you feel when you do eat what you want.

Just becoming more aware of what you are putting in your mouth and how it translates to how you feel after you eat can be the start of a healthier and happier relationship with food and mood. This is just one of many benefits associated with taking a whole health approach.

http://www.wholehealtheducation.com/living/2018/10/food-and-mood-and-whole-health/

For more whole health discussions like this, listen to my weekly radio show Living Above The Drama available on iHeartRadio.

Are You Consuming Too Much Sodium?

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Are You Consuming Too Much Sodium? Here's What The Experts Say.

Sodium is a naturally occurring, essential mineral that helps regulate body fluids and kidney function. Of concern to many is the fact that high doses can cause hypertension, kidney damage, and decrease of calcium absorption. It can cause bloating, fatigue and increase your risk for strokes and heart disease.

The Right Nutritional Value

The recommended daily intake of sodium is 2,300 mg per day. A low sodium diet is considered between 400 – 1000 mg a day. A normal sodium diet is considered between 1500 – 2,300 per day, and a high sodium diet between 2,500 and 4,000 mg per day. The average American diet contains over 3,500 mg per day, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. Experts agree that damage of high sodium accumulates and can have a long term, life threatening effect.

Even those of us who think we are eating well and are careful about our food choices, may not realize how much sodium is lurking in our foods. Processed, canned, jarred and frozen foods have high levels of sodium, as do most restaurant prepared meals and certainly “fast foods” where sodium and flavor enhancers are added for taste and texture.

Few of us realize that foods we eat every day are loaded with sodium. In considering the examples below, it becomes clear that, once again, the best foods to eat are fresh and unprocessed, which not only contains more nutrients, but contains much less sodium.

High Sodium Foods To Avoid:

> One cup of cocoa has 950 mg of sodium.
> A chicken fillet sandwich has 940 mg of sodium.
> Tomato ketchup has 1042 mg.
> Parmesan cheese contains 1862 mg.
> Processed cheese has 1189 mg.

The list goes on. The more processed the food, the more likely it is to contain high sodium levels. On the other hand, Fresh fish, fruits, nuts, eggs, beans, meats and vegetables have low levels of sodium.

For more whole health discussions like this, listen to my weekly radio show Living Above The Drama available on iHeartRadio.

Parents Model Behavior and Self-Esteem

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Lessons In Whole Health: Behavior and Self-Esteem

One day I noticed my daughter was watching a reality television show about high school students. The lack of respect that many of them showed towards other students was stunning. What was even more disconcerting was their lack of awareness that the people they were taunting and verbally abusing had the same range of feeling they did; wanted to be accepted and valued as they did; and wanted to belong within their peer groups, just like they did.

The main theme of the program was having a facilitator come into the school and educate the verbally abusive students on the basics of how to have appropriate relationships. It was portrayed that these young people had never seen respect or compassion modeled for them at home. They were not “aware” that other students, young people like themselves, had essentially the same need to belong and the same feelings and desires that they did.

My daughter commented that it was obvious that these insensitive high school students were suffering from low self-esteem to be treating other people that way. This started a conversation about “where do we develop healthy self-esteem from” and why do some people develop it easily and others not at all.

Self-esteem is so intimately connected to whole health and how we treat ourselves; which is also connected to how we treat others. The role of a patient advocate is to instruct a patient on “how to be in the world” and to provide the training, if you will, to have the skills, tools and awareness to develop a strong sense of self and self esteem.

“Roots and wings” was the expression many years ago, which refers to the stability, discipline and security that allows us to go out into the world and have the confidence in ourselves to “spread our wings” and fly.

As parents we have the profound responsibility of modeling to our children what they need to learn to be both healthy and happy. Children learn with their eyes, their ears, and their hearts. It really does not matter what we say to our children, or what we say to others, it is what we do that counts. When we take the easy way out as parents and do not provide our children with a strong example and foundation of learning responsibility, integrity and how to respect others, we fail them and we hurt them.

To educate our children to be healthy and happy we must advocate the number one rule of liking themselves, which leads to liking others: When our behavior is congruent with our values, with what we know intellectually and intuitively is right and good, we like ourselves. When our behavior goes against our values and what we know is the right way to behave, we have low self-esteem. We don’t like ourselves when we behave in a way that directly or indirectly hurts ourselves and others.

I remember talking one time with one of my children who was complaining that they “didn’t like themselves.”

I asked them an appreciative inquiry question: “Do you think that feeling might come from something you know about yourself that the rest of us don’t?” Several days later he shared with me that it “was one of the best questions anyone had ever asked him” and that it helped him to stop doing something that he felt really bad about doing.

This is a question to ask ourselves and to model to our children, who learn more from our non-verbal communication than anything we might “tell” them about how to live a happy life and support their own whole person health.

For more whole health discussions, listen to Dr. Georgianna Donadio’s radio show Living Above The Drama.

Doctors Taking Control of Healthcare

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Doctors Taking Back Control Of Healthcare

For those us of old enough to remember Marcus Welby, MD and Dr. Kildare, the beloved TV docs we grew up with, we also remember a time when physicians ran healthcare. They set policy, budgets, insurance coverage guidelines and pretty much, back then, “everything healthcare” was directed by the doctors.

The insurance carriers, growing tired of paying for unnecessary surgery, warned the physician groups who ran the show that if they did not clean up the medical abuses taking place, the insurance industry would take away their decision making by enforced second opinions and limit paying for procedures that were being unnecessarily performed. Back in the 1970’s, there were millions of hysterectomies. Of these, 66% were deemed “unnecessary” by what has become the Medical Review Board watchdog.

Now in the U.K., to quote an article from English.news.cn, “The new British coalition government revealed on Friday that it planned to put doctors in charge of funding for frontline services in England’s National Health Service (NHS), in a change hailed as the biggest in 60 years.”

This is big! If this were to be enacted in the U.S., we could see a return of physician driven healthcare that is provided, determined and distributed by the same medical type of physician groups that were unable to police themselves a mere 30 years after the establishment of the American Medical Association and the mainstreaming of the pharmaceutical industry.

Granted, we have in place excellent watchdogs peer review boards and medical review requirements, but this works because of the lack of conflict of interest with the way these structures have been put in place.

The healthcare reform bill has yet to flex its muscles and most of us feel pretty much in the dark about what we can expect. No surprise since an overwhelming majority of politicos who voted on the bill had little to no idea what the bill contained!

The issues we see with today’s healthcare delivery simply reinforce the Whole Health vision of taking control of your body, preventing disease with common sense health hygiene and limiting the use of acute care medicine we as Americans are blessed to have available to us. Every day the news contains articles identifying the long-term use of even over the counter medications and caution us to realize we cannot repeatedly put these chemicals into our bodies and not experience consequences.

Chronic disease, which is the bulk of what is treated in healthcare today, is preventable and cost effective. Let’s create our own healthcare reform with self-directed whole person care – that means taking care of ourselves with consideration to all 5 aspects of health. In advocating this type of care through patient education, we all move toward living well and living long.

For more whole health discussions, listen to Dr. Georgianna Donadio’s radio show Living Above The Drama.

Becoming You – Developing Self-Esteem

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Becoming You – Developing Self-Esteem

The Merriam Webster definition of self esteem is “a confidence and satisfaction in oneself; self respect.” Self-esteem and self-respect are two important aspects of whole person care at any age. During the years of adolescence, however, personal and social differentiation is at an all time high, with peers playing a significant role in how our self-esteem expresses itself. As you are probably very well aware, your self-esteem is especially a front and center issue from middle school through high school.

According to Marilyn J. Sorensen, PhD, author of numerous books on self-esteem, our self-esteem is formed in childhood, when we develop an initial conscious and unconscious impression of ourselves. What we hear said about ourselves has a lasting impact on the messages our brain records as being our worth or our value in the world. It is these messages or neurological records that get “triggered’ when our peers either respond positively or negatively to us.

During the adolescent years, as you are physically developing and becoming young women and men, your appearance and how others respond to you can certainly become important. Other peer related issues such as belonging or being part of a particular group or activity are, as well.

It may surprise you that current statistics show seven in ten females believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members. And for males, the statistics over the past 25 years have gone from 15% dissatisfaction to 45% dissatisfaction regarding how they feel about their physical appearance.

The developing and confusing years of adolescence are filled with exploring and identifying what you think of yourself or what social direction you may wish to go in. It is also a time that you can begin to know yourself outside your family environment and develop who you are in a more meaningful and realistic way. This means sorting through the many reflections of “who and how you are” in relationship to the large world around you.

It is during this time, no matter what kind of earlier conditioning you have received, that you can take control over your self-esteem and self-respect. I would like to share with you a story about one of my children. She has happily given permission for me to share this with you because she feels it is an important story to tell.

At the age of 15, my daughter was very unhappy and struggling with feeling badly about herself. That whole year for her was filled with tears and poor grades. One day, we took a walk and talked about what she was experiencing. She said many times during that conversation, “I hate myself. I don’t want to be me.” I gently asked her why and she said that she “she didn’t think she was a good enough person because of the problems she was having with her peers.”

Not wanting to pry, I did not ask for details and she did not offer them. Rather, I shared something with her I learned about whole health and self-esteem when I was much older than her 15 years of age. I shared with that what is important, at any time in our life for us to feel good about our self, is that when we behavior in a way towards ourselves and others that is in agreement, or congruent, with our personal values – we feel good about who we are. Bottom line: No matter what anyone else says or does towards us, when we act in concert with our personal values, we feel good. Our perception and expression of ourselves can largely impact our whole health, which is far more important than what others think. We many not like the way others treat us or how they hurt our feelings, but our self–esteem and self-respect are high.

When we do not act in agreement, or congruently, with our personal values and inner beliefs of right and wrong, then we feel badly about ourselves; no matter what positive or flattering things someone else may say about us. Self-esteem and self-respect, like beauty, start from the inside out. No one can make us feel badly about ourselves when we know, and are confident, that our behavior towards ourselves and others is from a place of our values and of respect.

If you are working through this natural adolescent sorting process, reflecting on this information may assist you in changing how you feel about yourself, how your treat yourself and how you create relationships with others. My daughter, who is now in college, told me our walk together that day was the most important thing she has ever earned about how to feel good about herself. I hope it is helpful for you as well.

References & Resources:

www.learntobehealthy.org
http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/emotions/self_esteem.html
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breaking-the-chain-of-low-self-esteem-marilyn-j-sorensen/1102088340

For more whole health discussions, listen to Dr. Georgianna Donadio’s radio show Living Above The Drama.

 

Calcium May Help You Burn More Fat

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calcium and weightloss article by dr georgianna donadio

Information from the Nutrition Institute of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, appears to confirm the “rumor” that calcium-rich diets result in lower body fat. According to a recent study in mice conducted at the University, a diet that includes low-fat dairy products and calcium supplementation can result in significant weight loss through the burning rather than the storing of fat. This is a result of the role that stored calcium plays in the breakdown and burning of fat inside our body’s cells.

The Science Behind Calcium and Weightloss

Here is an excerpt from an article on the study, written by Jeanie Larche Davis:

“The researchers used mice bred to be obese in their current study. The mice were fed a special high-fat, high-sugar diet for six weeks. All had a 27% increase in body fat.

Some were then switched to a calorie-restricted diet. Of those, one group was given calcium supplements (calcium carbonate similar to Tums) and others were fed “medium” and “high” amounts of low-fat dry milk.

Body fat storage was markedly reduced by all three high-calcium diets, say the authors.
Those given calcium supplements had good results, when combined with the restricted-calorie diet.

Mice getting their calcium via supplements had a 42% decrease in body fat, whereas mice eating without supplements had an 8% body fat loss.”

Exploring Why It Works 

This was of great interest to me, and it felt important to share. Over the past 10 years, I have observed that during any period of time when I have consistently taken calcium supplementation, in the form of powdered calcium/magnesium, my body weight has definitely decreased.

Within a month or so of not taking the calcium/magnesium powder, the weight starts to creep back on. This article helps to answer the question of why. Thyroxine, secreted by the thyroid, is a critical hormone in intracellular metabolism. Thyroxine also has a significant impact on intracellular metabolism and on the utilization of calcium.

Having a calcium rich diet allows the thyroxin that is necessary for cellular metabolism to be more efficient in utilizing the fat stored in our cells for energy! That is why high calcium diets facilitate weight loss.

Armed with that information we can enjoy eating our spinach, kale and sardines, knowing they are working away to keep our body fat burning.

For more whole health discussions, listen to Dr. Georgianna Donadio’s radio show Living Above The Drama.

A Natural Approach to Resolving Acne

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A Natural Approach To Acne by Dr. Georgianna Donadio of National Institute of Whole Health

Parents as well as teenagers know one of the most frustrating events at any age is having facial blemishes and acne. A universally important aspect of a person’s appearance is clear, healthy skin.

Given this, it is little wonder that billions of dollars are spent every year on achieving good skin as well as billions spent on cover-ups and make-up to cancel skin blemishes.
Our skin appearance is important to overall appeal. Our skin tells a story about our internal health and hormone function, both of which are tied into our attractiveness.

In my Whole Health and nutrition practice, assisting adolescents in clearing up their skin problems is one of the conditions we see that responds well to a natural approach to the problem.

By educating on how acne and pimples develop on the skin, this allows for various lifestyle changes that can naturally improve or resolve the skin breakouts. Skin blemishes are related to the production of androgens, which are hormones secreted into the blood stream.

Androgens are potent “chemicals”, specifically hormones. Androgens are secreted into our blood stream. Our liver produces blood plasma proteins, which bind up and inactivate the majority of androgens, so that only a small percent of androgens are free to enter our cells.

In adolescence, the body needs time to adjust to and regulate hormone secretions, and a young body and brain can become physically and even emotionally overwhelmed by the effect of androgens on the cells and on the brain.

Androgens enter hair follicles and sebaceous cells. Once the androgens get inside the cell, a specific enzyme converts the androgens into a more highly active form. The active androgens then enter the nucleus of the cell where it interacts with genetic material. This can lead to highly stimulated oil glands, which creates acne.

Depending upon:

a) the amount of androgens available to enter the cells

b) how well the liver is controlling the active androgens

c) the nutrition of the person and its effect on liver metabolism

d) the amount of waste and/or toxins being re-absorbed into the liver from the bowel environment and importantly – the amount of exercise the adolescent is doing that will utilize the androgens to build and create muscle tissue, thus reducing the amount of androgen that might be absorbed into the cells.

A successful and natural way to clear up adolescent acne is with exercise – vigorous, regular exercise. Within a few weeks, the androgens are utilized to build strong muscle fibers and the skin blemishes can clear up so well it can seem like a miracle!

When someone is taking steroids one of the side effects is significant acne that is seen on the back and the face. When the steroid use is discontinued the acne goes away.

In addition to regular vigorous exercise, healthy eating which includes vegetables and fruits, drinking plenty of water, skin hygiene and proper amounts of sleep all help the body to function well thus supporting the proper regulation of androgens and the resultant healthy, attractive skin.

Adolescence can be a challenging time for our skin, as the body is learning to regulate the hormone secretions that new to our systems. Skin is an external reflection of our internal health. By taking a health hygiene and whole person approach young skin can glow with radiant health and not blemishes.

For more whole health discussions, listen to Dr. Georgianna Donadio’s radio show Living Above The Drama.