The Slim Down Full Food Program The Positive Choice Wellness Center is starting a new, low-cost, suppport option for wieght loss, March 2013. This new program will help people lose weight using a wholesome, fresh food diet combined with gentle exercise. The program includes weekly classes on nutrition/fitness education and support for behavior modification. The fee for the twelve-week Slim Down Full Food Program is $200. Call the Positive Choice Wellness Center to enroll. (858)...
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Solutions to Insomnia
Sleeping Less in San Diego Can it Make You Sick, Fat, or Worse? By Vicki Pepper MS, RD If you are lucky, you will spend one-third of your life sleeping… and the other two-thirds of your life will be profoundly influenced by the quality and quantity of that sleep! Even one night of inadequate sleep can ruin your mood, impair your judgment, and sour your interactions with others. Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night. However, if you are typical, you are getting less sleep than that, and possibly less sleep with each passing year. Before the invention of the light bulb, the average American slept nearly ten hours a night. There’s only so much you can do by candle light! The next 50 years saw only a slight decrease in average sleep times. However, National Sleep Foundation Polls in 2005 and 2012 showed slumber decreased to seven hours by 2005 and continued to drop to an average of just 6.2 hours of sleep by 2012. That is a drop of about three hours per night since the late 19th century; a drop of two hours per night over the past 50 years and about a forty minute drop a night just since 2005. If sleep is so important, how is it we value it so little? One reason may be that we are not good at recognizing the negative effects of too little sleep. A study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania restricted people to less than six hours of sleep per night for two weeks; only a half hour less than the current national average. Over the two-week study, the volunteers reported only a small increase in sleepiness and rated themselves as “functioning normally.” However, when they were tested for memory, problem solving, and reaction times, their mental and physical abilities worsened progressively over the two-week study. In fact, their abilities deteriorated to such a degree that by the end of two weeks, the sleep deprived volunteers were as impaired as people who had stayed awake continuously for 48 hours. Culturally we pride ourselves on needing little sleep. It’s not cool to be the one who goes to bed early. Pulling all-nighters and...
Read MoreKaiser Permanente provides FREE Wellness Coaching by Phone; this personalized service assists you in reaching your lifestyle and wellness goals. Coaching is provided on five topics: Quit Tobacco; Get Active; Eat Healthy; Manage Weight; or Reduce Stress. Wellness Coaches partner with you to focus on healthy habits, create a customized plan, and schedule convenient telephone sessions. Wellness coaches use an evidence-based methodology to help boost your motivation and confidence to be successful. Must be a member of the Kaiser Permanente health Plan to participate. No referral is needed to access wellness coaching. Members can call the new phone number, (866) 862-4295, for an appointment. Wellness Coaching by Phone is available Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 7...
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Are Organic Foods Better?
That Flawed Stanford Study By MARK BITTMAN I tried to ignore the month-old “Stanford study.” I really did. It made so little sense that I thought it would have little impact. That was dumb of me, and I’m sorry. The study, which suggested — incredibly — that there is no “strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods,” caused as great an uproar as anything that has happened, food-wise, this year. (By comparison, the Alzheimer’s/diabetes link I wrote about last week was ignored.) That’s because headlines (and, of course, tweets) matter. The Stanford study was not only an exercise in misdirection, it was a headline generator. By providing “useful” and “counterintuitive” information about organic food, it played right into the hands of the news hungry while conveniently obscuring important features of organic agriculture. If I may play with metaphor for a moment, the study was like declaring guns no more dangerous than baseball bats when it comes to blunt-object head injuries. It was the equivalent of comparing milk and Elmer’s glue on the basis of whiteness. It did, in short, miss the point. Even Crystal Smith-Spangler, a Stanford co-author, perfectly captured the narrowness of the study when she said: “some believe that organic food is always healthier and more nutritious. We were a little surprised that we didn’t find that.” That’s because they didn’t look — or even worse, they ignored. In fact, the Stanford study — actually a meta-study, an analysis of more than 200 existing studies — does say that “consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” Since that’s largely why people eat organic foods, what’s the big deal? Especially if we refer to common definitions of “nutritious” and point out that, in general, nutritious food promotes health and good condition. How can something that reduces your exposure to pesticides and antibiotic-resistant bacteria not be “more nutritious” than food that doesn’t? Because the study narrowly defines “nutritious” as containing more vitamins. Dr. Dena Bravata, the study’s senior author, conceded that there are other reasons why people opt for organic (the aforementioned pesticides and bacteria chief among them) but said that if the decision between buying organic or...
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Cyndi: Lost 86 lbs.
My name is Cyndi Kalbaugh and in 2007 I lost 86 pounds in Kaiser Permanente’s Positive Choice Weight management Program. We all have our stories of how we put the weight on, mine started soon after I married. I was busy with “life” and pressing forward, working on my marriage, planning a career, helping my parents, and starting a family. I was devastated when my Dad passed away after losing his battle with heart disease. He had been obese most of his life. Still, I pressed on. I had a marriage to focus on, a career to develop, and I was taking care of my Mom who had been ill for many years. I focused on everything and everyone else but myself. I thought, “If I put everyone in front of me I won’t have to deal with myself and my emotions.” The pounds were creeping on… first 10 … then 20, then my first son and oops there’s another 20. A couple years later I had another child and added another 20 pounds. I had to take care of them, no time to worry about myself. At least that’s what I convinced myself of subconsciously. I strayed away from taking photos. I kept telling myself “I’m in control, I’ve been under a lot of stress, but if I get this weight off, I can take care of it from there.” That was the beginning of several years of yoyo dieting. I’d manage to lose weight, or at least some of it, but when it came to maintenance and I hadn’t dealt with my personal obstacles, then the weight would creep back on. It was hard for me to admit that I could have some personal issues. Even when my closest friends would tell me it’s okay to need help, I’d think to myself, “Not me, I’m in control.” Then a family member called me and shared devasting news of a serious health issue. I was turning 40 and all of a sudden I thought… “Oh my gosh I could be type 2 diabetic or have some other serious ailment and not even know it.” That was the beginning of this new journey. I decided to join Kaiser Permanente’s Positive Choice Wellness Center’s Weight Program. Within several months I had lost 86 pounds, but more importantly, this time I was ready to listen. Before I would have sat with other overweight people and thought “I’m not like...
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Carlene: Weight Loss Success
Carlene’s Story I wanted to lose weight for health reasons. It was getting harder to manage my blood pressure even on medication, I was pre-diabetic, my blood cholesterol was high, my knee hurt so much I wasn’t exercising, and I had other disturbing health problems. I am a Grandmother to 5 beautiful grandchildren and I wanted to be around to enjoy and have fun with them. After discussing options with my doctor, she recommended Kaiser Permanente’s Positive Choice Weight Management Programs. I was eager to resolve some of these health issues so decided to do the Full Fasting Program. Before starting, I wrote down all my health problems to help me remember why I felt I needed to do this program. I had a purpose far greater than just “looking good”. As I lost weight, people would tell me how great I was looking, and it was easy for me to quickly say, “The better story is that I am feeling better”. The looking good was a nice end result to another better reason for losing the weight. As I lost the weight, I did begin to feel a lot better. At one point, I moved a bucket of items in our storage unit that weighed about the amount of the weight I had lost. What a shock to realize how much I had been carrying; no wonder exercise was not a part of my life!!!! I wanted this so much that I never entertained thoughts of cheating. I also was never hungry. I was just so determined to do this for my health. The shakes never bothered me. I did what the program asked me to do. I drank the shakes, the chicken soup, and the water. I felt the program was wonderful. The staff was great. My weight loss counselor, Tama, was so helpful and positive. The receptionist, Allison, gave me great advice and cheered me on each week as she checked me in. :) Now that I have lost the weight my blood sugar levels are normal! Yeah!!! My blood pressure is good and I am on less medication. My blood cholesterol dropped from the 200’s to 179. I no longer have to take daily gastric...
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Sugar: A Sweet Deception
Get the PDF version of this article By Vicki Pepper, M.S., R.D., Kaiser Permanente, San Diego California When Emperor Darius invaded India in 510 B.C. he called it, “the reed which gives honey without bees.” The Crusaders called it sweet salt when they brought it to the European continent, and white gold is what the British called it in 1750 when it became the most valuable crop produced in all of Europe. Today we call it sugar and it is considered a basic food staple of the American diet. Sugar even rates a spot on the government food pyramids. Most Americans rarely go a day without consuming one form of sugar or another. We add it to just about everything—even ketchup, medicines, and baby food. The truth is that sugar is relatively new to the food chain. Unlike nuts, seeds, fruits, meats, and wild grains which have been found in the guts of primitive man and have been part of our consumption since our earliest history, sugar was discovered a mere 8,000 years ago and, until the last 40 years, people consumed very little of it. The harvesting and the making of sugar originated in New Guinea and then quickly spread to Polynesia, Indonesia, and eventually Northern India where it stayed until the seventh century. When Arabic peoples invaded India they quickly recognized sugar as valuable crop and carried the harvesting techniques to their conquered territories throughout the Arabian Peninsula where the technology stayed until the 11th century. It was the Crusaders who carried what they called sweet salt to Europe and later Columbus carried it across the seas to the Americas. Despite being of a substance of great desire, sugar was hard to come by, very expensive, and was something reserved for nobility and the very rich. So difficult were the conditions of harvesting it, that sugar is credited with the birth of African slavery as slaves were imported throughout the world to harvest sugar cane. It wasn’t until the 18th century that sugar was produced in enough quantities to become something the general public could afford and not until the early part of the 21st century that it was affordable enough to become a daily staple. In 1930,...
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Germina: Weight Loss Success
Germina’s Story I was classified as obese for 25 years, and could never stick to a weight loss program for very long. I was a compulsive overeater and was embarrassed by my weight, as well as the inability to control my eating. Every year I attended a banquet of runners with my husband, and each year I dreaded going because I was the only fat girl in the room. My self-esteem was low and I was not living the life I had always dreamed of. I could only dream of living a life free from food addiction. I finally realized that I had spent years putting everything else first and had forgotten to take care of me. At this point, I felt depressed and reached a low point in my life and decided that it was time to focus on myself. I also realized that I needed more than just a diet, so I went to an orientation at Kaiser’s Positive Choice program. I remember at the orientation the first thing I heard from the counselor was, “you will not be able to keep the weight off if you do not exercise.” I was determined not to fail like I had done so many other times. So the next morning, I woke up at 4:00am and went to the gym, and I have continued to go every morning since then. I chose to go on the Partial Fast Program in Kaiser’s Positive Choice program. This was because I wanted to face and conquer the beast within, my addiction to food. I listened to my counselor, participated in class, and shared with others as to why I used food to fill the void in my life. Each week I took one of the tools mentioned in class from the counselor and reflected on it throughout the week. For example, one week the counselor mentioned, “How much food will it take to solve the problem or fill the void within?” I reflected on this all week until finally I realized that no amount of food would solve the issues or fill the void. This was just one of the great lessons I learned from the program. After reaching my goal weight,...
Read MoreGet the PDF version of this article by Vicki Pepper, M.S., R.D. Kaiser Permanente, San Diego, CA If only you would lose some weight. You’ve heard that phrase a million times and then you hear things like…your knees or back wouldn’t hurt so much…your blood cholesterol would come down…you could go off blood pressure medication…avoid diabetes…get pregnant…get healthy…get a date…be happy…whatever! You know these things are true, but the idea of losing all your extra weight can be overwhelming, making it easier to give up and do nothing at all. The trouble with fat is that many people blame all their problems on it, but the truth is too much fat isn’t as much of a health problem as the lifestyle choices that lead to weight gain. Regaining and maintaining your health doesn’t necessarily mean attaining an ideal body weight. It may be more about making a few different choices on a daily basis. Physicians advise weight loss for various health problems because they know that restricting calories to the point of weight loss helps correct metabolic disturbances in the body. Losing as little as 10% body weight can reverse blood sugar problems, lower blood pressure, and decrease elevated blood lipids (cholesterol). That means that a six foot, 290 pound man needs to lose about 29 pounds to see health benefits. At 261 lbs. he may still be considered overweight—but as his blood sugar normalizes and blood lipids decrease with his 29 lb. loss, he is in much better health. The benefits of restricting calories can be seen in the dramatic effects of bariatric surgery on health. The surgery reduces the amount of food that can be eaten or absorbed. Blood sugar values typically normalize within days or weeks of having bariatric surgery even though patients are still carrying 100 lbs. or more of extra body fat. Luckily, the same health benefits are easy to achieve without the risk of surgery. We see the phenomena in Kaiser Permanente’s Positive Choice Weight programs participants every day. Over two-thirds of insulin dependent, type 2 diabetics—some of whom have struggled with diabetes for decades—attain normal blood sugar values within the first several weeks of using OPTIFAST® supplement in our full fast weight...
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Never Underestimate the Power of a Few Small Choices
Get the PDF version of this article by Vicki Pepper, M.S., R.D. Kaiser Permanente, San Diego California Never underestimate the power of a few small changes. Think of the ripple effect of throwing something so tiny it would seem unnoticeable into a pond. Seems like it wouldn’t matter much, but we know that it doesn’t take a lot to disturb the delicate ecological balance of a pond. Our bodies are very similar to environmental systems. Small changes in behaviors can and do lead to dramatic changes in our health and wellbeing. In this country changes in our food supply and lifestyle have had striking effects on our health. Twenty years ago only 10% of adults were obese, now 30% suffer from obesity. One in 50 children were obese in 1970, now one in three struggle with extra weight. Type 2 diabetes, once considered an old person’s disease, is now a growing epidemic in both children and adults. The small shifts in calorie intake and calories burned and the effects it has had on our health are highlighted in a recent article in the American Journal of Medicine. The study analyzed diet, weight, and health statistics for nursing students in the United States. The study followed the students from their 20s until they were in their 50s. During the 28-year study the students gained on average approximately 35 pounds. To gain 35 pounds over 28 years the students’ caloric balance (calories in minus calories out) was over by 370 calories a day. Behaviorally that could be accomplished by adding an additional 13 extra calories a day to your diet every year for 28 years. Unfortunately many Americans have faired worse than the students in the study. Statistics for the 20th century show that body weight was stable for most Americans through the late 80s. In the early 90s, adults and children started to gain weight rapidly. By 2008 obesity in America had increased from 10 to 14% to 25 to 30%, with several states reaching obesity rates of greater than 30% of the population. Child obesity rates grew 10 times as fast. In just 20 years the weight and, consequently, the health of America changed dramatically. Let’s look at a few...
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