Hi everyone!

Welcome to the September DO Life with Dr. Becker newsletter. It is sure to be an exciting month as we enter the greatest season of all, Fall! The weather will be cooling down and the smell of pumpkin spice is in the air. It's also exciting because my first video course on basic nutrition will go live in the next 2 weeks! Follow me on Instagram @dr.arianna_becker to be the first to know when it goes live and to receive a discount code for your first purchase!

To make sure you never miss my newsletter, be sure to subscribe by visiting DOLifeCoaching.com. Don't hesitate; it's free and packed with valuable content that can help give you the tools you need to transform your life!

Thank you for joining our community, and I'm excited to embark on this incredible health and wellness adventure with you!

Here’s to living your healthiest and happiest life,

Arianna Becker, D.O.

Expert's Advice

He has written a book called Lose Weight and Keep it off. A Clinical Evidence Based Approach for Successful Weight Management. His book is easy to read and has a lot of tips that are easily applied to your life. Here is what Dr. Rensberry has for us today:

Weight loss is much more complex than just calories in and calories out. It is governed by many aspects of our lives, from our genetics, to our hormones, to our microbiome. Still, a calorie deficit is required to lose weight. Here are some quick tips to help you get started on your way:

•  Get enough (restful) sleep (7-9 hours): There is a linear relationship for those getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night with increased weight.

• Manage stress: More stress often means more mindless caloric intake. Consider incorporating breathing exercises like Box Breathing for 2-5 min a day. 

• Dietary adjustments: This is what seems to always comes to mind first with weight loss. It is important, but more importantly is making changes you are willing to make for life. Here are a couple simple adjustments you can employ:

  • Minimize added sugar - These calories provide zero nutritional value

  • Avoid drinking calories - Make your stomach burn calories to digest your food, not the blender

  • Stop eating after supper - This simple change often decreases calorie intake by 300-500 calories which could be 1-2 pounds a week!

• Look for activity opportunities: You do not need to join a gym. Exercise doesn't help lose weight as much as it helps keep it off. I recommend building a daily walking habit - start by walking for 10 min a day and build up from there. Maybe park in the last spot and walk further to the store, or take the stairs for the first few floors, or do a lap around the store before starting to shop... Look for those opportunities to be more mobile and active and you will not regret it!

   

You can learn more about Dr. Rensberry's Direct Primary Care practice, Anchor Direct Primary Care at his website here.
 

Interpreting your cholesterol levels

As you all know, September is National Cholesterol Education Month (you knew that right?), so let's talk about cholesterol. Our bodies produce cholesterol on their own, and we make enough that we don’t need to get any from our diet. If you've been to your primary care physician, it's likely they have ordered a cholesterol blood test, known as a lipid panel in doctor speak. There are multiple different numbers that will come back to you in your results and I will discuss the following: Triglycerides, HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol.  If you have a copy of any of your past cholesterol tests, I recommend pulling it out so you can see what your numbers mean as we discuss them. 

Triglycerides are a type of lipid that are stored in your fat cells. You want to keep triglycerides below 150. When numbers are above 500 this increases your risk of pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening, so it is important to know your numbers. You can lower your triglycerides naturally by losing weight (if you are overweight) and increasing exercise. To keep your triglycerides in check, limit the following in your diet: juice, sugary drinks, sweets, white breads/baked goods, red meat, butter, fried foods, and cheese. 

HDL, or high density lipoprotein, is commonly referred to as the “good cholesterol." An easy way to remember this is to remember that the "H" in HDL means you want it to be high, or just remember that it is the Happy cholestorol. It is good to have high levels of HDL in your blood because it absorbs other cholesterol circulating in your blood and takes it back to the liver where it gets removed from the body. Ideally you want your HDL level on your blood work to be above 60. The higher the HDL, the more cardioprotection it provides, which means less chance of heart attack and stroke.  Your genetics can play a role in how high or low your HDL is, but increasing exercise and avoiding smoking are two things in your control that can help boost your HDL. 

LDL, or low density lipoprotein, is considered the “bad cholesterol” and the lower, the better. As with the "H" in HDL, remember that the "L" in LDL means you want to keep it low. LDL is the type of cholesterol that builds up as plaque in your arteries, so a high LDL increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. Typically on the lab report it will say that ideal LDL is less than 100, but 50-70 is actually optimal. For patients who have diabetes you definitely want to keep the LDL below 70, because, at baseline, patients with diabetes are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. 

Total cholesterol is (as the name suggests) the total amount of cholesterol that is circulating in your blood. You arrive at total cholesterol using the following calculation: HDL + LDL + (0.2 x triglycerides). You want to try to keep your total cholesterol low as well, ideally shooting for a total less than 200. 

To improve your LDL and total cholesterol consider the following: Foods high in saturated fat are linked to cardiovascular disease and the top causes of saturated fat in the diets of Americans are cheese, pizza, grain-based desserts like cake, dairy desserts like ice cream, and all meat, including chicken (which may come as a surprise). You can improve your cholesterol by reducing saturated fats. Animal products are a major source of cholesterol and saturated fat in our diet. Plants do not have any saturated fat with the exception of palm oil and coconut oil. Increasing soluble fiber in your diet can also improve your cholesterol numbers because soluble fiber binds itself to LDL cholesterol in your intestines and keeps your body from absorbing it. Instead, it is excreted when you take the Brown's to the Superbowl, so to speak, which lowers your blood cholesterol levels and leads to improved heart health. 

By modifying your diet you can see significant improvements in your cholesterol. In some cases you can bring your cholesterol down by improving your diet just as much as you could with a statin (the most commonly-used type of cholesterol-lowering medication). Sometimes you need both a statin AND dietary modifications to optimize your health, BUT if you can alter your eating habits so that you don't need a statin, that's the best case scenario!

With regards to cholesterol (and most other health related topics) reducing animal products in your diet is helpful. I’m not saying everyone needs to be vegan or completely 100% plant based, but the more you can lean that way, the more improvements you will see in your health. Studies show that by following a semi-vegetarian diet you can decrease your total and LDL cholesterol by 10-15%. By switching to a vegan diet you can reduce LDL and total cholesterol by 15-20%

By switching to vegetarian or vegan diet with added fiber/soy and nuts you can decrease LDL and total cholesterol by 20-35%.

My husband said the only way he would continue being primarily plant-based with me was if he saw a significant drop in his cholesterol. I told him to give it 6 months. His LDL dropped from 161 all the way down to 93, which is the lowest it has ever been, so no cheeseburgers for him anytime soon. 

Book Recomendation

Here are the main points I took away from this awesome book: 

• Embrace what matters, ditch what doesn't, and get stuff done. 

• Real transformation happens in small steps. For example, do one yoga pose daily if you want to get good at  yoga. If you do enough small steps it will add up to large changes. You just need to do the easy, small steps consistently. 

• Making constant decisions all day is exhausting, even if they are about little things. To avoid being overwhelmed, set some fixed decisions so you only have to make the decision once. For example, wear the same thing every Monday. (Incidentally, Dr. Rensberry had a self-imposed daily uniform he wore to work, which included his signature red shirt, as seen in his photo above. Genius.) It can bring calm and focus. This reduces the need to think and plan constantly

• Put everything in order. Everything has a place; keep it there. This will reduce clutter, and therefore stress. 

• Batch similar tasks together so that you aren't trying to multitask several different things at once. Come up with a routine where you can do whatever the task(s) is (are) on autopilot to save space in your brain for stuff that matters. For example, when cleaning up after dinner, focus on loading all the dishes in the dishwasher and ignore that sock on the ground that needs to go in the laundry until you're finished.

• Ask yourself "what can I do now to make my life easier later." The easier something is for you, the more likely you are to do it. Set yourself up so that the easy thing to do is the thing that aligns with your goals.  

• Diffuse stressful situations later by planning for it today. 

• Adopt routines. For example, exercise every morning at the same time so that there is no question as to when you will be able to squeeze a workout in today. Consistency is key.

• Introduce rules. For example, make your bed every morning before you leave your bedroom.

• Everything needs a place in your house. Display only your most prized belongings.  

• You need rest and "you" time. Schedule an entire day just for yourself in the next 3 months. 

• The longest relationship you will have in your life is the one you will have with yourself. That is the only relationship you will always have with certainty. You are your own best friend. Value who you are. Be kind to yourself.  

• Figure out what's important to you and what brings you joy and never feel guilty about it.

• You are enough. Don't get stuck in a perfectionist mindset

Check out this book yourself to see what other tips you pick up!

Recipe of the Month

My mother-in-law is known for her delicious breakfast oatmeal bakes, which fits perfect for Cholesterol Education Month since oatmeal is a great food to help lower your cholesterol, due to its fiber content. Her recipes inspired me to start making some on my own, with a plant-based spin, and I've been trying to perfect one of my own over the last couple years. This recipe was originally taken from the blog Eat with Clarity. I modified it by substituting applesauce for the coconut oil, in order to reduce saturated fat, and skipping the glaze. I also use peanut butter rather than almond butter, just because I like it better.  My husband says I can't technically call it "Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal" if I don't have the white frosting that the recipe calls for, but honestly the peanut butter/maple syrup mixture on top is all you need. My kids really like having it with fresh berries. 

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

• Add the oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a bowl and mix well. 

• Add in all remaining ingredients and stir together. 

• Pour into an 8" x 8" baking dish 

• Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean and the edges are golden brown.

• While the oats are baking, start the cinnamon swirl topping by adding the peanut butter, applesauce, maple syrup and cinnamon and mix well. We use natural peanut butter, which sometimes needs to be microwaved a bit to get it to soften enough for mixing.

• Let the oats cool slightly and top with cinnamon glaze and fruit. Enjoy!

September Challenge

This month, let's try not to eat anything after dinner 6 days out of the week. Not 7 ,because life happens, but we should be able to shoot for 6! As Dr. Rensberry said, this could cut out 300-500 calories/day which can be 1-2 lbs a week. One thing I have found that helps me is to brush, floss, and mouthwash immediately after dinner. This is typically how you tell your body that you are done eating for the night, and the more you convince your body of that, the easier this will be. Plus after brushing with toothpaste and using mouthwash, eating anything sounds kinda gross, right? Plus who wants to re-do all of that stuff if you give in to a craving? I certainly don't.  

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Cheers to a healthier you,

Arianna Becker, D.O.