Unseen health crisis: Caring for yourself when you’re the caregiver

While we focus on cures for disease, patient health, and tools for recovery, one important aspect of health care often goes overlooked: the caregivers. These are the folks who typically manage full-time jobs, a family with children, and household duties while also caring for an ill or disabled spouse or family member, often one with Alzheimer’s. Many caregivers work around the clock juggling their responsibilities, typically without help, and must cope with the sorrow and distress of caring for an ill patient. They can never be away long or take time off, they struggle financially, and do not have time for their own health care, hobbies, or social life. With so many people in the caregiver role today, it’s important they recognize when their own health is compromised.

Many caregivers die before patient from stress-related illness

The demands of caregiving can be demanding and overwhelming, often putting the caregiver’s own health in jeopardy. In fact, many caregivers die from stress-related disorders before the patient dies. Women, who make up most of caregivers, tend to fare worse than men.

Caregivers are also more likely to suffer from a variety of stress-related disorders. Depression is of particular concern, affecting between 40 to 70 percent of caregivers, particularly those caring for someone with dementia.

Caregivers suffer from increased rates of physical ailments, obesity, serious illness, heart disease, and cancer. The combined effect results in a 60 percent higher mortality rate than their non-caregiving peers. These sobering statistics spring from the effects of unrelenting and severe stress on the body. It’s no wonder caregivers are also more likely to contemplate suicide.

Tips for caregivers to preserve health and prevent disease

There are no easy answers to the growing caregiver crisis, however awareness is important. By recognizing the toll caregiving has on health, caregivers are in a better position to get the care they need. Research shows the stress of caregiving can be alleviated by education and support programs. For instance, The Alzheimer’s Association offers a guide to local and online support groups, a 24-hour help line, and tips on managing your health.

Although it’s difficult for caregivers to squeeze in enough time for their own health, it’s imperative to prioritize it. Strategies caregivers can employ to protect their own health and well being include the following:

• Make time to de-stress. There are many methods you can employ for even a few minutes a day to buffer the effects of stress, including meditation, yoga, walking, laughing, etc. It may not feel that rewarding in the moment, but the cumulative effect is significant.
   
• Find social support. Whether it’s a support group or a therapist, regular social support can ward off depression.
   
• Take advantage of available services. You may be unduly burdening yourself. Some areas have local agencies that can provide relief in the way of meals, adult day care facilities, or home health aides.
   
• Put yourself first. Caregivers may feel uncomfortable putting their needs first. Ask for help from people in specific ways and understand you deserve to put your health first.
   
• Walk it out. Regular exercise is one of the greatest ways to unwind and protect your health. If you’re too exhausted to work out vigorously, not to worry. Just 20 to 30 minutes of walking most days can still go a long way in terms of prevention and relaxation.
   

Cauliflower: The versatile wonder vegetable

When you’re following a strict diet to calm inflammation, repair a leaky gut, or manage an autoimmune disease, the lack of variety can be frustrating. But you’d be surprised how deftly the humble cauliflower can jazz up your meals. Cauliflower’s first impression is not good. It’s pale, bland, and smelly when steamed. But cauliflower’s gift is in shape-shifting ability to mimic a variety of dishes by taking on the flavor of whatever it’s cooked with. Another plus? Cauliflower keeps well, patiently waiting for up to a few weeks in the refrigerator drawer for your attention, and prepping it is easy.

Mark Twain said “cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” Indeed it is related to cabbage and a member of the disease-fighting brassicas, which also include broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts. Cauliflower is low in calories, high in fiber, and rich in vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, and a health protective compound called isothiocyanate.

Although rich in nutritious cancer-preventive phytochemicals, cauliflower also contains goitrogens, compounds that can suppress thyroid function. However, cooking neutralizes much of this property and cauliflower and brassicas are fine for many people with low thyroid activity when eaten in appropriate amounts (for example, not juiced and consumed in large quantities.) The more sensitive thyroid patients may want to monitor the effects of brassicas on their thyroid health. But for the average person the health benefits of cauliflower and other brassicas far outweigh any potential effects of goitrogens, the risks of which are not well documented in the first place.

Cauliflower can be enjoyed in a variety of ways

Cauliflower’s beauty is in its versatility, especially if you are on a restricted diet. Once you discover how to work with it, you may find it becomes a regular item in your shopping cart. Below are some of the ways you can enjoy cauliflower.

Mock mashed potatoes. When seasoned well, mashed cauliflower can be a delicious and attractive substitute for mashed potatoes without skewering your blood sugar. Steam or simmer in broth before mashing, and add garlic, salt, pepper, and your choice of healthy fat (ghee, olive oil, coconut oil, butter, or even duck fat).

Cauliflower rice. The secret to cauliflower rice is to pulse cauliflower florets in the food processor until it’s the size of rice grains. Sauté it in a pan with onions and a healthy fat and season.

Cauliflower pizza crust. Cauliflower pizza crust starts with using the food processor to make cauliflower rice, cooking (most recipes call for the microwave for this step), wringing it dry in a kitchen towel, and then mixing with egg and seasoning before flattening onto a pizza stone and baking. Then top with your favorite ingredients and bake again.

Roasted cauliflower, or cauliflower “popcorn.” It doesn’t sound that interesting, but roasted cauliflower can be a surprising crowd pleaser, especially if seasoned creatively. Cut cauliflower florets into uniform pieces, toss with your favorite oil and seasoning, and flip occasionally while roasting until evenly browned.

Cauliflower puree. Pureeing cauliflower in soups is a wonderful way to create a thick base without blood sugar-spiking flours. Add it to your favorite broth with sautéed onion or shallots and garlic, puree, season, and throw in some chopped vegetables for color.

Replace diet soda addiction with a whole foods habit

You know you need to kick the soda habit, so why not just drink diet soda? It may be tempting, but there are no free rides when it comes to artificial chemicals. Aspartame, sold under the names NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, Equal-Measure, and AminoSweet, is in more than 6,000 foods, including diet sodas, and has received more than 10,000 FDA complaints—more than all other food additives combined. Two-thirds of complaints are for neurological and behavioral reactions with the rest falling mainly to gastrointestinal effects. Since only an estimated 1 percent of the population reports complaints, it’s believed many more people suffer from aspartame reactions.

Reported symptoms include headaches, mood alterations, hallucinations, seizures, nausea, insomnia, anxiety attacks, vertigo, fatigue, rashes, irritability, heart palpitations, slurred speech, loss of hearing, loss of taste, gastrointestinal distress, and many more.

Aspartame linked with neuro symptoms; cancer

The phenylalanine in aspartame increases levels of the brain chemical dopamine, known as the “pleasure-and-reward” neurotransmitter. Over stimulating dopamine can lead to low serotonin and symptoms of depression, and trigger other symptoms such as migraines.

Aspartame contains other chemicals that affect the brain and nervous system. The aspartic acid in aspartame is known to be an excitotoxin, meaning it over stimulates brain cells to the point they die. Excitotoxins also cause a breakdown in communication between neurons and the fibers that connect them, further promoting degeneration of the brain and potential symptoms.

Aspartame also breaks down into byproducts, which are toxic themselves and linked to cancer, particularly lymphomas and leukemias. In one study, rats given the equivalent of four to five bottles of diet soda a day had high rates of these cancers.

Given the popularity of artificially sweetened sodas and other products, the safety of aspartame is controversial. However, if you’re working to improve your health, relieving the toxic burden on your body is an important part of this process, especially given the potential for neurological effects. No two brains are alike and it’s impossible to determine how anyone will react to chemicals that affect neurology.

Replacing diet soda addiction with whole foods habit

Many people find diet sodas are addictive and difficult to give up. The truth is, weaning yourself off sweets and artificial stimulating foods takes commitment and effort. The goal is to develop a natural inclination and craving for whole foods  It sounds impossible at first, but people who have done it find they crave vegetables, fruits, and healthy meals. They say artificial and processed foods make them feel “icky” compared to the clean, revitalizing feeling you get from a whole foods diet.

Find a refreshing substitute for your diet soda habit, such as sparkling water with some lemon or lime juice. By replacing your diet sodas with real water you hydrate and cleanse your body, which helps reduce cravings. Often cravings for junk food are just a disguise for thirst.

Also, begin adding nutrient-dense whole foods into each meal and create a positive association with these foods. By gradually and repeatedly adding more nutrient dense foods to your diet you will begin to crave them while finding the drug-like artificial foods less appealing. Also make sure you are getting enough vital nutrients such as omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D3, and minerals.

For more information on developing a whole foods habit, contact my office.

Why you need to filter your tap water

Do you really need to filter your tap water, or is that just a marketing gimmick to sell water filters? Modern water treatment systems protect us from serious waterborne diseases such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia, parasites that cause illness. But while disinfecting municipal water supplies keeps us safe from parasites, we’re instead faced with the added toxic burden of the chemicals used for treatment, as well as the hundreds of pollutants that make their way into our water supplies.

Different chemicals are used to treat water, most notably chlorine and chloramine. Chlorine is used in most water supplies and has a long track record whereas chloramine, which has not been studied as extensively as chlorine, is in about one quarter of households. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia and is used because, unlike chlorine, it stays in the water longer and cannot be removed through boiling, distilling, or letting water sit uncovered. Although both kill waterborne pathogens, they are somewhat toxic in themselves. Chloramine is corrosive to pipes and increases exposure to lead in drinking water in older homes. Chloramine-treated water also should not be used in fish tanks, hydroponics, home brewing, or for dialysis.

Toxic byproducts in tap water

What’s worse is that these chemicals have been shown to react with ordinary organic particles in water to create toxic, carcinogenic compounds. These byproducts are quite a bit more toxic than the chemicals alone. In studies these chlorination byproducts have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals, trigger the production of inflammatory free radicals, irritate the skin and mucus membranes, affect the nervous system, and cause birth defects. Some researchers even point to an association between these byproducts and thousands of cases of bladder cancer each year.

Although the EPA regulates water treatment, its standards are based on annual averages. In reality, levels of these toxic byproducts vary throughout the year according to farming cycles.

Also, the chemicals added to water aren’t the whole picture. Contributing to the toxic load are the hundreds of chemicals that make their way into water from car exhaust, pollution, farming, and industrial waste. Evidence of many pharmaceutical drugs can be found in water, too. Some research shows more than 100,000 of these chemicals are in our water supplies.

As you can see, filtering your drinking water can help reduce the toxic burden on your body. Unfortunately, bottled water is not always a good choice. It is often as contaminated as tap water, or worse. Also, discarded plastic water bottles create serious global pollution, particularly of our oceans.

Use a filter for cleaner water

Fresh spring water is a good source of clean water. If that’s not available, filtering your water can help cut down on your exposure to these many man-made chemicals and their toxic byproducts. Sediment, chlorine, heavy metals, hormones, drug residues, pesticides, and other chemicals will be removed with a heavy-duty carbon filter. Your filter should remove particles 0.8 microns or under. Chloramine can be harder to remove, so check to see if your city water has chloramine and look for a filter that can remove it.

Although you definitely want to filter your drinking water, it’s best to also filter water coming from taps and the shower as you also absorb toxic chemicals through the skin. Whole-house filters are a good option for this.

Resources for the autoimmune leaky gut diet

The leaky gut diet, also known as the autoimmune diet or anti-inflammatory diet, changes lives. Removing inflammatory foods allows an inflamed and damaged gut to repair, which in turn allows damage in the body and brain to recover and repair. However, despite the phenomenal success rate of the leaky gut diet, it can look very daunting, if not impossible, to the beginner.

In a nutshell, the leaky gut or autoimmune diet is free of grains, dairy, eggs, all sweeteners, nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), and processed foods. What’s left is a diet that focuses on plenty of vegetables, cultured vegetables, such as sauerkraut, and healthy meats and fats. You should eat regularly enough to avoid drops in blood sugar and drink plenty of filtered or spring water.

Because the diet is rather stringent, grabbing a quick meal while you’re out or conjuring a meal from an empty fridge is tricky. The most important strategy for success on the leaky gut diet is planning and preparation. You have to be one step ahead of yourself when it comes to future meals. Also, as the diet can be so new to people, simply knowing what to eat is a brain tease in itself.

Following are some resources to help you embark with confidence on the leaky gut diet.

Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook

The author created this book as a result of her own journey on the autoimmune diet and the significant recovery it brought her. Seeing a need for support with menu planning and recipes, she created the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook.

Allergy-free Menu Planners

This is another support service in the way of planning and recipes. The Allergy-free Menu Planner sends you monthly menu plans that include shopping lists and menus for every night of the week.

Celiac.com

If you’re new to eating gluten-free, the lists of legal and illegal foods can be confusing. Gluten is lurking in many seemingly innocuous foods, such as condiments, sauces, and even airline peanuts. Celiac.com is a site that details what is and isn’t safe on a gluten-free diet and provides information on gluten-free sources.

Cultures for Health

Consuming cultured foods and drinks is an essential part of the leaky gut diet to help restore a healthy balance of gut flora. To the newcomer, fermenting, culturing, and kefiring can seem foreign and even risky. Cultures for Health provides plenty of easy how-to articles and videos, as well as starter cultures. You also may be able to find starter cultures locally through food co-ops or on Craigslist.org. Pickl-It supplies airtight culturing containers for a genuine ferment that is low in histamines, compounds that can trigger inflammation.

Grass-fed meats

The ideal types of meat on the leaky gut diet are pastured meats raised on small farms. The animals are raised ethically and on diets nature intended, and are free from hormones, antibiotics, and GMO feeds. Because grass-fed meats have become so popular, you may be able to find them on small farms in your area or at health food stores. US Wellness Meats is an online source that can ship a wide variety of frozen pastured meats to your home.

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is a staple on the leaky gut diet, taking the place of butter for many cooking needs (unless you are sensitive, which some people are). Thankfully coconut oil is becoming more commonplace on the shelves of health food stores and even Costco. Tropical Traditions was one of the first to offer coconut oil for sale online and continues to offer premium oils.

These are just a few resources to get you started. For more advice on the leaky gut diet and nutritional compounds to facilitate your wellness journey, contact my office.

Can your brain breathe? How to oxygenate your brain

Even though you can breathe normally your brain may not be getting enough oxygen. Lack of oxygen in the brain is not something the average person can recognize. However it can cause poor brain function and increase the risk of vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s. The brain can be hungry for oxygen years or decades before dementia sets in. Risk factors include high or low blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, smoking, alcoholism, and high cholesterol.

By learning to recognize symptoms you can take action to increase oxygenation of your brain, improve brain function, and reduce your risk of vascular dementia.

How to tell whether your brain can breathe

The brain contains one of the body’s most dense networks of blood vessels, which carry oxygen. It is very susceptible to any hindrances in blood flow. When the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain is hindered, brain cells die and the brain degenerates.

Many conditions can affect blood flow to the brain, things not normally associated with brain function. They include:

• Smoking
• Chronic inflammation (such as chronic pain, an autoimmune disease, or other inflammatory disorder)
• Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
• High blood sugar (insulin resistance)
• Hypothyroidism
• Diabetes
• Anemia
• Chronic stress
• Aging

Symptoms that may alert you to poor flow of blood and oxygen to the brain include cold hands and feet, becoming easily fatigued, brain fog, erectile dysfunction, and chronic toenail and fingernail fungus.

How to help your brain breathe better

Two of the most effective ways to oxygenate the brain are to lower inflammation and stabilize blood sugar. An anti-inflammatory diet is designed to lower overall inflammation in the body, which can boost blood flow to the brain. Be sure to eat a hearty breakfast with protein, eat regularly enough to avoid blood sugar lows (but avoid overeating), and avoid foods that spike your blood sugar, such as sweets or refined carbohydrates. Just focusing on an anti-inflammatory whole foods diet can go a long way to improving blood flow to the brain.

Certain herbs improve oxygenation to the brain. They include Ginkgo biloba, vinpocetine, and Butcher’s broom.

How to exercise to improve blood flow to the brain

Exercise is a great way to improve overall blood flow. High-intensity interval training in particular dilates blood vessels, lowers inflammation, and improves blood flow to the brain. This involves reaching your maximum heart rate with just a short but vigorous burst of exercise, resting, and repeating. It’s important, however, to work within your ability and avoid overtraining or you’ll negate the benefits. Even just a few minutes of high-intensity exercise can improve blood flow in the brain.

Improving blood flow to the brain may also include managing hypothyroidism, anemia, or other conditions. The book Why Isn’t My Brain Working? by Datis Kharrazian covers the topic of brain oxygenation. Ask my office for advice on improving brain health.

Quick and easy tip to avoid sitting disease

Even if you exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet, researchers are increasingly finding just the act of sitting for long hours—something many of us are forced to do for work—still predisposes you to many modern ailments. However, new findings show you don’t have to give up your desk job to stay healthy as long as you set an alarm that frequently reminds you to stand up.

Long days of sitting are linked with increased risk of heart disease, excess belly fat, chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and diabetes. The metabolic changes predisposing us to these conditions happen quickly, within 24 hours.

Fortunately for the desk jockeys, former NASA researcher Joan Vernikos, who studied the negative effects of sitting and how to counteract them, presents evidence for a sitting antidote in her book Sitting Kills, Moving Heals. Vernikos’ research found you can counteract the negative effects of sitting by standing up. A lot.

Best results are achieved by simply standing up every 20 minutes. It’s best to set an online alarm so you don’t forget because stretching out your intervals to even every 35 minutes provides only a fraction of the benefit. What is even more interesting is that standing every 20 minutes is more effective than going for a daily walk in terms of ameliorating the effects of long hours in the chair (although daily walks are extremely beneficial for a host of other reasons.)

Why standing up frequently helps combat sitting disease

The key to standing up frequently is that it forces your body to interact with gravity. One thing the space program has learned is the body and brain require gravity in order to function. Vernikos saw the lack of gravitational forces that sickened and prematurely aged astronauts had the same effect on bedridden people. NASA researchers learned a gravity-free environment accelerates the aging process by 10 times. The same mechanisms that cause one to age quickly in space lie behind the increased risk of disease from sitting long hours.

Although regular strength training workouts, high-intensity interval sessions, and even daily walks have been associated with dramatically lower risks of disease and dementia, the key to combating sitting’s detrimental effects is constant activity throughout each day that forces your body to work against gravity. Vernikos’ findings show gravity plays a role in health and aging, so use it to your advantage as frequently as possible.

This is good news for people who are not willing or able to stand all day at a standing desk (Vernikos says standing all day is also not healthy; we are meant to move through a variety of positions throughout the day). Nor do you necessarily have to build or invest in a treadmill desk. According to Vernikos, humans are meant to squat, kneel, and move consistently throughout the day.

The sitting disease antidote protocol

To combat the negative health effects of sitting disease, do the following:

• Find an online alarm or alarm app that goes off every 20 minutes, reminding you to stand. Sitting and standing 35 times in a row does not deliver the same effect as spreading it out in regular intervals.
   
• If possible, work against gravity more vigorously at your 20 minute intervals by squatting or doing squat jumps.
   
• Move in your chair and maintain good posture with shoulders back as much as possible.
   
• Incorporate “non-exercise” activity throughout the day, such as reaching for things, bending, kneeling, walking, lifting, and so on. Basically, avoid what is convenient for what is more active.

Are you in chronic pain? Go to the root cause

Chronic pain can drain you of energy, joy, and hope and make everyday activities seem like insurmountable obstacles. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, prescription pain meds, and steroids may bring temporary relief, but they come with complications and do not address the underlying causes of chronic pain. For more genuine and permanent relief, it’s important to address what is causing the pain to be chronic.

Is inflammation causing your chronic pain?

One of the most common causes of chronic pain is inflammation. Inflammation is the result of an immune response to remove harmful compounds, including damaged cells. It is necessary for healing and protecting the body, however runaway inflammation keeps the immune system on red alert and can cause chronic pain anywhere (or everywhere) in the body. One of the most important things to address if you suffer from chronic pain is inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory diet for pain

Following an anti-inflammatory diet is foundational to dampening inflammation. Many everyday foods are actually very inflammatory and people can experience considerable relief by removing these foods from their diet. For instance, two of the most common pro-inflammatory foods are gluten and dairy, something most people eat at almost every meal. Many people have found considerable pain relief simply by eliminating these foods from their diet. You can find out which foods are inflammatory for you through a food sensitivity panel or simply by following the anti-inflammatory diet for about a month and then reintroducing foods one at a time every 72 hours and monitoring for reactions.

Some people find a group of vegetables called “nightshades” cause pain and inflammation in their joints. Nightshades include eggplant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, and hot pepper products (cayenne, Tabasco, etc.). Simply removing nightshades from the diet has brought relief from joint pain for many.

However, don’t ditch vegetables completely. Ample vegetable consumption, including veggies that are cultured, is a key component to a pain-busting diet.

Ditch the sugar to tame chronic pain

In conjunction with removing anti-inflammatory foods, it’s also important the diet work to stabilize blood sugar. Blood sugar that is too low, too high, or that swings between the two will contribute to inflammation. One of the best ways to stabilize blood sugar is to ditch the sugar and refined carbohydrates. Not only does the sweet stuff destabilize blood sugar, it also directly causes inflammation. Eliminating or minimizing sweets is vital to taming chronic pain.

Unwinding vicious cycles of pain

The problem with chronic pain is it can create vicious cycles both in the immune system and in the brain that perpetuate pain. In other words, the pain itself stimulates the body to create more pain. Fortunately, certain nutritional compounds have been shown to help unwind these vicious cycles. They include therapeutic doses of emulsified and highly absorbable vitamin D3, omega 3 fatty acids, turmeric, and resveratrol. Other natural compounds and therapies can also help with pain relief while you work on bringing down inflammation naturally.

Ask my office for more information on alleviating your chronic pain by addressing the underlying cause.

Manage childhood obesity without dieting

Although no one allows their child to become overweight or obese on purpose, being heavy is hard on children. It saps self-esteem, makes physical activity harder, and predisposes children to adult diseases earlier in life. Obesity doesn’t have to be a prison sentence for children—using newer understandings of obesity parents can help guide their children to a healthier weight. We know now it’s more than just calories in versus calories out. Food choices, inflammation, gut bacteria, and sleep are factors that influence obesity.

Balance blood sugar to manage childhood obesity

Low-fat diets have long been heralded as the antidote to excess body fat, but research increasingly shows it is excess sugars and refined carbohydrates that promote obesity. These foods negatively impact blood sugar handling and promote insulin resistance, a condition that often leads to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Many find the key to losing unwanted weight is to ditch the sodas, shakes, and fruit juices, substitute fruit for desserts, eat a protein-rich breakfast, and to eat a diet that includes vegetables, protein, and healthy fats. Also, avoid meals that are heavy on high-glycemic foods, such as potatoes or rice.

Ditch junk foods to combat obesity in children

Food that is packaged, processed, or from fast food restaurants often contains hydrogenated oils, chemical additives, excess sugars and refined carbohydrates, and insufficient fiber. Hydrogenated oils skew cellular function and promote blood sugar imbalances and obesity. These foods are also designed to be addictive and promote overeating. It is best to limit these foods to special occasions, if at all.

Ferret out food intolerances to reduce obesity-promoting inflammation

Chronic inflammation has been associated with obesity. One of the most common causes of chronic inflammation is a sensitivity or intolerance to a food. Many people have food sensitivities and don’t realize it. The most common sensitivity is to gluten, the protein found in wheat, spelt, rye, barley, and oats (unless they’re gluten-free oats). A food sensitivity panel or elimination diet can tell you which foods are causing inflammation and possibly promoting childhood obesity. Many people lose weight simply by removing the offending food, gluten and dairy in particular.

Balance gut bacteria to manage childhood obesity

Researchers increasingly are finding imbalances in our gut bacteria are linked to many disorders, including obesity. These imbalances can have their roots in C-section deliveries, bottle feeding, and antibiotic use in childhood. Consuming cultured foods, such as brined pickles and water kefir, taking probiotics, and eating ample vegetables (the insoluble fiber promotes colonization of healthy bacteria) are ways to help balance gut flora.

Make sure your child sleeps enough to prevent obesity

Sleep deprivation has been solidly linked with weight gain. Chronic lack of sleep promotes fat storage, prevents fat burning, increases hunger and cravings for sweets, and lowers metabolism. Children should be getting plenty of sleep regardless—more than adults—to facilitate proper growth and development. But sufficient sleep is also critical to combating childhood obesity.

These are just a few strategies that incorporate new findings in childhood obesity and do not require your child to starve to lose weight. Of course, healthy portions and plenty of physical activity are still important, but by simply tweaking what’s on the menu you can help your child enjoy an active childhood in a slimmer body and reduce his or her risk of obesity-related diseases too early in life.

For more advice or support in managing your child’s obesity, contact my office.

Lack of sleep can make you fat

Finding it hard to lose weight? Although many factors can hinder weight loss, one of the sneakier is sleep deprivation. Research shows people who regularly sleep five hours or less a night can gain as much as two pounds in a week. One study showed women who slept five or fewer hours were more likely to gain about 30 pounds over time compared to women who slept at least seven hours per night. Poor sleepers are also more prone to obesity-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

Lack of sleep increases snacking on starchy foods

Lack of sleep increases cravings so people snack more frequently, particularly at night—eating on average an extra 300 calories a day. The sleep-deprived also tend to eat a small breakfast and choose high-carbohydrate snacks, undoubtedly for that quick energy fix, both of which lead to blood sugar imbalances and weight gain.

As one would expect, study subjects who sleep seven or more hours per night also exercise more, and thus burn more calories, while sleep deprivation prevents you from burning calories efficiently. One study of men showed sleep-deprivation reduced general energy expenditure by 5 percent, and reduced energy expenditure after meals by 20 percent. In other words, being tired slows your body’s metabolism down.

Sleep deprivation increases hunger and promotes fat storage

One of the more profound ways lack of sleep promotes weight gain is by influencing the hormones that control hunger and satiety. For instance, chronic sleep deprivation raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol tells the body it needs more energy to meet the demands of stress, which causes an increase of hunger and cravings.

Lack of sleep also increases grehlin, a hormone that promotes hunger and fat storage. In fact, one study showed that although dieters could lose weight while sleep deprived, they lost about a third of the weight compared to the healthy sleepers. Researchers believe this is due to grehlin’s fat storing actions.

Sleep deprivation also decreases leptin, the satiety hormone that tells you when you’ve had enough to eat. So in a double whammy, lack of sleep both increases hunger and inhibits the ability to feel full. The result is a natural inclination to eat more, and more frequently. Adding insult to injury is that the body burns most of its calories during REM, the deeply restful stage of sleep when you dream. Unfortunately, weight gain due to sleep deprivation doesn’t only happen slowly over time. Research shows just a few nights of sleep deprivation can pack on pounds.

Lack of sleep promotes insulin resistance

Sleep deprivation makes fat cells less sensitive to insulin, the hormone that ushers glucose into cells so they can produce energy. In effect, it makes a person more insulin resistant, which is a stepping-stone to obesity and diabetes. After depriving subjects in their twenties of sleep, researchers said their fat cells behaved like those of someone 20 years older.

Sleep deprivation promotes weight gain in people of all ages, including children. Although sleeping more may not necessarily cause you to lose unwanted pounds, getting adequate sleep is a vital component to any weight loss program.

Ask my office how we can help you promote better sleep to aid you on your weight loss journey.