Food as Medicine

Excerpt from Kari Natwick’s Wellness Radio Show presentation on 11-5-12. Kari provides Medical Nutrition Therapy; which is using food as medicine to treat or prevent a variety of diseases and medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, weight management, eating disorders, cancer or renal disease.

Along the lines of using food as medicine, let’s look at the role that nutrition and physical activity plays in disease prevention and management.   

We all have the power to prevent these all too common disease through changes in our lifestyle.  Managing or preventing chronic disease is hard work, but it can be done.  Managing or preventing chronic disease is all about lifestyle and making changes that not only reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases, but can improve your overall wellbeing.  Set small realistic goals to create a healthier lifestyle for yourself and your family.

Today I’m here to talk about a few ideas of things that everyone can do in order to prevent or manage chronic disease. 

1.      Eat Healthy

A healthy diet can help to protect you from heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.  So, what does it mean to eat healthy?   There are so many definitions of what a healthy diet means or can look like.  Never before, have there been so many fads and misinformation regarding nutrition, diet and their relationship to health.  So, I want to simplify this message.  Eat foods as close to their form in nature as possible.  This means, shopping the perimeter of your grocery store, buying more fruits and vegetables, decreasing processed foods such as anything that comes in a box, and though eating foods from “the store outside your door.”   A phrase coined by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium  and Chef Rob Kineen from Anchorage. 

We are so lucky to live in Alaska because we have a bounty of food right outside of our door that is good medicine and prevents disease.  Just to give you a couple of examples…

Foods such as salmon, black cod, and herring contain Omega 3 Fatty Acids.  Now, aggressive medical studies are showing that fish oils, including Omega-3, alters the production of an important group of biological compounds known as eicosanoids. These compounds affect blood pressure, blood clotting, inflammation, immune function and coronary spasms.

Scientists have known for years that Omega-3 offers heart-healthy benefits, including:

• Helping to decrease blood lipids (cholesterol, LDL's, and triglycerides)
• Increasing relaxation in larger arteries and blood vessels
• Decreasing the inflammatory processes in blood vessels

The Omega-3 oils found have been linked to improvements in or prevention of certain kinds of cancer, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, arthritis, asthma, certain kinds of mental illness, depression and lupus.

The recommendation is that each of us consumes seafood twice a week, and if this seafood is Alaska Wild Salmon, or other seafood high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids, this will help you and your family to reduce the risk of disease.

Another example of health from the “store outside your door” is found in Alaska Blueberries and Cranberries.  These Alaskan berries have proven to have some of the highest antioxidant values, far superior to their domestic counterparts in the lower 48.  All blueberries contain powerful polyphenols a type of micronutrient that work as antioxidants to repair damaged cells in your body, helping to prevent cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. These antioxidants help our bodies to repair the damage that is done to them through activities such as smoking, poor diet, stress, and lack of physical activity. 

Another component to having a healthy diet that prevents disease is to eat more Fruits and Vegetables.  Again, the goal with making changes in your life is to start small.  If you currently eat only 1 fruit or vegetable per day, then try to eat two; Add fruit to your breakfast; add a vegetable to your lunch or dinner.  Just choose one small realistic and attainable goal.  If you currently consume the recommended number of fruits and vegetables, then make it a goal to add variety.  One example is to focus on fruits and vegetables that are varied in color.  In doing so, you will be consuming a variety of antioxidants and nutrients.  Try adding kale to your salads or soups, or adding sweet potatoes to your casseroles.

Cook together. Eat together. Make family meals a real priority as often as you can. Preparing food is a loving way to share time and bring generations together. Measuring, stirring, and chopping can be as comforting as other routine, everyday tasks. Kneading bread can be downright therapeutic. If you live alone, reach out to family, friends, or co-workers – and break bread together. Eat together at home, eat together at restaurants, eat together at work, and eat together at a picnic.

2.      Get out and move.  Be active.  People who don’t exercise and are overweight are at greatest risk for developing Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes.  Physical activity is anything, and I mean anything, that gets your body moving.  Start at a comfortable level, and once you get the hang of it, add a little more activity each time you exercise until you are active for 30 minutes per day. 

Haines has great options for classes to increase your level of physical activity.  If that doesn’t interest or work for you, then I encourage you to get out in nature and explore the beautiful trails and beaches of your communities.  If you aren’t able to do then, then just move more in your own house.  Take an extra trip up the stairs, or stand up and stretch during commercial breaks.

Another option that is available for most people is to walk.  Walking is good for your body, your brain, and your mood. When you find a few good walking buddies, it’s good for your social life too! Walking is fun, easy, and probably the cheapest workout on the planet. All you need is well fitting, comfortable walking shoes. Put on a pair - and start walking your way to health and happiness today!

If you have children, encourage your whole family to get outside and get active by going for a hike, snow shoe, walk or bike ride together.  The recommendation for children is to be active for 60 minutes per day, and the AAP recommends no more than 2 hours of television watching per day. 

Whatever your physical fitness level, again, it’s important to be realistic and to set small attainable goals for yourself and for your family.  Even 10 minutes of activity before work or before your evening dinner can have enormous benefits for your body, your stress level, and for preventing disease.  If you can’t fit in 30 consecutive minutes of physical activity every day, then break it up into 3 – 10 minute segments.  Doing so has proven to be enormously beneficial.

3.      Stop smoking or chewing tobacco

Most people associate cigarette smoking with breathing problems and lung cancer. But did you know that smoking is also a major cause of heart disease for men and women?

About 20% of all deaths from heart disease in the U.S. are directly related to cigarette smoking. That's because smoking is a major cause of coronary artery disease.

A person's risk of heart disease and heart attack greatly increases with the number of cigarettes he or she smokes. Smokers continue to increase their risk of heart attack the longer they smoke. People who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than nonsmokers.

 For help to quit smoking call 1-800-784-8669 (The Alaska’s tobacco Quit Line)