A whole day of eating right can go down in the swirl of cocktail — with crazy-high calories and weakened willpower. So we’ve put a few drinks on a diet, starting with the Cuban mojito. Instead of using sugar, use a wooden pestle or a big spoon to gently crush cubes of watermelon with fresh mint leaves. Add rum and sparkling water for a sweet mojito with half the usual calories.
Simple Margarita: 170 Calories
2/13
Skip the syrupy mixes in crazy colors and you’ll trim hundreds of calories from this Mexican cocktail. Measure out the basics: one shot of tequila, lime juice to taste, and a splash of triple sec. Shake with ice and serve. Staying within the limits of moderate drinking — one for women and up to two drinks per day for men — is another way to watch your calories and your waistline.
Skinny Piña Colada: 229 Calories
3/13
Rum that’s infused with a coconut flavor can cut about 300 calories from a piña colada. What’s out? The sugary, coconut milk mix. Measure one shot of coconut rum. Then add fresh strawberries, a splash of agave syrup, and blend with ice. You get a tall, 12-ounce tropical cocktail for about the same calories as in a handful of pretzel twists.
Shochu Cosmo: 70 Calories
4/13
Make a super-slim cosmopolitan by replacing the vodka with shochu, a Japanese spirit with a smooth flavor. A 2-ounce serving has only about 35 calories. Add splashes of diet cranberry juice, fresh lime juice, and orange juice, and then toss in a martini shaker. This cosmo shakes out at half the calories of a traditional cosmopolitan.
Slim Berry Daiquiri: 145 Calories
5/13
Simple, unadorned berries can help slim down a strawberry daiquiri. Start with 1 cup of no-sugar-added berries, either fresh or frozen. You get intense berry flavor for just 50 calories, compared with 255 calories in berries frozen with syrup. Add rum, ice, and sweeten the deal with 1 teaspoon of stevia, a sugar substitute. Blend into a slim and delicious frozen concoction.
Slim the Gin and Tonic: 75 Calories
6/13
Did you know that tonic water has nearly as many calories as soda? Switch to diet tonic water for a skinny version of this favorite cocktail. Bubbly seltzer water is another option that can shave calories — although it’s really a different drink without the bitter nip of quinine in the tonic water. In that case, punch up the flavor with a squeeze of lime juice or a flavored seltzer.
Better Bellini: 120 Calories
7/13
Slim down Italy’s festive Bellini by using just 2 ounces of peach nectar, about half the usual amount. Swirl the syrupy nectar together with 4 ounces of champagne and serve in a pretty, fluted glass. Mimosa lovers can try the same trick to cut the calories: use just half of the usual orange juice.
Asian Flavor Fusion: 90 Calories
8/13
Flavor-infused alcohols are a tasty way to limit juice mixes, which can be high calorie. Try ginger vodka and lime sparkling water for a fusion of Asian flavors at just 90 calories. Look for flavored seltzer or mineral waters that have no added calories.
Skinny Vodka Iced Tea: 80 Calories
9/13
The mix of lemonade and sweet iced tea, favored by golfer Arnold Palmer, becomes a popular cocktail when you add a shot of vodka. You can slice off half the calories in this tall, cool drink by using low-calorie lemonade and sweet-tea-flavored vodka. This specialty vodka is lower in calories than traditional types.
Lemongrass Collins: 90 Calories
10/13
Enjoy the tart flavor of a Tom Collins without the syrupy mix, sugar, and other sweeteners that bartenders often swirl into your glass. Our skinny version starts with vanilla vodka, instead of gin. Vanilla carries a sweet flavor with very few calories. Add a splash of lime juice and a zero-calorie sparkling water flavored with lemongrass, mint, and vanilla.
Skinny Cocktail Dos
11/13
Choose fresh 100% juice rather than mixes.
Use zero-calorie bubblers instead of soft drinks. Try flavored seltzer, sparkling water, or club soda.
Fewer ingredients mean fewer calories.
Pay attention. Moderation is key for your waistline and health.
Skinny Cocktail Don’ts
12/13
Don’t add creamed spirits or liqueurs. They double the calories in a cocktail.
Don’t use several shots in one drink. A Long Island iced tea has seven ingredients and 700 calories!
Don’t order an after-dinner drink, which is often sweet.
Don’t sip a sweet dessert wine, which has about 40 calories more than table wine.
Get the Calories Out of Grenadine
13/13
Do you love rosy red cocktails? If they call for grenadine, it’s a red alert that your diet is about to explode. Grenadine is pomegranate juice and simple syrup. To get the same look and a sweet taste with fewer calories, make your own grenadine. Boil down pomegranate juice and sweeten it with stevia.
Summary: Researchers discovered that a person’s beliefs about drugs can influence their brain activity and behavior similarly to pharmacological effects.
Focusing on beliefs about nicotine, the study revealed that human beliefs have a precise and dose-dependent influence on the brain, which can be crucial for understanding addiction and various disorders. By instructing participants to believe in different nicotine strengths while keeping the actual level constant, functional neuroimaging demonstrated the thalamus and prefrontal cortex’s dose-dependent response to beliefs.
These findings have significant implications for addiction treatment and mental health research.
Key Facts:
Beliefs about drugs can modulate brain activity and behavior in a dose-dependent manner, akin to pharmacological effects.
The thalamus, a key site for nicotine in the brain, displayed dose-dependent responses to participants’ beliefs about nicotine strength.
Understanding the role of beliefs in addiction and mental health could lead to innovative treatments and interventions.
Source: Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai researchers have shown for the first time that a person’s beliefs related to drugs can influence their own brain activity and behavioral responses in a way comparable to the dose-dependent effects of pharmacology.
The implications of the study, which directly focused on beliefs about nicotine, are profound. They range from elucidating how the neural mechanisms underlying beliefs may play a key role in addiction, to optimizing pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments by leveraging the power of human beliefs.
The study was published in the journal Nature Mental Health.
“Beliefs can have a powerful influence on our behavior, yet their effects are considered imprecise and rarely examined by quantitative neuroscience methods,” says Xiaosi Gu, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and Neuroscience, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior author of the study.
“We set out to investigate if human beliefs can modulate brain activities in a dose-dependent manner similar to what drugs do, and found a high level of precision in how beliefs can influence the human brain. This finding could be crucial for advancing our knowledge about the role of beliefs in addiction as well as a broad range of disorders and their treatments.”
To explore this dynamic, the Mount Sinai team, led by Ofer Perl, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Gu’s lab when the study was conducted, instructed nicotine-dependent study participants to believe that an electronic cigarette they were about to vape contained either low, medium, or high strengths of nicotine, when in fact the level remained constant. Participants then underwent functional neuroimaging (fMRI) while performing a decision-making task known to engage neural circuits activated by nicotine.
The scientists found that the thalamus, an important binding site for nicotine in the brain, showed a dose-dependent response to the subject’s beliefs about nicotine strength, providing compelling evidence to support the relationship between subjective beliefs and biological substrates in the human brain. This effect was previously thought to apply only to pharmacologic agents.
A similar dose-dependent effect of beliefs was also found in the functional connectivity between the thalamus and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a brain region that is considered important for decision-making and belief states.
“Our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the well-known variations in individual responses to drugs,” notes Dr. Gu, “and suggest that subjective beliefs could be a direct target for the treatment of substance use disorders. They could also advance our understanding of how cognitive interventions, such as psychotherapy, work at the neurobiological level in general for a wide range of psychiatric conditions beyond addiction.”
Dr. Gu, who is one of the world’s foremost researchers in the emerging field of computational psychiatry, cites another way in which her team’s research could inform clinical care.
“The finding that human beliefs about drugs play such a pivotal role suggests that we could potentially enhance patients’ responses to pharmacological treatments by leveraging these beliefs,” she explains.
Significantly, the work of the Mount Sinai team can also be viewed in a much broader context: harnessing beliefs in a systematic manner to better serve mental health treatment and research in general.
“We’re interested in testing the effects of beliefs on drugs beyond nicotine to include addictive substances like cannabis and alcohol, and therapeutic agents like antidepressants and psychedelics,” says Dr. Gu.
“It would be fascinating to examine, for example, how the potency of a drug might impact the effect of drug-related beliefs on the brain and behavior, and how long-lasting the impact of those beliefs might be. Our findings could potentially revolutionize how we view drugs and therapy in a much broader context of health.”
Abstract
Nicotine-related beliefs induce dose-dependent responses in the human brain
Beliefs have a powerful influence on our behavior, yet their neural mechanisms remain elusive. Here we investigate whether beliefs could impact brain activities in a way akin to pharmacological dose-dependent effects.
Nicotine-dependent humans were told that nicotine strength in an electronic cigarette was either ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’, while nicotine content was held constant. After vaping, participants underwent functional neuroimaging and performed a decision-making task known to engage neural circuits affected by nicotine.
Beliefs about nicotine strength induced dose-dependent responses in the thalamus, a key binding site for nicotine, but not in other brain regions such as the striatum.
Nicotine-related beliefs also parametrically modulated the connectivity between the thalamus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region important for decision-making.
These findings reveal a high level of precision in the way beliefs influence the brain, offering mechanistic insights into humans’ heterogeneous responses to drugs and a pivotal role of beliefs in addiction.
Summary: A new study reveals a potential link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and language delays in early childhood.
The research involved continuous monitoring of pregnant women’s acetaminophen use and precise language development assessments in their children at ages 2 and 3. Increased acetaminophen use, especially during the third trimester, was associated with smaller vocabularies and shorter utterances in 2-year-olds.
Each use of acetaminophen in the third trimester was linked to a two-word reduction in vocabulary in 2-year-olds, raising concerns about its impact on fetal brain development.
Key Facts:
The study tracked acetaminophen use throughout pregnancy and assessed language development in children at ages 2 and 3.
Increased acetaminophen use during the third trimester was associated with significant language delays in 2-year-olds, especially in males.
Fetal brain development, particularly language development, occurs during the second and third trimesters, making this period critical for potential impacts.
Source: University of Illinois
Acetaminophen is considered the safest over-the-counter pain reliever and fever reducer available during pregnancy. Studies have shown that 50%-65% of women in North America and Europe take acetaminophen during pregnancy.
A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explored the relationship between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and language outcomes in early childhood. It found that increasing acetaminophen use was associated with language delays.
The findings need to be tested in larger studies, the researchers said. Until then, people should not be afraid to take acetaminophen for fever or serious pain and discomfort during pregnancy. Credit: Neuroscience News
The findings are reported in the journal Pediatric Research.
Earlier studies have found associations between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and poorer child communication skills. But those studies used measures of language development that were less precise than the methods applied in the current study, said Megan Woodbury, who led the research as a graduate student with U. of I. comparative biosciences professor emerita Susan Schantz.
The work was conducted as part of the Illinois Kids Development Study, which explores how environmental exposures in pregnancy and childhood influence child development. Schantz is the IKIDS principal investigator. Woodbury is now a postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University in Boston.
“The previous studies had only asked pregnant people at most once a trimester about their acetaminophen use,” Woodbury said. “But with IKIDS, we talked to our participants every four to six weeks during pregnancy and then within 24 hours of the kid’s birth, so we had six time points during pregnancy.”
The language analyses involved 298 2-year-old children who had been followed prenatally, 254 of whom returned for further study at age 3.
For the 2-year-olds, the researchers turned to the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, which asks a parent to report on the child’s vocabulary, language complexity and the average length of the child’s longest three utterances.
“We wanted to collect data at that age because it’s the period called ‘word explosion,’ when kids are just adding words every day to their vocabulary,” Schantz said.
The vocabulary measure asked parents to select words their child had used from a list of 680 words.
The parents assessed their child again at 3 years, comparing their language skills to those of their peers.
The analysis linked acetaminophen use in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy to modest but significant delays in early language development.
“We found that increased use of acetaminophen – especially during the third trimester – was associated with smaller vocabulary scores and shorter ‘mean length of utterance’ at two years,” Woodbury said.
“At age three, greater acetaminophen use during the third trimester was related to parents ranking their kids as lower than their peers on their language abilities,” Schantz said. “That outcome was seen primarily in male children.”
The most dramatic finding was that each use of acetaminophen in the third trimester of pregnancy was associated with an almost two-word reduction in vocabulary in the 2-year-olds.
“This suggests that if a pregnant person took acetaminophen 13 times – or once per week – during the third trimester of that pregnancy, their child might express 26 fewer words at age 2 than other children that age,” Woodbury said.
Fetal brain development occurs throughout pregnancy, but the second and third trimesters are especially critical times, Schantz said.
“Hearing is developing in the second trimester, but language development is already starting in the third trimester before the baby is even born,” she said.
“It’s thought that acetaminophen exerts its analgesic effect through the endocannabinoid system, which is also very important for fetal development,” Woodbury said.
The findings need to be tested in larger studies, the researchers said. Until then, people should not be afraid to take acetaminophen for fever or serious pain and discomfort during pregnancy. Conditions like a very high fever can be dangerous and using a drug like acetaminophen will likely help.
“There aren’t other options for people to take when they really need them,” Schantz said. “But perhaps people should use more caution when turning to the drug to treat minor aches and pains.”
Making small lifestyle adjustments can help mitigate the impact of prolonged sitting.
Sedentary behavior contributes to a range of health issues, leading to back pain, harming cardiovascular health, inducing metabolic disorders, and increasing the risk of dementia. Making small lifestyle adjustments can help mitigate the impact of prolonged sitting. For example, moving the legs around while seated can effectively promote metabolism.
Some of my office-bound patients have shared that during annual employee health checkups, half of their colleagues are diagnosed with fatty liver disease. They believe this is closely linked to their sedentary work routine.
In addition to those working in offices facing computers, professions that often involve prolonged sitting include drivers, front-desk personnel, and teachers. Furthermore, retirees often develop the habit of prolonged sitting, spending hours in chairs watching TV or using their phones. With the increasing prevalence of smartphones, I have recently encountered many older individuals who spend three to four hours a day on their phones!
Sedentary Behavior Linked to Dementia and Shortened Lifespan
Sedentary behavior poses a significant threat to health, especially for older people. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined data from nearly 50,000 older adults in the United Kingdom. The findings revealed that the longer the time spent in sedentary behaviors, the higher the risk of dementia.
A study published in JAMA Cardiology in 2022 involving over 100,000 individuals across 21 countries found that those sitting for more than eight hours daily face a 20 percent higher risk of mortality and a 21 percent higher risk of major cardiovascular diseases compared to those sitting for less than four hours daily. Additionally, sedentary individuals are more prone to diabetes, depression, and various chronic diseases.
A 2023 study released by the University of Hong Kong and the University of Cambridge indicated that replacing sedentary time with one hour of moderate- to high-intensity physical activity daily reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 9 percent. For individuals with a higher genetic susceptibility to coronary heart disease, substituting sitting with physical activity can significantly decrease the risk. Conversely, irrespective of genetic susceptibility, the more sedentary time, the higher the risk of developing coronary heart disease.
The following are generally three main health risks associated with prolonged sitting:
Cardiovascular diseases: These include heart disease, stroke, palpitations, and chest discomfort.
Metabolic disorders: Prolonged sitting can contribute to conditions like high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and fatty liver disease. Additionally, it can also lead to chronic inflammation, weakened immune system, constipation, and dementia.
Chronic pain: Chronic pain may include various musculoskeletal pains, including neck pain, hyperkyphosis, herniated discs, piriformis syndrome, and pelvic misalignment.
2-Minute Exercises to Mitigate the Impact of Prolonged Sitting
So how can you tell if you have been sedentary for too long? If you find yourself sitting for over six to 10 hours daily and taking fewer than 5,000 steps, it may be considered a sedentary lifestyle.
Being inactive during half of your waking hours.
Regular fatigue.
Back pain.
Slowed limb reactions.
A decline in metabolism with weight gain.
A study from the University of Utah revealed that taking a two-minute break to move around every hour while sitting can reduce the risk of death by 33 percent. For those leading a sedentary lifestyle, it is crucial to remind yourself to move at least once every hour. Exercise not only triggers the release of endorphins for relaxation but also enhances focus and work efficiency.
Reducing the Hazards of Prolonged Sitting With These Exercises
What are some exercises that can be completed in just two minutes?
1. Squats
To mitigate the adverse effects of prolonged sitting on cardiovascular health, it is essential to engage in cardiovascular exercises, as discussed in my previous article, “How to Boost Your Heart With 5 Simple Workouts.” A patient of mine shared that he frequently experienced palpitations, chest discomfort, and fatigue. After incorporating these exercises for just three days, he felt remarkably better, noting that their effectiveness surpassed that of medication.
The cardiovascular exercise I recommend the most is squats. The up-and-down movement involved in squatting promotes blood flow back to the heart, enhancing both blood and lymphatic circulation. Two of my patients with varicose veins perform 100 squats daily, and after just one week, they have experienced a remarkable 50 percent improvement in their condition.
2. Zombie Exercise: Jogging in Place on Tiptoes
Iketani Toshilo, a Japanese physician, developed the “Zombie Exercise,” which is beneficial for cardiovascular health. The exercise involves jogging in place on tiptoes, with hands hanging by the sides and the body swaying like a child throwing a tantrum.
3. Eye-Palming Exercise
Eye fatigue is a common issue for individuals who spend extended periods in front of computers. In such cases, practicing the eye-palming technique can be beneficial. This method, invented by William Horatio Bates, an American physician, over a hundred years ago, helps alleviate eye fatigue and discomfort. The specific steps are as follows:
Step 1: Close both eyes and rub your palms together to generate warmth (they do not need to be very hot).
Step 2: Cup your hands with the palms facing your eyes, aligning them with your pupils.
Step 3: Cross the fingers of both hands, placing the finger of one hand over the corresponding finger of the other, with palms on the sides of your nose. Keep your elbows on the table, and slightly lean your upper body forward.
Step 4: Inhale and exhale. Relax your body, imagining a gradual release of tension from your head, neck, shoulders, back, hips, legs, and toes.
After performing the exercise for two to three minutes, you will notice your eyes brightening.
(The Epoch Times)
4. Soleus Muscle Exercise: Seated Toe Raise
The soleus muscle, located in the calf, can be trained while sitting. Simply engaging this muscle can help burn blood sugar and lipids, reducing the impact of prolonged sitting on metabolism. Unlike other muscles that primarily break down glycogen for energy, the soleus muscle utilizes “aerobic metabolism” to provide energy.
A study conducted by Marc Hamilton, a professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston, and his team in 2022 found that engaging in soleus muscle exercises increases the body’s energy demand 10-fold compared to sitting inactive. Soleus muscle exercises can significantly improve high blood sugar levels. When sitting and moving the soleus muscle after consuming glucose, postprandial blood sugar fluctuations decreased by an average of 52 percent, and high insulin levels decreased by an average of 60 percent, compared to simply sitting without movement.
The steps for performing the soleus muscle exercise are as follows:
Step 1: Maintain a seated position with both feet flat on the floor, shoulder-width apart, and relax your muscles.
Step 2: Keep your knees at a natural 90-degree angle or a slightly smaller angle.
Step 3: Lift the heels while ensuring the front parts of the feet remain in contact with the ground. Once the heels reach their highest point, gently descend and make contact with the ground again.
(The Epoch Times)
Simply lifting the heels while seated can bring numerous benefits, making it truly helpful for those with sedentary lifestyles. Additionally, this exercise can be highly beneficial for individuals who find it challenging to engage in regular physical activity due to illness.
If you experience lower back pain after prolonged sitting, you can revisit the previously introduced methods for cervical spine, thoracic spine, knee, and shoulder joint care. Engaging in some stretching exercises helps promote the circulation of qi and blood in the body, thus providing effective relief for discomfort.
This approach can benefit individuals dealing with chronic insomnia and anxiety, too.
Intermittent fasting has become a go-to strategy for health and weight management for more and more people. Recent research suggests that avoiding eating for a minimum of 14 hours each night and restricting eating to a 10-hour window during the day (14:10) can enhance sleep, mood, and energy levels while reducing feelings of hunger.
This approach can benefit individuals dealing with chronic insomnia and anxiety, too. It can also be helpful for those facing issues such as fatigue and increased hunger resulting from dieting for weight loss.
The Different Forms of Fasting
There are various forms of intermittent fasting. In a 24-hour cycle, the most rigorous form is perhaps one-meal-a-day (23:1) fasting, while the more popular ones include 18:6 (essentially two meals a day, or eating only within a six-hour window) and 16:8 fasting. Intermittent fasting can also be structured on a weekly basis, such as the 5:2 (two days of light fasting each week whereby you eat less than 500 calories) and alternate-day fasting, whereby you eat less than 500 calories every other day.
Compared to these other intermittent fasting methods, the 14:10 fasting approach has a shorter fasting period and a longer eating window. It doesn’t significantly disrupt the usual three meals a day, making it relatively more flexible and easier to sustain. For example, if you start eating at 8 a.m., your last meal must be finished before 6 p.m., with no eating afterward.
What the Science Says
A research team from King’s College London conducted a study with 37,545 participants using the Zoe Health app. Results of the study were presented at the European Nutrition Conference on Nov. 14, 2023, in Belgrade, Serbia. In the first week of the study, participants were instructed to maintain their usual dietary habits, followed by two weeks during which they restricted their meals to a 10-hour window each day, referred to as the “eating window.” More than 36,231 participants chose to continue for additional weeks, with 27,371 considered “highly engaged.” Among this highly engaged group, 78 percent were female, with an average age of 60 and a body mass index (BMI) of 25.6 (normal range is between 18.5 and 24.9).
The study found that those who consistently ate within a fixed eating window had greater benefits than those with varying eating windows. Moreover, individuals who had the longest duration between their first and last bite each day before the intervention experienced greater improvements in their overall health.
Sarah Berry, associate professor at King’s College London and chief scientist at Zoe, said in a statement: “What’s really exciting is that the findings show that you don’t have to be very restrictive to see positive results.
“A ten-hour eating window, which was manageable for most people, improved mood, energy levels and hunger.”
However, she also emphasized the importance of consistency.
“We found for the first time that those who practiced time-restricted eating, but were not consistent day to day, did not have the same positive health effects as those who were dedicated every day,” she said.
Kate Bermingham from King’s College London and Zoe said that the study further demonstrates the importance of how we eat.
“The health impact of food is not just what you eat but the time at which you choose to consume your meals,” she said. “Findings show that we don’t need to be eating all the time. Many people will feel satiated and even lose weight if they restrict their food to a ten-hour window.”
A study published in Nature Medicine in April 2023 involving more than 200 participants and spanning 18 months found intermittent fasting more effective in reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes than a calorie-restricted diet. In this experiment, intermittent fasting involved selecting three nonconsecutive days each week as fasting days, during which participants consumed two meals between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m., totaling only 30 percent of their daily energy requirements.
They refrained from eating anything for the remaining 20 hours and were free to eat ad libitum on the other four days of the week. After six months, participants practicing intermittent fasting showed a significant reduction in postprandial blood sugar, indicating enhanced glucose metabolism. This improvement was more pronounced than that of the group following a calorie-restricted diet.
A small-scale clinical trial published in Cell Metabolism in 2020 focusing on patients with metabolic syndrome found that following a 14:10 intermittent fasting plan for 12 weeks not only aided in weight loss but also resulted in reductions in waist circumference, body fat percentage, visceral fat, and improvements in blood pressure, atherogenic lipids, glycated hemoglobin (a blood sugar indicator), and sleep quality.
Exploring the Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
A review study published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 2020 summarized three intermittent fasting methods: alternate-day fasting, 5:2 fasting, and one-meal-a-day fasting, highlighting their numerous health benefits. These include improved glucose regulation, enhanced stress resistance, and suppression of inflammation. Intermittent fasting has demonstrated potent alleviating effects on various chronic diseases in animal models, such as effects on obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Mark Mattson, a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine neuroscientist and one of the authors of the study, said in a statement that after several hours without eating, the body depletes its sugar stores and begins to burn fat. The purpose of intermittent fasting is to prolong the body’s fat-burning period.
The Key to Success in Intermittent Fasting
Regardless of the chosen intermittent fasting method, achieving optimal results relies on long-term consistency, as indicated by multiple studies. The body may take two to four weeks to adapt to intermittent fasting, during which you might experience hunger or irritability. After overcoming this initial phase, sustaining the practice in the long run becomes more manageable.
Therefore, it’s advisable to start intermittent fasting with the easiest method, such as 14:10. After adapting for a certain period, you can then progress to more rigorous fasting methods such as 16:8 or 18:6.
It’s worth noting that regular eating outside the fasting window doesn’t imply unrestrained indulgence, even though intermittent fasting doesn’t impose specific dietary restrictions. A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) in January 2023 found that over a six-year follow-up period, the time interval between participants’ first and last meal each day wasn’t directly correlated with changes in body weight. Instead, reducing the frequency of large meals could be associated with weight control.
Additionally, longer fasting periods aren’t necessarily better. Extended durations of fasting, such as 24, 36, or 48 hours, pose risks and may not yield additional benefits. This is because prolonged periods without food might prompt your body to store more fat in response to hunger.
Is Intermittent Fasting Safe?
Intermittent fasting may lead to unpleasant side effects, including hunger, fatigue, insomnia, nausea, headaches, and more, but these symptoms usually subside within a month.
Intermittent fasting is generally safe for most people but may not suit everyone. Pregnant or breastfeeding women, children and adolescents under 18 years old, those with Type 1 diabetes taking insulin, and individuals with a history of eating disorders should avoid intermittent fasting. It’s advisable to consult a doctor before attempting an intermittent fasting regimen.
Additionally, a comprehensive review indicated that patients who take aspirin have a relatively lower risk of developing various types of cancer.
Aspirin is a long-established and widely used medication with a rich history. In addition to its well-known uses for pain relief and its anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant properties, a recent study indicates that cancer patients who take low-dose aspirin daily experience a 21 percent reduction in mortality. Furthermore, there is evidence of aspirin’s role in preventing cancer metastasis.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of global mortality. In 2020 alone, there were approximately 19.3 million new cancer cases worldwide and nearly 10 million deaths. According to statistics, 1 in 6 reported deaths are attributed to cancer. The most common types of cancer include breast, lung, colorectal, prostate, and stomach.
In November 2023, researchers from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom published a comprehensive review in the British Journal of Cancer (BJC) outlining aspirin’s potential to reduce cancer mortality, prevent metastatic cancer spread, and minimize vascular complications. The review encompassed both favorable and unfavorable evidence, thoroughly analyzing the rationale behind using aspirin in cancer treatment.
Aspirin’s Impact on Cancer Mortality
The study compiled results from 118 observational studies involving approximately 1 million cancer patients. It revealed that daily intake of low-dose aspirin (75 or 81 milligrams) was associated with a 21 percent reduction in all-cause mortality.
A study involving pancreatic cancer patients undergoing surgery indicated that patients who took aspirin had a three-year survival rate of 61.1 percent, compared to 26.3 percent for those who did not take it.
Aspirin’s Role in Reducing Metastatic Cancer Spread
The primary mechanism of action for aspirin is the inhibition of the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme. COX is responsible for forming prostaglandins, a critical pathway in cancer signaling. However, the anti-cancer effects of aspirin extend beyond this. Recent research has revealed that aspirin’s mechanisms of anti-cancer action also involve energy metabolism associated with cancer cell proliferation, cancer-related inflammation, and platelet-driven pro-carcinogenic activity.
The metastasis or spread of cancer is a major cause of death in cancer patients, and platelets play a significant role in this process. Aspirin can inhibit platelet aggregation, thereby reducing the spread of cancer cells. The comprehensive review in the BJC found that aspirin can lower the risk of cancer metastasis by 38 percent to 52 percent.
Additionally, aspirin plays a role in promoting DNA repair. Errors may occur during the replication of DNA, and the human body possesses a mechanism for DNA mismatch repair. Once this function is compromised, it can lead to the development of cancer. Research has demonstrated that aspirin can enhance DNA repair mechanisms, thereby preventing hereditary non-polyposis (Lynch syndrome) colorectal cancer and potentially other cancers.
The Controversy Surrounding Aspirin in Cancer Treatment
The role of aspirin in cancer studies remains controversial, primarily due to concerns about increased bleeding risks. An article published by Reuters on June 14, 2017, titled “Daily Aspirin Causes 3,000 Deaths From Bleeding in Britain Every Year,” was widely disseminated across global networks and media.
However, researchers noted that this prospective study, involving 3,166 older patients, lacked a control group, making it challenging to assess the independent impact of aspirin on fatal bleeding accurately.
The researchers pointed out that an increased risk of bleeding in elderly and frail cancer patients does pose a real danger. However, instead of solely focusing on the frequency of bleeding, greater consideration should be given to its severity, as the most severe instances of bleeding are the ones responsible for death.
The researchers consolidated data from 11 randomized controlled trials, encompassing over 100,000 participants, that included fatal bleeding events. The data indicated a 55 percent increase in the risk of bleeding due to aspirin. However, among patients who experienced bleeding after taking aspirin, only 4 percent died. In contrast, the control group, who took a placebo, had a death rate attributed to bleeding of up to 8 percent. This suggests that bleeding caused by aspirin is predominantly mild.
The conclusion drawn by researchers is that considering the relative safety of aspirin, it should be considered as a preventative measure for cancer. While there is evidence indicating aspirin can reduce the spread of metastatic cancer and that starting aspirin therapy early after a cancer diagnosis enhances its effectiveness, more randomized trials are needed.
Peter Elwood, honorary professor at Cardiff University, stated in a press release: “Given its relative safety and its favourable effects, the use of aspirin as an additional treatment of cancer is fully justified.” He added that aspirin is inexpensive and available in nearly every country, and its widespread use could be beneficial worldwide.
Aspirin Lowers Risk of Various Cancers
A comprehensive review published in the renowned journal Annals of Oncology in 2020 indicated that patients who take aspirin have a relatively lower risk of developing various types of cancer.
The researchers conducted a comprehensive analysis of all observational studies on aspirin and digestive tract cancers published until March 2019, encompassing over 150,000 cases. The results revealed that, compared to patients not using aspirin, those who regularly took aspirin had a 27 percent reduced risk of colorectal cancer, a 33 percent reduced risk of squamous cell esophageal cancer, a 39 percent reduced risk of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and gastric cardia, a 36 percent reduced risk of stomach cancer, a 38 percent reduced risk of hepatobiliary tract cancer, and a 22 percent reduced risk of pancreatic cancer. However, there was no significant change in the risk of head and neck cancer.
For colorectal cancer, taking a daily dose of aspirin between 75 and 100 milligrams can reduce the risk by 10 percent, while a daily dose of 325 milligrams can reduce the risk by 35 percent.
Potential Risks of Taking Aspirin
Aspirin is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat mild to moderate pain, inflammation, or arthritis. It can also reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots.
However, it is essential to note that long-term use of aspirin may pose additional risks for some individuals. According to the UK National Health Service (NHS), children under the age of 16 should not take aspirin without a doctor’s prescription, as there may be a potential link between aspirin and Reye’s syndrome in children.
For individuals with a history of allergy to aspirin or similar pain relievers, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, indigestion, heavy menstrual bleeding, recent stroke, asthma or lung disease, blood clotting problems, liver or kidney problems, and gout, it is essential to consult a doctor before taking aspirin.
34.8% of patients with psoriasis treated with roflumilast achieved PASI 75 by week 12 compared with 0% of the placebo group.
Oral roflumilast is an option for patients who are candidates for systemic therapy.
NEW ORLEANS — Oral roflumilast may offer an inexpensive and effective treatment option for patients with psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy, according to a presentation at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting.
“Generic versions [of oral roflumilast] are available now and are cheaper than a Starbucks coffee,” Alexander Egeberg, MD, PhD, DMSc, of the department of dermatology at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital and the department of clinical medicine at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, said during the late-breaker presentation. “We now have the FDA approval for the topical version, but so far there have been no studies on oral roflumilast in psoriasis.”
Oral roflumilast may offer an inexpensive and effective treatment option for patients with psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy.
Egeberg presented results from the multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of oral roflumilast monotherapy without titration in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
A total of 46 patients were randomly assigned to receive 500 µg of oral roflumilast (n = 23) or placebo (n = 23) once daily for 12 weeks followed by an open-label period for an additional 12 weeks during which all patients received 500 µg of oral roflumilast.
Results showed that the study met the primary endpoint, with eight roflumilast-treated patients achieving a PASI 75 response by week 12. Three patients also achieved PASI 90.
In contrast, none of the placebo-treated patients reached PASI 75; however, nine patients achieved it when switched to roflumilast during the open-label study portion.
By week 24, 10 roflumilast-treated patients reached PASI 75, five reached PASI 90 and two reached PASI 100.
The study reported no new safety signals, and oral roflumilast was deemed well tolerated by patients with adverse events being mild and transient, according to the researchers.
“Because this is a generic, you can start using it tomorrow,” Egeberg concluded.
Litfulo is the first FDA-approved treatment for severe alopecia in patients aged as young as 12 years.
The approval was based on results from a phase 2b/3 trial recently published in The Lancet.
The FDA has approved Litfulo, a once-daily oral treatment, for the treatment of severe alopecia in individuals aged 12 years and older, Pfizer announced in a press release.
Litfulo (ritlecitinib), a selective dual Janus kinase 3 and tyrosine family kinase inhibitor, is now the first-ever FDA-approved treatment for severe alopecia in adolescents, according to the press release.
“Litfulo is an important treatment advancement for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that previously had no FDA-approved options for adolescents and limited options available for adults,” Angela Hwang, chief commercial officer and president of global biopharmaceuticals business at Pfizer, said in the release. “With today’s approval, adolescents and adults who struggle with substantial hair loss have an opportunity to achieve significant scalp hair regrowth.”
Results from the study showed that 23% of patients treated with 50 mg of Litfulo achieved 80% or greater scalp hair coverage after 6 months of treatment, whereas 1.6% of placebo-treated patients achieved the same.
Litfulo exhibited similar efficacy and safety outcomes across all age groups. Most adverse events were well-tolerated by patients with the most common being headaches (10.8%), diarrhea (10%), acne (6.2%), rashes (5.4%) and urticaria (4.6%). Sixteen serious adverse events were reported in 14 patients; however, there were no major events or deaths.
According to the release, Litfulo will be available in the coming weeks.
For decades, when patients with severe alopecia areata sought treatment for their condition, the therapies available were either incredibly painful, led to significant long term side effects or were ineffective. Last year, our ability to care for this patient population was transformed with the first FDA approval of a JAK inhibitor for severe alopecia areata in adults. However, the adolescent and young adult alopecia areata population — one that is particularly affected by this chronic autoimmune hair loss condition — was still left without a favorable option.
Adolescence is a complex period of development and an important time of growth and discovery. As a dermatologist and hair loss specialist, I routinely witness the profound negative impact that severe alopecia can have on this patient population. Teens who were once successful students and athletes start avoiding school, sports practice and social activities. These adolescents commonly develop depression and anxiety, and many will experience bullying by their peers.
The FDA approval of ritlecitinib has paved the way for a brighter future for these patients. By successfully treating their alopecia, these adolescents and young adults are able to once again confidently navigate their lives, free from the burdens of stigma and chronic disease. By targeting underlying mechanisms of alopecia, this innovative therapy not only promotes hair regrowth but also effectively mitigates the emotional and social burdens associated with alopecia areata, empowering patients to realize their true potential.
Maryanne M. Senna, MD
Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School Director of Lahey Hair Loss Center of Excellence at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center
If you struggle to maintain a healthy body weight, the science of weight loss points to a biological reason — and a real solution.
Hormones that control hunger, satiety, and body weight are affected by calorie restriction, and changes in their levels can make maintaining a loss difficult.Adobe Stock; Everyday Health
If there’s one thing everyone can agree on about weight loss, it’s this: It isn’t easy.
In a survey of more than 3,000 people conducted by Everyday Health, 86 percent of respondents said they were actively trying to lose weight, but half had been unable to commit to one strategy, and 51 percent reported lacking motivation.
Clearly, in spite of greater-than-ever awareness of the problem and countless attempts at solving it, we’re still struggling on both an individual and national level. But maybe instead of questioning why weight loss is so hard, we should be asking why we ever thought it should be easy.
“We have a physiologic drive toward weight regain,” says Adrienne Youdim, MD, an adjunct professor of medicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the author of Hungry for More. “Even though it’s not their fault, society makes people feel ashamed for regaining weight, to the point that it’s often viewed as a moral failing.”
But now that view is finally changing, in large part because of a new class of drugs that simulate the effects of the hormones that naturally control hunger and fullness, and help regulate body weight. Medications like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist, and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), a GLP-1 and gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) receptor agonist, have taken the weight loss world by storm because of how dramatically they work. In fact, of those who reported successfully losing weight in our survey, half attributed that success to these kinds of medications.
The medical world has not previously seen this type of impressive weight loss, says Brian Wojeck, MD, MPH, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. Although experts have viewed obesity as a disease for more than two decades — since 1998, obesity has been regarded as a chronic disease by the National Institutes of Health — not until today have there been effective medications to treat obesity as a disease, he says. “These medications take into account how hormones affect weight,” Dr. Wojeck says. And hormones have much more to do with weight than most people realize.
Your body produces numerous hormones, essentially chemical messengers that help control many functions. Under normal circumstances, hormones in your gastrointestinal tract regulate hunger. They convene in the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that’s been shown to control appetite, to determine if you’re hungry or satiated.
It’s likely you’ve heard of some of these hormones, including two that research has shown play a significant role in weight loss:
leptin, which tells your body when you’re full
ghrelin, which has been dubbed the hunger hormone
As you eat, your gut releases other hormones like GLP-1 and peptide YY (PYY). Along with leptin, they tell your brain that food has been received and to shut off hunger signals. On the flip side, when your stomach is empty, it releases ghrelin to tell your brain you’re hungry. The longer you go without eating, the more ghrelin will be released, and the hungrier you’ll get, says Robert F. Kushner, MD, a professor in the departments of medicine and medical education at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
The trouble is, when you lose weight via calorie restriction, whether through diet, exercise, or both, your body will fight back, trying to regain that weight. “One way it does that is by shifting these hormones in a direction that promotes hunger,” Dr. Youdim says.
For starters, GLP-1 and PYY decrease. So, too, does leptin. Think of leptin like the dipstick in your car that measures your oil. “Leptin is like having a dipstick in your body fat,” Kushner says. “Your brain uses leptin to determine if you have enough energy stores or fat in your body to be active.” How much leptin you have is proportional to how much fat you have, which is why people with a higher body mass typically have higher levels of leptin to begin with.
You might think this is a good thing — after all, leptin helps suppress appetite. But research has found that in some people with obesity, chronically high levels of leptin can cause the opposite effect. This is because of leptin resistance, a condition in which your brain doesn’t respond as it should to this hormone, reports Cleveland Clinic. Because your brain never receives the signal that you are full, you end up overeating. In some cases, your body — believing you are never eating enough to feel full — goes into starvation mode and starts to conserve energy so you burn fewer calories, making weight loss even more difficult.
Even if you don’t have leptin resistance, anytime you lose fat, you lose leptin. Your brain is being told that because your fat stores are dropping, you have to find food, a survival mechanism genetically engineered into the human body. “Without something automatic like this to tell you to start looking for food, humans wouldn’t have survived as a species,” Dr. Kushner says.
At the same time, ghrelin levels rise, making you hungrier. You might be able to handle this at first, but as time passes, you become even less content with what you’re eating, and your hunger grows more intense, Kushner says: “You can’t sustain the amount of ghrelin that’s being released, which makes calorie-restricted diets hard to maintain.”
Here’s the real kicker, though: The hormones don’t return to normal levels even a year after losing weight. “They’re not as dysregulated as they are immediately following the weight loss, but they don’t go back to pre-weight loss levels,” Youdim says. This is why people have to work hard to keep off weight and why so many are unsuccessful doing so. In one small study that followed 14 contestants who participated in the weight loss reality show The Biggest Loser, their hormone levels had not returned to normal six years later.
How Newer Weight Loss Drugs Affect Hormones
One of the reasons that medications known as GLP-1 agonists or dual agonists have been so effective for weight loss is because they counteract the body’s natural responses to increase hunger and promote weight gain. “These drugs mimic naturally occurring gut hormones that control hunger and give them back to individuals in fairly high amounts,” Kushner says. As a result, someone taking one of these medications doesn’t feel hungry, so they’re less likely to overeat.
It’s also been noted that these kinds of drugs dial back what is known as “food noise”: cravings, thoughts, and desires for food that can feel constant and intrusive. “Hunger is mediated by lots of things. Along with being habitual, it can be spiritual or emotional,” Youdim says. “When my patients take these drugs, they tell me they’re able to make sustained changes more effectively without all of this noise that gets in the way.”
Each drug uses a different active ingredient to accomplish these tasks. Wegovy and Ozempic contain semaglutide, and Mounjaro and Zepbound have tirzepatide. Another drug, Saxenda, contains liraglutide. The medications all work on receptors for GLP-1, mimicking the effects of that hormone when it comes to appetite and making you feel more full. In biochemistry, anything that causes a response in this way is called an agonist. Drugs that contain tirzepatide are known as dual agonists because they affect receptors for both GLP-1 and GIP.
In addition to helping you feel fuller, GLP-1 agonists slow the rate at which food empties from your stomach, which delays the usual hormonal signals to your brain indicating that you need to eat, says Daniel J. Drucker, MD, a senior scientist at Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. This twofold effect means you aren’t as hungry in general and may be able to go longer between meals without getting hungry.
People with obesity who took a GLP-1 agonist like semaglutide lost an average of about 15 percent of their total body weight, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dual agonists like tirzepatide may be even more effective, with an average weight loss of about 21 percent, according to results of a more recent study published in the same journal. “GIP most likely affects the same pathways in the brain as GLP-1 and gives you a little bit more of a boost in terms of satiety,” Wojeck says.
Of course, these medications aren’t for everybody. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved these medications for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, which is classified as obese, or anyone with a BMI of at least 27 and least one weight-related health issue like diabetes, high blood pressure, or cardiovascular disease. “These drugs are designed to treat medical issues, not cosmetic ones,” Youdim says.
As with any medication, GLP-1 agonists come with potential side effects. Researchers who analyzed more than 21,000 reports from the FDA’s adverse event database concluded that taking medications that contain semaglutide was significantly associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal effects, including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, and pancreatitis, according to results published in Frontiers in Endocrinology. There have also been reports, although infrequent (265 since 2010), of suicidal thoughts or behavior in people taking these or similar medications, according to Reuters. While additional research is needed, anyone who experiences these effects should consult their healthcare provider immediately.
While these new medications have shown enormous potential for treating obesity, experts stress that they are not a cure. They are most effective when used in conjunction with healthy lifestyle habits such as regular exercise, stress management, and a healthy diet, and they have to be taken long term, usually for life.
“The majority of people will gain back weight if they stop these medications,” Drucker says. “Obesity is a chronic health challenge, and just as you wouldn’t stop taking a blood pressure medication because you’ve reached a desired blood pressure, the same is true with treating obesity with these medications.” In fact, one study found that a year after individuals stopped taking semaglutide, they had regained two-thirds of the weight they had lost.
Summary
Traditional treatments for obesity have usually focused on lifestyle changes like diet and exercise, but new kinds of medications have revealed that human physiology is just as important a consideration. Hormones that control appetite, the satisfaction we get from food, and how our bodies use the calories we eat play a complex role in maintaining body weight, and researchers are learning more about them every day.
As research continues to advance, hopefully so may the treatment options for anyone struggling with weight. “When we learned how to treat high blood pressure and diabetes, a whole range of medications was developed, and I see the same happening for obesity, especially since we now have a target for helping people lose weight, namely these gut hormones,” Kushner says. ”These drugs are just the beginning.”
Everyday Health‘s Weight Loss Reframed Survey queried 3,144 Americans nationwide ages 18 and older who had tried losing weight in the previous six months. The study was fielded between July 10 and August 18, 2023, across demographic groups, genders, and health conditions. Survey recruitment took place via an online portal, in app, and via email. The margin of error for the sample size of 3,144 is +/-1.7 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.
The diabetes community has known for decades that food is medicine, but it’s taking some time for the medical establishment to catch up. In an editorial complaining about this situation, Stanford University’s dean of medicine said that “doctors have historically received almost no nutritional training.” Future doctors spend very few hours on the subject of nutrition, which is “completely disproportionate to its health benefits for patients,” and may learn nothing at all about how to speak to patients about healthy eating.
Lourdes Castro, RD, is on the vanguard of the movement to teach doctors how to take nutrition education more seriously. She is the director of New York University’s Food Lab, a teaching kitchen housed within the Department of Nutrition and Food Science. Castro has recently spearheaded the Food Lab’s new culinary medicine program.
What is culinary medicine? Castro says, “We define it here as using culinary arts and food to help inform the healthcare process.”
“I think most people generally understand what is healthy food and what is unhealthy food,” says Castro. “But in our culture, using food as a medicinal item is still considered a little out there. Which is bananas! What we eat matters. It matters when we’re healthy, and it really matters when we’re living with certain health conditions.”
“Understanding that what you put in your body can function in a therapeutic or medicinal manner, it’s a little bit different.
In a sense, the idea of culinary medicine has been around since time immemorial. As a modern medical phenomenon, it began to emerge about a decade ago. The first culinary medicine center at an American medical school opened in 2013 at Tulane University. A 2016 review of the trend identified several major reasons for the rise of the new discipline:
The Food Network effect and the rise of celebrity chefs and foodie culture have led to increased interest in food and nutrition
The seemingly unstoppable spread of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic health issues
Increased suspicion over highly processed foods
The ever-spiraling cost of healthcare
Increased interest in organic and plant-based foods
Culinary medicine is a multidisciplinary field that blends the science of medicine and nutrition with the art of food and cooking. Culinary medicine is extremely practical. Its proponents want to get away from dry advice about the chemistry of macronutrients and engage with real people and the real barriers that are preventing them from choosing healthful foods.
The culinary medicine program at NYU brings grad students from the schools of medicine and nutrition into a professional kitchen. There, the future doctors and nutritionists roll up their sleeves and learn how to chop, roast, and sauté. Of course, doctors don’t have to be chefs — the idea is to familiarize future doctors with the reality of preparing wholesome meals, so that they can engage with their patients in a more grounded and realistic way.
“If we can teach them that it’s not difficult or expensive to cook for yourself using whole ingredients, then they’ll not only be able to counsel their patients better, but they’ll be able to advocate for lifestyle changes.”
Meanwhile, Castro and her instructors also get their students thinking about the type of nutritional science that medical schools typically eschew: “We are teaching them the tenets of evidence-based nutrition in the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases like type 2 diabetes.”
The best way to get the next generation of doctors to spread the word on healthy eating is probably to convince the doctors to eat healthy themselves. A study of female doctors found that those with healthy personal habits were far more likely to advise their patients to make decisions that could prevent disease.
“The idea is that, like in the seventies when doctors stopped smoking, they were better able to be good advocates for their patients to not smoke. We want to create a healthcare team that can actually focus on food.”
Castro’s program focuses on a plant-based and minimally-processed ingredients approach — almost universally acknowledged as one of the healthiest eating patterns — but doesn’t mandate that the students become advocates for vegan living. In fact, one of the hallmarks of culinary medicine is its acknowledgment that healthy diets need to fit within the preferences and cultural tolerance of patients.
“It has to be delicious. It has to be exciting to eat. It has to be culturally appropriate. At the same time, it has to be nourishing.”
Castro senses some skepticism from established doctors, but she thinks “the younger generation is all in.” However, it will take years for the new concept of culinary medicine to filter throughout the medical establishment. In the meantime, most people who want to apply the principles of culinary medicine in their own lives will have to do it themselves.
The American Diabetes Association, the major authority on diabetes in the United States, agrees that there’s no such thing as a single perfect diabetes diet. Instead, the organization notes that there are three fundamental factors that almost every potentially beneficial diabetes diet has in common:
Eat more non-starchy vegetables.
Eat less sugar and refined grains.
Choose whole foods over highly processed foods.
It’s no surprise that the organization doesn’t get much more specific than that. As Castro acknowledges, it’s not easy to find hard objective truths in the field of nutrition research — it’s simply impossible to run large rigorous randomized experiments to determine the nutritional impact of eggs or kale. But because we all have different health situations and very different tastes, such detailed work may not be terribly helpful. Castro hopes that she can help a new generation of doctors benefit from a personal experience of the power of healthy cooking and eating so that they can go and share the good news with their patients.
“The point of culinary medicine is that your food is as powerful as the medicine you take.”
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