Friday, March 20, 2015

Brenda Davis R.D. Lecture Highlights

Brenda Davis is a Registered Dietitian who has written 9 books and I am grateful that I was able to attend the lecture she presented recently at the U of A titled Designing An Optimal Plant Based Diet.  More information about Brenda Davis can be found here:  http://www.brendadavisrd.com 

She spoke of the Blue Zones of the world (which includes Okinawa, Japan, and Sardinia, Italy) where people live healthy active lives into their 90's and beyond.  Some of the steps she mentioned to help us achieve this increased level of long term health include:  eating less, moving more, eating primarily unprocessed foods, eating more plants, eating less meat, and eating homemade food more often.

She also spoke of 10 steps to take to build and achieve an optimal plant based diet.  These steps include:
1. making whole plant foods the foundation of the diet
2. focusing on complex carbohydrates/whole grains rather than refined carbohydrates/grains
3. boosting fiber intake
4. enhancing healthy gut flora balance
5. aiming for healthy forms of protein (i.e. legumes over processed replacement meat products)
6. focusing on healthy saturated (i.e. coconut oil), monounsaturated (i.e. olive oil), and polyunsaturated (i.e. flax oil) fats
7. choosing a wide variety of anti-inflammatory foods (including antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables) over pro-inflammatory foods (including deep fried and fast food)
8. aiming for certified organically grown food when possible
9. ensuring we are meeting our nutrient requirements
10. maintaining a healthy body weight

I really like that Brenda Davis pinpointed a number of practical and relatively easy steps/changes for us to make in our daily lives/routines - even working on a few of them at a time will support and strengthen our overall health.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Additional Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Nuts

Some additional information from the article by Jacob Schor in the February 2015 Cardiology supplement of the Natural Medicine Journal involving the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) study found the participants who were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (blood sugar imbalance/high fasting blood sugar) at the start of the study and were in the Mediterranean Diet (MD) + olive oil group or the MD + nuts group were more likely to reverse this diagnosis than participants in the control group.  The participants in the MD + olive oil group and the MD  + nuts group were also found to have better cognitive function measurements than the participants in the control group. As well, participants who had the highest baseline fiber consumption at the start of the study had a 37% lower risk of death and those with the highest baseline fruit consumption had a 41% lower risk of death compared to those who had the lowest baseline consumption of fiber and fruit.  As well, participants with the highest dietary magnesium intake (which equalled approximately 454 mg of magnesium per day) had a 35% lower risk of death than the participants with the lowest intake.   This additional information further highlights the importance of aiming to follow the Mediterranean Diet guidelines and of integrating extra virgin olive oil and nuts into our regular routine.  

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Cardiovascular Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, Extra Virgin Olive OIl, and Nuts

In the February 2015 Cardiology supplement of the Natural Medicine Journal, author Jacob Schor discusses some of the information that has been gathered through the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) study.  The study involved almost 7500 people (average age 67 years old) who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease.  The participants were divided into 3 groups:  1 group that ate a Mediterranean Diet (MD) and 2 ounces of extra virgin olive oil per day, 1 group that ate a Mediterranean Diet (MD) and 30 g of walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts per day, and the control group that ate a low fat diet.  The MD + olive oil group was found to have a 30% lower risk and the MD + nuts group was found to have a 25% lower risk of having a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular event) than the control group.  Further secondary analysis of the data divided the groups differently and found the participants who followed a MD most closely were 48% less likely to have a cardiovascular event than the participants who followed it least closely.  As well, people in the MD + olive oil group were found to have a 38% lower risk of developing atrial fibrillation than the control group.  Carotid artery ultrasounds were done at the outset of the study and 2.4 years into the study, and the people in the MD + nuts group were found to have improvements in their results with less plaque buildup seen (there was no change seen in the MD + olive group and the control group's ultrasounds had worsened).  The wealth of information gathered from this study points to the importance of integrating extra virgin olive oil and nuts into our regular routine and aiming to closely follow MD guidelines.