Health Tips for Entrepreneurs

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In a recent episode of The Dr. Jason Show, I sat down with Ariana Pierce to discuss health advice for entrepreneurs. As entrepreneurs ourselves, she and I are well acquainted with the unique challenges this hardworking group faces.

Entrepreneurs are always busy. That can make it tough to find the time to prepare smart meals, exercise regularly, spend quality time with friends and family, and de-stress. And speaking of stress, the entrepreneur’s life is usually filled with it. There’s so much pressure, so much competing for your time and attention, and so many things that need tending to continuously.

But if they don’t take care of their health, entrepreneurs jeopardize everything. Stress, poor eating habits, and lack of physical activity put you at increased risk of developing all sorts of chronic diseases. They also depress your immune system, making you more susceptible to minor illnesses like colds and stomach bugs, and those easily interfere with the day-to-day aspects of running a business. And they also diminish your energy levels and your ability to focus, making it ever more difficult to tackle tasks and make the best decisions to achieve their goals.

So, here are some tips to help entrepreneurs feel and perform their best.

Self-Care Advice for Entrepreneurs

  • Recognize the need for self-care. Sometimes this is the hardest part, but you have to admit to yourself that it’s important to figure out ways to make health-affirming decisions, and to prioritize them as necessary.
  • Make a plan and write it down. Entrepreneurs are known for being goal-oriented and depending on organizations tools to get there. Apply that to your lifestyle and devise an actionable plan that you put down on paper (or a screen) for reminders and easy reference.
  • Establish self-care routines. There’s no overstating how critical it is to build routines that support a healthy lifestyle. You probably rely on routines to help you get to all the small tasks in your day, and they’re just as useful for your health. Create a fitness routine, make a routine of having three daily healthy meals and healthy snacking in between, schedule in time to rest and de-stress, and so on.
  • Find convenient ways to get more physical activity. Physical activity is more than strenuous exercise. It’s always good for your physical, mental, and emotional health to be moving as much as possible. Take a look at these tips for sneaking in more movement throughout the day, which can make it easier for busy entrepreneurs to up their activity levels, and with it their energy, ability to concentrate, and mood.
  • Prepare healthy meals and snacks ahead of time. Set aside a little time to make your lunch and pre-portion smart snacks so you don’t have to worry about these things during the day. Having them ready and on hand when you’re in the midst of working makes it so much easier to make positive dietary decisions on a consistent basis.
  • Ask your doctor about dietary supplements. It’s preferable to get all the nutrients you need directly from healthy whole foods, but sometimes people need extra nutritional support. Taking nutritional supplements like multivitamins, probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, and others can help maintain your well-being, energy, and focus when you’re constantly on the go.
  • Practice gratitude. Take time every day to be grateful for the good things in your life—your business, loved ones, health, successes, and others. It’s a simple but powerful tool to help you stay healthy. It keeps you in a positive state and mindful of the things that really matter. This enriches your body, mind, and spirit, which boosts your immune system and generally promotes continuing health and happiness. 

Eat More Salad!

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Not long ago, I filmed an episode of The Dr. Jason Show with Dr. Michelle Taylor that was all about salad. I always recommend to my patients, readers, and audiences that they eat more salads, aiming for one a day. It’s a great meal for lunch because it’s easy to prepare, easy to pack up and take into the office, easy to create variations on to keep things interesting, and it delivers a mid-day energy boost and helps keep you feeling great as the day wears on.

Nutritional Benefits of Salad

Obviously, there are countless ingredients you can use in a salad, and which ones you select affects the nutrients you get. But most salads have a lot in common, so we can make some generalizations. Just make sure you skip the iceberg lettuce—it has very little nutritional value—and opt for a base of romaine and/or darker leafy greens.

Salads are made with whole foods, which are the best things for you. Dark leafy greens and many common salad veggies are loaded with an array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and other nutrients. Nuts and seeds are great inclusions for more of the same, as well as protein and healthy fats. If you work in a whole grain like whole wheat croutons or quinoa, it’s a source of good carbs, fiber, B-complex vitamins, and all sorts of other nutrients. Lean proteins like skinless poultry or fish also add satisfying substance and nutritional value.

Energy Benefits of Salad

Carbohydrates are the first source of energy for your body, and a wholesome salad is full of good, complex carbs. These provide a long-lasting slow release of energy; simple carbs, in contrast, give you a short burst of energy followed by an energy-depressing blood sugar crash. Count on your salads to sustain you.

These good carbs and fiber are also highly satisfying. You feel satiated, and it lasts (for the same reason as the energy boost—because you don’t experience a spike and crash in blood glucose levels). And the best part is, you’re satisfied with a relatively low-calorie meal—ideal for weight loss and weight control—and without eating a heavy meal that makes you feel tired and sluggish.

Using Organic Ingredients

I’m a big advocate for eating organic as much as possible. We don’t have a good grasp of the long-term health effects of consuming pesticides or food grown in synthetic fertilizers. There’s compelling evidence that these things can do us harm, though, so why risk it? As a general rule, I prefer to keep things as natural as possible; it just makes sense.

Purchasing organic produce can get pricey. If you’re trying to watch the food budget, you can be selective about what you buy organic. There’s not much point in buying organic with foods that have a thick rind or peel that you don’t eat. This includes things like bananas, most citrus fruits (unless you’re using the peel for zest), melons, and pineapple. But for foods you eat the outside of, or that have a thin peel, it’s better to spring for organic.

Try Dr. Taylor’s Salad Recipe

One of the great things about salads is that there’s no end to the types and combinations you can put together. There are so many different types of greens, so many fruits and veggies, so many nuts, seeds, and whole grains… Then there’s even more variety from the protein sources and salad dressings you use, and you can always introduce a sensible portion of so many kinds of cheese, too. Salads may have a reputation as a boring food, but they’re as boring or exciting as you make them!

Dr. Taylor shared a unique salad recipe on my show. It was incredibly rich in antioxidants and other nutrients, and it was delicious! So, I thought I’d share it with you here so you can try it. You can of course make substitutions as needed and have fun experimenting with your own twists, but here’s her version (makes about 4 servings):

  • ¾ head of kale, shredded and thick stems removed
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa (high in fiber and plant-based protein)
  • 1 cup goji berries, soaked in cold water for 20 minutes to bring out their sweetness (an antioxidant superfood)
    1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
  • For dressing, mix 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, a squirt of lemon juice, and minced garlic to taste
  • Toss and enjoy!

And by the way, if you want to make sure you catch future episodes of The Dr. Jason Show, just sign up here. You’ll get notifications of upcoming shows on Facebook Live, plus links after they air so you can watch them at your convenience if you can’t tune in live.

Dietary Fiber to Promote Good Health

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For a recent episode of The Dr. Jason Show, I sat down with Dr. Mark Soliman, a colorectal surgeon at Florida Hospital. We talked about colon health and colorectal cancer, and a good deal about the desirable and undesirable qualities of stool. I know you’ll click over and watch now!

One thing that kept coming up is the importance of getting lots of dietary fiber. Dr. Soliman said to shoot for at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber every day. The official recommended daily intake from the Institute of Medicine is 25 g for adult women and 38 g for adult men (and it drops to 21 g and 30 g respectively starting at age 51).

Dr. Soliman also pointed out that this should be combined with 50 ounces of water; drinking plenty of water is important with high fiber intake to prevent gas and constipation—especially when you’re newly upping your consumption.

Most of us aren’t getting enough fiber. On average, the typical American diet provides 15 grams of fiber each day. That can cause all sorts of digestive problems, increase the risk of developing a number of diseases, and leave you feeling short on energy.

What Is Fiber and Where Do You Get It?

While most nutrients are absorbed in our digestive tract, fiber’s a little different in that it’s indigestible plant matter, sometimes referred to as roughage. The fiber you eat passes through you and out with your stool in pretty much the same condition as when it went in. But at the same time, it’s promoting efficient digestion and elimination of waste.

Found in all plant-based foods, fiber is so easy to get. Fruit, vegetables, beans and other legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds are all good sources of dietary fiber. And, as I’m sure you know, these are all things you’re supposed to eat anyway for so many reasons. However, keep in mind that pulp-free or low-pulp juices, canned fruit and veggies, and refined grains contain very little fiber.

Fiber is divided into two categories: soluble and insoluble. This refers to whether it dissolves in water. Most plant foods contain both types, but many are significantly higher in one or the other. While they do some different things in your body, both types are essential to optimal health. Eating a variety of plant-based foods every day ensures you get a balanced intake of soluble and insoluble fiber to enjoy the benefits of each.

Benefits of Dietary Fiber

Without getting caught up in which benefits are mainly derived from which type of fiber, I want to outline the primary benefits of eating a diet rich in fiber. Eating enough fiber every day can help:

  • Fill you up and keep you feeling satisfied, aiding weight loss or weight control efforts
  • Promote regular bowel movements and remedy constipation or diarrhea
  • Contribute to bulkier stool that’s easier to pass
  • Reduce your risk of hemorrhoids and diverticulosis
  • Prevent or reduce the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
  • Cut down on flareups of ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
  • Reduce your risk of colorectal cancer
  • Lower bad (LDL) blood cholesterol levels
  • Bring down high blood pressure
  • Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke
  • Regulate blood glucose levels, including in people with diabetes
  • Prevent type 2 diabetes
  • Reduce your risk of gallstones and kidney stones

Eat Up!

That’s a pretty impressive list, don’t you think? Again, getting enough dietary fiber isn’t hard if you’re making healthy food choices throughout the day for meals and snacks. No excuses, just do it!

Tips for Warming Up Before Exercising

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Lots of people—especially exercise novices—jump right into their workouts without properly warming up. That go-getter attitude is great, but this isn’t the smartest approach. Like stretching, warming up is important to maximizing the benefits of your workout and minimizing your risk of hurting yourself.

Many of your muscles go relatively unused for lengthy periods of time. If you exercise when you wake up in the morning, they’ve been inactive all night long; if you exercise after work, they likely didn’t get much use all day. Your muscles rest in a contracted state, or in some degree of extension where they stay most of the day (like for using a computer).

If you immediately start exercising these “cold” muscles, it’s not hard to injure them. And that’s not only painful, it can also lay you up and prevent you from exercising for days or even weeks.

Also, warming up helps boost your central nervous system function and enhance your blood circulation and oxygenation. This in turn improves your physical and mental performance, allowing you to achieve greater benefits from exercising.

Here are some tips to help you get in a proper dynamic warm-up before working out:

How to Do a Pre-Exercise Warm-Up

  • Warm up before you stretch, because static stretching of cold muscles poses the same risks of pulls, tears, and other injuries
  • Consider the following tips relative to your fitness level, as they’re just generalizations; some of the recommendations may be too short or too easy if you’re at a level of serious training, or some of them may be too much if you’re just starting out
  • Use a foam roller, concentrating on tender points; if you don’t have a foam roller—get one! It’s a great investment
  • Jump rope, do jumping jacks, or even just jump up and down for a minute or two
  • Loosen up your arms by swinging them around and doing shoulder rotations with your arms extended straight out to the side
  • March in place for a few minutes, keeping your back straight and lifting your knees high; add in some forward and backward shoulder rolls while you’re at it
  • Do a few lunges to each side and swing each leg back and forth several times
  • Touch your toes, stand back up, then stretch straight up, all in a fluid motion, 10 times in a row
  • Perform 10 or so squats and as many push-ups (if you can’t do real push-ups, do them leaning against a wall or on your knees instead of your toes)
  • Start with a few reps/few minutes of a less strenuous version of the exercise you’re about to do; for example, if you’re lifting weights, start out with lighter weights; if you’re going for a run, start with a brisk walk, then increase to a jog, and then run
  • Remember to do some similar cooling down and stretching after your workouts, too

10 Common Reasons for Low Energy

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When you’re low on energy, it can be difficult to get through the day. Performing even simple tasks at work, home, school, or elsewhere seem harder than they should. They seem like a drag. It takes a toll on your mood, which only further reduces your energy levels. It saps your motivation to get things done—including making constructive changes to turn things around. So you can get trapped in a cycle of low energy and drive.

As I doctor, I know how hard it can be to get to the bottom of low energy levels in a patient. Fatigue is a symptom of pretty much everything. Sometimes, other symptoms provide essential diagnostic clues, but so often, people just say they feel tired or drained all the time. In these cases, low energy is more likely to be the result of lifestyle choices than disease.

If you chronically feel like you just don’t have the energy you should, here are 10 common causes:

  1. You’re overweight. This is probably the leading cause of low energy levels. Excess pounds—particularly to the point of obesity—are a sure way to make your body feel sluggish. Plus, being overweight typically indicates a poor diet and lack of exercise, which themselves figure into this list.
  1. You eat too many simple carbohydrates. There are good carbs and bad carbs, and most Americans eat way too many of the latter. Refined grains and simple sugars cause spikes and crashes in your blood glucose levels that ultimately leave you feeling wiped out.
  1. You don’t get enough physical activity. Exercise may tire you out, but it’s also essential to generating energy. If you lead a lethargic lifestyle, you simply won’t feel energized. Consult your doctor about starting and gradually building up a fitness routine.
  1. You don’t sleep enough—or well enough. If you’re not getting at least 7 hours of restful sleep each night, your energy levels are bound to be low through the day. Try improving your sleep hygiene, and if that doesn’t work, talk to your doctor about your difficulties (and ask about sleep apnea if you snore—it’s potentially dangerous).
  1. You rely on artificial energy boosters. If you’ve gotten into the habit of having three cups of coffee every morning, you’re likely to experience rebound fatigue later in the day. Energy drinks do this to you too, plus most have lots of added sugar that bring us back to number 1 above.
  1. You’re stressed out and not coping. Stress has lots of causes, from work to kids to money problems to life crises and more. To keep up your energy and general health, you need to deal with it in positive ways like exercising, doing yoga, playing a sport, meditating, getting a massage, finding time for an enjoyable hobby, and so on.
  1. You’re depressed or suffering from a mood disorder. Depression, anxiety, and destabilized mood are common causes of low energy levels. Many of the same things that help you cope with stress can be of benefit, but these are serious conditions, so please see a mental health professional for diagnosis and treatment if you suspect something along these lines is going on.
  1. You have a nutritional deficiency. Any nutrient deficiency can leave you feeling sapped. Iron-deficient anemia is a common culprit, as are deficiencies in B-complex vitamins, potassium, or magnesium. If you don’t eat a well-rounded diet comprised of whole foods, including fruit, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, you may not be getting enough of one or more nutrients you need to sustain high energy levels.
  1. You’re experiencing medication side effects. If you take any medications (or supplements), check out the side effects. Fatigue shows up often. Also, many medications interfere with sleep; see number 4 above. Talk to your doctor about adjusting your prescription dosage or whether there are alternative to try.
  1. You have a hormonal imbalance. Various hormones play important roles in energy production. Too little or too much of them may be the root of your problem. An underactive or overactive thyroid, adrenal gland dysfunction, pregnancy, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy are some examples of why hormone levels may be off.

Tips to Reduce Your Sugar Intake

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Americans have developed a serious sweet tooth. As processed foods with lots of added sugar have become an ever-larger part of our diet over the last several decades, our palates have evolved (devolved?) to like—and crave—increasingly sweet foods. Things most people would have found unpleasantly sweet 50 years ago are now the norm for many of us. 

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that high sugar consumption is bad for you. It’s linked to chronic, serious health problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Sugar is high in calories and basically devoid of nutritional value. 

Simple sugar also saps your energy. It gives you a short-lived spike as your blood glucose levels become rapidly elevated, but then you crash. Then you don’t feel good or energized; you feel sluggish and often hungry again even though you recently ate. Read more about this in my article on good carbs and bad carbs. 

The standard recommendation for generally healthy individuals is that no more than 10 percent of your daily calories come from added sugar. We differentiate “added” sugar because some whole foods—fruit in particular—naturally contain a good deal of sugar, but this isn’t a reason to avoid them. 

Typical American diets are way,way off from this target percentage. So many people eat and drink far too much of far too many foods and beverages with added sugar.

Here are some easy, practical ways for you and your family—kids included—to eat healthier, feel healthier, and be healthier by reducing your sugar intake.

How to Lower Your Sugar Consumption

  • Read nutrition labels and avoid added sugar; there are more than 50 ways added sugar is named… for example, there’s brown sugar, raw sugar, malt sugar, invert sugar, sucrose and other words ending in -ose, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, dried cane syrup, evaporated cane juice, crystal solids, and honey
  • Start buying sugar-free or low-sugar versions of the high-sugar foods you eat, like cereals, yogurt, or applesauce; gradually mix increasingly larger amounts of the less sweet products in with the sweetened ones to start re-training your palate to like less sweet food
  • Yogurt is a great snack, but most of it is heavily sweetened; buy unsweetened yogurt and add naturally sweet berries, melon, bananas, or other fruit to it
  • The above works well with other healthy foods like oatmeal and whole grain cereals that don’t contain added sugar; sweet fruits are also a great substitute for syrup on pancakes, waffles, or French toast
  • Gradually add a little less sugar to your coffee or tea; again, your palate will adjust
  • Skip the soda and energy drinks—even the diet stuff with artificial sweeteners; try a squeeze of lemon or lime juice of a few cucumber slices in your water if you want to add flavor
  • Buy canned fruit packed in water rather than heavy or light syrup
  • Bake your own sweets and cut the sugar content in the recipes by one-third or even one-half—you’d be surprised how much you can take out and still have an enjoyable end product, especially as your palate adjusts
  • Make your own granola, granola bars, condiments, salad dressings, pasta sauce, and other items that are high in added sugar if you buy them ready-made
  • Vanilla, almond, orange, and other extracts and spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and allspice can sweeten many foods in place of sugar

25 Awesome Health Benefits of Yoga

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I often talk about the importance of aerobic exercise and strength training exercises, but I’m also an enthusiastic advocate for movement-based exercises with a meditative element, like yoga or tai chi, for example. Yoga is a fantastic activity with lots of variants (and they’re pretty easy to find if you live in or near an urban area), so everyone should be able to find one that appeals to them.

Yoga offers plenty of amazing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health benefits. And one of the greatest things about it is that pretty much anybody can do it and evolve at their own pace.

Take a look at this list and you’ll quickly see why I eagerly encourage everyone to take up yoga.

Reasons to Practice Yoga 

If you’re looking for a good reason to sign up for some yoga classes, here are 25. And it isn’t even all of them. Yoga: 

  1. Increases flexibility and range of motion
  2. Builds strength
  3. Enhances balance
  4. Improves your posture and spinal stability
  5. Boosts circulation and heart health
  6. Helps you breathe better
  7. Promotes efficient metabolism and digestive health
  8. Contributes to stable blood sugar levels
  9. Contributes to healthy cholesterol levels
  10. Lowers your blood pressure
  11. Reduces stress, anxiety, and many associated symptoms
  12. Relieves physical and emotional tension and their symptoms
  13. Lessens chronic headaches, muscle aches, and other chronic pain
  14. Energizes you
  15. Promotes bone, joint, and connective tissue health
  16. Protects you against injuries
  17. Strengthens your immune system
  18. Lowers your risk for numerous chronic conditions
  19. Improves your mood and helps treat depression
  20. Helps you focus and perform better—physically and mentally
  21. Facilitates more restful, restorative sleep
  22. Boosts self-esteem
  23. Increases your optimism
  24. Encourages greater self-awareness and self-care
  25. Brings you more clarity and peace of mind 

Interested in Yoga?

As mentioned above, there are numerous different types of yoga. Some of the more popular include hatha yoga (a combination of movement and breathing exercises), vinyasa (based on smooth movements and poses that flow into each other), ashtanga (flowing poses and movements combined with breathing exercises), power yoga (an intense variant more focused on building strength), bikram or hot yoga (performing challenging poses in a hot room), and iyengar yoga (poses and movements using props like chairs, straps, and blocks).

A good yoga studio or trainer can give you reliable advice about which type of yoga might be the best place to start based on your goals. Whichever you decide to try out, you shouldn’t have trouble finding beginner-level instruction. As with any exercise, take it easy when at first and gradually build up.

Enjoy the awesome health benefits! It won’t take long at all to start experiencing them!

Food Sources of Potassium for More Energy and Better Health

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Potassium is an important mineral. Your organs, muscle and nerve function, cells, and tissue depend on it, as do a variety of your body’s basic biological processes. It’s also one of the electrolytes (along with sodium, calcium, chloride, and magnesium).

Getting enough potassium in your diet is crucial to maintaining energy, promoting healthy blood pressure levels, and otherwise staying healthy. It also reduces the harmful effects of excessive sodium intake, which is a hallmark of the typical American diet.

What is “enough” potassium? The established adequate intake level for generally healthy teens and adults is 4,700 mg per day. Generally healthy children 1 to 3 years old should get 3,000 mg per day; 4 to 8 years should get 3,800 mg per day; and 9 to 13 years should get 4,500 mg per day.

Make sure you and your family members eat a number of potassium-rich whole foods every day. Deficiencies can be dangerous. Keeping up your intake helps you feel and perform your best, and it can help reduce your risk for developing lots of problems, like kidney stones, hypertension, osteoporosis, heart disease, and stroke.

Best Dietary Sources of Potassium

The following foods are all nutritious choices that are easy to recommend, not only for their potassium content. Eat them!

  • Bananas are the most famous food source of potassium, though they don’t have the highest content (422 mg in an average one)
  • Potatoes and sweet potatoes are two of the foods that pack in even more potassium than bananas, offering about 700 to over 900 mg depending on size
  • Leafy greens like spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, cabbage, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, and romaine lettuce are loaded with nutrients, including potassium
  • Yogurt is a good dairy item that supplies a significant quantity of potassium, averaging close to 600 mg per 8-ounce serving
  • Citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit—as well as their juices—are an easy way to get a decent helping of potassium
  • Tomatoes, tomato juice, and tomato sauce all deliver plenty of potassium, too
  • Other fruits and vegetables high in potassium include avocados, plums and prunes, apricots, grapes and raisins, cantaloupe, broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, beets, artichokes, carrots, bell peppers, and squashes
  • Legumes like peanuts, white beans, lima beans, lentils, kidney beans, soybeans, pinto beans, and peas are smart picks for this mineral as well
  • Animal sources that are healthy protein choices and high in potassium include salmon, scallops, clams, cod, flounder, tuna, halibut, trout, and chicken
  • Molasses are a nutritious, potassium-rich alternative to other sweeteners like sugar and honey, offering around 400 mg per tablespoon

Common Reasons We Can’t Lose Weight

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Losing weight isn’t easy. You’re bound to at least occasionally struggle with feelings of deprivation and with working up the motivation to stick to your healthy eating plan and fitness regimen. But when you’re making a real effort and not seeing the desired results on the scale, it’s pretty disheartening.

There are lots of possible explanations for why you’re not losing weight. And in many cases, it’s a combination of reasons, all contributing to the problem in their own ways. The reasons can be quite simple and related to your lifestyle choices, but that’s not the only possibility; sometimes, there are medical reasons for your inability to lose weight or for overly slow weight loss.

Why You Might Not Be Losing Weight 

  • You skip meals and/or healthy snacks. Cutting out food this way might seem like a great way to reduce your calorie intake, but it usually backfires. You just end up overeating at later meals to make up for low energy and excessive hunger. 
  • You eat more after workouts. Lots of people fall into this trap. They figure that since they’re exercising more, they can eat more. Or, others reward their hard work with a treat. Either way, you easily add back the extra calories you burn—and often you add more. 
  • You aren’t doing cardiovascular/aerobic exercise. Strength training is important, but it doesn’t burn calories like cardio does. Regular aerobic exercise is essential to weight loss. 
  • You aren’t doing strenuous enough cardio. It’s not enough to perform aerobic exercises; to enjoy weight loss and other health benefits, you have to push yourself hard enough to reach and sustain your target heart rate. 
  • You aren’t doing strength training exercises. While cardio is the key to burning calories, weight lifting and/or resistance training to build muscle boosts your metabolism. The best weight loss regimens combine aerobic and strength-training exercises. 
  • You’re building muscle. Don’t overlook this possibility. If you’re strength training or otherwise increasing your muscle mass, it can slow weight loss or even lead to a little weight gain, depending on your body condition. Muscle is heavier than fat. 
  • You eat when you aren’t hungry. If you mindlessly eat, like out of boredom or stress or while watching TV, you might eat more than you realize. Pay attention to hunger cues and avoid emotional eating, distracted eating, and other eating habits that undermine weight loss efforts. 
  • You consume more calories than you realize. Losing weight doesn’t require obsessive calorie counting, but you have be generally aware of how many calories you take in. If you don’t check the calorie content and serving sizes of your food and drink, you may overeat without knowing. 
  • You don’t keep an eye on beverage calories. It’s not uncommon for people to pay attention to food but overlook the calories from drinks. If you have things like juice, soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, or coffee with a lot of sugar, the calories add up quickly.
  • You’re experiencing a weight loss “plateau.” This happens to everyone. Once you start losing weight, it takes fewer and fewer calories to maintain your weight. Also, if you do the same few exercises repeatedly and aren’t building up the duration or intensity, your body adapts and they become less beneficial. It’s important to cycle through many different workouts. 
  • You’re retaining fluids. There are a number of reasons people retain fluids, and water weight can be significant. Excessive salt intake, increased fiber intake without increased water intake, medication or supplement side effects, various health conditions, and hormone fluctuations are some possible causes. 
  • You take medication or supplements that affect weight. Not only can drugs and supplements trigger fluid retention, many can lead to weight gain or difficulty losing weight. Lots of antidepressants and steroids, as well as oral contraceptives, are common culprits in this regard. Check the listed side effects of anything you take. 
  • You have a health condition that affects weight. Similarly, many conditions also prompt weight gain or difficulty losing weight. Hypothyroidism, hormonal imbalances, liver or kidney problems, and digestive disorders are some possibilities. And are you sure you’re not pregnant? If you can’t come up with other explanations for your trouble losing weight or if you have other symptoms, talk to your doctor.
  • You have unrealistic expectations. This isn’t so much for those of you who can’t lose weight as those of you who think you should be losing faster. If you’re trying to lose weight in healthy, sustainable ways, you should only expect to lose about 1 pound per week. If you’re very overweight or newly trying, that might reach about 2 pounds per week. If you are losing 1 to 2 pounds per week, or even less if you’re not too overweight or you’ve been working at it for a while, the you’re doing just fine. Expecting more is unrealistic and it’s not safely achievable.

15 Healthy Grocery Shopping Tips

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Making positive lifestyle changes, whether just for improved health or for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, can be tough. We all grapple with tight schedules that push us toward the quick and easy meal solutions—which aren’t always the best for us. 

One thing that really helps is simply becoming a smarter grocery shopper. If you stock your pantry, fridge, and freezer with healthy foods and keep them clear of junk food, preparing healthy meals and snacks at home is much easier. You have all the ingredients you need. And you won’t have the stuff you shouldn’t be eating. 

Below are some strategies and ideas for smart food shopping that will help you and your family eat more nutritiously and in ways that promote healthy body weight. 

Tips for Healthy Food Shopping 

  1. You’ve probably heard it before, but it’s important: Don’t grocery shop when you’re hungry. If you do, you’re more likely to buy food you don’t need—especially unhealthy snacks and packaged, processed convenience items. 
  1. Only clip coupons for nutritious items. The drive to save money is powerful, and the option to get a bargain on unhealthy foods will prompt you to buy them. Let the extra savings from a coupon (or sale) offer a little extra motivation to choose wisely. 
  1. Head into the store with meals planned out and a written shopping list. This ensures you don’t forget something you need for your healthy meals and end up resorting to something less desirable. It also prevents you from wandering around without a plan; that’s a major trap so many people fall into that leads to poor choices, overbuying, overspending, and not having all the ingredients on hand for smart meal prep. 
  1. Choose whole foods over processed foods whenever possible. Whole foods are those found in nature, more or less as they’re found in nature. Fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, cuts of meat, poultry, fish, eggs… these are some whole foods. Whole grains are usually somewhat processed, but not nearly as much as their refined counterparts. As an easy general rule, the less processed something is, the better it is. 
  1. Don’t even walk down snack aisles. Walking past all those bags of chips or packages of cookies is just unnecessary temptation. 
  1. Grab the whole grain version of the foods you eat. Choose brown rice over white, whole wheat bread over white bread, and so on. It’s a simple substitution with a big impact on health and weight control. If you or certain family members don’t like it, don’t worry; just get through eating it a few times and your taste adapts pretty quickly. 
  1. Opt for organic over traditional when possible. 
  1. Buy a fruit, vegetable, whole grain, or legume you’re not familiar with on each major shopping trip. Do a quick internet search for inspiration on how to use it and to learn how to prepare it. It’s fun to teach yourself something new about food prep and experience a new healthy food. It won’t always be a hit, but this is a key to keeping things interesting and expanding your options. 
  1. Spend a little extra on pre-cut produce and other pre-portioned healthy items if the convenience will make you and your family more likely to eat them. 
  1. Buy fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors. Different colors come from different nutrients, so this is a simple way to get a broad range of healthful compounds. 
  1. Look at the serving size of every packaged food. Something may appear low calorie, low sodium, etc. at first glance, but if the serving size is unrealistically small, this may not actually be the case. 
  1. Keep reading past the serving size on the nutrition label. Avoid anything with trans fat and try to minimize saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. In general, high carbohydrate items should have high fiber content rather than high sugar content. 
  1. Read over the ingredient list on packaged foods, too. Typically, the shorter the better. Steer clear of items with artificial colors or flavors. Remember, ingredients are listed in descending order by quantity. One example of why this might matter is a product that lists white flour before whole wheat flour; it’s made up more of refined grain than whole grain, even if the marketing on the front of the package leads you to believe otherwise. 
  1. Don’t be afraid of frozen produce. Fresh usually tastes better, but frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious (in fact, they often have higher nutritional value if they’re frozen promptly after harvesting). Plus, the convenience makes it an easy go-to choice in the kitchen. 
  1. Don’t overlook canned legumes, veggies, and fruit, either. These too are convenient, budget-friendly, healthy ingredients to toss into a wide variety of recipes. Just avoid cans with added sugar, syrup, or sodium.

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Mailing Address

Littleton Concierge Medicine, LLC
1070 Montgomery Rd
Unit #460
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

(407) 335-5362
info@jasonmd.com

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