Santa Barbara Chiropractor

Trick-or-Treat-Give Me Something Good to Eat

It’s that time of year again, the beginning of the season for consumption of all things sweet.  Halloween marks the start of the holiday season that extends until the beginning of January.  The tendency to overindulge in sweet treats rises, the sugar rush ensues, and waistlines expand.    Considering the rise in childhood obesity, here are some ideas to curb the sugar rush, and still keep the kids happy and healthy.

For the ghosts and goblins that come knocking: Select dark chocolate options for trick-or-treaters.  Dark chocolate has health benefits such as antioxidants. Give out granola bars, 100% fruit chews, and yogurt or carob covered raisins.  Look for the fun or mini size candy options for the ghouls and goblins; the smaller the better.  Or, avoid candy altogether and hand out coloring books and crayons, glow sticks, or stickers. 

And for your little pumpkins, avoid all unnecessary sugar on the day of Halloween. Omit soda, fruit drinks, certain cereals and other sugary stuff since you know they’ll be eating candy.  Feed them a healthy meal before they go out roaming the neighborhood.  The hungrier they are, the more candy they will eat along the way.  Get them exercising!  Throw in a Thriller mix and have a little zombie dance party.  Also, have them walk from door to door. 

Do you have any tips for healthy treaters? 

What’s for dinner at your house tonight? How about a meat–free dish? Just by reducing animal protein in your diet, you could lessen your risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Many people have found that reducing animal protein consumption can help with low energy and sugar cravings. You can also improve the health of our environment by preserving natural resources like water and fossil fuels.

Join a growing number of people all over the country in the Meatless Monday movement and pledge to eat meat-free once a week.  What will you eat in place of your meat entrée? Try incorporating more vegetables into your meal, which are high in fiber and will make you feel full and satisfied. Beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds are also a great meat alternative. They are high in protein, iron and magnesium and contain little to no saturated fat.

You’ll also reduce your carbon footprint by cutting back on meat just once a week. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the meat industry generates nearly 1/5 of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide. Our precious water resources are exhausted daily and the demand continues to grow. Approximately 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef. This total far surpasses the amount of water needed for vegetables and grains.

People are confused about how to start making improvements to their health, let alone make sizable changes to the environment. Start with what you put on your dinner plate. Start today. You don’t have to become a vegetarian to make a difference. Michael Pollan recently stated on the Oprah show: “Even one meatless day a week — a meatless Monday, which is what we do in my household — if everybody in America did that, that would be the equivalent of taking 20 million mid-size sedans off the road.”

Need recipe ideas? Check out Meatless Monday’s recipe page. Just think about the health message you’re starting today and how you can extend it for the rest of the week. Go meatless and the possibilities are endless!

Staycations are here to stay

Need some time to relax and rejuvenate? But watching your pennies with today’s economy? How about a ‘staycation’? All across the country, families have decided to forgo expensive vacations this year and spend more quality time closer to home.

Traveling tends to include more work and stress than originally planned for, not to mention the added expenses, traffic and delays.

Staycations are not about the exotic locale, but how you spend your time. And more often than not, a break from your daily routine is all you really need.  Disconnect from technology and recharge your internal battery.

With vacation planning, ask yourself why you’re yearning to “get away” in the first place? Perhaps your job is overly demanding, your relationships have become strained, or you just feel a strong desire to escape the daily grind.

Think about what you hope to achieve during your staycation. Whether it’s rest and relaxation, much needed time with friends and family or maybe some fun activities to add excitement back into your life, prioritize this time for yourself.

During your free time, make a point to try something new. Try an exercise or yoga class that you normally couldn’t go to, take a day trip to a local town, or try a new restaurant or a recipe. Remember to practice extreme self-care and enjoy your staycation! 

Brown bag it

You don’t have to be back in school to pack your lunch. In fact, it’s a growing trend among Americans these days. 8.5 billion people brown-bagged their weekday lunch last year, according to a study by the NPD Group. A survey found that the majority of brown-baggers were motivated by financial reasons as well as efforts to eat healthier.  Bringing a lunch from home helps to cut costs as well as unwanted calories from restaurant meals.

Looking for a healthy lunch idea? Check out this New York Times article where Martha Rose Shulman shares a homemade hummus recipe and incorporates the tasty spread in a satisfying vegetarian wrap.

How can you prepare more food from home?

Hummus Wrap

For the hummus:

1 to 2 garlic cloves, to taste; halved, green shoots removed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt to taste
3 to 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt, as needed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons sesame tahini

For each wrap:

1 large flour tortilla or whole wheat wrap
2 leaves romaine lettuce, ribs cut away
1/8 red pepper, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons cucumber, cut in julienne
Fresh mint leaves (optional)

1. Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and drop in the garlic cloves. Process until they are chopped and adhere to the sides of the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, and process until very smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

2. Warm a large flour tortilla for about 10 seconds in the microwave or over a burner, just until flexible. Lay it on your work surface and cover with lettuce leaves, leaving a two-inch border all the way around. Place 3 heaped tablespoons hummus (about 1/4 cup) on top of the lettuce on the bottom half of the tortilla. Top with the red pepper, the cucumber and a few leaves of mint if desired.

3. Fold the bottom edge of the tortilla over the filling. Fold in the sides, then roll up, squeezing the tortilla so that the roll is compact. Place the roll on a piece of plastic wrap. Fold in the sides of the plastic over the ends of the wrap, and roll up tightly to secure. Refrigerate for at least five minutes and for as long as 24 hours.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups hummus. Enough for six or seven wraps.

Advance preparation: The hummus will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator. It will become more pungent. The wrap can be made a day ahead.

Birth Control Pills May Raise Lupus Risk

A new study conducted at McGill University in Montreal has found that women who use birth control pill, and in particular, those who take higher doses, have an increased risk of developing lupus.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that affects connective tissues. Lupus most often harms the skin, heart, joints, lungs, liver, kidneys, blood vessels and nervous system. The course of the disease is unpredictable, with periods of illness, called flares, alternating with remissions.

The study, led by researcher Samy Suissa, PhD, a professor of epidemiology, evaluated more than 1.7 million women who are in the U.K. General Practice Research Database of more than 6 million people. The women who were evaluated were prescribed combined oral contraceptives which included both estrogen and progestin.

The average length of time the women were followed in the study was 8 years. Researchers found that 768 of the women had received a first-time diagnosis of lupus.

They found that use of oral contraceptives was related to an increased risk of developing the disease. “I think we have clear evidence that these pills, especially at higher doses, can increase the risk of lupus,” Dr. Suissa says.

“Women who take oral contraceptives have a 50% higher risk of having lupus than women who don’t take them,” – Samy Suissa, PhD.

But researchers do not believe that the contraceptive on its own increases the risk, he says. “We think it probably interacts with some genetic predisposition.”

However, Dr. Suissa says the risk is still small.

Dr. Suissa’s team determined that the risk is higher in women who take higher dosage pills with 50 micrograms of estrogen or more compared to those who took 30 micrograms or less.

Women who took the highest dose pills had a 190% increased risk of developing lupus, while those who took the lowest had a 40% increased risk.

They also found that the risk increased by 150% in new users during the initial three months.

The results of the study were published in the April 15 issue of arthritis & Rheumatism.

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