Julie RN DCES

How to increase metabolism without exercise

09/18/2021 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

According to the Miller-Keane Encyclopedia & Dictionary of Medicine, your basal metabolic rate is the “minimal energy expended for the maintenance of respiration, circulation, peristalsis, muscle tone, body temperature, glandular activity, and other vegetative functions of the body.” It is the measurement of energy you need to sustain your life force. So how do you increase metabolism without exercise?

Your body has certain processes to increase your metabolic rate. For example, the release of epinephrine prepares you to fight or fly away by providing a release of energy. A high fever can also increase your metabolic rate as well as eating a large meal.

Exercise and weight loss

Many people who start an exercise program report weight loss. But is it fat or water that you lose?

Inflammation is produced by excess calories. Inflammation contains water. So when you don’t have excess calories, your body loses water weight by reducing your inflammation. To truly determine the source of your weight loss, you need to measure your body fat percentage.

Many of our home scales measure BMI (body mass index). This is a calculation of height and weight ratios, but not an indicator for body fat. Athletes can have a higher BMI because muscle mass weighs heavier than fat.

Exercise can increase the calories burned but not change your basal metabolic rate.

Follow the science

Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist and author, has studied the cultural patterns including available foods, against the metabolic rates of many cultures. Dr. Pontzer has concluded that daily exercise levels can determine the body fat percentage composition but it does not correlate with basal metabolic rates. Increasing one’s metabolic rate goes against our evolutionary physiology. It would actually increase our risk for starvation because it increases our need for food.

Dr. Pontzer warns starvation diets are dangerous. Whenever people push their body to a limited time for eating, they actually lower their metabolic rate. They trick their body into believing their food sources are limited. This triggers a lower metabolic rate in our evolutionary (hormone) method to conserve energy to sustain life.

The result is the individual gains weight easier until their body is convinced the risk for starvation is passed. Unfortunately, no one can predict how long it takes for your body to convert back to normal.

Exercise is very beneficial

Individuals on a regular exercise program will preserve muscle tone, improve heart health, and decrease cognitive decline. In addition to exercise for the aforementioned benefits, reducing your daily calorie intake should be used for weight loss.

Lifestyle changes

Changing your lifestyle is very difficult. Many people have gained weight during the Covid shutdown. We wanted to feel some relief from stress, so we ate to cope. What you need to do now is focus on what you want. Pairing activities is a good way to remind you. I talk about stacking habits in this post.

If you are gaining weight every year, you need to change your daily habits. I talk about this in great detail in my book, Parent’s Guide to Healthy Kids. It says “for healthy kids”, but really, it’s for the whole family. And actually, since you’re reading this post, I’m happy to give you a discount if you want to check out my book. Use this code at checkout to get 50% off! qb1vxm1

Many people need to lose weight for their health. It is important to find a safe way to do it. Remember, we did not gain weight overnight. It is by changing your habits that you will lose weight.

Bottom line

The easiest way to increase metabolism without exercise is to gain weight. An increase in body mass (BMI) requires more energy (calories) to move around. This is why when people lose weight they report feeling more energy.

The average active adult burns about 2500 Kilo-calories each day. Your body does not care about the type of calories it burns for energy. It can be carbohydrates, proteins, fats, or alcohol. Whatever you eat, your body can convert to energy. When you eat more than your body needs, the excess is stored.

So the truth is, you CAN increase metabolism without exercise. But the addition of exercise is going to increase your muscle mass and will contribute to the weight loss that you probably desire.

I hope you found this article to be informative and helpful! Please check out my eBook to learn more about the lifestyle changes that you can incorporate to see the changes that you desire for yourself and your family.

Keto diet risks and what you can do

08/11/2021 by Julie RN DCES 1 Comment

When my metabolism started to slow down, I was willing to try anything to control my weight gain. Keto diets appear to be a miracle cure. Who doesn’t want to eat bacon every day? You can lose weight without being hungry. But is a keto diet too good to be true? Let’s look at some keto diet risks.

Quick fixes can lead to long-term problems

Any time you lose weight quickly, you risk the problem of slowing your metabolism rate. This causes you to gain weight more quickly when you are no longer dieting.

How many times have you gained more weight back after your quit your diet? There is a real reason for that problem!

Keto diets can cause nutritional problems that are hard to diagnose

Our body is complicated. Take, for example, calcium. For your body to use calcium supplements, you also need magnesium and
vitamin D. This combination is similar for every element in your body.

Doing keto properly, you should be eating green leafy vegetables and you’ll get the nutrients that you need. But many people think that a keto diet is a license to eat fatty meats and cheeses, but forget that they need to incorporate vegetables. Here’s a list of keto foods that are rich in calcium.

Trace mineral deficiencies are just as significant but even more difficult to diagnose. When you remove all fruit from your diet, you eliminate many trace minerals. Over time this can cause symptoms, for example, heart palpitations.

Doctors treat symptoms

Our medical system (AKA, your doctor) is trained to quickly access your problem, then fix the problem. If you complain of heart
palpitations, they will verify the problem by monitoring your heart rate, then recommend a pacemaker. Oftentimes, they do not investigate the root cause of your problems which could be an imbalanced diet.

What you can do

I recommend that everyone on a keto diet should take a vitamin supplement. You know that are at high risk for trace mineral imbalances. A vitamin and mineral supplement will help to offset the imbalances.

Your best bet is to make improvements. Make subtle changes to your diet that will improve your overall health at a pace that you can maintain. Here’s a recipe that I posted for low-sugar cookies. This is an example of a subtle change that will have a positive affect on your health in the long run.

Bottom line, the medical community does not know the long-term effects of keto diets. Are the unknown side effects worth the short-term gains?

Low sugar chocolate chip nut cookies

02/19/2021 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

Cookies are a mainstay when it comes to the holidays, right? Or anytime you’re stuck at home (ahem, Covid…) But when you’re diabetic, pre-diabetic, or have gestational diabetes, you need to be extra aware of the sugar that you’re taking in. This low sugar chocolate chip nut cookie recipe is sure to be a hit in your household!

How am I qualified? I am a certified diabetes educator and I put together a recipe for chocolate chip nut cookies that clocks in at only 6 grams of sugar per cookie!

How does it compare?

McDonald’s chocolate chip cookie is 19 grams of sugar. Yikes! According to Fitbit, Toll House chocolate chip cookies are 14 grams of sugar per cookie.

Here’s the recipe!

Low-Sugar Chocolate Chip Nut Cookies

Makes 18 cookies with 6 grams sugar each

1/2 cup butter or margarine melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup Truvia Brown Sugar Blend
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup white flour
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup chopped nuts (you can use almonds, or pecans, walnuts, or peanuts)

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

In a large bowl combine the butter, vanilla extract, egg, water, salt, and Truvia Brown Sugar Blend. (Truvia should start to melt.)

In a separate bowl combine the flour with the baking soda. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts and mix well.

Now add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients while continuing to mix well.

Using a spoon, drop cookie dough onto cookie sheets forming 18 cookies. Keep in mind that if you make less than 18 cookies, your sugar content will be higher. To get the amount of sugar per cookie, take 18 x 6 grams of sugar to get the total sugar content for the entire batch. Then divide that by the number of cookies that you actually make. For example, say you form 15 cookies. So 18 cookies that the recipe suggests x 6 grams sugar each equals 108 grams sugar for the entire batch. Then divide by 15 cookies and you have 7.2 grams of sugar per cookie.

If you struggle to divide it up into 18 pieces, try this: divide the mix in half. Divide it in half again. Each quarter needs to make 4.5 cookies. That’s basically making 4 cookies and taking a pinch from each cookie and set it aside. Then each half of the mix should make 1 extra cookie out of the little extras that you set aside!

Any cookies that are mounded up should be spread out to allow proper baking.

Cookies will spread out while they bake so leave a little room between them. You’ll probably need more than one cookie sheet to make the full batch. Or bake the first batch and after your cookie sheet cools off, you can bake what’s leftover. *Remember the dough should be refrigerated while you wait!

Bake for 6-7 minutes in a preheated oven until the edges are golden brown.

Allow the cookies to sit for 2 minutes on the baking sheet after you take them out of the oven. Then you can place them on a cooling rack.

Variation

If you don’t want nuts, you can double the chips, but I would recommend using the mini-size chips for better texture. And remember that this may affect your sugar content.

You can also use whole wheat flour to add fiber.

I have not tried gluten-free flour.

If you want to try Truvia Brown sugar blend in your other recipes, you convert the regular brown sugar to Truvia by cutting the amount in half.

This recipe makes 18 cookies with 6 grams of sugar each.

I hope you enjoy baking these cookies for your loved ones!

Alcohol and Diabetes a Deadly Combination

12/01/2020 by Julie RN DCES 2 Comments

I know alcohol is never recommended in children under the legal age. But teens often have access to alcohol, so it is important for them to understand the effects on their blood sugar. This is particularly important when parents are preparing their children for college. I worked in a college town and many students end up in the ER with blood sugar problems.

So many people with prediabetes are in denial. This is especially true in teens. But that doesn’t mean they are exempt from the side effects of uncontrolled blood sugars. Parents need to take an active role in educating their young adults in the problems of alcohol before they head to college…..

Alcohol Can Adversely Effect The Body’s Ability To Regulate Energy

As you know, excess alcohol effects your liver functions. Your body’s energy regulation actually starts in the liver. That is the reason doctors use Metformin as the first medication with prediabetes. Improving the function of the liver by 20% will improve blood sugars by 80%.

Initially alcohol could raise your blood sugar (particularly with beer), but alcohol works in the liver to prevent stored sugars from being released. So it can actually cause low blood sugars during the night while you sleep. It is important to eat a snack of protein and carbs before going to sleep. It is even more important to not sleep in late in the morning (like most college student tend to do).

What You Should Do

Set an alarm, and if you can, check your blood sugar and eat breakfast! Then if you want to go back to bed, no problem. The main problem is that your blood sugar could go too low while you’re “sleeping it off”. That feeling of being hung-over may actually be low blood sugar.

Also, please feel free to email me if you have questions that aren’t answered here!

Low Blood Sugar Symptoms

The side effects from low blood sugar looks similar to drunkenness. This is a dangerous situation. Symptoms of low blood sugar without diabetes include:

Paleness
Headaches
Shakiness or trembling
Blurred vision or Dizziness
Lack of energy or fatigue
Poor Coordination
Irritability, anxiety, agitation
Nausea or vomiting
Excess sweating or perspiration
Problems concentrating, confusion
Decreased consciousness or loss of consciousness

This is really important with kids that are going to college. They will drink alcohol. So educate them about it.

Any questions, send me a message at Julie@kidsatriskfordiabetes.com.

http://www.healthclop.mailto:Julie@kidsatriskfordiabetes.comcom/low-blood-sugar-without-diabete

Prevent Birth Defects from uncontrolled blood sugars

11/28/2020 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

Uncontrolled blood sugars can cause serious birth defects.

It is unfortunate that I find a need to present this information. I have experience working with thousands of teens and unfortunately many of them get pregnant. I am located in the American Bible belt. They encourage schools to teach “abstinence only” in sex education classes. In today’s society, it appears to not be effective in controlling unwanted pregnancies.

Never trust your schools to adequately prepare your children for pregnancy prevention.

All parents need to take an active role in the discussion of sex and the importance of contraception. Do not expect your child to be adequately informed by the school’s sex education classes.

Know your risks. Research shows, if the mother has gestational diabetes, the child is at increased risk for diabetes. There are a variety of risk factors that can be found on the CDC’s website on Diabetes. You can take their survey to evaluate your child’s risks.

Type 2 diabetics are at risk for the most serious complications in unplanned pregnancies. About 7% of embryos developed with high blood sugars also develop Spinal Bifida. There are other brain and heart malformations that are associated with uncontrolled diabetes.

Typically, babies born under gestational diabetes are over nine pounds. Doctors recommend C-sections due to the increased possibility of broken bones during birth (particularly the collar bone).

The most serious health issue is high blood pressure in the mothers. This can be life threatening to the pregnant woman. If the mother develops high blood pressure, she will often times be placed in the hospital on bed rest until the baby is developed enough to be induced. There is a risk of underdeveloped lungs in the newborn and high medical cost for intensive care for the newborn.

There is a wide variety of birth defects associate with high blood sugars.

All diabetics need to seek pre-conception counseling before getting pregnant.

If you are interested, I have a 30 day course for gestational diabetes.

8 Tips to Avoid Gestational Diabetes

03/11/2020 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

Gestational diabetes can be frightening. Below are 8 tips to avoid gestational diabetes!

Women typically get tested between 24-28 weeks gestation. But you can avoid gestational diabetes by knowing your risks and taking action steps to avoid these problems.

Evaluate Your Risk

According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Diabetes Association your risks include:

Over the age of 25
A body mass index (BMI) over 25
A family history of diabetes in a parent, sibling, or a child
A history of a baby born over 9 pounds
Ethic groups at highest risk include Pacific Islanders, Asians, Hispanic
and certain Native American tribes.
A random blood sugar test over 200
A1C test equal to or greater than 5.7%
A history of Polycystic Ovary Disease
High triglycerides or a prescription to control triglycerides.

It is Proven that Gestational Diabetes can be Prevented

The American Diabetes Association has proven through the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) that lifestyle changes can prevent or delay the diagnosis of diabetes. It is believed that gestational diabetes can be prevented through lifestyle changes. Gestational diabetes is controlled by pregnancy hormones, so you need to make changes early in your pregnancy. As your pregnancy develops, it will become increasingly difficult to control your blood sugar because of your changing hormones. Learning how to eat for your body’s needs is essential.

8 Tips to Avoid Gestational Diabetes:

Eat 3 equally spaced meals each day
Limit snacks between meals. (once you start following the gestational meal plan you will have nutritionally balanced snacks between meals and one at bedtime.
Eat a balanced diet (limit sugar, fat, and salt)
Include fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible
Include whole grains
Limit saturated fats
Avoid sugary drinks and rich desserts
Learn to check labels for portion sizes (Do not eat for two – you need to control your weight gain during pregnancy!)

Making lifestyle changes is very difficult. It is said that it takes 3 months to change a habit. My eBook (coming soon!) will talk about ways to help make changes that will last.

I hope you enjoyed these 8 tips to avoid gestational diabetes! Together we can make a difference in your future.

Please keep an eye out for my eBook – coming soon!