Health

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.

Children at Risk for Adult Diabetes

07/08/2021 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

Children at risk type 2 diabetes due to obesity

In previous generations, the medical profession had few occasions to monitor children for adult health issues. Today, children are experiencing increasing problems with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health problems related to obesity. Although obesity is ever increasing in children, many times our health care system is lagging behind in identification and approved treatment.

Obesity is the main cause for kids being at risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Children are classified as overweight who are above the 85th percentile for age and sex. To be classified as obese, a child’s BMI will be over the 95th percentile for age and sex or their weight is greater than 120% over ideal for height(1). But being at risk for diabetes is much more than just a weight issue.

First: If one or both parents have been diagnosed with diabetes, then the child has the genetics putting them at risk for diabetes.

According to the SEARCH study, at least 75% of youth diagnosed with type 2 have at least one close family member who has diabetes. (Close family members include mother father sisters or brothers.) (searchfordiabetes.org)

Second: If the child’s BMI (body mass index) is over 28, it indicates that their life-style places them at additional risk.

BMI can be misleading on its own. You should also consider waist circumference. (http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html)

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851850/)

Third: If they have high blood pressure. This one is tricky because blood pressure can be affected by many things including anxiety. If you or your child become anxious about going to the doctor, then chances are your blood pressure will be elevated. Taking several deep breaths before taking the blood pressure can help. It is important to get an accurate reading.

If you would like to monitor a child’s blood pressure, there are automatic machines available at most pharmacies and many department stores. I recommend using one of these machines because they are more reliable (ensure accurate readings) as compared to home monitors. Doctors are wanting blood pressure reading less than the 90th percentile on at least three measurements.(2) You can refer to the CDC guidelines for these recommended values.

(http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/growthcharts/training/modules/module3/text/bloodpressure.htm)

The rule of thumb for children age 7-15 years old is: multiple 2 times your child’s age and add 90. This gives you the median for systolic pressure (the upper number). For the diastolic (lower number) subtract 30-45 from your systolic number. This is just an average number, the number you get can be higher or lower (for more information see: http://www.fpnotebook.com/CV/Exam/PdtrcVtlSgns.htm)

Fourth: Dyslipidemia. Now that is a big word! It means high cholesterol or high triglycerides. You need a fasting blood test to check for these conditions. Ask your doctor for this information.

Fifth: High Blood Sugar. Teens with a fasting blood glucose (FBG) 100 – 125 mg/dL or a random blood test greater than 199 mg/dL are at risk. For children younger than their teens, you should consult your pediatrician for this information. A1C is a non-fasting blood test. The results will vary with the age of your child.

A1C is not recommended to use to diagnose diabetes in children so it may not be covered by insurance. It is a good indicator if your teen’s tolerance to sugar is a problem. Younger children run higher blood sugars and the A1C test is not recommended for them. The readings for A1C are determined by the age of the child and industry standards have NOT be determined (as of this writing).

American Diabetes Association recommends testing asymptomatic youth for Type 2 if they are overweight plus any 2 of the following risk factors:

Diabetes screening should be repeated every three years.
Family history of Type 2 in first or second degree relatives
Native American, Latino, African American, Asian or Pacific Islander ethnicity
Mother with a history of gestational diabetes during the child’s gestation
Signs of insulin resistance or conditions associated with insulin resistance including acanthosis nigricans, hypertension, dyslipidemia, polycystic ovary syndrome or small for gestational age birth weight(3)

Symptoms of high blood sugar include:

Unusual Thirst (they can’t drink enough)
Frequent urination (going to the bathroom more than once in the night)
Headaches, especially after eating sugary foods
Tired, no energy; especially after a meal
Unusually hungry; (I have seen these kids start eating two full lunches – this indicates a hormone imbalance)
Anxious (there are times when they want food NOW)

For more information about how to teach your kids and your family good habits for a healthy future, check out my healthy kids and family 30 day virtual program.

1) American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes – 2013. Diabetes Care. 2013;36 (suppl 1): S11-S66.

2) Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents: summary report. Pediatrics. 2011;128 (suppl 5):S213-S256.

3) American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 2013;36 (suppl 1) S11-S66

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!

Help for Diabetes During Pregnancy

03/05/2020 by Julie RN DCES 2 Comments

Your Gestational Diabetes Diagnosis can be Traumatic

When you are pregnant, being diagnosed with gestational diabetes is the last thing you want to hear. You are given a crash course on how to manage your blood sugar with diet and exercise. You are so stressed out, you probably don’t remember one tenth of what was said. Your stress continues as you try to “manage” your blood sugar by testing multiple times each day. You feel like your body has betrayed you. All you want to do is have a healthy baby. I know what you’re going through.

Fasting Blood Sugar Test

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) is now requiring new clients to have a fasting blood sugar test during early pregnancy to determine un-diagnosed Type 2 and prediabetes in their patients. Due to the average woman waiting to have their first child later in life and the increasing weight problems they face with age, pregnant women are at increased risk for developing sugar problems. (Get my free gift to evaluate your risk for gestational diabetes.)

How Does Gestational Diabetes Affect You and Your Baby?

At about 12 weeks gestation, your baby starts growing rapidly. This requires increasing amounts of energy, and insulin requirements increase accordingly. Around week 24, your body’s insulin production cannot keep up with your baby’s growth.

Typically, the fasting blood test for gestational diabetes happens between weeks 24-28. The ACOG is allowing your blood sugars to increase enough during the day so that your body can not recover through the night. At that time a random blood sugar test over 200 is a positive result for gestational diabetes.

Your baby continues to grow until about 36 weeks gestation. At delivery, the hormonal effects of the pregnancy disappear and the demand for insulin drops dramatically. Postpartum, your body’s requirement for insulin can go below normal. Many women are placed on IV insulin during labor and they need to be monitored carefully during postpartum.

After Gestational Diabetes Delivery

Because your baby has developed in a blood supply rich in sugar, your baby’s pancreas will also go through an adjustment after delivery. You will see the nursing staff taking blood samples from your baby. Don’t get excited. They will monitor your baby’s blood sugar as needed to keep them safe.

Since insulin requirements shift dramatically during pregnancy, true diabetics need to be monitored carefully for adjustments in their medications. Type 1 diabetics need to be under the care of an endocrinologist throughout their pregnancy. Type 2 diabetes should expect to be placed on insulin during pregnancy. They should also expect to have weekly insulin adjustments.

What to do Before You Get Pregnant

To have a successful pregnancy without complications, all diabetics need to have their blood sugars under good control for six months before conception. The success of their ability to control their blood sugar is often determined by an A1C test.

If you need support in controlling your blood sugars before pregnancy, consider my 1:1 phone consultation program. For a free evaluation please schedule a FREE call with me.

Wishing you a happy pregnancy and a healthy baby!

Julie

P.S. Remember to get my list to evaluate your risk for gestational diabetes.

Cognitive Behavior Weight Loss

11/13/2019 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

Change your thinking and change your life. Your life is a result of your daily decisions. Perceptions can be changed with a single thought. You must believe that cognitive behavior weight loss is indeed possible. What does that mean? Keep reading…

What is your motivation?

What is your motivation to change your life? When you reach the point where your weight is unacceptable, you will make changes in your lifestyle.

To make sustainable lifestyle changes you must:

Change your thinking
Manage your environment
Take a long-range view

As a diabetes care and support manager, I am trained in how to maintain sustainable changes in your life. What does sustainable mean? It means that you can continue it on an ongoing basis. Diabetes is directly related to excess weight. It is a chronic disease, so it is important to manage your weight gain over a lifetime, therefore, by sustainable means.

We have all tried to lose weight on diets. We can deny ourselves for a while, but we give up and go back to our old eating habits. Then we feel like failures.

We need to change our thinking by identifying your why and focusing on it every day. Have you taken the time to evaluate what motivates you? That is the first step.

Be realistic

Be realistic! When you go on a low carb diet, you are going to crave carbohydrates. Your body’s main fuel supply is carbohydrates. So when you reduce your carbs, you feel tired. But carbohydrates are not your enemy.

There are limits to our energy to deny what we crave. Don’t try to change all your bad eating habits at the same time. Make a list of your cravings and prioritize them.

Pick one to focus on. For example, potato chips. Look at the serving size and measure out one serving. Put the chip bag away. Enjoy your one serving of chips once a day. Celebrate your ability to control your cravings. When this is an automatic behavior, pick another one or two on your list. Don’t try to deny all your poor eating habits at the same time.

Manage your environment – Plan ahead.

Out of sight = Out of mind

Make it harder to do what is bad. You are going to get hungry. Set a bowl of fruit or nuts where you can see them and put away the bag of chips. When you are hungry, eat the fruit.

Another way is to not purchase the bag of chips, thereby controlling your environment.

In-sight = in mind

Plan for healthy snacks like yogurt or cheese sticks. Keep in mind sweet snacks are digested quickly leaving you hungry again. Snacks with high fiber like nuts and seeds or protein snacks protect against hunger longer. Plan ahead for your snacks and stick to it.

Plan ahead for non-food rewards

I encourage everyone to journal daily. Record your successes and reward yourself with non-food items. Consider a massage, a date night, maybe even a trip. There are a wide variety of ways to reward yourself with non-food items. Celebrate your victories!

Write about your failures. You will have failures. It is important to take time to evaluate what went wrong. Learn from your failures.

Take a long-range view – expect setbacks

Record in your journal your feelings. Many people do not have good coping skills. If you have a bad day, know that tomorrow is a new opportunity. Forgive yourself and learn from your setbacks. Research healthy ways to cope with stress. Practice what works best for you. Promise yourself to try harder tomorrow.

Focus on the times when things went right. Celebrate your victories. Each evening (maybe when you are watching television) review your day and journal your successes. Feel good about your progress. Having a written record is important to remember your growth. Your journal will help you realize how much you have grown.

Cognitive behavior weight loss

My ebook, Parent’s Guide to Healthy Kids, emphasizes cognitive-behavioral dieting. There are many tricks to making sustainable changes. Previously I suggested journaling while watching television. This is called stacking habits.

Stacking habits is setting up cues for remembering healthy habits. My ebook goes into more details and more suggestions! I hope you’ll check it out!

Click here to check out my eBook: Parent’s Guide to Healthy Kids!

If you know of anyone who could benefit from cognitive behavioral dieting, be a good friend and share this blog post with them! If you have questions that aren’t answered here, you can email me at Julie@kidsatriskfordiabetes.com.

Childhood Obesity: 3rd in a Series

05/24/2019 by Julie RN DCES 39 Comments

Parents have the responsibility to provide a healthy environment for their children.

But what is involved in a healthy environment?

A clean house with a safe sleeping arrangement
Providing for good hygiene
Emotional support and teaching coping skills
A sense of family connections
Add your own, this list can be very long!

Our health is holistic in nature. Without good sleep, you will not cope well with the anxieties of life. Without good food, you will not grow and develop properly. One part affects another, which will affect their health today and into the future.

Little changes make a big impact over time

Little changes you make have a ripple effect over time. If you switch from whole milk to 1% milk, you save 45 calories per glass OR 135 calories in 3 glasses each day. This is 945 calories per week, which equals 14 pounds in a year.

One hundred calories saved each day equals 10 pounds lost in a year. When you buy reduced fat milk, you change your environment at home. Small changes like buying lower fat foods can make a big difference over time. Your children are dependent on what you provide, so it’s up to you to make these little changes.

When you buy healthier breakfast cereal, they will eat it
Or switch to whole grain toast
When you buy cookies with less sugar, they will eat them
When you buy low-fat chips, they will eat them
If you buy apples, with a little prep, they will eat them too!

Cut out 100 calories and reduce sugar

Remember, 100 extra calories each day will cause you to gain 10 pounds each year. Considering how small the 100 calorie snack packs are, you can see how it is easy to eat too many calories each day. That’s why most Americans are gaining weight every year.

It is easier to avoid the temptations in the grocery store than it is to resist eating it every day once you bring it home. This should be a whole family affair. Don’t buy something for your mate and expect your children to resist eating it. It is unrealistic to expect your children to resist eating something you have in the house.

Changing to a lower sugar diet may be challenging to the whole family. But to provide a healthy future, it is important for you to control the amount of sugar in your children’s daily diet. Work with your children to find acceptable solutions. Help them make good decisions about the foods you provide in your home.

Incorporate exercise

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently changed its recommendations for daily exercise. Never before have they recommended 2-year-olds get added activities. The CDC realizes that parents need to encourage children at a young age to “move their way”. Dancing is a good example. Put music on and it is natural for kids to dance. Find things your children like to do.

Included in the CDC’s recommendations is a limit on screen time based on age. Screen time includes television and computer games. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing. Encourage them to get involved in activities.

Be the architect of your home

Children depend on parents to provide a good home environment. By keeping focused on their future, you will be motivated to do the right things.

For more information about the holistic nature of children’s health, download my free ebook. 👉 But before you download that, please make sure you’ve signed up for my email list! Anytime I put out a freebie, you’ll get a copy just for being on my list!

For more information about raising healthy children, please see my program, Kids at Risk for Diabetes.