everywomanover29 blog

Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

Heart health/hypertension

Trans fats make us depressed and anxious!

By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

Cheese Pizza

We don’t need trans fats in our diets! In November last year the FDA Targeted Trans Fat in Processed Foods.

Mical E. Honigfort, a consumer safety officer at FDA, says that trans fat can still be found in such processed foods as:

  • crackers, cookies, cakes, frozen pies and other baked goods
  • snack foods (such as microwave popcorn)
  • frozen pizza
  • vegetable shortenings and stick margarines
  • coffee creamers
  • refrigerated dough products (such as biscuits and cinnamon rolls)
  • ready-to-use frostings

Partially hydrogenated oils are the major dietary source of trans fat in processed food. The FDA is in the process of determining if trans fats are GRAS, in other words “generally recognized as safe.” Trans fats, produced by industrial processes, are unrecognizable to the body and inherently unhealthful and I believe we have enough information to show they are not GRAS.

One of the many detrimental health effects of trans fats is that they contribute to mental health problems. I have my clients avoid them at all costs and educate them on the incredible mood benefits of eating only real whole foods.

A 2011 study called “Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Depression” looking at the diets of 12,059 Spanish university graduates found that consumption of trans fats were linked to an increased risk of depression. The authors state this: “These findings suggest that cardiovascular disease and depression may share some common nutritional determinants related to subtypes of fat intake.”

A more recent 2013 animal study in Neuroscience found that “chronic consumption of trans fats can enhance emotionality and anxiety parameters resulting from stressful situations of everyday life, which can trigger more severe neuropsychiatric conditions.”

If you recall, trans fats get mentioned in a recent blog post where I reviewed Dr Masley’s new book “The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up”. They are one of the worst culprits for heart disease (together with sugar and carbs).

And my colleague Mira Dessy shares that trans fats lower cognitive performance scores as well as lower brain volume

So ditch those trans fats and eat real whole food to feel calm, happy, smart and live healthy! 

30-day Heart Tune-up with Dr. Steven Masley

By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

steven-masley-susanne-bennett
Dr. Steven Masley and Dr. Susanne Bennett

Dr. Masley is celebrating the  release of his new book, “The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up, a Breakthrough Plan to Tune Up Your Heart, Energy, Waistline, and Sex Life.”

I received an advance copy and it’s great! I’ve been a fan for awhile! Who couldn’t love a doctor who is also a nutritionist and chef and shares videos of him doing wonderful cooking demos! I first heard Dr. Masley present on “The Sexy Younger You Summit” and then I had the pleasure of meeting him recently at the Mindshare Summit in Florida.

Dr. Masley is a board- and fellow-certified physician and nutritionist, author, speaker, and award-winning patient educator with over twenty-five years of research and clinical experience. He was recently named a Fellow by the American Heart Association.

And now I have brought him and his passion to you via an interview we just did. We discussed so much and he shared so many gems. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Why a little bit of stress is healthy and how important love and support is
  • How romance and a cuddle raises oxytocin and lowers cortisol
  • How we have disease-care and not health-care and why we must focus more on blood sugar than cholesterol
  • For every woman who dies of breast cancer, 6 women die from heart disease
  • His 4 tests for assessing risk for heart disease: (the four Fs to fantastic heart health): fitness, fiber, body fat and food/nutrients. His top advice is to be fit (he has a fitness test in his book) and eat 30g of fiber a day!
  • The carotid IMT/ intimal medial thickness test (this was new to me!) and the advanced lipid profile
  • How statins don’t help reduce the risk of heart disease in women and some of the side-effects. I was aware of muscle aches and memory loss but did not know that they lower testosterone levels and raise blood sugar
  • The five new categories of food that will prevent and reverse heart disease: fiber, lean and clean protein, healthy fats, beneficial beverages and fantastic flavors. I love his last category – herbs, garlic, ginger, turmeric! Yummm!
  • The top two foods that cause heart disease: Refined carbs/sugar/flour (I recently blogged about No Sugar!) and trans fat/partially hydrogenated oils. Not fat, and not cholesterol!

The wonderful thing is that by following these guidelines, your heart will be healthy and you’ll likely feel less anxious! If you are super-sensitive to caffeine, like me and many of my clients, then just use common sense when it comes to Dr. Masley’s suggestions for dark chocolate, coffee and green tea. We did talk about this during the interview.

I really wanted to interview Dr. Masley because heart disease is the number 1 killer of women, and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined; and because of the link between anxiety and risk of heart disease: a recent study found that people in the highest third of anxiety symptoms had a 33 percent higher stroke risk than those with the lowest levels.

You can listen to my 30-Day Heart Tune-Up interview with Dr. Masley here.

Dr. Masley is offering a 30-Day Heart Tune-Up Gift Package.

The digital package includes:

  • Know Your Risks – The Tests You Must Have that Your Doctor May Not Be Ordering
  • Are You Getting What You Need for a Healthy Heart? Nutrient Guide
  • Join Dr. Masley in His Kitchen & Whip Up his Favorite, Delicious, Heart Healthy Recipe

I signed up and it’s great information. Great gumbo recipe and super seeing him in the kitchen surrounded by all the delicious ingredients!

Of course, be sure to get a copy of his new book “The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up, a Breakthrough Plan to Tune Up Your Heart, Energy, Waistline, and Sex Life.”

Dark chocolate for Valentine’s Day and heart health!

By Trudy Scott 17 Comments

 

Dark CHOCOLATE! …I can see you smiling as you get an endorphin and serotonin boost at just the thought of chocolate! With Valentine’s Day around the corner and with February being American Heart Health month it’s time to talk about chocolate. Not just any chocolate, but good quality dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate that is at least 70-80 percent cocoa is the best choice because it has less sugar (and sugar is toxic and addicting) and more cocoa, which is rich in antioxidants and flavonols (a class of plant-based compounds that provide many of the same benefits as antioxidants).

Chocolate does improve mood and create feelings of joy – we can all relate to this! And dark chocolate certainly does have heart benefits. This is important because heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States.

Moderate consumption of dark chocolate has been shown to be beneficial for heart health by:

And interestingly, dark chocolate may offer protection against cancer due to the “high concentration of catechins and procyanidins”

But here are a few questions to ask yourself as you indulge:

  • Do you devour the whole bar of chocolate rather than a small piece? (the key here is moderate consumption!)
  • Do you binge on chocolate and then feel awful afterwards – physically (really icky!?) and emotionally (the guilt-trip deal?)
  • Does it make you anxious or more stressed or keep you awake? Caffeine is found in all forms of chocolate and cacao (other than white chocolate); the darker the chocolate, the more caffeine it contains!
  • Do you suffer from migraines (sadly, chocolate gives me a terrible headache two days later!)
  • Do you experience breast tenderness leading up to your period?

If you answer yes to any of the above then you really should reconsider if chocolate is for you this Valentine’s Day! And give delicious carob a trial instead.

In Finland Valentine’s Day is called “Friend’s day” and is more about remembering all your friends, not only your loved ones. I wish you, your loved ones and your friends a happy and wonderful Valentine’s Day and a happy healthy heart – both physically and emotionally!