Thursday, September 3, 2015
Can a vegan diet help "reverse" heart disease?
12:30 PM | 
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Written by Renee Gosselin, MS MBA RD
Nutrition Instructor
One of the most interesting facts that I
found was that they showed within the first presentation that atherosclerosis
or plague buildup starts in utero. One point I found really interesting was
that children who born at a low birth weight are at higher risk of having
atherosclerosis than those who are not.
The
discussion of the all mighty egg was also discussed. The emphasis of who is
endorsing some of the researches was highly highlighted within these seminars.
Statins and the side effects were discussed and included multiple reports of
problems including memory loss within a large population. Additionally, there
were many positive results of lowering heart disease risk and overall health
with utilization of a vegan diet. The basis of many of these discussions were
using plant based oils and foods such as soybean oils/walnuts/flaxseed to help
with the overall disease prevention.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
12:24 AM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
“Mappiness”- a New
Phone Application to Measure Your Happiness
Have
you ever wondered what your level of happiness is? Well, believe it or not
there is a new phone application called “Mappiness” which will allow to map and
calculate your level of happiness. It is a phone application created as
part of a new research project at the London School of Economics. The research
group will be collecting the results which will be used towards publication in
academic journals. The download of this phone application is free and all
information is private. If you want to learn more about this new app, please go
to the following website for additional information at http://www.mappiness.org.uk/
Written
by
Dr.
Shantel Anderson BA, MA, DHEd
12:20 AM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
How
to be Happy and Stay Happy continues……
As
promised from the previous article, the following are some other things that
you can do to find happiness. All of us have gone through stressful and
sometimes unpleasant events in our lives. However, you must be able to learn
and grow from those experiences. This means that you must intentionally find
the good in ALL things. In the process, you are keeping your focal point to
being positive which can lead to a level of happiness. Another tip for
maintaining happiness is to not let the words of others negatively impact you. Remember
that old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will
never hurt me.” Of course, this is not always accurate. I do realize that sometimes
words can be very hurtful, but words should never change the way on how you
feel about yourself. Believe it or not, most people say harmful things because
they are hurting and instead of dealing with those painful feelings
in a productive manner they will take those hurt feelings out on others. Last,
but not least, be content with who you are. Too often we make comparisons of
our lives to others and oftentimes making ourselves feel depressed because we
don’t have those same things. Avoid such comparisons by being grateful to the
things that you already have. When you find contentment within your own life, it
doesn’t matter what the next person has because you are satisfied with what you
do have. On a final note, happiness is a choice. Therefore, you must put forth
the effort to find happiness and to maintain it.
Written
by
Dr.
Shantel Anderson BA, MA, DHEd
Kaplan
University School of Health Sciences
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
11:09 AM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
How to be Happy
and Stay Happy
It
is so easy to get caught up with the busyness of life until we forget to take
the time to enjoy it. As a result, it leads to not being happy. The question that must be ask, “Can you determine your
happiness?” The answer is a resounding YES!!! It is not as difficult as you
might think it to be. Happiness is that euphoric feeling of obtaining
self-worth either through accomplishment or being content in life. However,
happiness is something to which you must choose to have and not waiting for it
to choose you. This means having to make decisions and choosing attitudes and
behaviors that will have the outcome of being happy. You will need to take a
personal inventory of yourself and your surroundings to which you must truthfully approach all areas of your
life with honesty and examine each item and to see where it falls into the
category of happiness or unhappiness. There is an old saying, “You are the company
that you keep.” If you want to have positive friends then it must start with you
having a positive disposition. During the meantime, you want to surround yourself
around people who are also positive thinking then this will likely increase
your level of happiness. Another approach to being happy is having the
willingness to forgive others. Forgive or not to forgive is the question? Studies
have shown that when people harbor bitter feelings towards someone who have
hurt them then it has an impact on your happiness. You must find peace within
yourself to forgive others in order to achieve happiness.
Do
you want to find other ways of being happy? Stay tune for the next article…….
Written
by
Dr.
Shantel Anderson BA, MA, DHEd
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Starting a diet change
11:29 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
|
Starting a diet change…
To pick back up where we left off, I was counseling our
friend on making a dietary change to a vegan diet. He wanted to go cold turkey,
starting the day he got home. That was fine with me, some people adapt better
to dietary changes that way. But, many of us do not and we need some easy ways
to gradually make that leap to a complete diet change. So, if any of you have
been thinking about making a lifestyle change to a vegetarian, semi-vegetarian
or vegan diet, here are some simple tips you can follow:
- Start small. Gradually reduce the portion size of the meat and/or animal products you are consuming. Replace them with non-animal based foods.
- Incorporate one or two meatless meals a week. Meatless Mondays! Tofu Tuesdays! Wok Wednesdays! You get the drift!
- In the beginning, focus on familiar foods that can be modified to be vegetarian/vegan. An easy way to modify foods, is by simply omitting the meat. Try black bean empanadas for example. You don’t have to eat tofu in every meal to be a vegetarian/vegan. J.
- Try new foods. Ever heard of jicama or dragon fruit? The more exposure you have to a variety of foods, the more well-rounded your diet can be.
- Tell friends you are following a vegetarian/vegan diet and engage in a recipe exchange.
- Have fun and be adventurous. There is a whole world of flavors that the typical American diet doesn’t even touch. Following a vegan/vegetarian diet gives you “permission” to try new flavors!
List adapted from: Burt, E.,
Goldberg, K., Rhodes, K. (1996). High Fit Low Fat Vegetarian. Ann Arbor
Michigan, Regents of the University of Michigan.
Emily Boldrin PhD, RD
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
10:42 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Going, going, Vegan!
Emily Boldrin, PhD, RD
Emily Boldrin, PhD, RD
We had a
friend visit over the weekend. Let me clarify, we had a number of visitors over
the weekend. At one point there were 6 people staying with us in a space of about
600 square feet. It was delightful, fun, charming and…cozy. J One of our visiting friends was in
town for a long drive competition. For those of you not familiar with long
drive competitions (I sure wasn’t!!) – It is where the competitor tries to hit
a golf ball as far as they can, while staying in bounds. Participants in a long drive competition can
hit the golf ball up to 465 yards. To put it in perspective, golfers on the PGA
tour drive the ball on average, about 280 yards. So, those who participate on the long drive
competition are incredibly strong and very fast.
Anyways, our
friend is absurdly athletic, strong and just an overall big, muscular guy. Along
with participating in the long drive competitions, he is involved with
CrossFit. According to their website “CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many
police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations
units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional
athletes worldwide” (What is Crossfit). Needless to say, he demands a lot from
his body. Both physically and nutritionally.
While he was
here, we got into a discussion one night about nutrition. He was very interested
in following a vegan diet (for those of you who don’t know, a vegan diet
eliminates all sources of animal products. No meat, cheese, dairy, eggs, etc…).
He asked me, given his physical demands, was this kind of diet suitable for
him? It was a good question! A vegan and even a vegetarian diet is not without
nutritional “risks”. But I talked to him about well known, high profile,
athletes who have competed at the professional level following a vegan diet.
The well-known track and field star Carl Lewis was one worth mentioning. There
have been numerous other athletes as well. Football stars, boxers, MMA
fighters, cyclists and hockey players have all followed a vegan diet and been
successful at what they do.
So… to get
the point… if well-known high level athletes can compete at a professional
level and still get the nutrition they need, why is there such a stigma about
vegan and vegetarian diets not getting enough protein and/or not being able to
meet nutritional needs? Is it our societal norms? Thoughts?
Reference:
n.d. What is Crossfit. Retrieved from http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/what-crossfit.html.
Beat the Heat: Foods to Help you Keep Your Cool
4:28 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Every wonder why late summer brings such delicious and refreshing foods? The melons, the grapes, the cucumbers. The tomatoes! Mother nature knows that during the peak of the summer heat, we need those fresh fruits and veggies that can cool down our body temperature.
Fruits and vegetables that contain more water content can help slow digestion and metabolism, helping to lower core body temperature. They are also refreshing, and contain a host of vitamins and minerals that can help replace electrolytes.
When the mercury is rising, try this recipe which combines some of my favorite summer fruits to help keep you cool.
Watermelon Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups seedless watermelon, cubed
- 1-1/2 cups seedless cucumber, cubed
- 2 tbsp thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
- Zest from two limes
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch of sea salt
- Pinch of black pepper
- Optional: 1/4 cup Feta Cheese and/or 1/4 cup Blueberries
Directions
- Cut the rind off the watermelon and cut into medium-sized cubes.
- Peel the cucumber and cut into small cubes.
- Slice the mint leaves thinly.
- Combine these ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a smaller bowl combine the lime juice, lime zest, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Pour over the watermelon and cucumber and stir well.
- Add Feta Cheese and/or Blueberries if desired.
Bon Appétit!
Kristin Henningsen MS, CH, RYT
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