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Monday, 18 April 2016

Princess Health and April 18th, 2016 Like A Pinball Machine: Sugar & Me. Princessiccia

Princess Health and April 18th, 2016 Like A Pinball Machine: Sugar & Me. Princessiccia

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April 18th, 2016 Like A Pinball Machine: Sugar & Me

I've received several questions since the Today Show appearance about my abstinence from refined sugar. I found a question from a reader and my reply in the archives. So instead of rewriting the same information, I'm republishing the excerpt. By the way, did you know the archives are searchable? Enter your search words in the upper left hand corner of the web version--and hit enter!

I've updated and added to my reply in the following excerpt--

Question from a loyal reader:
"As always your food looks nurturing, delicious, healthy. Ok so with that being said never a glass of wine or a piece of birthday cake? I know you have said would people say these things to an alcoholic trying to abstain.? I gave that some thought and with an alcoholic you can never have it again. But food you have to have it daily. I know it's all about the sugar for you. You do not feel there's ever a time when you can indulge? I don't ask any of this from a judgmental mindset but rather a curious one."

Reply:
Your question is a very natural one! I didn't eat a piece or even a bite of my daughter's wedding cake!

And it was still one of the most wonderful and memorable days of my life.

There is a common misunderstanding about food addiction when compared to other addictions. It's not necessarily all foods. It's specific substances within the foods we eat. For me, it's sugar. For some, abstaining from flour, sugar and even grains, or a combination of those, is what helps them.

I've never had a binge on carrots.

So the common phrase, "it's different with food addiction because you have to eat," really doesn't apply 100%. Yes, there is another side when we start talking about emotional and stress eating...but if we're talking about the bio-chemical/addictive reactions and subsequent behaviors, for me, it's sugar.

And knowing this about myself is wonderful information to possess. I still get to eat well. I still enjoy my food. I get a bunch of naturally occurring sugars in my daily nutrition--so I still have sweetness... I just can't do refined/added sugar.

Because when I do, it sets my brain off like a pinball machine--and suddenly I don't want to stop.
And as I successfully abstain, I enjoy a peace and calm--like the binge switch is turned off... I feel a calmness I didn't have before and in that, I'm able to navigate my choices without too much instability.

I was very apprehensive about trying this. But now, 719 days into it--I wouldn't trade this feeling for all the cake in the world. And that's what it would be.

If I choose to eat cake or consume refined sugar in whatever form--It would require me to sacrifice my peace and calm. And that's too important for me to give up.

Before I committed to cutting out refined/added sugar, 100%, I talked with people who had what I wanted: Long term weight loss maintenance. Each one had maintained their weight loss successfully for years--we're talking, 27 years, 22 years, 11 years, 5 years and 4 years. Their individual food plans varied to a degree. Their lifestyle varied as well. Different people, different worlds--except there was one common denominator: Abstinence from refined sugar.

I had to give this a shot. 

The amazing thing that happened for me was, once I gave it an honest try for ten days or so---I was completely convinced of the benefits. To this day it is without a doubt the single most important nutritional decision and recovery decision I've ever made.

With all of that written-- not everyone responds to sugar the same way. Some people can eat a piece of cake occasionally and they're fine. They're NOT immediately off the rails for days, weeks, months--or who knows how long? They don't have to white knuckle it, trying to reign it in for some semblance of control.  

It's like me and alcohol. I can totally have an alcoholic drink if I want-- it doesn't affect me in the slightest, beyond whatever buzz it might create in the moment--- but friends of mine who are in recovery and hold their sobriety in the highest regard--they dare not do what I can do with alcohol...because they know, it would devastate their lives...and so they cling tight to their elements of recovery; their daily disciplines, because letting go would mean sacrificing the peace, calm, freedom and stability their sobriety provides.

When this level of importance is placed on something-- a sacred level--it becomes a very transformative experience-- mentally, spiritually and emotionally---and in the case of sugar and me, the peaceful and calm balance my abstinence provides, creates a more stable foundation for consistent weight loss--and now, weight maintenance.

I hope that helps!

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Hoda, Kathie Lee, Joy and me--looking at thirteen cups of refined sugar, the estimated amount I consumed each week as I maintained a 500 pound-plus body weight for nearly two decades.

If you think sugar might be a substance triggering addictive food behaviors in you, there's a list of questions to ask yourself at www.foodaddiction.com. Also--giving it (abstinence from sugar) an honest try for ten to fourteen days might be all the convincing you need! It was all I needed.
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Today was Italian day. I had veggie pizza for lunch and pasta with mini meatballs and sugar free all-natural marinara for dinner! See the Tweets below.

Today was super busy at the studio. My show went well--production time was heavily involved--and I worked hard to leave on time, and did. I made it home in time for a good lunch, a nap, a fantastic Monday night support group conference call, an amazing dinner and a wonderful workout.

Today was truly a gift. I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained abstinent from refined sugar, I hit my water goal and I worked out-- Oh, and I published this blog page. 

I'll go for another day like today, tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Today's Live-Tweet Stream:








































Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean

Princess Health and Women in small-town America aren't living as long as before; alcohol, drugs, food, housing, jobs, education, pollution to blame. Princessiccia

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By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service

Those of us who grew up in small rural communities in the 1950s and '60s expected to have longer life spans than our parents.

The trends were in our favor. White women born in 1900 could expect to live, on average, just shy of 49 years; white men 46.6 years. Those were our grandparents and our neighbors. By 1950, life expectancy had climbed to 72 years for white women born that year and 66.5 for white men. By 2000, life expectancy was still increasing, with female babies expected to live to nearly 80 and males to almost 75.

America was on the rise, jobs were plentiful, antibiotics kept us from dying of strep throat, and polio vaccine kept us out of the iron lung. We thought things would only keep getting better. So I was dismayed to read a story in The Washington Post in April that blew holes in those childhood expectations.

The Post found �white women have been dying prematurely at higher rates since the turn of this century, passing away in their 30s, 40s, and 50s in a slow-motion crisis driven by decaying health in small town-America.�

That �small town America� was where I grew up. I contrasted the Post�s findings to the claims made by all those politicians who have told us we have the best health care in the world and who point to gobs of money lavished on the National Institutes of Health to find new cures and to hospitals promoting their latest imaging machines.

The Post found that since 2000, the health of all white women has declined, but the trend is most pronounced in rural areas. In 2000, for every 100,000 women in their late 40s living in rural areas, 228 died. Today it�s 296.

If the U.S. really has the best healthcare, why are women dying in their prime, reversing the gains we�ve made since I was a kid? After all, mortality rates are a key measure of the health of a nation�s population.

Post reporters found, however, that those dismal stats probably have less to do with health care � which we like to define today as the latest and greatest technology and insurance coverage albeit with high deductibles � and more to do with what health experts call �the social determinants of health,� such basics as food, housing, employment, air quality, and education.

Landmark studies examining the health of British civil servants who all had access to health insurance under Britain�s National Health Service have found over the years that those at the lowest job levels had worse health outcomes. Some of those outcomes were related to things like work climate and social influences outside work like stress and job uncertainty.

In its analysis, the Post found that the benefits of health interventions that increase longevity, things like taking drugs to lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease, are being overwhelmed by increased opioid use, heavy drinking, smoking and obesity.

Some researchers have speculated that such destructive health behaviors may stem from people�s struggles to find jobs in small communities and the �dashed expectations� hypothesis. White people today are more pessimistic about their opportunities to advance in life than their parents and grandparents were. They are also more pessimistic than their black and Hispanic contemporaries.

A 42-year-old Bakersfield, California, woman who was addicted to painkillers for a decade explained it this way: �This can be a very stifling place. It�s culturally barren,� she said. There is no place where children can go and see what it�s like to be somewhere else, to be someone else. At first, the drugs are an escape from your problems, from this place, and then you�re trapped,� she told Post reporters.

I recently heard U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy talk about his upcoming report on substance use. About 2.2 million people need help, he said, but only about one million are actually getting it. Murthy wants his report to have consequences as far reaching as the 1964 surgeon general�s report linking tobacco use to lung cancer. In 1964, Murthy noted, 42 percent of Americans smoked; today fewer than 17 percent do.

The Post story concludes that the lethal habits responsible for increasing mortality rates are cresting in small cities where the biggest manufacturer has moved overseas or in families broken by divorce or substance abuse or in the mind and body of someone doing poorly and just barely hanging on.

The Surgeon General has taken on an enormous task, but his efforts just might help the nation move its life expectancy trends back in the right direction.

What do you think is causing poor health in your community? Write to Trudy at trudy.lieberman@gmail.com.

Rural Health News Service is funded by a grant from The Commonwealth Fund and distributed by the Nebraska Press Association.

Sunday, 17 April 2016

Princess Health and April 17th, 2016 Needed Today. Princessiccia

Princess Health and April 17th, 2016 Needed Today. Princessiccia

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April 17th, 2016 Needed Today

I've made this a super-relaxing Sunday with plenty of rest and recharging. I cooked well, ate well and exercised well, too! I grabbed a short midday nap before accomplishing some work in preparation for a big upcoming speaking event I'm doing with a friend of mine. Then I napped, again. I've been carrying around a sleep deficit lately, and that's not a good thing.

I also downloaded Joy Bauer's newest book "From Junk Food To Joy Food-All The Foods You Love To Eat...Only Better." 

You know me--from the very beginning I've been all about eating what I like and nothing I don't, and this has been key for me. Throughout this entire experience, I can proudly say I've never eaten something simply because "it's good for you" or because it's considered "diet food." I instinctively knew that if losing weight required me to eat things I couldn't stand--then it wouldn't be sustainable and I'd quickly retreat to my old behaviors. The "gradual evolution of good choices" I've written and talked about so much, has been and continues to be critically important to my success.

I'm not on "a diet." I'm living and eating within the personal boundaries that have evolved along the way. I have my limits, I have my abstinence from refined sugar--and in the kitchen, I have my favorites. 

However, I'll be the first to admit that my list of foods I enjoy regularly could use a little more variety. That's why I'm excited about trying some of Joy's recipes. Her food philosophy as it applies to weight loss (described in the front of the book) mirrors my experience. If you're a regular reader here, you'll notice it when one of these new items pop up in the Live-Tweet stream! I've already discovered a few that have my attention, meet my refined sugar free requirement and will likely be what I try, first. Stay tuned!

I decided to do an awesome workout tonight in my living room floor. Body weight strength training exercises are effective and require absolutely zero equipment or memberships or special rooms--or anything. Which really brings to mind the question, why haven't I --and why don't I do these more often, in addition to the cardio I do each week? It's not like it takes a lot of time. And the way I felt afterward-- yeah, I'll pass on the beating myself up for not doing more before now--and I'll go straight to doing more of these workouts from here on out.

After an exceptionally busy week, I needed today. I do need a few things I forgot to grab at the store late last night--but they can wait until tomorrow.

Today's Live-Tweet Stream:




























Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
Princess Health and Teens now more likely to use e-cigs than tobacco; health officials call for regulations and better education about the products. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Teens now more likely to use e-cigs than tobacco; health officials call for regulations and better education about the products. Princessiccia

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By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The number of adolescents using electronic cigarettes has risen so much that more of them use e-cigs than tobacco products, says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings come from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, which collected data from about 20,000 middle- and high-school students across the country from 2011 to 2015.

Only 1.5 percent of high schoolers used e-cigarettes in 2011, but that zoomed to 16 percent in 2015, with most of the increase seen between 2013 and 2014. The number of middle-school students using e-cigarettes increased from less than 1 percent in 2011 to 5.3 percent in 2015.

Tobacco smoking with hookahs, or water pipes, showed a lesser but significant increase, rising to 7.2 percent from 4.1 percent among high-school students and to 2 percent from 1 percent among middle-school students.

During this same time frame, children's use of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products decreased. The share of high-school and middle-school students who reported smoking a cigarette in the last month dropped, respectively, to 9.3 percent from 15.8 percent; and to 2.3 percent from 4.3 percent.

The rise in e-cigarette and hookah use offset the decrease in traditional tobacco use, meaning there was no overall change in use of nicotine or tobacco products among middle and high school students between 2011 and 2015.

An estimated 25.3 percent of high school students and 7.4 percent of middle school students say they have used a tobacco or nicotine product in the past 30 days. That amounts to 3.82 million high school students and 880,000 middle school students.

The study did not give state-by-state figures, but Kentucky has long ranked high in youth tobacco use.

One of the reasons for the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes is that there are no restrictions on buying them on the internet, Carina Storrs reports for CNN after interviewing Brian A. King, deputy director of research translation in the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, who led the current research.

"The fact that we have a flavored product that is easier to access and possibly cheaper has created a perfect storm to lead to increased use," King said.

Also, King said, e-cigarette companies appeal to youth by advertising heavily on social media, selling trendy accessories and employing celebrities to market the products. King said older peers and family members could also be providing e-cigs, just as they have provided conventional cigarettes to.

Pediatricians have called for raising the smoking age to 21 and for the regulation of e-cigarettes.

As of April, 2016, 141 cities in 10 states and the state of Hawaii have raised the legal age to buy tobacco or vaping products to 21, according to the tobacco21.org website.

In Kentucky, Democratic Rep. David Watkins, a retired physician from Henderson, filed a bill this year to raise the legal age for buying tobacco or vaping products to 21, which made it out the the House Health and Welfare Committee, but was not called up for a vote on the House floor. Kentucky banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors in 2014.

The Food and Drug Administration introduced a proposal in 2014 to oversee and regulate electronic cigarettes, but it has still not been finalized.

Dr. M. Brad Drummond, associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Storrs that tighter restrictions are needed around purchasing, taxation, flavoring and advertising of e-cigarettes, noting that this would have an effect on "denormalizing their use." He also said teens need to be better educated about the harms associated with e-cigs.

Princess Health and If legislature won't help protect Kentuckians from the health threat of tobacco, local governments should, Herald-Leader says. Princessiccia

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Since the Kentucky General Assembly "adjourned without tackling the addiction that kills the most Kentuckians, tobacco," local communities need to take up the challenge, the Lexington Herald-Leader said in an editorial Sunday.

To drive home the primary role that tobacco plays in Kentucky's poor health, the newspaper ran a map of the most recent County Health Rankings, showing that "the places where smoking rates are highest have the worst health outcomes."

The Democrat-controlled state House passed a statewide ban on smoking in workplaces last year, but the bill got nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate, and with new Republican Gov. Matt Bevin opposed to it and all House seats on the ballot this year, the bill didn't get a vote in the House.

Bevin has said smoking bans should be a local decision. The editorial says, "One of the cheapest, most effective ways to do that (since the legislature won�t) would be to join the places across Kentucky that have enacted local smoke-free laws." About one-third of Kentucky's population lives in jurisdictions with comprehensive smoking bans.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article72143017.html#storylink=cpyThe
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article72143017.html#storylink=cpy

Princess Health and Study indicates fast food contains industrial chemicals linked to health problems such as infertility, diabetes and allergies. Princessiccia

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People who eat a lot of fast food have higher levels of chemicals that "have been linked to a number of adverse health outcomes, including higher rates of infertility," especially among men, Roberto Ferdman reports for The Washington Post.

Researchers at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., say the connection could have "great public health significance," Ferdman writes. "Specifically, the team found that people who eat fast food tend to have significantly higher levels of certain phthalates, which are commonly used in consumer products such as soap and makeup to make them less brittle. . . . The danger, the researchers believe, isn't necessarily a result of the food itself, but rather the process by which the food is prepared."

Here's how the study was done: Researchers analyzed diet and urinalysis data for nearly 9,000 people, collected as part of federal nutrition surveys in 2003-2010. "Food eaten at or from restaurants without waiters or waitresses was considered fast food. Everything else � food eaten at sit-down restaurants and bars or purchased from vending machines � was not," Ferdman writes. "The first thing the researchers found was that roughly one-third of the participants said they had eaten some form of fast food over the course of the day leading up to the urine sample collection," which fits with government estimates.

People who said they had eaten fast food in the previous 24 hours "tended to have much higher levels of two separate phthalates," Ferdman reports. Those who said they ate only a little fast food had levels 15 and 25 percent higher than those who said they had eaten none. "For people who reported eating a sizable amount, the increase was 24 percent and 39 percent, respectively. And the connection held true even after the researchers adjusted for various factors about the participants' habits and backgrounds that might have contributed to the association between fast-food consumption and phthalate levels."

The study was reported in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed journal funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"There is little consensus on the harms of phthalates, which are widely used in commerce and give materials such as food packaging added flexibility, except that exposure to them is widespread," Ferdman writes, citing the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "But there is growing concern that the chemicals could pose a variety of risks, particularly when observed in the sort of levels seen in the study."

Noting several other studies, such as those linking the chemicals to diabetes and allergies, Ferdman reports, "Many governments have moved to limit exposure to the industrial chemicals. Japan disallowed the use of vinyl gloves in food preparation for fear that their use was compromising health. The European Union, which limits the use of the chemical, has been nudging manufacturers to replace it. And the United States restricted its use in toys."

So, why do people who eat fast food seem to have much higher levels of these chemicals? That is unclear, Ferdman writes, "but it's easy enough to guess: the sheer amount of processing that goes into food served at quick-service restaurants. The more machinery, plastic, conveyor belts, and various forms of processing equipment that food touches, the more likely the food is to contain higher levels of phthalates. And fast food tends to touch a good deal more of these things than, say, the food one purchases at a local farmers' market."

Ferdman concludes, "It certainly seems as though eating fast food is more toxic than avoiding it, and not for the obvious reasons." He quotes Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University: "Traditional fast food was never meant to be daily fare, and it shouldn�t be," said  "It�s too high in calories and salt and, as we now know, the chemicals that get into our food supply through industrial food production."

Saturday, 16 April 2016

Princess Health and April 16th, 2016 For The Challenges. Princessiccia

Princess Health and April 16th, 2016 For The Challenges. Princessiccia

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April 16th, 2016 For The Challenges

It's been an amazing week. It's also been a challenging week! I'm sincerely grateful for the blessed opportunities I've enjoyed and for the challenges.

The life stream presented many challenges this week: Planning around unusual schedules, being in unfamiliar places, increased responsibilities at work, navigating two consecutive super long and super busy days and rounding out the week performing four stand-up shows at the comedy club in my hometown.

The fundamental element stream ran well, in the background of my life, with its non-negotiable elements completely honored and kept each day, very well.

There were some close calls.

My life stream and fundamental elements stream must always run parallel to one another. When the life stream gets too thick and starts crowding the fundamental elements stream, that's when things can get dicey.

I found myself reaching for critically needed spot support via text and call twice. I haven't had two "criticals" in one week in a very long time. But again, it was challenging. And reaching for support instead of excess food is a big part of the plan that keeps me well. I've always heard, "It isn't what happens to us, it's how we handle what's happening." That's truth. The support exchanges provided much needed perspective--and almost like magic, the challenges quickly become manageable again.

The week started with a trip to New York and Today on NBC!
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The week ended with four performances at LOL Comedy Club in my hometown
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Working with comedians Robert Hawkins (left) and Bob Khosravi (right) was truly a pleasure. They're both incredible!!

Peggy writes:
"Love the new mug. Keep up the good work. I'm not fully committed to a plan yet but every day I read your blog and it's wearing off on me how easy and how hard it is to have integrity, determination, a plan in place and you make it sound like fun as well as a challenge to be met."

My Reply:
"That mug instantly became my favorite! Thank you, Peggy! 
I'm glad you're coming here each day. You'll find yourself along the way. Being okay with where you are--even when it's diametrically opposed to your goals, dreams and desires, provides a more stable foundation for you to move forward--and in my experience, that compassionate self-embrace actually provides the peaceful stability needed for a clearer perspective moving forward. You're alright!
Making the challenges of it all fun--and enjoyable, yes yes and YES! 
When you wake for the day, do you dread the plan or do you look forward to it with enthusiasm--because you know where it's taking you? Finding ways to structure your plan in a way you can enjoy and genuinely look forward to each day, is key!! And not just because you know where it's taking you--also because you've designed it--customized to your "personal settings,"--your likes, dislikes--and nature."

I planned today well. I also made it a refreshingly restful day. I plan on catching up on some needed rest--and best of all, I plan on the upcoming week being much less challenging.

The challenging times are a test. I feel very confident in concluding: This time, I passed! I'll bring the same tools to the next challenge!

Today's Live-Tweet Stream:














































Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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