Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!
We've all heard the message: Eat right, exercise more. The new Federal Nutrition Guidelines and the Great American Weigh-In are encouraging Americans to do more to keep their weight under control as a way to lower the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases such as heart disease.
Unfortunately, we continue to see patients at Caring Medical coming in saying that they just can’t follow this advice. As Marion's training coach said to her, “You don’t find the time, you make the time.” The following case is a good example of how continuing to make excuses and “wait” until a “better time” may be too late.
A Day in the Life of Tom
A few months ago, we received a call from a long time patient, Tom. He had seen us in the past for pain in his back and was successfully treated with Prolotherapy. We had not seen Tom for a number of months until last May.
When we saw him in May, it was evident that he had gained a tremendous amount of weight and was actually looking very haggard. He just didn’t look good. We asked him what was going on in his life. He revealed that his wife was undergoing treatment for some health problems, and that he had recently lost his father. The death of his father affected him greatly. He experienced sleeplessness, binge-eating, depression, and mental sluggishness. He had ballooned close to 300 pounds. His face was pale and ashen. He looked like a walking time bomb. We advised him to make an appointment so we could help him get his life back in order.
Unfortunately, Tom did not do this. Well, last month, we received another call from Tom. He was just diagnosed with prostate cancer and was going to have his prostate removed. He sounded sort of panicky on the phone. He wanted to know what he should be doing to change his life, his eating habits, and his overall health. Interestingly enough, this prostate cancer diagnosis may have saved Tom’s life. Because of this diagnosis, he now wants to turn his life around.
Tom came in for a consultation. He would tell you that, like for so many of us, family and work responsibilities frequently work against him in achieving his health goals. Along with the depression he was feeling about his father’s death, he just couldn’t bring himself to do anything for himself. He wanted to exercise more. He wanted to eat better. He wanted to lose about 80 pounds. His plans to eat well and exercise unfortunately took a back seat to just getting through the day with all of his other responsibilities at work, home, church, and with family.
With a new cancer diagnosis, Tom finally recognized that he must make a commitment to improving his health. With everything else he has to accomplish during the day, if he doesn't make himself a priority, he is not going to be around anyway. Dr. Hauser sat down with Tom and talked about his current physical activity and exercise habits, ordered some lab tests so we could monitor his overall health status, and sent him to see Nicole so that she could help him make some changes that will add up to big-time benefits.
Tom makes some changes!
Tom made some awesome lifestyle change that helped him get back to working out. He basically performed NO physical activity prior to this consultation. He started getting up earlier in the morning and working out before he went in to work. He signed up at the YMCA and now leaves his house at 5:30 AM to make it to the gym by 6:00. Not only is he more likely to stay with this routine (he gets his work-out in before other obligations start encroaching on his time during the day), his commute time is better since he doesn't fight as much traffic earlier in the morning. On weekends, Tom makes it a point to do some type of physical activity with his wife. They ride bikes at the local forest preserve or even over to the Starbucks 10 miles away. It’s good motivation at the end of the ride.
Tom should be working toward being able to exercise for 60-90 minutes each day. His morning workout is usually around an hour, so he has now started looking for other opportunities to add activity throughout the day. Nicole encouraged Tom to try some simple things: Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park the car farther away in the parking deck, take his dog out for a long walk.
Complete Dietary Overhaul
Tom completed a food diary for Nicole for a week. He also underwent Diet Typing to determine what type of diet was best for him. He typed out to be a Hauser Diet #2, which emphasizes more protein and less carbohydrates. Instead of eating three donuts at work, his breakfast is now usually a couple of poached eggs, a slice of high fiber toast, and a handful of nuts. His lunch is often sliced meat with a green salad and water, and dinner is usually some kind of protein with vegetables. Tom has worked hard to cut out simple carbohydrates, which were his downfall. He drank regular soda upwards of a 2-liter bottle per day. He would often snack on Hostess products from the vending machine, along with a lot of processed junk food. He often frequented the local fast food establishments for both lunch and dinner. Now Tom is eating at home much more frequently, working with his wife to prepare much healthier foods, and actually enjoying it in the process!
While Tom’s overall goal was to make long-term lifestyle changes, one of his goals was to lose weight. He was also very concerned about cancer recurrence and wanted to do everything he could to prevent that. Tom was consuming upwards of about 3,500 calories per day. We encourage our patients to lose weight slowly - at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week. This is more likely to cause weight loss that will be maintained, not just regained after going off of the “diet.” To lose 2 pounds per week, Tom needed to create a "calorie deficit" of 1,000 calories per day. The way to figure this is to remember that it takes 3500 negative calories to lose one pound. So 500 calories per day x 7 days per week is 3500 calories. That is equivalent to a one-pound weight loss. 1000 calories would give you a two-pound weight loss.
Obviously, it is best for Tom to try to accomplish this through a combination of fewer calories in and more calories out. In other words, Tom will not only need to decrease how much he eats, but increase how much he exercises. As Nicole looked over his food diary and talked with him, a few areas emerged where he could make some good changes.
Start the day eating breakfast: People who eat breakfast are less likely to overeat throughout the day. Tom’s breakfast was usually a high carbohydrate, high sugar breakfast of coffee and donuts. OR he would skip breakfast altogether. Making sure he always eats breakfast and changing the foods eaten to higher protein, healthier choices will help keep hunger pangs away, help maintain his blood sugar levels, and eventually lower his cholesterol and weight.
Try smaller meals throughout the day: Smaller meals throughout the day can be helpful to some people who want to lose weight because it helps you battle that feeling of constant hunger. Eating fewer calories more frequently throughout the day may help some people burn some extra calories. Tom has tried to lay off of fast food and bring his lunch to work, along with some snacks that he can eat in between meals, instead of visiting the vending machines.
Fruits and vegetables: Based on Tom’s diet typing, he should keep fruit intake to only 1 serving per day, but increase his intake of low sugar vegetables. This has been particularly hard for Tom, as he is not a big vegetable eater. But given his diagnosis, he is “going for it!” He does a good job at eating a variety of vegetables, frequently snacking on raw veggies that he is able to bring with him throughout the day
Healthy protein sources: Tom has been trying to add organic, healthy choices of red meat, chicken, turkey, fish and other seafood. He is trying to stay away from the fried, processed meats and make them at home. He makes extra so that he can bring meat for lunches at work.
Supplements: Tom currently takes a variety of supplements, including a good multivitamin. He has been faithful with this regime thus far.
Sweet Tooth: Like many of us, Tom loves his sweets. Even while trying to lose weight, it’s hard for Tom to remove them completely from his diet. His food diaries revealed that his main problem with sweets was "portion control." Now when he feels the urge to have something sweet, he just grabs a fork, enjoy a little taste, and knows that he is going to add in an extra time to his workout!
Tom received the ultimate “wake-up call” – a cancer diagnosis! Don’t wait until this happens to you! Yes, it is never too late to start! But don’t wait for something like this to happen to you! Give us a call today so that we can help you stay active for life! Don’t you want to be around for a little while longer?!
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