Rethinking Coconut Oil – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in honor of my 50^th birthday. Here’s number 26 – Coconut Oil.

I think the current coconut oil craze is one of the most successful rebranding stories ever. In the very recent past, tropical oils — coconut, palm, etc. were shunned as pariahs of heart health. In the world of saturated fats, most people thought they were the worst.

But as it turns out, a closer look reveals that unlike most other saturated fats, coconut oil is built primarily of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs).  These fats metabolize much differently than their long-chain cousins, which are found in abundance in meat and dairy products.  Apparently, digested MCTs are not stored as fat in the human body.  Instead, they are transported directly to the liver where they are quickly converted into energy.

 

In fact, some researchers now go so far as to say that coconut oil actually decreases the risk of heart disease, as it has been shown to increase HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) levels.  MCTs in coconut oil may also work to reduce triglycerides, improve blood coagulation, and perform antioxidant functions in the blood stream.

In addition, coconut oil advocates tout a myriad of additional benefits such as increasing energy, fighting infection, improving brain function, aiding in weight loss, and conditioning skin and hair.

It seems like coconut oil is everywhere these days, and I’ll admit I’ve jumped on the bandwagon. I think it’s great for cooking, but my favorite use is make-up removal. It’s especially effective on eye make up.

What other products can you think of that have made a complete turnaround in the court of public opinion?

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in anticipation of my upcoming 50^th birthday.  Here’s number 9: eating at least 5 fruits and vegetables each day.

It turns out Grandma was right. Eating fruits and veggies is a big deal. In fact, a new study shows that putting plenty of produce in your diet can substantially reduce your risk of death. Yes, death.

Specifically, researchers foundthat people who ate seven or more portions of fresh fruits and vegetables per day had a 42 percent lower risk of death at any age than those who ate less than one portion a day. The risk of death was reduced by 36 percent for those who ate five or six servings each day.

These statistics are particularly interesting to me because since I started my quest for 50 healthy habits in January, I have consciously been eating at least five servings of fruits and veggies every day. Based on these stats, I may have to up it to seven.

Like any goal we are trying to reach in our lives or with our brands, this number may seem daunting at first. But with planning, it’s really not too hard.

Typically, I have a serving of fruit at breakfast, a salad and soup that includes veggies for lunch and then at least one side of veggies for dinner.

What tips do you have to incorporate more produce into your diet?

 

 

 

 

 

Just Keep Moving– Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in anticipation of my upcoming 50^th birthday.  Here’s number 8: an activity tracker.

The perils of sitting have been largely publicized. In fact, a large study involving more than 100,000 U.S. adults found those who sat for more than six hours a day had up to a 40 percent greater risk of death over the next 15 years than those who sat for less than three hours a day. Most important, this effect occurred regardless of whether the participants exercised.

“Regardless of whether participants exercised.” That’s what  worries me.  I “work out” on a regular basis, but I also sit a lot – at my desk, in meetings, at my son’s games.  But still, I thought, surely I can’t be classified as “sedentary.”

Or can I?  At the urging of a few folks in the agency and some other friends, I purchased a Fitbit.  I decided my goal would be to get in at least 5,000 steps before I leave the office each day. The 5,000-step level is generally regarded as a minimum to be classified as “lightly active.”  In addition, I vowed to continue my other exercise.

The first few days have been interesting.  Getting in 5,000 steps during the workday really is a challenge.  I’m finding myself getting pretty creative.  I’m doing things like taking the “long way” to the restroom, standing up and walking around in meetings and taking a few extra laps up and down the hallway.  The most effective strategy, though, has been to incorporate walking meetings into the day. We’ve been doing walking meetings the agency for awhile now with a general understanding that it was probably good for us. But now, they are really starting to pay off.

The Fitbit adds an interesting layer of accountability and analysis with a clear goal in mind.  I think it’s an example of good discipline that can be applied both personally and professionally.  And really in many regards, just putting one foot in front of the other and continuing to move forward is half the battle in reaching our goals.

Image courtesy of Uncrate.com

Reach out to me if you’d like to take a walk and talk about reaching your goals.

Are you tracking the right things? – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Living

Regular readers know that I am doing 50 healthy things this year in anticipation of my upcoming 50^th birthday.  Here’s number 7: a food and exercise tracker.

As part of my 50/50 plan, as a one of my friends calls it, I made a commitment in January to start tracking all of my food and exercise.  I’ve always been a healthy eater. However, I started to suspect that I was eating a few too many bites of birthday treats at the office or a few too many bites of snack foods I buy for my son.  It was nothing crazy or outrageous – just a little bit here and there.  I had also slacked off on my exercise, again just a little bit. But, as I suspected, just a little bit here and there can lead to unintended consequences, e.g., a few extra pounds that had crept up on me.

After consulting several friends, I decided to use MyFitnessPal.  Both the mobile app and the desktop version are easy to use and powered by a robust food and exercise database.  I am used to writing down daily activities; I’ve worked in a business that requires me to track my work time in 15-minute increments for my whole career.  However, the prospect of writing down every bite of food or minute of exercise seemed more daunting at first.

Image courtesy of fitbit.com

After doing it for 9 weeks now, it’s actually kind of liberating.  It’s made me very mindful of my actions.  Before I eat something, I have to ask myself if eating it is worth the effort it will take to write it down.  I also have to decide if it’s worth the calories and whether it has the right type of nutrients to meet my goals.

One of the most interesting features of MyFitnessPal is its dashboards that track calorie deficits and goals for various nutrients and macros, e.g., carbohydrates, protein and fat. This information keeps me accountable and lets me adjust daily to keep things on track. And the good news is that several of those extra pounds are history.

In many ways, this experiment reminds me of the data analytics discussions we have with clients.  These days, access to a wealth of data is not the challenge.  The real obstacle to reaching many brand goals lies in tracking the right information and making adjustments along the way.  As shown by my diet and exercise experiment, making small changes can bring big rewards.  Most brands are not so off track that they need to make major strategic overhauls.  However, most of us can benefit from the accountability of tracking the right data and using it to make smarter decisions.

What are you doing to be more accountable?  I welcome your feedback.

Kicking Sugar to the Curb – Tips for Healthy Brands and Healthy Lives

Regular readers know that I am committed to doing 50 healthy things in honor of my upcoming 50^th birthday. Here’s number five: eliminating sugar.

I was hesitant to put this one out there for public display, because I wasn’t sure I could do it.  However, I am happy to report that I have eaten no added sugar for more than a month.  I’ve also cut way back on grains, breads, pastas and other processed foods that metabolize as sugar.

Why?  You might ask.  I have been very swayed by recent research that suggests sugar is the biggest health culprit when it comes to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure and many other ailments.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 5 – 7.5% of daily calories come from sugar.  However, most Americans eat far more than that – sometimes without realizing it.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, “Most of us don’t know that a serving of tomato sauce has more sugar than a serving of Oreo cookies, or that fruit yogurt has more sugar than a Coke, or that most breakfast cereals — even those made with whole grain — are 75% sugar. That’s not breakfast, it’s dessert!”

For more of Dr. Hyman’s perspective, see his blog post here:

Interesting and scary.   Now here’s the thing.  Do I think it’s realistic to cut out all sugar from my diet indefinitely?  No.  I am planning to continue my sugar “fast” through the end of February.   It has been a great exercise in awareness.   But I’m not into total deprivation. From now on, if I do allow myself an occasional sugary treat, it will be a very mindful decision.  (And it will be something really good that is worth the calories and risk – no more mindless snacking.)

What are your thoughts about sugar?  Do you agree with this research or think it’s hype?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Farmers’ Market Strategies for Cardiovascular Marketers

Local farmers just may be the perfect partners for promoting heart-healthy eating.

Those of you who know me personally are aware of my Saturday morning ritual – a class at the gym followed by a trip to my favorite farmers’ market. If I miss a week, I’m genuinely cranky. We talk a lot about farm-fresh food here in our agency. My colleague, Andrea, actually manages a farmers’ market on the weekends. We all get excited when she brings us samples of luscious eggplant and crunchy kale. Some of our other colleagues probably get sick of our constant exchange of recipes and incessant chatter over lunch, cajoling people to try our latest concoction. But, it’s what we do.

And increasingly, it’s what hospitals are doing to promote healthy eating. At the most basic level, hospitals and heart institutes are “sponsoring” fruits and veggies with branded labels. Some are hosting markets on site, encouraging community members and patients to participate. I think it’s a brilliant strategy with a lot of potential.

Apparently others agree. HealthLeaders published an article this week highlighting four ways to maximize a farmers’ market program:

1. Improve disease management – Saint Anne’s hospital in Fall River, MA, “prescribes” fruits and vegetables to at-risk patients, including heart patients. They can fill a basket for free at the hospital’s weekly farmers’ market. In order to participate, patients also must work with a hospital dietician and visit their doctor each month. Patients’ family members get to participate as well to encourage healthy eating for the entire household.
2. Conduct on-site health screenings for things like blood pressure, BMI, etc. Ohio’s Parma Hospital hosts screenings at its on-site market, but you could sure do this as a sponsor of a community market too. And it’s a great way to make connections with new patients and to gather information for future communications efforts.
3. Introduce population health initiatives.  Baptist Hospital – DeSoto in Mississippi hosted a one-off farmers’ market that attracted more than 500 people. They said it built a great sense of community among both patients and farmers. And they have plans to extend the program into a 12-week, larger scale initiative.
4. Emphasize the importance of healthy eating and give people an easy way to do it. Nutrition education has always been a cornerstone of cardiovascular marketing communications. A farmers’ market is a live laboratory to help people make recommendations come to life. Offering branded recipes and demonstrations are great branding opportunities for your heart program, too. Research says that up to 3/4 of people who shop at farmers’ markets eat more and a greater variety of fruits and vegetables.

If you have pictures of farmers’ market strategies that are working for you, please send them to me. I would love to post them.

A Breakfast Dilemma for Cardiovascular Marketers

Eggs may be the enemy again.

A new study suggests that egg yolks may clog your arteries almost as much as smoking.

Wonderful. This is especially welcome news with back-to-school season upon us. I’m challenged to find a breakfast other than eggs that keeps my 16-year-old behemoth somewhat full until lunchtime.

However, the study’s lead author, Dr. David Spence, professor of neurology at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, says, “People at risk of vascular disease should not eat egg yolks.”

Spence’s team collected data on more than 1,200 men and women who were taking part in an initiative aimed at curbing heart disease. The researchers used ultrasound to look at the amount of plaque in each patient’s arteries. They then asked patients about smoking, their frequency of eating eggs, other lifestyle factors and any medicines they were taking.

Results showed:

• Regular consumption of egg yolks sped up plaque deposits in arteries at a rate that was about two-thirds the rate seen with smoking, Spence said.
• People who ate three or more yolks a week had significantly increased plaque compared with people who ate two or fewer yolks a week.
• The effect of egg yolks on plaque was independent of the person’s sex, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking, weight and diabetes.

Not everyone is buying it. Not unexpectedly, a statement from the American Egg Board said that the findings come from “an observational study that can only suggest potential relationships, not determine actual cause-and-effect conclusions.”

The Egg Board also noted in the statement that “study subjects with higher egg intakes tended to also be heavy smokers, and only a small percentage of the population consumed more than five eggs per week, meaning that the conclusions were based on a small number of subjects.”

A spokesman for the American Heart Association who is also a cardiologist said the “jury remains out” on the issue pending further study and citing inconsistencies in the evidence for and against egg yolks for decades.

In the meantime, the American Heart Association sticks with its recommendation to eat a variety of nutritious food from all the food groups, with emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products and fat-free or low-fat dairy products as well as eating fish at least twice a week.”

At this point, I don’t think our family will eliminate egg yolks from our diet. But, I certainly welcome your ideas for egg-free, healthy breakfast alternatives.

Exercise News of Olympic Proportions for Cardiovascular Marketers

Exercising at less than an Olympic pace could pay big dividends in preventing heart disease and stroke. 

“Every four years, the summer Olympics get people excited to exercise,” says Glenn Gaesser, a professor and director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University, who oversaw a new study about exercise and high blood pressure that was inspired in part by this year’s games in London.

Historically, gyms and neighborhood streets get busy as the Olympics start and people are inspired by athletes going for gold. But we all know that once the excitement wears off, most people resume their sedentary lives.

Dr. Gaesser and his colleagues hoped to determine whether breaking up exercise into small, manageable segments performed throughout the day would work as well as one longer, continuous Olympic-training-like bout.

They studied a group of adult volunteers that was generally healthy, except for some early symptoms of high blood pressure, or prehypertension.

Prehypertension is known to respond well to exercise. But most studies of exercise and blood pressure have employed uninterrupted 30-minute exercise sessions, a commonly recommended standard for improving health.

In Dr. Gaesser’s study, subjects walked briskly for 10 minutes three times during the day. On a separate day, the volunteers completed one 30-minute supervised session of brisk walking in midafternoon, while on a final day, they did not exercise at all.

Their blood pressure was monitored continuously.

The results showed that breaking up the exercise into three short sessions led to lower average 24-hour blood pressure readings. It also resulted in fewer episodes of unhealthy spikes in blood pressure through the day.

According to Dr. Gaesser, the results “are really encouraging,” he says. “For people who think that 30 minutes of exercise is too hard or takes up too much time, we can say, just do 10 minutes” three times during the day. And, conversely, if someone is tempted to dismiss a mere 10 minutes of walking as too meager to be meaningful, “it seems clear that, at least for blood pressure control, fractionized exercise is actually more effective” than a single 30-minute bout.

Interesting. I may have to rethink my own routine.

Cardiovascular Marketing Recipes: 10 Heart Healthy Snacks Under 150 Calories

Heart Healthy snacking is a popular topic among patients. 

And new ideas can provide excellent content for outreach tactics from newsletters to blogs.

Here’s a great list I recently found at iVillage for 10 heart-healthy snacks under 150 calories.

On a side note, I’m stealing this list for my son. He is eating me out of house and home this summer. Trying to keep a 16-year-old boy satisfied without too much junk food is proving next to impossible. I’m hoping some of these ideas may work.

Here’s the list:

1. One kiwi with 7 walnut halves – antioxidants, potassium, fiber, omega 3s and more. Plus, who doesn’t love the cheerful color of kiwi?
2. Low-fat cottage cheese with a tablespoon of peanut butter or almond butter stirred in – I haven’t previously thought of this as a yummy combo, but it sounds pretty good. I bet it might be even better with a sprinkle of cinnamon
3. A whole wheat wrap (under 100 calories) with two egg whites scrambled with a pinch of Parmesan cheese – sounds like a nice balance of protein and “good” carbs. I think I would add a few leaves of spinach.
4. Fat-free Greek yogurt with slivered almonds – an excellent combo of calcium and protein. My local Costco was demo’ing this one the other day. The nice sample lady added just the tiniest drizzle of honey. That can’t be too bad, right?
5. Low-sodium turkey wrapped around an avocado slice – sounds kind of like a lettuce wrap, only better.
6. One hard-boiled egg mashed with ½ teaspoon low-fat mayo and the spices of your choice (curry powder anyone?) spread on a small whole-wheat pita – great boost of both protein and fiber along with several important vitamins.
7. Dark chocolate bar (4 teaspoon serving) with 6 whole almonds – sounds delicious, and I love that dark chocolate is packed with antioxidants. Portion control on this one sounds pretty hard, though.
8. Low-fat cottage cheese with a teaspoon of fat-free lemon Jell-O powder stirred in – let set in fridge for 3 hours and top with fat-free whipped cream. Hmmm…. I have to say I’m not totally sure about this one. Will someone please try it and send me a report?
9. Half a whole-wheat English muffin topped with two tablespoons of low-fat ricotta and two tablespoons of Parmesan, broiled in a toaster oven – I can already smell this heavenly combo of complex carbs and protein.
10. Half a banana sliced into “coins” topped with a dollop of peanut butter and a couple of dark chocolate chips – sounds like a plethora of potassium and protein that could almost masquerade as a dessert.

Sounds good to me!

A New Look at the Link Between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Heart Disease For Cardiovascular Marketers

Current tools may underestimate the risk of heart disease danger faced by patients with rheumatoid arthritis according to a Mayo Clinic study.

Two commonly used tools for assessing heart disease danger were found to substantially underrate cardiovascular disease danger in women and men with rheumatoid arthritis. The problem was particularly evident in older patients and people who test positive for rheumatoid factors, proteins produced by the immune system and often associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

On a personal level, this study is interesting to me as I have risk factors for both cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis in my family. The key problem seems to be that inflammation plays a key role in creating a greater risk factor in those with rheumatoid arthritis, but the two most commonly used tools for assessing heart disease danger — the Framingham and Reynolds risk scores —don’t factor it in.

“This study emphasizes that patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at higher risk for heart disease, and that conventional predictors of risk are not adequate for estimating this risk. Physicians caring for patients with rheumatoid arthritis should be aware of this heightened risk even when conventional risk factors seem to indicate no increased risk, and consider measures to assess and lower CV risk in these patients,” says co-author Eric Matteson, M.D., chairman of Mayo Clinic’s rheumatology division.

Sounds like good advice to me.