Healthier Habits in 2021: Danielle Paciera, RD, CCN
Shortly after moving to New Orleans in 2010 I met Danielle through a mutual friend. A Registered Dietitian for 20 years, Danielle graduated from Northern Arizona University. When I sat down with her, I had been struggling with stress related digestive problems for years. But the discomfort was finally larger than the inertia of inaction.
Not only was I experiencing digestive issues, I had also suffered from over a decade of disordered eating behavior. An issue I must continue to be mindful about to this day. The data of what our bodies need most sits within it, but it is only if we pay close attention can we discover what it is truly telling us. There is no perfect diet or exercise routine or stress reduction ritual that will help you if you aren’t truly slowing down and listening to your own body. This is what Danielle stresses with each client.
As we begin a new year, we are seeing all the same diet troupes. New Year! New You! Lose that quarantine 15! Or more recently, attempted overthrow of the government, Dry January cancelled! Either way society at large is constantly telling us we are doing it wrong. I spoke to Danielle just before the New Year and asked her a few questions about how to create healthier habits in the face of a global pandemic and a collective stress many of us have never seen.
What are some simple ways to keep your immune system healthy in the new year?
Danielle started off by mentioning that we need to give ourselves a break right now. Find some grace. We have been through so much stress for 10 months and now we are closing up the holiday season. Our bodies keep score of how we feel and how we handle stressful situations. We need to also remember long term success in creating a healthier lifestyle doesn’t have an on/off switch.
“I don’t think you were ready for this change before”, Danielle gently said when I discussed eating a food that she had already told me might not work for my diet at this time. Habits start slowly and a lot of change happens in the work before you make real change. In the back and forth of wanting, but not taking action stage. Sometimes we aren’t ready to make the changes we ultimately need to make.
Bringing awareness to our bodies as we ease back into our normal routine after a holiday season is an incredibly important step. Awareness is how you are going to make healthier choices. Danielle always tells me food is either hurting you or healing you. So pay attention.
Danielle advocates for eating more foods that come out of the ground. Our immune system needs a lot of vitamin C, D, and Zinc. Vitamins and minerals you can’t get out of processed foods or even in fortified foods. Fortified foods don’t express their full healing effects as those that grow naturally do because when in plant based foods, these nutrients are accompanied by many phytonutrients that work synergistically. Vitamin C rich foods include bell peppers, strawberries, citrus, and broccoli. Try to choose raw fruits and vegetables because many nutrients, including vitamin C, can be lost when exposed to light, air, heat, and water in cooking.
Danielle recommends that we all pay attention when we eat. You might not need to eat as much when you start paying attention. You might just realize a food is more satisfying in less quantity. You can indeed find that level of satisfaction with a smaller amount of a more flavorful and higher quality food. Finding pleasure in our foods is good. Our food isn’t just a means to an end. Pay attention and allow yourself to enjoy the things you really like. Once you start paying attention and being more mindful to how the you eat make you feel, you may realize foods you eat regularly are causing some unwanted feelings. They may not be as satisfying as you thought or they may impact your mood and you may begin to rethink what you include in your diet.
What is inflammation and why is it important to understand?
Articles on inflammation causing havoc on our bodies isn’t new but it can be a bit difficult to understand. Inflammation is part of a normal immune response. In a short term response this is exactly what we want our bodies to do. We cut our finger, it gets hot, red and puffy, that is a healthy immune response. Your body is producing blood cells that clot at the injury site and triggers new growth. But long term constant inflammation wears our body down and can be deadly. For example, constant low levels inflammation can promote the growth and build of plaque in our arteries, then loosen this plaque and trigger unneeded blood clots that float within the body. In other words, sustained inflammation in our cardiovascular system is dangerous and may lead to heart attacks or even a stroke.
In some COVID-19 cases, we are seeing the virus trigger an inflammatory storm - which is what was creating all those intense symptoms last spring. Medical practices adapted to new data on these inflammatory storms and medical professionals are able to provide better care at this time. But inflammation is also why the virus is creating lasting cardiovascular problems in some patients. In this situation our natural inflammatory response isn’t going away when infection goes away.
How can we start to address inflammation in our bodies in the new year?
Processed foods create more inflammation. Danielle told me that omega 3s, such as those found in cold water fish, are very anti-inflammatory and recommended that we eat them 3-4 times a week or more. Adding turmeric and ginger can also be helpful. Look to add new things to your diet such as Homemade Golden milk.
Addressing inflammation is also a good time to bring awareness to our mind body connection. Acute trauma, PTSD, and constant low level stress like being in unhealthy work environments also cause inflammation over a long period of time. Sleep, exercise, meditation, and talk therapy are all good ways to move stress through your body. We still don’t know all of the reasons that we need so much sleep but we do know that it is absolutely crucial to a healthy lifestyle. So is exercise. And both are directly linked to fighting inflammation. Constant inflammation may not produce any physical symptoms. You can only know if you are fighting off constant low level inflammation through a blood test. But when we slow down and listen to our body, we may see we are more stressed than we realize.
6 Tips For A Healthier New Year:
Go to your doctor for a check up and blood work every year. And if you are over 40, get that mammogram and colonoscopy.
Add 1 additional hour of exercise each week. Take a long walk in a beautiful part of town or add a swim day. Don’t promise yourself 6 days of high intensity workouts, when that’s just not part of your lifestyle right now. Add something easy, that fits your daily routine.
Unfollow all social media accounts that talk about being thinner. Your body has an ideal size it wants to be. This may be bigger than social media accounts might show. Bringing more awareness to your body will help you stay within that normal size without shame.
Eat for pleasure, enjoy what you are eating.
Eat the rainbow. Start with a vegetable you already love and find new ways to eat it. make half of your plate colorful produce.
Pick a moment in the day to bring awareness to your body. Close your eyes and bring awareness to each part of your body, including ear lopes and fingertips. Right before you open your eyes in the morning, get in the shower, or when you first get into bed.
Remember, what works for someone else, might not work for you. Don’t pay much attention to any new fad or health idea, keep paying attention to how your body feels. Our body is sending us data all the time. Stay mindful and aware about what it is telling us, otherwise the healthy changes you make aren’t sustainable.
