Benefits of Positive Thinking

How to stop negative thoughts ⬇️⬇️

“Change your thoughts, change your life!”

“What you think, you become!”

“Positive vibes only!!”

While all these affirmations are true, and positivity does attract good things into your life…if you’ve ever been in a spiral of negative thinking, you know that breaking the cycle is easier said than done.

Here’s something that might help:

A newly published study showed 🔅mental imagery🔅 to be an effective distraction from negative thoughts.

The study involved 145 teenagers who were triggered into negative thinking and then guided to break that cycle with either verbal or visual mental imagery.

🍋🍋The visual imagery exercise was as simple as imagining what a lemon looked like in different conditions.

While both verbal & visual distraction improved the teenagers’ moods, the visual imagery also lit up the brain in ways that showed it helped to regulate the nervous system.

That’s a big win 🧠

Everyone will have negative thoughts sometimes. But the skills we have to stop them will determine whether it becomes a lifelong pattern or a mere fleeting moment.

Reference

Lawrence HR, Siegle GJ, Schwartz-Mette RA. Reimagining rumination? The unique role of mental imagery in adolescents' affective and physiological response to rumination and distraction. J Affect Disord. 2023;329:460-469. [link]

How Much Sugar is Okay?

🍭🍭8,601 Studies on SUGAR!!

That’s how many articles were rounded up in the latest compilation of sugar studies, and even though we all *know* sugar is bad for us…

The average person in the US consumes 17 teaspoons of sugar per day anyway 🍩🍪🍧

This latest analysis shows that sugar is generally harmful—in relation to hormonal health, metabolism, heart health, dental health, allergies, and more.

Even though US guidelines allow for 12 teaspoons of added sugar per day (10% of calories), this latest analysis recommends to:

❌ Limit added sugars to 25 grams per day (about 6 teaspoons)

❌ Limit sweetened beverages to less than 1 serving per week

Do you know how many teaspoons of sugar are in a typical can of soda?

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.

.

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9 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coca-cola!! 😬

Reference

Huang Y, Chen Z, Chen B, et al. Dietary sugar consumption and health: umbrella review. BMJ. 2023;381:e071609. Published 2023 Apr 5. [link]

#sugarstudies #cutthesugar #sugarfacts #hiddensugars #elementsnatmed

Intermittent Fasting vs. Calorie Restriction

⏰ Intermittent Fasting vs. Calorie Restriction 🥗

Which works better for blood sugar control?

Lots of studies have shown intermittent fasting to be effective for weight loss, but only a few have looked at what happens to blood sugar.

🌟 Most people who want to lose weight are also teetering on the verge of prediabetes or diabetes, so it’s important that we know how blood sugar will respond 🌟

Here’s a new study that compared intermittent fasting to calorie restriction in adults who were at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

👉👉 Results after 6 months showed that intermittent fasting was more effective at improving glucose tolerance after meals than calorie restriction.

The intermittent fasting protocol went like this:

▪️ 3 days per week of “fasting”

▪️ “Fasting” days allowed for 800-1200 calories to be consumed between 8am and noon

▪️ 4 days per week of unrestricted eating

This was compared to caloric restriction on 7 days per week.

Intermittent fasting is one tool in our toolkit to support our clients in balancing their blood sugar, hormones, and overall health.

Reference

Teong XT, Liu K, Vincent AD, et al. Intermittent fasting plus early time-restricted eating versus calorie restriction and standard care in adults at risk of type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. Nat Med. 2023;29(4):963-972. [link]

🦉Night-Owl Guys? Open Up.

🦉 Any night-owl guys out there?

If you think you don’t need sleep 😴, you’re fooling yourself.

Here’s a partial list of ways that sleep affects men’s health & hormones:

✔️ Good sleep is needed for the release of growth hormone, which is needed to build muscle, decrease body fat, and maintain brain health.

✔️ A study of more than 2000 men in the United States found impaired sleep to be linked to lower testosterone levels.

✔️ Sleeping less than 5 hours per night has been linked to a 10% - 15% decrease in testosterone levels.

✔️ Sleep is essential for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels and maintaining a healthy weight.

I know that sleep is a real challenge for some people (we have strategies to fix that!), but if cutting your sleep short is a conscious choice you are making, you might want to reconsider.

References

Patel P, Shiff B, Kohn TP, Ramasamy R. Impaired sleep is associated with low testosterone in US adult males: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. World J Urol. 2019;37(7):1449-1453. [link]

Leproult R, Van Cauter E. Effect of 1 week of sleep restriction on testosterone levels in young healthy men. JAMA. 2011;305(21):2173-2174. [link]

Exercising for Men’s Hormones

⬇️ Exercises for Men’s Hormones ⬇️

Before asking about testosterone prescriptions or supplements, consider this:

Exercise is one of the best ways to support men’s hormone health. Any exercise helps, but especially resistance training and high-intensity interval training:

🏋️ 4 weeks of strength training (3 days a week) has been shown to boost testosterone levels in men—both in the short term AND over time.

🏃 Interval training that alternates between intense running and recovery periods for 90-second bursts for 45 minutes is more effective at boosting testosterone than just running straight for the same amount of time.

Everyone is different, and if you absolutely hate lifting weight or doing interval training, that’s okay! I work with my patients to find healthy habits they love and can sustain.

References

Timón Andrada R, Maynar Mariño M, Muñoz Marín D, Olcina Camacho GJ, Caballero MJ, Maynar Mariño JI. Variations in urine excretion of steroid hormones after an acute session and after a 4-week programme of strength training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2007;99(1):65-71. [link]

Hackney AC, Hosick KP, Myer A, Rubin DA, Battaglini CL. Testosterone responses to intensive interval versus steady-state endurance exercise. J Endocrinol Invest. 2012;35(11):947-950. [link]