The Holidays can be a difficult time of year for people who are trying to sick to a healthy diet. From office parties to social events and family gatherings, there are many opportunities to overindulge in foods that are high in fat and sugar – negatively affecting weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. While maintaining a healthy diet around the holidays can be challenging, there are simple steps that you can take when attending an event, or when preparing a meal to ensure that you continue to be healthy and to enjoy the foods of the season.

The first thing to be mindful of regarding eating over the Holidays is to manage expectations. For instance, this may not be the ideal time to start a new diet or to try to lose weight. Instead, plan on how to introduce parts of the new diet while allowing for certain “bad” foods to remain in moderate amounts (as long as a specific health condition does not require an immediate change). Regarding weight, consider shifting the goal of weight loss during the holidays to weight maintenance. Changes in expectations my reduce feelings of frustration over a restricted diet or over the lack of weight loss during the Holiday season.

Next, it is important to have a plan for how to eat healthy over the Holidays. If eating at parties or at family gatherings where there is no control over meal options or food preparation, plan to:

• Eat a snack or small meal before going to the event. This way, temptations will not be as strong for sugary or fatty foods or the appetizers put out pre-meal. As well, eating beforehand may decrease the temptation to eat to excess.
• When arriving at the party, avoid going straight for the food. Take time to talk to other guests as this will distract from temptations and from eating throughout the event.
• Take time to look at all of the available food choices, and choose to balance your selection with healthier options (vegetables and fruits).
• Keep in mind which foods are highest in fat and sugar (sauces, gravy, stuffing, desserts, etc) and avoid or moderate their intake.
• Be mindful of portion sizes. Eat to feelings of satiety and not to fullness.
  Remember to consider calories in drinks and alcohol – and not to drink to excess.

If hosting a holiday meal, plan to include recipes that are healthy, reduce/exchange foods that are higher in fats and use serving strategies to contribute to better portion control:

• Starting the meal with an appetizer that is low in calories or fat. For instance, using a vegetable puree can add great flavour to many different foods. One example may be to start the meal with sea scallops on a cauliflower puree with toasted almonds and mint.
• Start a meal with a hearty soup. A great Holiday soup example is beet borscht topped with fresh cut dill (which gives great seasonal colors). In addition, you can limit salt intake by making your own broth using dried mushrooms (consider dried porcini or chanterelle mushrooms).
• Serve a winter salad before the main course. Consider a thinly sliced roasted beet salad with goat cheese, kale/arugula, toasted hazelnuts and maple balsamic vinaigrette.
• Instead of using butter on cooked vegetables, use extra virgin olive oil. Consider tossing carrots or green beans with olive oil, shaved toasted almonds, garlic, lemon juice and ginger; or Brussels sprouts (simmered in chicken or vegetable stock) with roasted chestnuts.
• Instead of serving mashed potatoes prepared with butter and/or cream, consider roasted potatoes with dried figs and thyme; or a roasted vegetable dish consisting of sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips, onion, garlic and ginger; or roasted squash with shallots grapes and sage.
• In order to help with portion control, plate food in the kitchen as opposed to at the table which may help people control the amount of food they eat.

The Holidays can be a challenge to maintaining a healthy diet. By planning ahead, it is possible to eat both healthily and enjoyably over the Holidays.

And remember to try and squeeze in some physical activity!

Happy Holidays.

If you have questions about your diet, how your diet can contribute to your health or how a naturopathic doctor can help you, please call 613-290-6115 or visit www.ottawand.com. Graham Beaton is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine in practice at Ottawa Collaborative Care Centres – 102 Lewis Street, Ottawa.

Eating a healthy diet is a challenge for many Canadians. Working long hours, commuting, children’s activities, and social and family commitments can make it difficult to find the time to shop for, prepare, and eat healthy nutritious meals, leading one to eat at restaurants or choose convenient prepackaged meals that can be quickly prepared at home. Unfortunately, many of these options are unhealthy, as they contain an excessive amount of calories, salt, unhealthy fats, or are high in sugar. These unhealthy foods lead to an increased risk of many chronic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

In order to choose healthy meal options it is important to know how to read/interpret nutrition labels. Interpreting nutrition labelling on packaged foods can be confusing, and many manufacturers make misleading claims regarding the health of their products. For example a popular breakfast spread claims to have “91% less sodium than the leading peanut butter” (sodium is salt). Sounds healthy, but, if you look at the label, the majority of the spread is sugar – not healthy at all.

When looking at a food label, there are several things to watch out for. Specifically, look at serving size, calories, as well as the amount of saturated and trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, and carbohydrates (total, fiber and sugar).

Serving size
Start by looking at serving size. Serving size allows comparison between similar products (for instance, two tortilla chips manufacturers have serving sizes of 28 vs. 50 grams of tortilla chips), enabling you to estimate your consumption of nutrients based on the amount that you eat.

Calories
A calorie is the amount of energy that comes from food. Eating foods that are high in calories can result in excess energy intake. This energy intake is stored as fat, causing obesity and increasing the risk of several chronic diseases.

Number of milligrams of nutrients vs. % Daily Value
These numbers are important as they indicate the nutrient content of the packaged food. In general, it is easier to look at % Daily Value of nutrients instead of the number of milligrams.

Fats and Cholesterol
Saturated fats and trans fats are the ‘bad fats’. Both of these types of fats, along with dietary cholesterol, increase blood cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. If looking at a nutrition label, saturated fat and cholesterol should be less than 15% Daily Value per serving. Trans fats are a more harmful type of fat and should be avoided altogether.

Sodium
High dietary sodium intake, like fat and cholesterol, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, high sodium diets increase risk of developing certain forms of cancer. Choose foods with less than 15% Daily Value per serving.

Carbohydrate – Fiber and Sugar
Fiber is a type of indigestible carbohydrate. It is not broken down and absorbed as a nutrient. Instead, fiber remains in the gastrointestinal tract where it helps to regulate bowel function, fat and sugar absorption, and contributes to feelings of fullness after a meal. Many Canadians do not consume enough fiber in their diets. Choose packaged products that are high in fiber.

Sugar is a soluble carbohydrate. It is naturally contained in certain foods, such as digestible parts of plants (primary source), and dairy and dairy products (low carbohydrates content). As well, it is found in foods that have been sweetened with various forms of sugar (glucose-fructose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, cane sugar, honey, molasses, corn syrup, etc). Consuming excess sugar, specifically from sweetened foods increases calorie intake without adding any other nutritional or health benefit. This may lead to obesity and other chronic diseases. Currently there is no recommended amount of sugar that is considered ‘healthy’. As a general rule, try to consume less than 100g of sugar per day (15g or 15% per serving).

Vitamin A and Vitamin C
These nutrients are abundant in a normal healthy diet and should be disregarded on a nutrient label. For instance, eating one medium sized carrot provides approximately 430% of the recommended dietary intake of the nutrient (vitamin A), so there is no need to seek it out in packaged foods.

An important note on food choices
The healthiest foods do not come with nutrition labels. These foods include fruits, vegetables, un-ground raw meat and poultry, fish and seafood. These foods generally are the healthiest and ideally should make up most of the diet.

If you have questions about your diet, nutrition label reading, proposed changes by Health Canada on nutrition labels, or how a naturopathic doctor can help you, please call 613-290-6115. Graham Beaton is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine in practice at Ottawa Collaborative Care Centres – 102 Lewis Street, Ottawa.

Graham Beaton
Naturopathic Doctor – Ottawa, ON

The word measles is not typically heard in Canada, unless one is discussing vaccinations. In Canada, the number of measles cases decreased dramatically after the introduction of measles vaccines in the early 1960s. That said, the second case of measles this year was confirmed by Ottawa Public Health earlier this month. This brings the total number of confirmed cases of measles in Canada since January 2014 to 24. The recent cases in Ottawa and in the rest of Canada, have renewed a call by public health officials to ensure that individuals are properly immunized.

Measles – What is it?
Measles, caused by the rubeola virus, is a highly contagious systemic disease that is characterized by fever, maculopapular rash (flat red area of the skin that is covered with small bumps), cough, coryza (irritation and inflammation of mucous membranes inside the nose), conjunctival inflammation (inflammation of the outermost layer of the eye and inner surface of the eyelids) and Koplik spots (bluish white spots on the inside lining of the mouth lateral to the molar teeth). Frequently, those infected may also experience headache, malaise and muscle pain.

The measles rash typically appears 2 to 6 days after the appearance of nasal symptoms and 2-3 days after the appearance of Koplik spots. The rash begins on the face or behind the ears as individual flat red areas of skin that blanch with pressure. In the following 12 to 24 hours, small bumps appear within the rash and the rash spreads from the head to the trunk to the extremities. The appearance of the rash on the trunk and extremities follows the same progression as on the head and face (e.g. appearance of red rash, followed by appearance of red bumps on affected areas). The progression of the rash typically takes about 4 days.

Measles is spread mainly via inhalation of respiratory droplets and infects up to 90% of people who come into close contact with an infected person. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to know if one was exposed to someone who was infected as measles is infectious up to 4 days prior to the onset of rash – and remains infectious until 4 days after the rash has appeared.

Who is susceptible to the outbreak?
People who have previously had measles or those who have received the measles vaccine are immune to the virus, as are young infants of immune mothers during the first few months of life (due to passing of maternal antibodies while in utero and via breastmilk). Thus, people who have not been vaccinated, infants and young children of non-immune mothers, young children who are not beingbreastfed, individuals with poor immune function or those on immune suppressing medications are susceptible.

What are the complications of measles?
There are several complications associated with measles infections. They include diarrhea, otitis media (ear infection), pneumonia (a secondary bacterial infection with measles) and encephalitis. In children, the most common complication of measles is acute otitis media, which occurs in 7-9% of cases. Pneumonia occurs in 1-6% of infected children, and accounts for up to 60% of measles related deaths in children. Measles related diarrhea can also result in death in malnourished individuals. Uncommon complications include reduced platelet production, hepatitis, appendicitis, pericarditis (inflammation to the sac that surrounds the heart), myocarditis (inflammation to the heart muscle), glomerulonephritis (kidney disease), hypocalcemia (low calcium levels), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (serious disorder where skin and mucous membranes have severe reaction to medication or infection) and toxic shock syndrome (a potentially fatal illness caused by bacterial toxin).

Mortality rates are typically 1 to 3 in 1000 cases in healthy individuals with access to medical care. Amongst individuals who are malnourished, have poor immune function or who have limited access to health care, mortality rates may be as high as 20%.

Those most susceptible from measles complications include children younger than the age of 5 and adults over the age of 20. Furthermore, pregnant women are at high risk for complications of measles infections, which can affect both the mother (increased risk of pneumonia) and the fetus (increased risk of miscarriage in first trimester and premature delivery later in pregnancy, and low birth weight).

How to prevent infection
The only way to prevent measles infection is to be vaccinated with an approved MMR vaccination. It is currently recommended in Ontario that healthy children receive their first MMR vaccination at 12 months of age. This first shot produces protection in about 85% to 98% of recipients. Because not all children respond adequately to one dose of the MMR vaccination, a second shot is recommended, and is typically given to children at 4 to 6 years of age. Both the first and second doses can also be given at an earlier age (6 and 9 months) if there is a higher risk of measles infection (in HIV infected children or to children who live in areas with a high number of cases).

Learning about vaccines, the diseases they prevent, and risk
There is a lot of misinformation available about vaccines and potential side effects, and it is often difficult to know how to interpret this information and what information is true. If you would like more information on measles or measles vaccinations, please speak to your family medical doctor, pharmacist or give the clinic a call and I would be happy to discuss the benefits and risks of vaccinations with you.

I am a Naturopathic Doctor practicing in Ottawa. In practice, I work with my patients to improve their health using an evidence based approach that is safe and effective.

For more information on measles, vaccinations or Naturopathic Medicine, or to book an appointment, please call 613-290-6115. Ottawa Collaborative Care Centres is located at 102 Lewis Street in the Centretown neighbourhood of downtown Ottawa.

For a global map of the number of reported measles cases by country please click here (from the World Health Organization – reporting measles cases dated between August 2013 and January 2014).

With the passing of the federal budget on February 11, 2014, the Government of Canada has exempted Naturopathic care from GST/HST. This means that as of February 12th 2014, GST/HST is no longer charged to patients on appointment fees.

To book an appointment, or for more information on how Naturopathic Medicine can help you, please call 613-290-6115. We are conveniently located in downtown Ottawa at 102 Lewis Street (3 blocks south of Elgin St and Somerset St W).

Free parking is available at the clinic and on surrounding streets.