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Try this one thing for more success, happiness, satisfaction, and more!

Tim Irvine

If you are reading this, the headline of this article got your attention, and you are interested in knowing this ‘secret’. I’ll get right to the point.

I’m quite certain that 99% of people reading this have something they would like to do but have been putting off. Is that you? You can be honest. The nice thing about this is virtually everyone in the world is in the same boat. Whether you seemingly have everything or nothing, we all procrastinate on one or more ideas.

Back to the secret. The ‘one thing’ I’m talking about is simple.

Action

That’s it. To get what you want you must act.

Before you stop reading, I need another two and a half minutes of your time to prove this works. Here is a mini-workshop for you. Seriously, try it out.

  1. In 30 seconds or less, pick the first thing that you want to do or achieve that comes into your head. Small or large, it doesn’t matter.
  2. In 60 seconds or less, write down two steps that you will take to start the process. This could be on a piece of paper or an email to yourself. Use whatever method you like that you know works for you.
  3. In 30 seconds or less, put dates you will act beside each of the steps.
  4. In 30 seconds or less, send this information to someone you know well that you feel a sense of responsibility towards, and let them know you are excited about starting this journey.

That’s it! If you have done the above, you are on your way to achieving your goal, and building a technique that will pay incredible dividends to you for the rest of your life. And the great thing? It also fills you with satisfaction and pride that you have overcome the procrastination that has prevented you from starting. Once you get rolling with this process, it becomes infectious, and you won’t want to stop.

One caution though is don’t overdo it. Temper your excitement, match it with real-time availability, and build consistency so you don’t overwhelm yourself.

If you like, add a second layer of accountability, post it on Instagram and tag Totum (@totumlifescience). Good luck!

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What’s really driving your habits?

By: Tim Irvine

A couple of days ago, I talked with a friend of mine about their food choices over the last while. It ended up being a deep, hour-long conversation about what drives habits in general. I have to say; it was very illuminating.

To provide context, this friend has quite a bit of knowledge around health, wellness, and, specifically, nutrition. They are not professionals in the area but have worked with professionals enough to know what works for them and what doesn’t.

Our recent conversation began with their contemplation of seeing a nutrition professional as they can’t seem to get on track with their eating. Why were they looking to see someone when they already knew what works? There was one specific example of a meal they prepared for themselves. They were going to make something that they enjoyed and was healthy, but instead chose unhealthy yet still enjoyable. It was a conscious decision to go with the unhealthy option, after which they felt disappointed in themselves.

This cycle may be familiar to you either because you identify with it personally or apply to someone you know. It is common and, I would argue, happens to all of us somehow. If not with food, then with drinks, TV, social media, etc.

In my conversation, two essential elements surfaced. The desire to make a choice that we know is not ideal is often driven by emotion rather than logic. Something is going on in our lives that day/week/month/year upsetting us. Sometimes we are aware of it; sometimes, we are not. We can also be aware but underestimate how much it is impacting us. In these situations, we make emotional decisions to provide ourselves comfort. With food as an example, we know the bag of chips isn’t ideal for us, but we feel like we’ve had a bad day, so we’re going to treat ourselves. We support ourselves through these acts, and they can become habitual over time. A lousy day equals a bag of chips.

We can even be disappointed in ourselves because we have ‘failed,’ are ‘weak,’ or made a ‘bad decision.’ I acknowledge what it feels like, but I don’t think it’s an accurate description of what has happened. Believe these are simply mechanisms we use to try and ‘treat’ ourselves when we feel down. T’s human nature, and of course, we all want to feel supported and have our spirits buoyed.

The second element is closely related to the first. T is the ‘why’ behind the emotion. Sing me as an example; I can manage a fair amount of stress well. The problem is, if I have enough of it, I’m blind to the fact it is affecting me. Get more irritable, and those around me notice it. I’m lucky because those close to me call me on it. This has helped me understand I need to be more aware of the stress I’m under. I think some version of this is valid for most people. The result is not typical or ideal behaviour for us compared to less stressful periods. Like picking a food we know is a treat when we know better or that glass of wine or cocktail after a hard day.

The bottom line is our decisions are not simply a product of a ‘do’ or ‘don’t’ mechanism. It’s often much more complex, with other factors driving our choices. It’s good to reflect on the stresses in our lives to help better understand the root of some of these decisions.

*It’s important to note that I am not a psychologist, and these are my observations over many years of seeing clients. Please take it as such and not as professional advice. I’m hopeful psychologists would agree that being more self-aware in positing.

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Think You Are In Pretty Good Shape? So Did This Guy.

By, Tim Irvine

I was recently talking with a friend of mine about a hiking trip he was planning and it reminded me of this article I read several years ago. If you want to read about an objective, physical transformation, give yourself five minutes to do just that and be amazed at what a consistent, sustained approach to physical activity can do for you.

The author, and subject, is Kyle Boelte, and he is a self-described active person, who also, at the time the article was written, happened to have a job where he sat at a computer for eight hours daily.

In the eyes of society, Kyle was in good shape and lead an active life. This allowed him the physical capability of planning and completing a 29-day hike of the Colorado Trail. This is no small feet (486 miles), but the compelling part was how he measured himself before and after. He took several different physical measurements and was completely blown away by the changes. So was I.

From my perspective, the most remarkable changes were his cortisol and testosterone levels. He was at the high end of normal cortisol before he started (17.8 ug/dL) and this dropped 40% by the time the hike was over. What surprised me much more was his testosterone which more than doubled. Incredible!

So what does this have to do with us ‘normal people’? The main messages are twofold.

One, even though we do some daily physical activity, if we sit all day for our work, our body will respond appropriately. We just won’t be in as good of shape as we think we should be. This can be helped by mini-breaks during the day where you literally move through a five to ten-minute movement routine to make sure you counteract the sitting. This needs to be done multiple times daily.

Secondly, consistent, sustained movement will make a big difference over the long term. For some, this might be three times weekly. For others, it might be 30-60 min every day. It’s the consistency piece that is the most important that your body will get the most positive impact from. The point is, make this your own so you start where you are at. That’s the only thing that really matters. Progress will come with consistency.

Of course, if you want to do a 30-day hike, by all means, go for it. Just make sure you prepare yourself properly beforehand. It is clear that it can be a game-changer.

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Something You Probably Didn’t Know About Grip Strength

By Tim Irvine

Grip strength is not usually part of the conversation when it comes to cardiovascular health or mortality for that matter. We only notice it when we encounter someone with a very firm handshake, or when we have a stubborn jar to open. It turns out, grip strength is a fantastic predictor of both mortality and cardiovascular disease. The following research summaries show us why.

Study #1

The results, published in the Lancet, show that grip strength is an even stronger predictor of death than systolic blood pressure. After adjustment for other factors, every 5-kg decrease in grip strength was linked to a 16% increase in death overall, a 17% increase in both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality, a 7% increase in the risk of myocardial infarction, and a 9% increase in the risk of stroke. The findings were broadly consistent across different countries and economic levels.

An unexpected finding was that grip strength was a more powerful predictor of cardiovascular mortality than cardiovascular disease. This, the authors write, “suggests that low grip strength is associated with increased susceptibility to cardiovascular death in people who do develop cardiovascular disease.”

Study #2

Grip strength was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular diseases in community-dwelling populations. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28549705

  1. In line with previous studies, weaker grip strength was associated with increased rates of all-cause mortality and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and respiratory diseases.
  2. One study has reported weaker grip strength in adolescence to be associated with increased rates of death from suicide among men, but this study is the first to report an association of grip strength with mortality due to a broader range of external causes in both sexes across different age groups.
  3. A much weaker association was observed for cancer-related deaths than for all-cause and CVD mortality.
  4. These associations were similar in both genders and across age groups, which supports the hypothesis that grip strength might be a biomarker of ageing over the lifespan.

That is some compelling proof. Why would this be the case? Movement! Think about a farmer. They are moving, lifting, twisting, multiple times daily. This movement is a huge benefit to their overall health. The office worker has a computer at their fingertips, but they don’t do much for grip strength. However, if that office worker enjoys gardening, woodworking, or working out with heavier weights, they will also have better health overall, including higher grip strength.

The message is clear. Developing grip strength improves your overall health and will prolong life.

https://jech.bmj.com/sites/default/files/highwire/jech/70/12.cover-source.jpgThe association of grip strength from midlife onwards with all-cause and cause-specific mortality over 17 years of follow-up in the Tromsø Study | Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health – jech.bmj.com
Association of Grip Strength With Risk of All-Cause Mortality, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Cancer in Community-Dwelling Populations: A Meta-analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. – National Center for Biotechnology Information
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What is too much washing and why does it hurt your skin?

Tim Irvine  

We all need to keep ourselves clean, but in our cozy, comfy world is too much cleaning negatively affecting our health? Sandy Skotnicki Grant is a renowned dermatologist and her book, Beyond Soap, upends many of our common thoughts on skincare and presents a really current, science-based approach to how we should be caring for our biggest organ. For example: 

  • In the late 1800’s, a weekly bath was the gold standard in personal hygiene. Think about where we are now
  • Skin sensitivities may be a result of ‘overcleaning’. Those natural oils we wash away have a beneficial purpose
  • Soap ingredients like parabens may not be the biggest culprit to skin sensitivities. Natural botanicals create some of the harshest reactions

 To get a better idea of the concepts in the book, take five minutes and browse through her website, or, if you have a Globe and Mail subscription, have a read of this article. Below is an excerpt from the article that encapsulates the problem in a compelling way. 

 “To understand how water and soap can harm your skin, you need to understand the basics of the body’s largest organ. Our outermost skin functions like a brick wall. Daily rinsing with hot water and soap can strip away lipids (the mortar holding the brick wall together), and, over time, can weaken the skin’s ability to function as a barrier. The damage leads to dry skin, which increases exposure to chemicals, pollutants and germs, and heightens the potential for reactions to irritants and allergens. Many of these potential irritants and allergens reside in “natural” or “organic” skin-care products. Listen: The terms “natural” and “organic” mean very little when it comes to beauty products. So-called natural ingredients can be every bit as reactive as synthetic chemicals. Plenty of harmful things are natural. Poison ivy, arsenic, even anthrax – all-natural. The concept of natural or organic has nothing to do with whether it’s likely to cause a skin reaction. As one dermatologist quipped, “Eat organic – don’t necessarily put it on your skin. What’s beginning to be understood by the scientific community is that the frequent application of numerous different beauty and skin-care products, so unprecedented in evolutionary history, is profoundly changing the skin’s chemical makeup. An American team out of the University of California, San Diego, led by microbiologist Pieter Dorrestein, scanned the surface of the skin to learn about the skin microbiome – and found, to their surprise, that the single largest source of the molecules found on the skin surface was residue from beauty and cleaning products. That’s troubling because the skin is supposed to be teeming with microscopic bacteria, a part of the body’s microbiome, which plays an important role in the immune system’s continuing fight against the disease. High-pH traditional soaps and antibacterial cleansers may alter the mix of bacteria on the skin, removing the good bacteria and allowing bad bacteria to colonize in its place. Over frequent washing, in particular, can harm the skin of babies and children, possibly setting up infants who have a genetic predisposition toward eczema to develop the condition. Furthermore, damage to the skin’s barrier function has been associated with the development of food hypersensitivities, including peanut allergies.“The bottom line is, in our efforts to keep ourselves clean, we are overdoing it. The simple actions are, to use these products less frequently, and when we do, use ones with limited ingredients. For example, wash your hair two or three times weekly instead of every day. If you love your daily shower, keep it up, but stay away from soaps each time you have one. Hopefully, you will find some nuggets of knowledge in this.

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Sleep: Some Essential Facts You Likely Don’t Know

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

Humans try all kinds of rational to shortchange sleep. Deep societal and cultural shifts have brought in an era where sleep is seen as second rate, an afterthought, a passive thing we do when there’s nothing else to do. We think sleeping means laziness and we’ve been actively fighting against it, with the false notion that we can be more productive and have something to show for our efforts. But what does sleeplessness really do?

As a result, two-thirds of adults around the world aren’t hitting the recommended 8 hours of sleep specified by the WHO and National Sleep Foundation. Countries where sleep time has declined the most, the US, UK, Japan, and South Korea, are seeing noticeable increases in physical disease and psychological disorders.

If that’s not enough, new research and scientific literature provide clear evidence that indicates the shorter your sleep, the shorter your lifespan.

Humans are the only species on Earth who deliberately deprive themselves of sleep. Sleep deprivation can be so devastating to our health that the WHO has classified shift work (jobs that are known to mess up our sleep), a probable carcinogen (being linked with prostate, breast, and colon cancer). The reality is, we are all Shift workers, which is defined as someone who stays awake for more than 3 hours between 10 pm-5 am more than once a week (official European definition).

Believe it or not, most of us fall under this definition because of how we live our lives. Do any of the following situations apply to you?

  • Traditional: Emergency responder, health care worker, flight attendants, pilots, ground transportation, food services, custodial staff, call centers, construction, manufacturing
  • Lifestyle: high school, college students, musicians, performing artists, new parents, in home caregivers, spouses of shift workers
  • Gig economy jobs: ride share services, food delivery services, freelancers
  • Jet Lag: traveling between across 2+ time zones in a day
  • Social Jet Lag: Sleeps and wakes 2+ hours later on weekends (more than 50% of population)
  • Digital Jet Lag: chatting with friends / colleagues, family several time zones away, over social media

Those that get paid massive sums for their physical jobs, professional athletes, have taken notice. The impact of sleep deprivation, or an erratic sleep schedule, has become a major priority for pros and elite athletes everywhere. World sports organizations like the International Olympic Committee have established guidelines for better quantity and quality sleep.

Why for athletes?

Because data shows that motor skills, reaction time, endurance levels all get boosted with 8 hours of quality sleep. Take NBA player, Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors. Here are his stats on when he got 8 hours or more of sleep on a consistent basis compared to less than 8 hours.

  • 12% increase in minutes played
  • 29% increase in points/ minute
  • 2% increase in 3-point percentage 
  • 9% increase in free-throw percentage
  • 37% reduction in turnovers
  • 45% reduction in fouls committed 

This isn’t just for athletes though. We mere mortals also benefit as we try to gain more strength and endurance. When we’re sleep-deprived, we’re often burning more lean muscle mass and less fat which makes it really tough to build muscle. 

Getting enough sleep also drastically reduces the risk of injury. There’s nothing worse than being motivated to finally get active and then get injured and forced out against our best intentions! To put this into perspective, a study assessing sleep and injury risk in young athletes found the following:

  • 9 hours 15% chance of injury
  • 8 hours 34% chance of injury
  • 7 hours 62% chance of injury
  • 6 hours 74% chance of injury

Did you notice that the risk is not a linear one, it’s exponential with each hour of sleep loss!

What does sleep deprivation do for our brains? These are some of the major areas on how sleep affects our mental function and health. 

  • Impairs our ability to think on our feet 
  • Ability to take on new information becomes severely impaired
  • Reactions are blunted (less witty comebacks, or articulate responses) 
  • Increased chance we do something we’ll regret
    • Going for the junk food/ chips vs. healthier fruits/ veggie snacks
  • Long & short-term memory gets dulled – learning new skills, language, topic, becomes overwhelmingly more difficult vs. those who get sufficient sleep are more likely to master skills
  • Increases susceptibility to more extreme mood swings, and on top of that, it’s biased towards a more negative state (anger, anxiety, irritability) 
  • Significantly raises your risk for Alzheimer’s

How does sleep impact so many cognitive processes? 

When you’re asleep, a big neurological bath washes over your brain, clearing it of waste products (garbage) and toxins (tau proteins associated with Alzheimer’s) accumulated throughout the day. Additionally:

  • Sleep enriches our ability to learn, organize memories for storage and easy retrieval, make logical choices.
  • Recalibrates our emotional brain circuits to navigate day to day challenges with a cool-headed composure. 
  • A good night’s sleep promotes those “aha!” moments, where you figure out a novel solution to a problem you were previously stuck on. The saying “Sleep on it.” has its merits, as being uncovered through studies of sleep and dreaming. 

Tips for Unlocking Your Sleep Super Power

Just like everything else we value, sleep comes with our actions and the work we put into it. That being said, working on your sleep doesn’t have to be a drag. It should be something that feels good, is calming, relaxing, and something you look forward to enjoying.

Tip 1: A good night’s sleep comes begins with your daylight exposure. Aim for 30 minutes of outdoor daylight (overcast counts!) without sunglasses. This helps set your circadian rhythm up so that it guides you to sleepiness at the end of the day. Most effective for those who have trouble falling asleep before midnight.

Tip 2: Smaller dinners and finishing your meals before 7 pm is ideal. Late-night snacking tricks your body back into daytime mode and becomes stimulating. These mismatched signals of the environment and what we’re trying to achieve at night leave us tossing and turning. Instead of snacking, make a cozy tea and or go for a walk, stretch or a good read. 

Tip 3: Put on blue light blocking glasses after dinner and leave them on until you turn the last light off (never during the daylight hours because blue light is helpful in the daytime). Clear lenses block 15-30%, while orange lenses block 98%. opt for orange if you can. Here is a link for some sleek Bono glasses. 

Tip 4: Create a sleep sanctuary. Imagine the sensation you have walking into your favourite yoga session. The room is inviting, cozy and if someone brought in their phone, you’d zero in on them and internally yell “get that outta here!”. That’s how your bedroom should feel. Bring in plants, cozy pillows, dim the lighting and leave your devices (phone, computers, tablets) outside. 

Building a new routine takes practice, but each time you practice, you are voting for the path you want to live in.

I’ll leave you with this:

“Just in, scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It also enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive, keeps you slim, and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia, and wards off colds and flu. It lowers your risk for heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. You’ll feel happier, less depressed, less anxious. You’ll also be a much better athlete. Interested?”

If this were a drug, it’d be unbelievable! Many of us would pay big money for just a small dose of this!

This ad describes not a tincture, a new superfood, or drug, but the proven benefits of a full night’s sleep. Yours to pick up on repeat prescriptions every day!

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Mindfulness: Training For Your Brain

Tim Irvine

The rise in the popularity of mindfulness has been a big help to people everywhere. With awareness of mental health issues being much greater in general, mindfulness is a tool that can help our brains manage better. At least that’s what people tell us. What does science say? In short, it’s the real deal!

At this time, there is still a lack of volume of good, credible research to concretely back up all of the benefits that are claimed. The good news is, there is solid research proving some of the claims, and there is more of this good work coming.

The most conclusive benefits have been identified across several studies. Most of those studies focus on meditation as the trait being examined. It is also the most prominent component of mindfulness practice, even though there are various styles. These styles need their own individual examination to tease out the differences between them, but in general, meditation has been shown to clearly benefit in several ways.

Improvements In Attention

If you think about our typical daily environments, they are full of literal and figurative noise. This noise is fatiguing and when coupled with the incredibly fast-paced lives we now live, our attention spans suffer. Mindfulness has been shown to sharpen our attention and focus at the moment, but also over the long term.

Increased Grey matter

This one is a physical change, but it shows itself behaviorally because the prefrontal cortex is positively affected. This part of the brain governs the emotional regulation of external stimuli, our reactions to those stimuli, as well other higher-level functions. Training our brains with mindfulness meditation increases the size of this area and others, and this allows us to manage better emotionally.

Stress Resilience

Mindfulness practices appear to decrease the activity in the amygdala. When this part of the brain is stimulated, it is done so by fearful or very stressful situations. That’s why a mindfulness practice helps reduce our responses to stress and fear. When done so over a longer period, our capacity to be resilient in stressful situations improves as well.

Reduced Anxiety

Just 8 weeks of brief, daily meditation can lower anxiety. This was found in a study that used the Trier Social Stress Test, which is an anxiety measurement tool. The really great thing in their findings was that this applied to those individuals that did not have previous experience meditating. This means that you don’t have to be a meditation guru to benefit in this way, you just need to commit for eight weeks or more.

One other consideration in this conversation is how we’ve come to this point in the first place. From an evolutionary standpoint, we would have had many situations where we were by ourselves in nature, content and performing tasks we enjoyed. This would have provided a great deal of mindful time for our brains. That’s not to say there wasn’t stress, but we certainly were not bombarded with ‘noise’, information, and people like we have in our modern society. So take this as a hint to get outside in nature and do some things you love. Meditating in nature may even compound the benefits. You will reap similar rewards to the mindfulness practice you perform in your home.

Happy brain training!!

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_state_of_mindfulness_science

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016643281830322X

https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/prefrontal-cortex

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Forest Bathing – What it is and why you should do it

Tim Irvine

Last weekend I spent three spectacular days hiking on the Bruce Trail here in southern Ontario. It reminded me about how important getting into nature is for our physical and mental health. It also reminded me that I had to let more people know about the practice of forest bathing. No, I didn’t take my clothes off and roll around in the leaves, I just had to be in the forest for a good chunk of time.

Forest Bathing is an Asian concept that has been around since the early 1980s. It was officially named in Japan as Shinrin-Yoku but quickly gained momentum in China as well. You can imagine that living in some of the most densely populated cities in the world created a need to get back to nature in some meaningful way. Our modern, fast-paced, and stressful lifestyles create the tension we are not always aware of but is consistently there. One of the ways to effectively deal with this tension is to get out in nature.

This concept isn’t new, but the conscious practice of it is. I would argue that getting into nature in any way possible is helpful, but Forest Bathing suggests that being stationary, or moving very slowly, in nature is the most effective way to get the benefits. That could be swinging in a hammock, sitting on a stump, hanging out by a stream, or any other way to be still and at one with your natural surroundings. The length of time can vary from 30 minutes to hours. It’s really your choice.

Research on this subject is fairly sparse overall, but what has been done has shown a direct relationship with time spent in forests with a reduction in physical and psychological symptoms of stress. While time spent in any type of forest is valuable, it appears that evergreens, such as fir, pine, cedar and spruce, provide the greatest benefits. This is due to their production of phytoncides which help to protect them against rot and mildew.

To put a bit more of an objective spin on this, adding some metrics can be helpful. It can be as simple as measuring your heart rate before and after you ‘bathe’, or something more involved if you have the type of wearable technology that can provide blood pressure or brain activity. You can also subjectively score your level of anxiety before and after to provide a reference of how this works.

Even with a lack of substantial research, people are using forests as part of the treatment of many mental health-related issues. While the empirical evidence is not there to support it yet, it seems logical based on the simple fact that we take a break from the stressful environments of city life. This would explain why the rooms with a view in hotels are the ones most sought after. Our instinct is to be in those types of environments but often ignore them. That’s the problem with city life, we train ourselves to ignore what we intuitively know we should have. For more on this subject, you can check out a great read entitled Your Better Instincts by Dr. Stacy Irvine.

The key is to make sure you can get yourself into a forest or natural environment as often as possible. We know enough to know it works, so it’s something we all need to incorporate into our daily or weekly routines. Happy bathing!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793341/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7504269/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580555/

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Are Artificial Sweeteners Causing Big Problems?

By Tamara Kung, ND

Sugar is bad, so artificial sweeteners without all the extra calories must be good, right??

Let’s look at the facts to improve our understanding of this critical area of nutrition. It’s important to first understand how insulin works and how added sweeteners affect it.

Insulin is your growth and storage hormone (“Hormone of Abundance”) and it allows your body to either use sugar (glucose) for energy, or to store it (fat) for when our intake of energy is low. Our body isn’t good at multitasking, so when it’s storing, it’s NOT burning. This is imbalance number one and why weight gain happens when we have too much fuel of certain types.

Insulin is triggered most by processed foods because they contain added sugars, artificial sweeteners, and simple carbohydrates like white flour. A diet rich in processed foods can lead to Insulin resistance which occurs when our cells no longer respond to overly repetitive signalling of insulin. This means cells won’t open their doors to let blood sugar (energy) in, thereby keeping our blood sugars elevated.

Picture This:

  • Imagine insulin to be the kids who ring your doorbell to trick or treat. If that doorbell keeps ringing after Halloween, that will get annoying, and you will eventually stop opening the door. 
  • Your cells do the same. If insulin is always around, ringing your cell’s door (ie. eating sugar/artificially sweetened foods or drinks regularly), your cells will ignore it and become insulin resistant.
  • In response, your body will increase the amount of insulin (more doorbell rings), and increased insulin drives the development of diabetes, and other diseases related to weight gain.

When people are in this state, the first step is to take a break from insulin-triggering foods and curb the cravings so our cells can become more sensitive to insulin. Less insulin means less time storing fat and promoting energy production and growth. Less insulin means more time burning fat. 

Now that you have the basics of insulin, let’s look at artificial sweeteners specifically.

When we consume artificial sweeteners, insulin still goes up despite not having any actual sugar calories coming in. This is because our bodies are smart, and our taste buds sense sweetness which signals our gut to prepare for sugar. The insulin spike from artificial sweeteners causes our body to store blood sugar in our cells, and this can lead to low blood sugar. Low blood sugar can, in turn, make us feel weak, hungry, or even hangry.  That’s why people who consume diet sweeteners can eat more, and feel less satiated and thus, overconsume. 

The studies on artificial sweeteners are starting to come in due to the increased use and interest in their long-term effects. Here are two incredible examples.

One study divided volunteers into four groups who had the same diet for over six months, except for the following differences:

Group 1 = A litre of sugared soda a day

Group 2 = A litre of diet soda per day

Group 3 = A litre of milk per day

Group 4 = A litre of water per day

  • The soda group gained 22 lbs, the diet soda group gained 3.5 lbs, the milk group stayed the same, the water group lost 4.5 lbs. 

A gain of 3.5lbs is better than 22lbs, but why did they still gain weight without the extra calories? And why did the milk group not gain any weight despite having the same number of calories as sugary soda? It has to do with insulin, meaning diet sweeteners still cause an insulin release, while the lactose and fat in milk, didn’t. In a follow-up study, they took diet soda drinkers and switched them to only water, and they lost another 6 lbs. Both diet soda and water contain no sugar, so why did their weight change? You guessed it, insulin! The sweet taste alone can stimulate appetite and insulin release which drives fat storage. 

The second study was long-term and followed 918 women for 7 years to better understand the regular consumption of artificially sweetened beverages (ASB). The study found that artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy can affect the birth size and increase the risk that a child will be overweight/ obese by seven years of age. 

  • Specifically, there was almost a two-fold increase of overweight/obese children seven years later in the mothers who drank ASB daily while pregnant (compared to mothers who never did).  
  • The study also looked at the difference when mothers substituted their regular sodas for diet sodas (with the hope of making a healthier choice), but the results didn’t show any significant reduction in risk in childhood overweight/ obesity. 
  • There was a reduced risk in mothers who substituted sugar sweetened beverages for water! 

Diet sweeteners also change the composition of the microbiome in your gut, shifting the balance from good to bad bacteria. Studies have shown that this leads to glucose intolerance and may contribute to leaky gut, inflammation, and increased deposition of visceral fat, driving metabolic syndrome. The research is starting to come out, but many studies still need to be done on this topic so stay tuned!

The bottom line is, the impact of hyper-sweet, sugary or artificially sweetened food is negative for our health. This is especially true for our children because their taste buds become groomed to crave intensely sweet foods. No longer will a juicy peach, or flavourful strawberries satisfy them as their taste buds will be too ‘numb’ if exposed to hyper-sweet tastes too often. For adults, it’s not too late! Our taste buds can change completely in as little as 10 days if we let them.  Water is your ultimate beverage, and fruit, nature’s candy, has your back since they are packed with a bounty of antioxidants and fibre to nourish and give you health in return for a sweet treat. 

More research is needed, but the early message is clear. Trust real food and you will avoid these insulin high jacking sweetener issues.

Health Reports: Added, free and total sugar content and consumption of foods and beverages in Canada. (2020). Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2020010/article/00002-eng.htm

Harvard Health Publishing. Artificial sweeteners. sugar free, but at what cost. Retrieved from

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-free-but-at-what-cost-201207165030

Yang, Q. (2010). Gain weight by ‘going diet?’ Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings: Neuroscience, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 83(2): 101-8. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/pdf/yjbm_83_2_101.pdf

Purdue University. The study of soft drinks including diet sodas contributes to increased sugar intake and calorie consumption in children. Retrieved from:

https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/news/2019/05/study-soft-drinks-including-diet-sodas-contribute-to-increased-sugar-intake-and-total-calorie-consumption-in-children/

Ruiz-Ojeda FJ, Plaza-Díaz J, Sáez-Lara MJ, Gil A. Effects of Sweeteners on the Gut Microbiota: A Review of Experimental Studies and Clinical Trials [published correction appears in Adv Nutr. 2020 Mar 1;11(2):468]. Adv Nutr. 2019;10(suppl_1):S31-S48. doi:10.1093/advances/nmy037. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6363527/

Tandel KR. Sugar substitutes: Health controversy over perceived benefits. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2011;2(4):236-243. doi:10.4103/0976-500X.85936. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198517/

Zhu Y, Olsen SF, Mendola P, et al. Maternal consumption of artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy, and offspring growth through 7 years of age: a prospective cohort study. Int J Epidemiol. 2017;46(5):1499-1508. doi:10.1093/ije/dyx095. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837735/

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More Plants = Health

More Plants = Health!

The title of this is an obvious fact. I’m sure that 100% of adults are aware of this. So why do we have such a hard time getting more fruits and vegetables into our diet?

There are two main reasons. Convenience and taste.

The first is just a function of our modern lives, filled with busyness that didn’t exist 50 years ago. We want or need, to save time anyway we can, and sometimes that means sacrificing nutrition for convenience.

Taste is the second reason. For most people, if they are hungry and there is a bowl of raw carrots beside a bowl of chips, most would choose the chips because our taste buds have been trained to crave those foods. You’ve been tricked over the years by very crafty manufacturers and now our taste buds are just looking for the ‘overdrive’ option and have a very difficult time ‘tasting’ natural foods.

This is the ‘why’ behind our lack of fruits and veggies. I’m sure you are not surprised.

Recent research underscores the importance of why more fruit and vegetables, and less processed foods and meats, can lead to better health outcomes. An August 2021 paper in the Journal of the American Heart Association identifies a diet rich in plants and with fewer animal products, showing a 52% lower rate of developing cardiovascular diseases. This was a thirty-year study with almost 5000 participants so the data is really good.

Knowing that your tastebuds have been hijacked by manufacturers using salt, sugar and fat, and that time is limited so we search for convenience, we can start to make some small changes…just for a start. Add on the hard facts that Plants = Health, literally, and we have a great foundation to make some change.

This is the action part. If you made it this far in this article, you know what you need to do. Now is the time to take one action (or more) to make a change.

My advice is to make it ridiculously simple. If you typically buy lunch, instead of a sandwich, go for a wrap with lots of veggies in it. Or go for a very tasty and substantial salad. This is a really easy way to introduce way more veggies into your diet.

This is one example of many, but the key is, make it really easy for yourself and over time, you will start to take back control of your tastebuds, and you’ll make more time for eating better. These positive habits build on one another.

Happy fruit and veggie eating!