Daily Nutrients

    You have probably guessed that I am a BIG FAN of Myfitnesspal.com. By now you have learned to use it as a tool for tracking your calorie intake. But training yourself to not overeat is just part of our journey to a healthy lifestyle. We also need to make sure we are getting a sufficient amount of all of the needed nutrients to be healthy people and the columns that track nutrient amounts on myfitnesspal are a great tool. 

         One of my favorite books is How Not to Die.In this book Dr. Michael Greger, the internationally-renowned nutrition expert, physician, and founder of NutritionFacts.org, examines the fifteen top causes of premature death in America-heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, Parkinson's, high blood pressure, and more-and explains how nutritional and lifestyle interventions can sometimes trump prescription pills and other pharmaceutical and surgical approaches, freeing us to live healthier lives.

In the book he explores the fifteen leading causes of death that claim the lives of 1.6 million Americans annually and gives his advice backed up by strong scientific evidence to help the reader learn which foods to eat and which lifestyle changes to make to live longer.

History of prostate cancer in your family? Put down that glass of milk and add flaxseed to your diet whenever you can. Have high blood pressure? Hibiscus tea can work better than a leading hypertensive drug-and without the side effects. Battling breast cancer? Consuming soy is associated with prolonged survival. Worried about heart disease (the number 1 killer in the United States)? Switch to a whole-food, plant-based diet, which has been repeatedly shown not just to prevent the disease but often stop it in its tracks.

In addition to showing what to eat to help treat the top fifteen causes of death, How Not to Die includes Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen -a checklist of the twelve foods we should consume every day. Full of practical, actionable advice and surprising, cutting edge nutritional science, these doctor's orders are just what we need to live longer, healthier lives.

I realize you may not all have the time or interest level to read this book but what I would like to suggest is that you use your own family history to guide you to choose a nutrient to track on myfitnesspal.  Personally heart disease runs in my family so I could track fat intake. I have osteopenia (pre-osteoporosis) so it would be good for me to track calcium intake. And colon cancer runs in my family so fiber would be a good nutrient to track. Those that have diabetes in their family might want to track sugar or carbohydrate intake. 

Note that you can choose which nutrients are featured in the food diary columns. Go to Settings and then diary settings to choose what you would like to track.

So what is our challenge for the week? 

1. Choose a nutrient or vitamin to track on myfitnesspal. 

2. If it does not already show in one of your columns change the settings so it does

3. Make sure and look at how much you took in of this nutrient each day

4. Make an extra effort to be as close to perfect in your intake of that nutrient this week as possible.

5. I prefer you get these nutrients from real food rather than supplements and this week should give you a good idea if that will work for you or whether you need to add a supplement do your healthy living regimen.

Happy tracking!