Nut butters: badder, better or as nutty as nuts themselves?
Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
What is it about peanut butter that makes it attractive to so many songwriters, from the Australian kids’ songsters The Wiggles (“There’s a food going round that’s a sticky, sticky goo/Peanut, peanut butter”) to the rappers in Wu-Tang Clan (“Don’t eat Skippy, Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter”)? And why did singer Gwen Stefani say about herself, with no further explanation, “I’m like a peanut butter sandwich.”
People get a little nutty about peanut butter, apparently, but they have a point. Nuts and pure nut butters made from nothing but peanuts (we know it’s a legume, but for this discussion that may be close enough), walnuts, almonds, cashews and/ or hazelnuts are packed with heart-loving polyand monounsaturated fats and nutrients, including protein, iron, calcium and potassium. One study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that eating peanuts and tree nuts two or more times a week and walnuts at least once a week was associated with a 13 to 19 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and up to a 23 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease.
But not all nut butters are healthy options — something Wu-Tang figured out. Their lyrics called out brands that, among their diverse offerings, contain heart-damaging trans fats/hydrogenated palm, cottonseed and soy oils and added sugar/honey/artificial sweeteners. Stick with those made with nuttin’ but nuts (and maybe water). And for your PB&J sandwich, forget artificially sweetened jellies and jams. Go for preserves made with 100 percent pure fruits, spread on 100 percent whole-grain bread.
Overcoming your fear of air travel
On an episode of “Cheers,” the often selfdeceived psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane decides to help the bar’s feisty server, Carla, overcome her fear of “crashing” by launching a class for people with aviophobia (fear of flying). The final lesson is a flight, which Frasier pompously informs Carla will cure her once and for all. But when the plane starts to shudder, Frasier becomes slightly unhinged. And when that’s followed by a pinging noise, he shouts: “We’re going down! We gotta get out of here!”
As Erica Jong, author of the 1973 feminist novel “Fear of Flying,” could have told him, way down deep almost everyone has a fear of letting go.
But air travel is incredibly safe, and a fear of flying is disproportionate to the actual danger.
If you’re part of the 30 percent of folks who are nervous fliers, here’s the trick to overcoming your anxieties: A metastudy of available research shows that many folks with this fear spend time in the days or even weeks before a scheduled flight worrying about potential crashes and stirring up anxiety. Learning to control cascading fears by recognizing your catastrophizing thoughts and using mindful meditation to clear them away is powerfully helpful. Phobias tend to diminish or go away when you acknowledge them — don’t fight them — and then slowly expose yourself to the imagined risk.
Stress and the increased risk of autoimmune disease; bottled water and stubborn fat
Question: My daughter is in nursing school, and she’s overwhelmed by her schedule of studying and working in the lab. She recently developed a rash and complains of being tired all the time. She needs to finish school, so what should she do? — Carmen M., Boise, Idaho
Answer: A nursing major is very demanding; most graduate programs are. The key to reducing excessive stress in a highly stressful environment is learning a stress management technique that works for you and organizing your time. Schedule down time, stress management time, fun time and sleep time in addition to study and work time, as effectively as possible.
Failing to do so can put your mental and physical health at risk. It also can trigger immune system dysfunction. A recent 10-year Swedish study found that stress disorders have been linked to a 45 percent increased risk of developing autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 diabetes, lupus, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease and celiac disease.
A persistent stress response can trigger such physical problems because it causes constantly elevated levels of your stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline boosts energy and heart rate; cortisol increases glucose levels, while altering the immune system to suppress nonessential bodily functions, such as hunger, reproduction (yup, stress is a sex killer) and growth.
Your daughter’s rash and unrelenting fatigue could be passing signs of being burnt out, but they also may signal something more serious, such as an autoimmune disease. She needs to see her doctor for a complete physical. And talk to her about finding time to meditate daily (10 minutes in the morning and/or at night), to walk to and from work or during lunch, to schedule phone calls or visits with friends. Altering her response to stress with these techniques will help make sure it doesn’t take such a toll on her body or her mind.
Q: I put on some weight last winter, but usually I can run/jog it off by July. This year it’s not happening. Recently, I heard that plastic water bottles — I drink a lot of bottled water — are made with endocrine disruptors that prevent you from losing weight. Is that true? — Dan B., Stamford, Connecticut
A: Yes. You could be affected by the endocrinedisrupting chemicals, also called obesogens, which are found in many plastic bottles/containers and migrate into food and liquids.
Back in 2010, “The Doctor Oz Show” reported that the “White House’s task force on childhood obesity is tackling obesogens, and the Environmental Protection Agency has pumped $20 million into studying them.” Fast-forward to 2018, and we’re going backward:
The current Environmental Protection Agency’s Bottled Water Fact Sheet was posted on www.epa. gov in February 2017, but the info is dated September 2005 (too out of date to offer any info relevant to hormone disruptors!). The risks are totally overlooked.
Recent (actual) findings show that endocrine-disrupting obesogens such as bisphenol-A and its cousin BPS found in plastic water bottles promote adipogenesis, lipid (fat) accumulation and cause weight gain. These chemicals mimic the body’s natural hormones, bind to estrogen receptors and disrupt your metabolism. EDCs also are known to bioaccumulate in body fat over the years.
Science has uncovered these risks at a time when plastic water bottle consumption is reaching epic proportions. Around 50 billion plastic bottles are used in the U.S. annually. Years of exposure and increasing exposure may be important contributors to the obesity epidemic: 38 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese (70-plus percent are overweight), and around 20 percent of children ages 3 to 17 are obese.
So Dan, get a water bottle made from a relatively inert metal, like stainless steel, or a plastic one that contains neither BPA or BPS (avoid all drink containers marked with recycle numbers 1, 3, 6 and
7); discard it if it becomes worn or scratched; at home, use only glass containers; and fill all containers with filtered tap water.