Abstract
As clinicians, the more we focus on, practice, and talk about wellness the more likely we are to engage in healthy activities. In other words, wellness begets wellness. However, busy clinicians trying to meet the needs of their clients and balance work and home life can lose sight of their own health needs and prioritize themselves last. Fortunately, an emphasis on clinician self-care and wellness is a growing movement and absolutely essential to help healers stay well. In this new Clinician Wellness Column, experts offer practical advice for optimizing health and provide helpful suggestions for incorporating more wellness in day-to-day living.
Tip
Excellent nutritional habits are frontline action steps that clinicians can take to improve their heath and prevent disease. With a busy schedule, however, it is important to prioritize healthy habits, including how to make “nutrition on the go” a habit that optimizes executive function. Poor health, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity, and excess weight are the leading contributing factors that put people at higher risk for chronic disease. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. 1 The CDC states that about 655,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, and poor nutritional habits are front and center as a major cause of these sad statistics.
Practice
Planning meals that include a variety of foods that support the brain while limiting foods that are less beneficial will help improve a clinician's performance on the job and help them feel better. A healthy meal plan can help assure that a clinician is getting enough of the right nutrients to support a busy lifestyle. However, health care professionals have something in common—they are drawn to helping others and have often experienced a lifetime of conditioning, placing themselves at the bottom of their list of priorities. So many people depend on clinicians, including their family, patients, friends, and clients; however, when clinicians do not prioritize themselves, it is impossible to become the best version of themselves and optimally take care of others.
This is where healthy nutrition comes in and is so critical. If people eat only to satiate the body and not nourish their organs this will lead to inflammation, feeling poorly, and becoming sick—all of which lead to diminished cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities. Clinicians need to consume clean long burning fuel, while trying their best to remove empty foods that create inflammation. Eating cleaner energy-rich foods and avoiding processed foods will also help balance cravings and help manage hormones. Cognitive function will improve and energy will be gained—both key ingredients to living a full life. Importantly, health care workers have the opportunity to model healthy lifestyle behaviors, which will help motivate patients to also live a full healthy life. Yes, if clinicians do what is best for them, everyone around them will benefit.
Accepting the Challenge
The challenge is how does one fit in healthy nutrient-rich meals for a healthy brain and body in the midst of a busy schedule? The answer is, do not make it complicated, and eat high nutrient dense meals that are easy to prepare and support a person's lifestyle and budget. Each and every day focus on eating mainly plant-based whole foods. Following are a few recommendations on how to build healthy food choices into an already busy life: To ensure that you consume fresh food, you might consider signing up for a prepared food service that would deliver meals to your office or home. There are a variety of delivery services available, some offer fresh meal kits and others deliver fully prepared ready-to-eat meals. Every single day, consume one large dark leafy green salad that includes a healthy fat. Many dark green vegetables have β-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect cells from damage and eyes from age-related macular degeneration. Dark green vegetables are also a rich source of minerals, including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. They also provide important vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. You can take the time to prepare a large green salad with colorful vegetables that will last three or more days, or you can purchase prewashed greens and use the container as your salad bowl. To either choice, add a little olive oil and any additions from the following list. If you are a sandwich on the go person, wrap your greens in a tortilla wrap and eat it like a burrito. Top the salad with any of the following ingredients: Eggs. Eggs contain small amounts of many different vitamins and minerals. Wild salmon. Avocados. Avocados are full of fiber and potassium and one can consume ½ of an avocado every day. Mushrooms. Mushrooms taste great and are low in calories, sugars, and fat, and are also high in antioxidants like selenium and glutathione, which may help reduce inflammation. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts give the body raw materials to detox pathways. Colorful blueberries, purple carrots, and beets. Raw or dry roasted nuts. Nuts are a recommended part of the Mediterranean diet, which is established as an important diet for disease prevention. Garlic and onions are important for gut health. Meals can also be purchased at farmers' markets, which have become popular outside of hospitals and other health facilities. These markets often have food stands, so leave the building, get some sunshine and support your local farmers. For a meal you prepare yourself, cook two meals at one time in one pan. For example, salt and pepper two pieces of salmon and cook them slowly skin side down in a pan so that the skin becomes crispy. In the same pan next to the salmon, sauté garlic, onions, mushrooms, and a green vegetable. Eat one portion for dinner and save the second portion to eat on your salad the next day. For dessert, munch on frozen grapes. If you are a person who has an organized freezer and uses frozen food when you have any leftovers, place the leftovers in snack size containers. One can use these preportioned foods to create a bowl on the go. For example, precooked beans, chicken breast, and greens all freeze beautifully and are delicious with a sprinkle of mustard seed, ginger, or turmeric powder. Many people do not mind eating the same meal every day. If you are one of those people, preorder your heart smart meal and have it delivered to you. Knowing a prepaid meal will be delivered to you will not only ensure you do not skip a meal but also prevents you from grabbing a sugar-filled high carbohydrate snack that gets you through a stressful moment, but could also cause mood swings. Feed the brain, not the body. When you feed the body it craves and wants sugar. Sugar is highly addictive, and the more sugar we consume the more we need to get that temporary buzz. In addition, hydrogenated oils, processed foods, and fructose puts stress on the liver, which also creates inflammation. So, for dessert enjoy colorful berries, coconut, and dark chocolate, which are naturally lower in fructose.
Construct your day in a way where you have built in meal times. Skipping meals prevents us from working our smartest.
Benefits
The goal of healthy nutrition on the go is to optimize health, have more energy, and be better rested to take on the day. Most clinicians are well aware of the link between healthy nutrition habits and disease prevention and the challenge is to find ways, as suggested in this column, to ensure that clinicians prioritize themselves with healthy food choices. In addition, excellent nutrition helps improve memory, boosts creativity, increases willpower, regulates appetite, and assures that the brain and the body are receiving the nutrients they need for peak performance. ■