Leslie P. Schilling, MA, RD, CSSD owns Schilling Nutrition Therapy, LLC in Memphis, TN where she specializes in disordered eating and sports nutrition. She provides nutrition programs and presentations to teams and professionals across the nation.

In a nation full of people stricken with chronic diseases, many linked to lifestyle choices, why would we worry about those engrossed with healthy eating?  You may have heard the term “orthorexia” in the media and even in conversation. Orthorexia nervosa was first termed by Steven Bratman, MD in 1996 and published in Yoga Journal in 1997. A dissection of the phrase translates to straight or correct (Ortho), desire or appetite (-orexia) and obsession (Nervosa). Bratman suggests that the term wasn’t one so much of clinical meaning as it was a way of teasing his patients with an unhealthy fixation on their way of “healthy eating.” But, has it become our newest eating disorder?

As a nutritionist/dietitian working primarily with persons with eating disorders, I’d have to say there are two sides to this coin. Orthorexia nervosa is not a clinical diagnosis and is not in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the DSM-IV. Yet this unhealthy obsession of superior or righteous consumption can lead to clinical diagnosis of an eating disorder. Time and time again, clients tell me “I just wanted to be healthier… how did I end up here?” “Here” often being severely malnourished, fearful of what we consider normal foods, and paralyzed by the thought of something as simple as eating at a restaurant with friends. When someone can no longer function in a social setting because of these issues, we may be dealing with an eating disorder. Questioning the motivation of the diet regimen may help one determine an eating disorder or orthorexia. Generally, orthorexia isn’t driven by a weight loss goal like the eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Nutritional purity and health is generally the driving force behind orthorexia.

According to research noted by the National Eating Disorders Association, more than ten million women and one million men suffer from eating disorders in the U.S. It is suspected that the actual number of those suffering is much higher. In a diet-minded society, it’s easy to see how this could happen. When I speak on the topic of eating disorders, I like to say “if you don’t think you’re encountering eating disorders, your eyes are not open.” It is all around us. Orthorexia nervosa may be the newest gateway to a potentially life-threatening eating disorder.

Read more: Orthorexia: Is This Eating Disorder Trend or Foe?

~courtesy Sensei for Weight Loss

1. Schedule yearly checkups.  Start the summer by making sure your body is in good working order.  Learn what you can do to improve your lifestyle and your health.
2. Get active and stay active.  Pick something you’ll enjoy so you can stick with it, walking, taking a dance class, surfing… whatever gets you moving.  Start small and add more activity as you build your strength and stamina.  Aim to reach 30 minutes four or more times each week.
3. Add color to your plate!  Eating a wide variety of fruits and veggies and give you a powerful dose of disease fighting nutrients and fiber.
4. Go for whole grains.  The fiber in whole grains fills you up without being filled with calories.
5. Maintain a healthy weight.  If you’re not there yet, set a plan to get yourself there in a healthy way (like joining Sensei).
6. Drop the smoking habit.  This can be a tough one and you may need professional advice.  Look for resources to help you, medications, hypnosis; patches… your doctor can help you find the one that works for you.
7. Water, water, water!  It keeps you hydrated and cleanses the body of toxins; being hydrated improves focus and increases your energy.  Water also cuts calories when used to replace sweetened beverages.
8. Reduce stress.  Learn to relax and take time for yourself. Whether it’s reading, yoga or spending time with friends, a healthy body starts with a healthy mind.
9. Get enough sleep. Aim for 7-8 hours a night, you will have more energy and be more productive at everything you do.
10. Start small.  Don’t make too many changes in your life all at once.  Pick something small (like getting more sleep) that can make a big impact in your health and how you feel.  Over time you can make more changes.

Sensei for Weight Loss (www.sensei.com) is an budget-friendly online and mobile nutritionist that helps to keep you on track for a healthy lifestyle. Sensei is customized to suit your preferences and lifestyle and suggest healthy and appealing meals. Sensei transforms your mobile phone and computer into a personal health coach that provides the support and guidance you need to make healthy choices in your meals and activities.  For more information visit www.sensei.com.

Have you entered to win one of our FABULOUS GIVEAWAYS yet?  Enter now, enter often!

Winner ~ Karen P.

Dancing at the bus stop or in the grocery store may seem strange, but moving may be the answer to preventing and decreasing osteoarthritis pain. As a fitness blogger, I’d like to bring this short public service announcement to your attention:  

Our GGS readers already engage in physical activity and maintain a healthy lifestyle, but if you know of someone that you love who doesn’t, please remind them of this or email the link.  Did you know that one in five U.S. adults, or 46 million people, has arthritis? An estimated 67 million will have it by 2030, but as the PSA shows us, ‘Moving is the Best Medicine’ to fight the pain of osteoarthritis – the most common form of arthritis.

FightArthritisPain.org, is a  fantastic resources, that includes tools for assessing your osteoarthritis risk, community support forums, and a local events calendar.

The Arthritis Foundation has arranged for medical experts and/or spokespeople who have been personally impacted by arthritis to be available for interviews or Q & A’s for our GGS readers.  Please email me your question and I will forward it to the experts. sian at girlgetstrong.com

To further promote the campaign, FightArthritisPain.org, is  giving away a copy of Walk With Ease and the DVD Tai Chi For Arthritis for one of our readers.  Please leave a comment below on what you are doing to prevent Arthritis from happening to you!

Contest ends on April 30, 2010.  Winner will be notified by email.

February is American Heart Month. It’s a time to bring awareness to heart disease and stroke, the number one killer in the United States, so you and the people you love don’t become a statistic. If you know someone who would benefit from this information on preventing heart disease, please share it.

Five Foods That Will Save Your Heart

One way to prevent heart disease is to eat healthy. In this post, I’ll highlight five different foods that can save your heart – literally. These are not the only five foods that protect your heart, but they stand out as star performers in my book.

1. Garlic: Known as “the stinking rose,” this herb does not stink when it comes to heart health. Numerous studies have demonstrated potential benefits of regular garlic consumption on blood pressure, platelet aggregation, serum triglyceride level, and cholesterol levels – all of which keep your ticker ticking. The other thing I like about garlic is that it can be used to season food so you can cut back (way back) on the salt.

2. Salmon: Swap out the burger high in saturated fat with salmon. Everyone has room for a little saturated fat, but a little goes a long way. A typical cheeseburger has more than a half day’s worth (from the beef and the cheese). Saturated fat will clog your arteries and put you at greater risk for a heart attack. Salmon, on the other hand, lowers your risk thanks to heart healthy fats. Omega-3s help prevent erratic heart rhythms, make blood less likely to clot inside arteries, improve the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol, and prevent cholesterol from becoming damaged. (Only after cholesterol has been damaged does it clog arteries.)

3. Berries and Cherries: I gotta give equal props to nature’s candy here. These sweet treats are high in polyphenols, which prevent cell damage that can lead to unhealthy blood vessels and heart. In the winter months, I opt for the frozen fruits. Try thawing a bag of frozen strawberries in the refrigerator. Top unsweetened, steel-cut oatmeal with these berries and some of the juice and your heart will thank you with every beat.

4. Quinoa: Commonly mistaken for a grain, these tiny sprouted seeds are an excellent source of magnesium, the mineral that relaxes blood vessels. Low dietary levels of magnesium are associated with increased rates of hypertension, ischemic heart disease and heart arrhythmias. Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds. Quinoa cooks up quickly and makes great leftovers. Mix in grilled vegetables and roasted chicken for a one-pot dish.

To learn more about quinoa, check out our previous post.

5. Hot Cocoa: How sweet is this? Hot cocoa is chock-full of antioxidants – twice as much as red wine and three times more powerful than green tea. The chilly air of February is no match for a cup of hot cocoa. Here’s a tip: many hot chocolate mixes are loaded with sugar. Buy 100% cocoa and then add a small amount of sugar. A teaspoon is enough for me. Don’t forget there are natural sugars in the milk so you’re better off starting with less sugar.

Visit Diets in Review

Here I go again…guinea pig….trouper…good sport…what the heck have I agreed to this time…? Pouring saline solution up my nose? Yikes!

Do you suffer from allergies or sometimes have difficulty breathing?  My brother suffers from both and he’s been using a Neti Pot for months now.  He LOVES it.  He RAVES about it. He goes on and on about how great it is.  I’m kind of embarrassed to admit we’ve had long talks about the pot, our noses and the yucky things that come out.

And me?

It sounds icky.

Pouring something up my nose?  (and what goes up, must come down, right? Ick. Ick. ICK!)

Um….no. No thanks.

Nuh, uh.

Sian or Sue or Erica can do this one.

Sian? Sue? Erica?

…No? What do you mean, no?

…um, hello? Ladies? Where’d you go?

I’m secretly curious anyway.  I wonder if the SinuCleanse Neti Pot or squeeze bottle would aid my own breathing and perhaps make a positive difference when I run.  I don’t suffer from allergies other than seasonal hay fever, but I do have a problem with restricted nasal passages and find that I breathe through my mouth a lot.

And hey, it can’t be that bad…can it?

Before shot: I'm nervous....really nervous!

For this review I’m using the SinuCleanse Squeeze bottle and my above-mentioned brother has care and control of the SinuCleanse Neti Pot.   It’s all his, and mine’s all mine.  Even though they’re dishwasher safe (no, I’m not kidding), it’s just not a tool I’m gonna share with someone else.

Before I get on to the review, here’s a bit of info on SinuCleanse, both the Neti Pot and the squeeze bottle:

Nasal irrigation has been proven to nasal irrigation has proven to be effective in treating cold and flu symptoms as well as stopping the recurrence of colds and flu. It has also been shown to help reduce the dependency upon medication for treatment of allergies.

The SinuCleanse® system offers an effective, all-natural way to cleanse the nose and help control sinus and nasal symptoms over time. It promotes and maintains sinonasal health by treating the root cause of the problem, rather than just treating the symptoms.

The 100% all-natural saline solution used with the SinuCleanse® system soothes on contact and provides safe and immediate sinus relief. It is completely natural and contains no harmful additives, such as preservatives, anti-caking agents, or iodine, which are commonly found in most saline solutions. Because of this, the SinuCleanse® system can be used as often as needed to manage and prevent sinus congestion.

Because SinuCleanse® in 100% all natural, with no preservatives, the SinuCleanse® system can be used as a complement to current sinus medication and even help intensify the effectiveness of sinus medication.

SinuCleanse Squeeze Bottle

In the box is a squeeze bottle that is dishwasher safe (!), 30 packets of saline solution and an instruction pamphlet.  Basically, you  mix warm tap water with a packet (or 2) of the saline solution, which is composed of Sodium Bicarbonate and Sodium Chloride.  Then it instructs you to shake well,  look down in the sink, point the bottle at the back of your head and gently squeeze the bottle up one side of your nose and wait for it to come out the other nostril. Repeat on the other side. (read the instructions yourself, though, k?)

Riiiiiight.  I read the instructions over a few times and lost my nerve.  I called my cheerleader brother for a little support and advice.  Here’s what he said:

Mel, I have three tips for you. Follow them and you’ll be fine:

• First, make sure your tap water is not too hot and not too cold.  You don’t want to feel any shock from the water as it goes in your nose. Trust me on this.
  
• Second, make sure you mix the saline solution REALLY well before you use it. Otherwise, it will feel like squeezing sand up your nose.  Don’t go there.
  
• And third, whatever you do, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT forget to breathe through your mouth only.  If you forget this and breathe through your nose, you are in for a rough ride, sis.

Reassuring. As always.

Turns out his tips were great. I had no problem at all and the whole sensation was a bit of a let down, since I was all geared up to feel something nasty.  It just wasn’t that bad.  Not bad at all, actually. Just a weird feeling as the water travels around in there. (hello? anyone home in there? hello?) I do have to admit I’m a bit proud at how much water I can hold in my sinuses (I know, grow up, right?). On the other hand, apparently, my brain doesn’t take up as much space up there as I thought….

I squeezed too hard the first time, and I blew my nose too hard after.  That resulted in a bit of mild discomfort afterward for about half an hour and on my second use I was a bit more gentle.  Other than that, I had no issues at all and it worked just fine.  After the first four or five times of use (I’ve been using it for almost three months now), it’s all become old-hand.

Now, does it make a difference? Yes.  Mind you it isn’t as big of a difference as my brother has found (since I don’t suffer from chronic allergies like he does), but it does make a noticeable difference to my breathing.   It works exactly as advertised – not a miracle cure, but a useful tool if you need it.  And hey, Dr. Oz thinks its a good tool too – I first learned about the term “nasal irrigation” from him on Oprah.

Would I continue to use it? I have continued, although not every day.  I use it when I’m stuffed up. I’ve now made the squeeze bottle my first choice to try before reaching for other less-natural remedies.  That having been said, a couple of weeks ago when I had a cold I did use a medicated nasal spray when I went to bed. The squeeze bottle worked fine in the day, but once I was laying down in bed, my stuffiness from the cold was worse and I needed something stronger.

On the SinuCleanse squeeze bottle:  thumbs up from me. It is effective and I really like that it is natural – I’m not putting junk in my body (just cleaning it out, lol).

SinuCleanse Neti Pot:

The Neti Pot comes in a similar box as the squeeze bottle, with the same packets and the addition of a small plastic spoon for stirring it all up.

My brother wrote down his thoughts on the Neti Pot, which he uses every single day.  I wanted to include his experience for you, because he’s always suffered from severe allergies and he has found the Neti Pot is a HUGE help.

(He actually loves it so much he bought our mom one as a gift. …I know!  Let’s just say she thought it was a very “unique” gift, lol. I think she re-gifted it to my grandad right away.  It may be watering his plants, not sure.)

Here are my bro’s thoughts in his own words:

• Everyone says online that “it’s not as bad as it sounds” – of course it is!  It’s horrible the first few times you use it.  What they should say is that “after 10 or 15 times you get used to it and it’s not so bad.”
• I use it every morning. (one full pot in each nostril)
• I’ve gone from not being able to breathe through my nose at all (allergy) to being able to jog and breathe through my nose.
• Results were apparent to me upon first use – full results after 3 or 4 uses.
• After a while you get used to feeling “good” but you stop for a day or two and feel absolutely horrible.
• Helped to keep me clear and feel better during a recent cold but…  EWWWWWWWW to what came out!

Whoops! Me again…let’s just stop him right there, shall we?  He’s such a boy…we don’t need to hear any more details than that! I will say, though, that Mike initially found it more uncomfortable than I did, but he also found the results incredibly beneficial. I didn’t find it too uncomfortable (hey, I’ve had four kids…) but I don’t find it has as big of an impact on my breathing as my poor allergy-ridden brother does.

On the SinuCleanse Neti Pot: HUGE thumbs up from my brother.  He still uses it daily.

Our final thoughts on SinuCleanse:

Pros:

• I can breathe!  I can breathe! (both of us)
• Feels good after (both)
• I can smell better (Melanie)
• Relatively natural process – no medication, water is same consistency of saline as your tears (both)
• The ability to gross out your friends who say “what’s this cute little elephant-like thing in your bathroom…” (Mike)

Cons:

• Nasty feeling initially (Mike)
• Gotta make sure it’s not too hot & that all salt has dissolved or it fricken hurts! (poor Mike!)

Reviews on Girlgetstrong.com reflect the personal opinion of the writer, whether it is good, bad or ugly. This product was supplied to GGS by the company for review purposes.  No compensation was accepted by me, Mike or GGS Media Corporation for this review.