Q: I’ve been trying to break my sugar addiction, but my family seems bent on sabotaging me. How do I get off sugar when they’re working against me? – Anonymous
A: If you’ve been trying to kick sugar and your family responded by laying in six months’ worth of Girl Scout cookies, the ones you love are true diet saboteurs. Sugar is addictive, like salt, saturated fat, tobacco and cocaine. Yes, some of these give you temporary energy (cocaine) or make you get thinner before you get cancer (tobacco), but that doesn’t mean they’re good for you. Neither is sugar. And it IS addictive.
Maybe your family feels so guilty about not getting healthy with you that they’ve turned against you. Or maybe the idea of your changing in any way just freaks them out. Yet it’s vital to get them on your side. The supporting role that families play is considered so important to diet success that both the Cleveland Clinic Lifestyle 180 program and the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center have special programs for “supporters.”
But don’t get mad at your loved ones. Get them involved. Tell them how much they mean to you and how much you need their help. Explain that breaking your sugar addiction can make your RealAge — how old your body thinks you are — younger because losing weight will give you more energy and make you more active. With luck, your family will be smart enough not only to support you, but to imitate you.
Q: I get cramps in my feet when I stretch out under the covers, and I have to get up to walk them off, though sometimes that doesn’t work. Socks also help, but not always. Would diet changes make a difference? – via e-mail
Foot cramps at night are among life’s most unwelcome get-up calls, ranking somewhere between having the smoke alarm go off and hearing a child announce, “Mommy, I’m gonna throw up.” Cramps are caused by so many things — from overexertion to dehydration — that it’s hard to come up with one foolproof remedy. But here are a few things to try:
Yes, check your diet. Make sure you’re drinking six to eight glasses of fluid every day and eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. All contain key minerals (potassium, magnesium, calcium) that work to keep your muscle tissue from “short-circuiting” and, ouch, cramping.
Stretch your calves before bed. Stand about two steps from the wall; take a step forward with one leg, bending that knee and pressing your hands against the wall at shoulder height. Keep your other leg extended straight behind you, foot flat on the floor. Hold for several seconds, reverse legs and repeat.
Stretch your toes, too. Sit on the edge of the bed, put one foot on your knee and gently pull your toes forward till you feel a stretch, then press your toes the other way. Reverse legs, repeat, and tuck yourself in.
Keep wearing those socks. They keep your feet warm, and warm muscles are less likely to go “spring.”
Q: What’s your opinion of eating a vegetarian raw foods diet and drinking distilled water? – Amy in Ocoee, Fla.
A: Our opinion is that you’re describing one of those fad diets developed by “experts” whose knowledge of food chemistry is about as deep as a kiddie pool.
We’re not at all opposed to raw veggies. Heck, we eat them all the time. But there’s nothing magic about eating them raw. And in certain cases, cooking actually makes veggies healthier. For example, heating tomatoes releases lots more of a valuable plant chemical called lycopene that helps your body tap-dance around heart disease. Steaming carrots and broccoli makes their cancer-fighting, heart-saving carotenoids easier to absorb. Steamed veggies also tend to soak up bile, which forces your liver to make more of this stuff, which requires using up lousy LDL cholesterol to do, which keeps more bad LDL out of your bloodstream, which is a very good thing.
But the main reason we don’t like extreme diets is that they deprive you of important nutrients. If you’re eating only raw veggies, you’re almost certainly going to run short of protein and vitamin B-12, fast. As for drinking distilled water, well, it’s usually made by boiling. While that strips out impurities, it also strips out minerals like calcium. Our opinion: Fuggedaboutit, unless you’re drinking four or more glasses of non-distilled water a day. Then just do it if you like the taste better.
The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of “YOU: On a Diet.” Want more? See “The Dr. Oz Show” on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to realage.com.
