Healthy Food Chart

A study done at Georgetown University using mice found that a high fat diet did not provoke obesity. However, a high-fat diet combined with chronic stress, did.  Another study, recently published in Circulation, found that mice exposed to air pollution were more likely to develop insulin resistance and abdominal obesity compared with mice who ate the same high-fat diet but enjoyed cleaner air.

We've known for a while that stress and heart disease are linked. Although these are rodent studies, I think its becoming clear that stress and environment may play a role in obesity and Type 2 diabetes, as well--and that we're going to need to think more holistically about tackling these problems.

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how individual nutrients and dietary factors affect health. But that doesn't necessarily tell us much about how nutrients work in combination.  For example, saturated fat might promote heart disease in the context of a high-carbohydrate diet but not in a low-carbohydrate diet.

But there are even more variables:  The same diet will affect individuals differently depending on their genetic makeup.  And stress (whether physical, mental, or environmental) also changes how your body responds to diet. 

I have a number of clients who are trying to lose weight but also have extremely stressful lives.  Perhaps I need to make reducing and coping with stress a bigger part of their nutritional prescription?