Take a look at our November newsletter!
NOVEMBER 2022
WWW.BERMANPT.COM | 239-431-0232
November means it’s officially “fall” here in beautiful Naples, and our humidity drops slightly. We might even get an evening or two with overnight lows into the 60s! Growing up in Naples, there’s nothing better than the smell of that first morning breeze in the low 60s. I have to laugh at myself every year because I’m freezing cold as I search through my closet for the pullover I haven’t worn since February … November also means it’s “preseason” here in SW Florida, a brief influx of snowbirds coming down from mid-Oct until Thanksgiving. As a business owner, I always welcome this rush as I get to reunite with clients we’ve had for years, and it replicates that feeling you get when you finally meet up with long-distance friends. I was going through our schedule the other day and noticed we have quite a few clients on the schedule who have been with us since 2016 and 2017! It’s always rewarding to reminisce about those clients’ first few sessions and what bad shape they were physically and mentally. Now, I see entirely different people standing in front of me. After a few years of hard work, they’re stronger and much more confident. That’s what it’s really about — creating and providing a chronic solution to a chronic problem. Far too often in our world, people expect fast solutions to chronic issues, and it just doesn’t work that way. You get what you pay for, and in the case of your physical health, that cost is money AND time! Speaking of investing in your health care, I can confidently say our happiest customers are those who have spent the most money with us. And to no surprise, those are the same customers who have What we eat directly affects our bodies. When we eat something that doesn’t agree with us, we can experience gut issues, neurological conditions, and more, but how are we supposed to know which items to include in our diet? That’s where Jenni’s new book, “Listen to Your Gut,” can help. Her book is easy to understand and will provide valuable information you need to improve your overall health. Find her book on Amazon or head to BermanPT.com/wellness to get your copy today! Prepare for Some BIG News! Our Family Is Growing!
been coming to us the longest. I say all that to let you know I really appreciate your business, and if it weren’t for you, I’d likely be working in a cookie-cutter clinic, hating life somewhere, or I’d be a Chippendale dancer out in Vegas! With that said, now it’s time for some EXCITING NEWS!! We are expecting our second baby this coming March (technically Feb. 28)! We officially spilled the beans last month, but that was after I already wrote the October newsletter, and I know some of you haven't heard yet, so now you know WE ARE PREGNANT! We have been through our fair share of ups and downs to this point. However, if you want to hear our entire story, please listen to podcast #63 of “The Berman Method.” I share all the details and don’t sugarcoat anything, which I believe needs to happen more often when it comes to the subject of pregnancy. We do not know if it will be a boy or a girl, and we don’t plan on finding out. We had gone through so much leading up to Stella’s birth that we didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl. We just wanted a healthy baby! The anticipation and excitement we experienced in the delivery room were second to none, which is why we did it again. Jenni is pulling for a boy because she thinks we are “done” after two kids, and she knows I wouldn’t mind having a whole team. No matter what, I will be just as happy with two healthy girls as I would be with anything else. In other exciting news, Jenni’s new book is now available! The book is titled “Listen to Your Gut” and is available on Amazon and her website, BermanPT.com/wellness , so get your copy ordered today! This book is filled with information on how what you eat directly affects gut issues, autoimmune diseases, neurological conditions, and more. The best part is that it’s written in everyday language, so even a fifth-grader can understand the message! Also, you’ll get to know our family MUCH better as she sprinkles in pictures and fun family facts throughout the book. So, please order Jenni’s new book TODAY! There couldn’t possibly be a better time with Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up. This book will be a great stocking stuffer! And for
all you keeping count out there, Team Berman has now officially authored three books, so if you don’t have all three, please reach out to me to complete your collection so you don’t miss out on anything from your head to your toes! –Dr. Jake Berman
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IS YOUR HEAD IN A FOG? 4 WAYS TO CLEAR THE HAZE
Do you ever feel as if your head is in the clouds? Brain fog due to stress can make it difficult to retain information, remember little details, concentrate, and react quickly. If your mind feels a little sluggish and a bit off, here are some tips to get you feeling like yourself again! Nourish your brain. Did you know what you eat has a direct effect on your brain function? Poor food choices can negatively impact the way your brain works, but fueling it with minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins provides positive brain energy! For example, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and vitamin B-12 are essential for memory and brain function. Are you eating foods with those nutrients? Focus on getting better sleep. According to the American Sleep Association, between 50–70 million
adults in the U.S. have a sleep disorder, and this could lead to feeling disoriented, sluggish, and mentally foggy the next day. To promote better sleep, here are some tips: • Develop a sleep schedule • Avoid hitting the snooze button • Exercise once a day • Begin dimming artificial light in the early evening • Promote calm evenings • Sleep in the dark • Charge your electrical devices outside of the bedroom Stress less. Stress can make it difficult to form fluid thoughts, concentrate, and become or stay motivated. In fact, when you’re stressed out, you may lose some control over yourself. To reduce your stress and combat brain fog, be realistic about your goals and what you
can handle. Concentrate on just one task at a time; remember to breathe, smile, and laugh; and advocate for a healthy work-life balance. Exercise regularly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, getting active is not only good for your muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, cardiovascular system, and overall health, but it can also work wonders for your cognitive health. It’s been linked to improved memory, reduced depression and anxiety, and better problem-solving. This doesn’t mean you need to be in the gym every day pumping iron! Simply walking, gardening, or swimming is enough to get your heart pumping and endorphins flowing! Being consistent is key. These tips are sure to help you combat brain fog and take care of your body so it can take care of you in the long run!
4 NUTRITIONAL MYTHS DEBUNKED
With access to the internet, social media, and the news, we’re constantly surrounded by information, and it’s hard to tell what we should or shouldn’t do. But when it comes to what we put in our bodies, it's not a good idea to experiment. Let's take a look at some of the most common nutritional myths buzzing around and what makes them dubious! You should avoid high-fat foods. When you visit the supermarket, “fat-free” food options line the shelves. Many people follow a low-fat diet in hopes that it will help them lose weight and maintain optimal health. But, instead of avoiding fat altogether, aiming for a diet balanced with healthy fats is the way to go. In fact, fat provides many benefits, including protecting our organs, promoting proper growth and development, and maintaining cell membranes. Everyone should be gluten-free. For those with celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, avoiding gluten — the protein present in wheat, rye, and barley — is necessary. However, for everyone else, whole-wheat products are beneficial to our diets.
It’s also important to note that when gluten is removed, it’s commonly substituted with refined starches, sugar, and salt.
It’s impossible to eat healthy on a budget. With proper planning and a little extra time spent in the kitchen, nourishing your body doesn’t have to break the bank. By planning meals around sales, shopping seasonally for produce, purchasing frozen fruits and veggies, and sticking to shopping lists, you’ll be off to a good start! Eating after a certain time in the evening is bad. Late-night snacking can surely lead to weight gain or can hinder weight loss efforts, but it’s not because of the time of day. It’s all about how many calories you’ve consumed in the day and why you’re eating. In the evening, it’s more common to get the munchies out of boredom, habit, or craving rather than actual hunger. Don’t let nutritional disinformation get the best of you. Before trying out a new dietary recommendation or altering your routine, always do your research and check with your doctor — you’ll be glad you did!
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A Life-Changing Secret The Benefits of Low-Impact Activity for Aging Adults
Aerobic Activities Endurance activities such as swimming, jogging, walking, and bike riding are all great options for boosting your cardiovascular function and building stamina. According to the CDC, adults who are 65 years or older should get at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week — or 30 minutes five times a week. Staying active into your golden years is essential for your mental and physical health. It can prevent health complications and enable you to keep up with your children and grandchildren for years to come.
As we age, it's important to remain active and maintain a healthy combination of strength training, aerobic activity, and flexibility exercises. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), aging adults benefit greatly from regular exercise. However, you may find that there are certain movements you can no longer safely do or that your range of motion just isn't what it used to be when you were younger. Low-impact activity is a great way to reduce the strain exercise can put on your joints while still allowing your body to reap the benefits. If you’re looking for some ideas or fresh workouts to incorporate into your routine, here are some that use safe strength and resistance training, proper stretching practices, aerobic exercise, and highly beneficial mobility work. Strength Training Don’t worry, we aren’t talking about bench-pressing 150 pounds! Instead, situps, pullups, wall pushups, squats,
single-leg stands, and stair climbing are all different types of low-impact body weight exercises that you can do at home without any equipment. They will help you burn body fat and reverse muscle loss. If you’d like to incorporate strength training, opting for hand weights is a great option. Yoga Yoga improves your flexibility, builds muscle, strengthens and stabilizes your core, and benefits your joints. If you’re new to yoga, don’t worry — there are many yoga programs specifically designed for new yogis or older adults. Pilates Similar to yoga, Pilates is extremely gentle on your joints, but it incorporates a bit more strength training. The focus is on your core, but Pilates also works your arms and legs while also improving your flexibility and posture. It can be done with or without equipment such as yoga balls, rings, and weights.
Lentil Bolognese Rich and robust, this plant-based meal is full of flavor and perfect for those cool autumn days.
TAKE A BREAK!
DIRECTIONS
INGREDIENTS
• 1-lb box pasta, any kind • 2 tbsp olive oil • 1 onion, diced • 1 1/2 cups diced carrots • 1 1/2 cups diced celery • 4–6 garlic cloves, chopped • 1/2 tsp salt • 1/2 tsp pepper
1. Cook pasta according to package directions. 2. In a large pot, heat olive oil
over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until fragrant. Lower heat to medium, add carrots, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, chili flakes, and Italian herbs. 3. Add tomato paste and cook down for a few minutes. Now add the lentils, diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, and hemp seeds. Bring to a boil, cover tightly, and simmer until lentils are tender. 4. Cook until all of the liquid is absorbed, then stir in the balsamic vinegar before adjusting the seasonings to your liking. When that is done, pour over the pasta and enjoy.
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes • 1 tbsp Italian herbs • 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 1 1/4 cups lentils • 3 tomatoes, diced • 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth • 3/4 cup hemp seeds • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Inspired by FeastingAtHome.com
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1. Excitement Is in the Air at Berman Inc. 2. Combating Brain Fog
Common Nutritional Myths
3. Low-Impact Exercise for Aging Adults Lentil Bolognese 4. 5 Signs You’re Doing Too Much Cardio
Cardio: Friend or Foe? 5 SIGNS YOU’RE OVERDOING IT ON CARDIO
If you love the results you see from your cardio workouts, it’s possible you might want to increase how often you work out. But too much of a good thing can be detrimental, which includes cardio!
However, when you’re engaging in an activity familiar to your body, especially when it comes to cardio, you shouldn’t become sore as your body adapts. If you’re constantly feeling sore, this is your body’s way of asking for a break! Your heart rate is fast. Your resting heart rate should be slow and relaxed. If you notice it stays high for a period of continuous days, this is a dangerous health concern that occurs when your heart forgets how to relax. This means it’s time to slow down — literally! Your easy days are becoming hard. You’d think the more you do something, the easier it’d get. While this makes sense most of the time, when you overdo it and don’t allow your body enough proper recovery time, you may feel more challenged than usual, even with light cardio. So, how much cardio should you really be aiming for? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults should get 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity each week. While cardio is pivotal for our health, too much cardio will do more harm than good!
Here are five signs you're doing too much cardio and need to give your routine a breather.
You’re fatigued. Overdoing cardio exercises increases the levels of stress hormones in our bodies and can lead to constantly feeling run down. There’s only so much stress we can place on our muscles and joints before our body lets us know it’s had enough! Your weight loss has plateaued or become sluggish. Excessive cardio can lead to a loss in muscle mass, which hinders your body’s ability to effectively burn fat and drastically slows weight loss. You’re constantly sore. When you first use a muscle group you haven’t used in a while or change up the exercise or weight, soreness is common.
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ARE YOU READY FOR A LIFE-ALTERING PROGRAM? Check Out Our New Continuous Glucose Monitor
Jenni has a brand-new program that has literally changed my life! This unique program utilizes state- of-the-art equipment with a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). This program is designed to help clients understand blood sugar and its effects on metabolism. Jenni attaches the CGM to your belly or back of the arm (it doesn’t hurt!), and that monitor sends a signal via Bluetooth to your phone 24/7 for 10 days straight. I participated in this program back in September. I was shocked at how high my fasting blood sugar levels were and how high they would spike after eating things I didn’t classify as “bad food.” For example, my resting blood sugar level would hang around 110–115 mg/dL, then spike to 165 mg/dL after eating a chicken wrap!
Remember, prediabetes is defined as having fasting blood sugar above 100 mg/dL, so I was by definition a prediabetic at the ripe age of 37! After making some effortless changes to my eating habits over the last two months, I brought my resting blood sugar levels down to under 100 mg/ dL. This dramatically decreased my risk of developing
metabolic disease, weight concerns, kidney failure, cancer, and more!
As of the beginning of November, Jenni has openings for five more clients who want to participate in this program, so don’t hesitate! She won’t start the next program until January! If you are interested in this program or want more details, please email Jenni@bermanwellness.com or call our office at 239-431-0232!
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LESSEN THE STRESS IN YOUR LIFE By Assessing Your Food Intake
Picture this: a 56-year-old female, working mother of three, real estate agent, and wife. She works for a prestigious real estate company in Naples, FL. Her three children are 8, 11, and 14 years old and all play competitive sports. Her husband also works full time and travels two weeks out of the month. She wakes up at 4:15 a.m. to complete her workout each day before the chaos begins, and it doesn’t slow down until her head hits the pillow at night. She struggles with her sleep, getting her weight down to her “normal” level, irritable bowel syndrome, and exhaustion. The problem is not that she is overeating or not exercising enough. The ultimate problem is the effect her stress has on her hormones and body internally. You may not feel that you are under a lot of stress because it is just what you’re used to. However, it can significantly impact you internally. Cortisol, a stress hormone, is a steroid released in response to internal stress. It is the “fight or flight” hormone released from the adrenal glands. The adrenal gland is part of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Without getting into too much detail, the HPA axis is the main stress axis that controls our metabolism, immune system, mental health, and more. Cortisol helps the body respond to stress by regulating blood sugar and fighting infections, though too much cortisol is not a good thing. Chronic elevation of cortisol leads to a redistribution of fat to the abdominal area. In addition, it leads to a cascade of problems on our stress axis and symptoms within our body: • Poor sleep • Abdominal fat
a blood sugar spike a particular food causes. High glycemic foods like fruit and pasta are not good for blood sugar control, weight loss, or sustained energy. • Eating causes cortisol to increase. However, if our meals are routinely protein-based , fiber-filled , and balanced with the proper complex carbohydrates, we elicit a controlled cortisol response instead of a spike. • When we DON’T eat, meaning we go more than four hours without eating, the blood sugar is also unstable, causing a spike in cortisol as the body’s response tries to balance the glucose levels. Night Eating — Eating at night will cause the release of cortisol (remember, eating triggers cortisol). • If you fall asleep on the couch, have a midnight snack, then head to bed, you might want to rethink this, as cortisol release late at night can interrupt your sleep pattern, metabolism, rest, and more. • Avoiding sugar at night will lower a cortisol release. It is essential to identify the elevation of the cortisol level, determine the cause of the high cortisol level, and treat the problem appropriately. Most of us cannot take our exogenous stress away, but we can control cortisol response in many different ways. Focusing on low glycemic index foods, adequate protein in the diet, high fiber intake, and proper hydration is vital to controlling the cortisol response. Reducing foods like gluten, dairy, and soy-based foods can reduce inflammation internally, which also reduces the stress response in the body. It is certainly important to address some other factors that impact our stress response and immune system: • Sleep Deprivation — Remember, adequate rest is the key to cell regeneration, recovery, blood sugar stability, and balanced cortisol release. • Pain — Pain is stressful. Pain and stress can be both the cause and the result of a leaky gut. • Medications — Certain medications can trigger the stress response, immune system, and cortisol release! We set ourselves up for success by starting with what we have the most control over, our food choices and gut health. If you struggle with sleep, energy, gut health, weight loss, headaches, and hormone control, it is time to assess your food intake.
• Loose stool or constipation • Abdominal pain, bloating, or cramping • Rash or hives • Low energy
• Waking up tired • Headaches • Sugar and
(often called “skinny fat”)
• Anxiety or depression • Mood swings
salt cravings
• Increased heart rates
Exogenous stress from work, children, spouse, home life, family, and travel impacts our system. However, it is affected by more than just that. Our food and nutrition play a significant role in our stress response, immune system, metabolism, and mental health. High Glycemic Foods and Skipping Meals — Consuming foods high in sugar or skipping meals can cause cortisol release. The glycemic index measures how much of
–Jenni Berman
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