When it comes to chocolate there are so many reasons to switch to the dark side!
Dark chocolate is a “superfood” chock-full of antioxidants that fight dangerous free radicals in your body.
There are numerous studies that confirm dark chocolate’s cardiovascular benefits. It reduces blood pressure, increases the elasticity of the blood vessels, reduces inflammation, and reduces LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
Eating dark chocolate has also shown to be good for the brain by improving mood, memory, and cognitive function.
Dark chocolate has less sugar, cream and/or milk than regular milk or white chocolate.
One more reason to make the switch.
A 2020 study showed that dark chocolate is among certain foods that contain compounds helpful in preventing the replication of SARS-Cov-2, the virus responsible for COVID19.
The study out of North Carolina State University aimed to find out if there were chemical compounds in plants that could prevent the main protease (Mpro) in the SARS-CoV-2 virus from replicating.
Using computer simulations and lab studies the researchers confirmed that the compounds found in dark chocolate, green tea, and muscadine grapes successfully inhibited Mpro activity, in some cases by up to 50%!
So, how can you take advantage of these benefits without doing more harm than good? Here are some helpful tips.
Not all dark chocolate is the same. Look for at least 70% cacao, the ingredient that is the source of the antioxidants. The higher the percentage of cacao, the better.
Eat chocolate in moderation, not more than between 1.5 and 3.5 ounces per day. Although dark chocolate is good for you, the best diet is a balanced diet, so make sure you are also eating plenty of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables.
Don’t eat chocolate at night; it provides a dose of caffeine that can interfere with proper sleep, which is essential to obtaining and maintaining good health.
Make sure to buy brands with good safety records. A 2022 Consumer Reports Study found that many top brands contain high levels of heavy metals. To read more about the study, click here.
Medical Research Demonstrating the Benefits of Dark Chocolate.
From biking and jogging to playing golf, tennis and weekend basketball, millions of us regularly enjoy athletics. As we all know, there are many benefits to participating in sports. To do it safely, it’s important to take precautions, otherwise we run the risk of incurring injuries that not only cause us pain and inconvenience, but also cost us financially in terms of medical expenses and lost productivity.
At the Kaplan Center, we encourage all our patients to engage in some level of regular physical exercise to improve their health. Time and time again, however, we’ve found that most people can benefit from learning more about how to exercise properly — the goal being to gain strength and flexibility while avoiding injury.
Whether you are a competitive athlete or just starting a new exercise routine, here are 5 tips that everyone who is physically active should consider adopting:
1) Customize your workout to achieve your personal fitness goals.
Whether your goal is to improve your cardiovascular health, body composition (including the ratio of muscle to fat), strength, endurance, or your position and motion awareness, not all exercise is the same, and more is definitely not necessarily better!
To improve your cardiovascular health: You will need to get your heart rate up to 70-85% of its maximal rate for at least 30 minutes per day, three days a week. To determine your maximal heart rate, subtract your age from 220. (e.g. The maximal heart rate for a 50-year-old is 170 (220 – 50 years = 170), so his or her target heart rate will be 70 to 85 percent of 170, or between 120 and 145.)
To improve your body composition (ratio of fat to muscle) and to optimize your body’s fat-burning capacity: You will want to exercise in a way that gets your heart rate up to 40-60% of your maximum heart rate.
To increase your muscle power and endurance: To maximize muscle power, you should engage in a lower number of total exercise repetitions at a higher level of weight/resistance, whereas to improve muscle endurance, you’ll need a higher number of repetitions at a lower weight/resistance. For example, athletes wanting to develop power might design a program where they perform 2-3 sets of 10 repetitions, with each lift set at 70% of their single-repetition, maximum weight. On the other hand, to develop endurance, the same athlete should perform 2-3 sets of 20-30 repetitions, with each lift set at 30-50% of their single-repetition, maximum weight. Your single-repetition, maximum weight is how much weight you can lift one time using the maximum effort that you can safely exert. Be very careful not to push past your maximum limit when you test yourself – you don’t want to get injured before you get started!
When strengthening: Work with a qualified and experienced physical therapist, personal trainer, or athletic trainer so that you can develop proper form and safe sports-motion habits early on. Give yourself a day between exercise sessions to allow for muscle cell repair and growth, for example, doing upper body strengthening on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and lower body strengthening on the other days. When increasing your exercise intensity, a generally safe approach is to increase your weight/resistance level by no more than 10% every 2 weeks.
To improve your motion awareness and bone strength: Consider cross-training with yoga, soccer, basketball, tennis, or other activities that encourage side-to-side movement and speed changes. Research has shown that pure long-distance runners, particularly women, can actually be more at risk for stress fractures because the straight-line movement of running only strengthens bones in one plane, whereas cross-training strengthens bones in a more complete, multi-directional fashion.
2) Ditch the myth about stretching prior to exercise to prevent injury.
Contrary to popular belief, scientific reviews indicate that stretching only before and after intense exercise does little to prevent injury. What does matter is your baseline level of flexibility. In other words, if you are already flexible, you have some reduced risk of muscle injury even if you do not stretch much before you exercise. But if you are not very flexible, doing a bunch of stretching just before exercise is unlikely to prevent muscle injury. Therefore, you need to stretch regularly over a period of time, and not just as a method of warming up before exercise.
To stretch correctly: Hold each position for a minimum of 30 seconds. If the stretch is not held long enough, then the muscle fibers will simply return to their pre-stretch length after you stop, and your stretching will be of minimal benefit. Once a muscle is properly stretched, the effect lasts for about six hours. Therefore, to improve flexibility most efficiently, one should stretch three times per day, for at least 30 seconds per muscle stretched.
Be aware that having too much flexibility can be as much of a problem as having too little. For example, with increased flexibility, the ligaments holding our joints together can become more vulnerable to being overstretched and sprained. How flexible is too flexible? The Beighton Hypermobility Score, which is easily located on the Internet, provides a quick method to rate joint hyperflexibility. If you are already very flexible, then stretching may not be in your best interest. Instead, focus on strengthening and balancing your muscles, which will help stabilize and protect your joints and ligaments.
3) Consider integrative treatment options if you sustain an injury.
Musculoskeletal injuries are extremely common; in fact, it is estimated that over 100 million injuries occur every year worldwide. Of these, 30-50% involve ligament and tendon injuries. Fortunately, there are several effective options available to treat these conditions, including osteopathic manual therapy (OMT), platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy and prolotherapy, which enhance the body’s own healing capability to repair damaged tissue. A growing body of medical research has demonstrated the effectiveness of these therapies in treating various painful conditions of the neck, shoulder, elbow, hand, low back, hip, knee, and ankle.
OMT is a non-invasive therapy that applies gentle pressure and movement to stretch muscles, soft tissue and joints for proper alignment.
PRP therapyinvolves taking a patient’s blood, centrifuging it to concentrate the platelets — which contain numerous growth factors responsible for tissue healing as well as blood-clotting factors — and then injecting it into the injured area to promote healing. Professional athletes often use PRP to help them recover and return to their sport more quickly.
Prolotherapy is another injection method which uses simple fluid solutions other than blood for treating injured tendons, ligaments, and joints.
Although inflammation has a bad reputation for causing many painful conditions, it’s essential to the process of healing. After an acute injury, healing occurs in three complex phases over a long period of time, during which new connective tissue is created that replaces and reinforces the injured tissue. The first of these phases is inflammation, which causes pain in order to restrict our range of movement to protect the area from further injury. Perhaps even more importantly, the inflammation triggers cellular activity that initiates healing of the damaged tissue. The inflammatory phase typically lasts 4-6 days.
Although clinical research has shown that taking an anti-inflammatory after an acute injury can speed one’s return to activity by decreasing pain, several studies also have demonstrated that using an anti-inflammatory immediately after being injured can reduce tendon and ligament strength during healing. In sum, taking anti-inflammatory medication can interrupt the inflammatory process and thereby reduce the potential, maximal healing of the injured area.
We tell patients to try to avoid using anti-inflammatories, such as Aspirin (unless you are taking it for heart protection), ibuprofen (a.k.a. Motrin, Advil, Nuprin) and naproxen (a.k.a. Aleve, Naprosyn) for at least the first few days after injury. Instead, I recommend taking acetaminophen (a.k.a. Tylenol) up to 4000 mg. per day, as long as you do not have any liver problems and are taking it for less than a two-week period. In cases of more severe pain, you should consider seeing your doctor for a check-up and, if appropriate, obtaining a prescription for a muscle relaxant or other pain medication that you can take for a few days until the pain from inflammation subsides.
5) Be diligent about getting regular physical exams to address significant or persistent injuries.
Routine physical exams are very important for identifying conditions that may affect your ability to exercise safely, such as certain heart and lung problems or uncontrolled high blood pressure. Let your provider know about any concerns you have regarding your exercise regimen. It’s also a good idea to see your provider if you are experiencing any of the following:
An inability to bear weight on an injured limb due to severe pain
Pain that persists for more than 3 or 4 weeks without improvement
New or progressive numbness, tingling or — especially — weakness in your arms or legs
Persistent dizziness or light-headedness during or after exercise
Head, neck or back injuries that are causing deterioration of your balance, problems with your mental faculties, or changes in your bladder and/or bowel function (any of these symptoms could indicate a rare but urgent medical emergency!)
When a medical problem is exercise-related, for the best results, you need a medical specialist who can not only comprehensively assess your musculoskeletal system, but also provide you with the widest range of treatment options, from the least to the more invasive procedures.
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
This article was reviewed and updated in January, 2024.
Calcium is the most abundant mineral found in the body. We need it to not only make sure our bones stay strong and healthy as we age, but to also maintain the proper functioning of the heart, muscles, and nerves. Green smoothies and protein shakes containing calcium-rich leafy greens have become a popular and easy way to incorporate this essential nutrient into our diets. However, in certain cases it comes with a caveat. Some leafy greens like kale, chard, beet greens and spinach contain oxalic acid, which is a type of antinutrient that binds with calcium and reduces its absorption in the intestines. In addition to the greens listed above, oxalic acid is also found in some legumes and grains.
Does this mean you should not add kale or other greens that contain oxalic acid to your smoothies? Not necessarily. In their raw form, these greens should not be considered a good source of calcium. However, by cooking or steaming these vegetables you can significantly reduce the amount of oxalic acid present, which will help with calcium absorption (make sure to drain your greens thoroughly as the oxalates go into the water).
Have you always wanted to work with a nutritionist? If you’re ready to optimize your diet for better health and overall wellness, give us a call today at 703-532-4892.
Have questions before you make an appointment? No problem! Give us a call and speak with an experienced nurse; we’re here to help you.
One suggestion would be to precook your leafy greens and store them in the freezer (in individual portions) for quick access. When you’re ready to make your smoothie, just grab a portion and throw it in! Cooked and drained, kale is also a great addition to soups, stews, and even pizza! Other methods to reduce their antinutrient content include sprouting and fermenting.
Another suggestion would be to eat foods known to contain oxalic acid 2 hours apart from dietary calcium sources. Doing this will allow enough time for the body to absorb it.
Other foods that will boost the calcium content in your smoothie are unsweetened Greek yogurt (which also contains a good amount of protein) and flax seeds.
Making sure calcium-rich foods are a part of your diet can help avoid a deficiency. If you’re unable to get enough calcium through your diet, supplementation may be recommended. Calcium deficiency can lead to symptoms such as:
Osteoporosis
Osteopenia
Mood swings
Difficulty sleeping
Fatigue
Memory problems/confusion
If you are experiencing symptoms or need general nutritional guidance, we can help. Please give us a call at 703-532-4892. We’re here to help you get to the root cause of your symptoms so healing can begin.
Gupta RK, Gangoliya SS, Singh NK. Reduction of phytic acid and enhancement of bioavailable micronutrients in food grains. J Food Sci Technol. 2015 Feb;52(2):676-84. doi: 10.1007/s13197-013-0978-y. Epub 2013 Apr 24. PMID: 25694676; PMCID: PMC4325021.
M. López-Moreno, M. Garcés-Rimón, M. Miguel, Antinutrients: Lectins, goitrogens, phytates and oxalates, friends or foe? Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 89, 2022, 104938, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2022.104938.
Can Dark Chocolate Help Fight COVID Infection?
/in COVID-19, News, Nutrition/by Kaplan CenterWhen it comes to chocolate there are so many reasons to switch to the dark side!
One more reason to make the switch.
A 2020 study showed that dark chocolate is among certain foods that contain compounds helpful in preventing the replication of SARS-Cov-2, the virus responsible for COVID19.
The study out of North Carolina State University aimed to find out if there were chemical compounds in plants that could prevent the main protease (Mpro) in the SARS-CoV-2 virus from replicating.
Using computer simulations and lab studies the researchers confirmed that the compounds found in dark chocolate, green tea, and muscadine grapes successfully inhibited Mpro activity, in some cases by up to 50%!
Questions? Give Us a Call!
703-532-4892 x2
So, how can you take advantage of these benefits without doing more harm than good? Here are some helpful tips.
Medical Research Demonstrating the Benefits of Dark Chocolate.
* Effect of cocoa product on blood pressure
* Association between chocolate consumption and risk of coronary artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
* Antioxidant Activity and Multi-Elemental Analysis of Dark Chocolate
* Cocoa Flavanols and the Aging Brain
* Sub-Chronic Consumption of Dark Chocolate Enhances Cognitive Function and Releases Nerve Growth Factors: A Parallel-Group Randomized Trial
* Impact of Coffee and Cacao Purine Metabolites on Neuroplasticity and Neurodegenerative Disease
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
Dr. Kaplan discusses the many health benefits of dark chocolate and offers a few other health-boosting suggestions
Just Do It! 5 Tips to Help You Exercise Safely
/in Lifestyle/by Kaplan CenterFrom biking and jogging to playing golf, tennis and weekend basketball, millions of us regularly enjoy athletics. As we all know, there are many benefits to participating in sports. To do it safely, it’s important to take precautions, otherwise we run the risk of incurring injuries that not only cause us pain and inconvenience, but also cost us financially in terms of medical expenses and lost productivity.
At the Kaplan Center, we encourage all our patients to engage in some level of regular physical exercise to improve their health. Time and time again, however, we’ve found that most people can benefit from learning more about how to exercise properly — the goal being to gain strength and flexibility while avoiding injury.
Whether you are a competitive athlete or just starting a new exercise routine, here are 5 tips that everyone who is physically active should consider adopting:
1) Customize your workout to achieve your personal fitness goals.
Whether your goal is to improve your cardiovascular health, body composition (including the ratio of muscle to fat), strength, endurance, or your position and motion awareness, not all exercise is the same, and more is definitely not necessarily better!
Questions? Give Us a Call!
703-532-4892 x2
2) Ditch the myth about stretching prior to exercise to prevent injury.
Contrary to popular belief, scientific reviews indicate that stretching only before and after intense exercise does little to prevent injury. What does matter is your baseline level of flexibility. In other words, if you are already flexible, you have some reduced risk of muscle injury even if you do not stretch much before you exercise. But if you are not very flexible, doing a bunch of stretching just before exercise is unlikely to prevent muscle injury. Therefore, you need to stretch regularly over a period of time, and not just as a method of warming up before exercise.
3) Consider integrative treatment options if you sustain an injury.
Musculoskeletal injuries are extremely common; in fact, it is estimated that over 100 million injuries occur every year worldwide. Of these, 30-50% involve ligament and tendon injuries. Fortunately, there are several effective options available to treat these conditions, including osteopathic manual therapy (OMT), platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy and prolotherapy, which enhance the body’s own healing capability to repair damaged tissue. A growing body of medical research has demonstrated the effectiveness of these therapies in treating various painful conditions of the neck, shoulder, elbow, hand, low back, hip, knee, and ankle.
4) Be cautious about taking anti-inflammatory medications.
Although inflammation has a bad reputation for causing many painful conditions, it’s essential to the process of healing. After an acute injury, healing occurs in three complex phases over a long period of time, during which new connective tissue is created that replaces and reinforces the injured tissue. The first of these phases is inflammation, which causes pain in order to restrict our range of movement to protect the area from further injury. Perhaps even more importantly, the inflammation triggers cellular activity that initiates healing of the damaged tissue. The inflammatory phase typically lasts 4-6 days.
Although clinical research has shown that taking an anti-inflammatory after an acute injury can speed one’s return to activity by decreasing pain, several studies also have demonstrated that using an anti-inflammatory immediately after being injured can reduce tendon and ligament strength during healing. In sum, taking anti-inflammatory medication can interrupt the inflammatory process and thereby reduce the potential, maximal healing of the injured area.
We tell patients to try to avoid using anti-inflammatories, such as Aspirin (unless you are taking it for heart protection), ibuprofen (a.k.a. Motrin, Advil, Nuprin) and naproxen (a.k.a. Aleve, Naprosyn) for at least the first few days after injury. Instead, I recommend taking acetaminophen (a.k.a. Tylenol) up to 4000 mg. per day, as long as you do not have any liver problems and are taking it for less than a two-week period. In cases of more severe pain, you should consider seeing your doctor for a check-up and, if appropriate, obtaining a prescription for a muscle relaxant or other pain medication that you can take for a few days until the pain from inflammation subsides.
5) Be diligent about getting regular physical exams to address significant or persistent injuries.
Routine physical exams are very important for identifying conditions that may affect your ability to exercise safely, such as certain heart and lung problems or uncontrolled high blood pressure. Let your provider know about any concerns you have regarding your exercise regimen. It’s also a good idea to see your provider if you are experiencing any of the following:
When a medical problem is exercise-related, for the best results, you need a medical specialist who can not only comprehensively assess your musculoskeletal system, but also provide you with the widest range of treatment options, from the least to the more invasive procedures.
We are here for you, and we want to help.
Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2
This article was reviewed and updated in January, 2024.
Does Raw Kale Interfere with Calcium Absorption?
/in Bone Health, Nutrition/by Kaplan CenterCalcium is the most abundant mineral found in the body. We need it to not only make sure our bones stay strong and healthy as we age, but to also maintain the proper functioning of the heart, muscles, and nerves. Green smoothies and protein shakes containing calcium-rich leafy greens have become a popular and easy way to incorporate this essential nutrient into our diets. However, in certain cases it comes with a caveat. Some leafy greens like kale, chard, beet greens and spinach contain oxalic acid, which is a type of antinutrient that binds with calcium and reduces its absorption in the intestines. In addition to the greens listed above, oxalic acid is also found in some legumes and grains.
Does this mean you should not add kale or other greens that contain oxalic acid to your smoothies? Not necessarily. In their raw form, these greens should not be considered a good source of calcium. However, by cooking or steaming these vegetables you can significantly reduce the amount of oxalic acid present, which will help with calcium absorption (make sure to drain your greens thoroughly as the oxalates go into the water).
Have you always wanted to work with a nutritionist? If you’re ready to optimize your diet for better health and overall wellness, give us a call today at 703-532-4892.
Have questions before you make an appointment? No problem! Give us a call and speak with an experienced nurse; we’re here to help you.
One suggestion would be to precook your leafy greens and store them in the freezer (in individual portions) for quick access. When you’re ready to make your smoothie, just grab a portion and throw it in! Cooked and drained, kale is also a great addition to soups, stews, and even pizza! Other methods to reduce their antinutrient content include sprouting and fermenting.
Another suggestion would be to eat foods known to contain oxalic acid 2 hours apart from dietary calcium sources. Doing this will allow enough time for the body to absorb it.
Other foods that will boost the calcium content in your smoothie are unsweetened Greek yogurt (which also contains a good amount of protein) and flax seeds.
Making sure calcium-rich foods are a part of your diet can help avoid a deficiency. If you’re unable to get enough calcium through your diet, supplementation may be recommended. Calcium deficiency can lead to symptoms such as:
If you are experiencing symptoms or need general nutritional guidance, we can help. Please give us a call at 703-532-4892. We’re here to help you get to the root cause of your symptoms so healing can begin.
Additional resources: Foods High in Oxalates
References:
Gupta RK, Gangoliya SS, Singh NK. Reduction of phytic acid and enhancement of bioavailable micronutrients in food grains. J Food Sci Technol. 2015 Feb;52(2):676-84. doi: 10.1007/s13197-013-0978-y. Epub 2013 Apr 24. PMID: 25694676; PMCID: PMC4325021.
M. López-Moreno, M. Garcés-Rimón, M. Miguel, Antinutrients: Lectins, goitrogens, phytates and oxalates, friends or foe? Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 89, 2022, 104938, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2022.104938.
WEAVER, C.M., HEANEY, R.P., NICKEL, K.P. and PACKARD, P.I. (1997), Calcium Bioavailability from High Oxalate Vegetables: Chinese Vegetables, Sweet Potatoes and Rhubarb. Journal of Food Science, 62: 524-525. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1997.tb04421.x
This article was updated in January, 2024.
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