August 2026 – Claremont Colonic and Nutrient Resource Clinic

3 Easy Breakfast Recipes to Help Lose Weight

How often are you eating a healthy breakfast? Let me ask that question in a different way: Would you like to lose weight, increase your metabolism, and feel healthier and more energized every day?

So many people come to me, wanting to lose weight, improve their health, and look and feel amazing, but they never eat breakfast. “Eating first thing in the morning makes me sick,” says every person to whom I mention the benefits of eating breakfast.

Maybe it does. Eating first thing in the morning when your body is dehydrated and out of sorts seems like the last thing you want to do. Drinking a gigantic cup of coffee with cream and sugar, though, isn’t doing your health – or your waistline – any justice. Today’s article includes the research-based facts on why eating breakfast can give you the body and energy you want. Plus, I’ll give you my top 3 go-to breakfast options perfect for first-timers and seasoned breakfast eaters.

A study was done in Taiwan on the effects of regular and irregular breakfast eating in adolescent males and females. The results showed that irregular (re: skipping) breakfast meals were related to “depressive symptoms, stress, catching cold, chronic disease, and high body mass index (BMI) in adolescents.” What’s interesting is that menstrual irregularities were shown in female adolescents who were not regular breakfast eaters.

If skipping breakfast can have these kinds of effects on young males and females, how much more can we experience as we get older with more complex health issues? Not only can skipping this important meal take a toll on the scale, but it can also negatively affect your hormonal levels.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health correlates eating breakfast with maintaining a healthy body weight, increased concentration and energy, as well as the ability to make healthier food choices later in the day.

You’ve got the reasons, now you just need a plan to start eating a healthy breakfast every morning. Remember to eat within an hour of waking, after drinking a full glass of water.

Here are my top 3 favorite breakfast choices…

#1: Protein shake

It’s easy, it’s full of nutrients, and it’s designed to keep you full, energized and satisfied until your next meal (3-4 hours later). I use True Vitality protein powder which is soy-free, gluten-free and dairy-free for optimal health.

1 serving protein powder
1 cup almond milk
1 cup water
1 banana
Blend ingredients together and enjoy.

#2: Yogurt, fruit and raw almonds

Yogurt is a nutritious protein choice with natural probiotics, and the best choices are Greek yogurt (if you’re eating dairy), almond milk yogurt or rice milk yogurt (the latter two can be found at speciality nutrition stores). Try adding in low-glycemic berries or apples with some raw nuts for healthy fats.

#3: Juicing with raw veggies and a little added fruits

I’m no juicing expert, although my colleague Angela is :), but I do know that the mornings I juice I feel so healthy and energized. The trick is choosing mostly dark, leafy greens and alkalizing veggies (think: cucumbers, kale, peppers, celery, spinach, etc.) adding a little fruit for flavor (like an apple). Try adding some spirulina for an added boost of natural protein.

Start with choice number 1 if you’re not used to eating breakfast. Add your own favorite healthy recipes to the list so you’re always equipped with go-to meals first thing in the morning. You have no excuses now. If you want more energy and a way to lose weight the healthy way, begin your day the right way…with a healthy breakfast.

Contributor: Katie Humphrey – Alternative Daily

Millions of Adults in the US Should be Taking Blood Pressure-Lowering Medication

Nearly 1 in 3 adults in the United States with untreated high blood pressure would benefit from treatment and are not getting it, according to a new study.

That’s because nearly 10 million Americans now meet newly updated guidelines by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology that redefine an adult’s risk for cardiovascular disease.

“We estimated that approximately 200,900 all-cause deaths and 162,600 cardiovascular deaths could be prevented over the next 10 years,” said lead study author Dr. Mustafa Al-Jarshawi, a cardiologist at Keele University in England.

Ideally, doctors want blood pressure to fall below 120 mmHg systolic and 80 mmHg diastolic. If blood pressure is around 130/80, doctors have typically advised people to make changes to their lifestyle, such as increasing exercise.

If doctors use the American Heart Association’s new PREVENT tool, which considers blood sugar, kidney function and a person’s decade-long risk for heart disease as well as blood pressure, some 81 million Americans would be eligible for blood pressure medications.

“What this is saying is that people who have traditionally not been at very high risk are now eligible to be treated with medications more aggressively,” said cardiologist Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver.

“Generally, I think when people have additional risk, blood pressure is really the silent killer,” said Freeman, who was not involved with the study.

Expanding treatment could save lives

The study, published July 29 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, analyzed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2009 to 2018. Newer data is available, but the most up-to-date version of the survey hasn’t been around long enough for researchers to know participants’ cause and time of death.

The study examines how death rates might be lower if the 2025 hypertension guidelines were implemented during those years, Al-Jarshawi said.

Among 81 million adults with high blood pressure and no cardiovascular disease, nearly 23 million may be newly eligible under the new guidelines. Of those 23 million, 9.7 million were untreated.

Becoming eligible to receive blood pressure medication was associated with a 23% lower risk of dying compared with no treatment. When it comes to the chances of dying from a heart-related issue, risk dropped by 50%. The study also found that adults with diabetes would benefit most from treatment. This is because diabetes and high blood pressure often occur together, significantly increasing cardiovascular risk, Al-Jarshawi said.

Treatment is more than a medication

Any eligible person shouldn’t hesitate to start taking medication in addition to making lifestyle changes to reduce long-term risks, Al-Jarshawi said.

Controlling high blood pressure is a long-term commitment to health, CNN contributor Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at George Washington University, told CNN in a previous article. She recommended looking into a key inventory of five daily habits: level of physical activity, diet, substance use including alcohol and marijuana, stress levels, and a healthy weight.

“You don’t have to do everything perfectly to make a difference in your health,” Wen said. She suggests starting with small lifestyle changes. “Many people can’t easily reduce stress in their lives, but maybe they can more easily start eating more fruits and vegetables.” The findings of the new study highlight the importance of controlling high blood pressure, Freeman said.

“The western world is ailing from a variety of cardiometabolic, kidney diseases,” Freeman said. “High blood pressure amplifies a lot of risk, and we have to do whatever we can to get that risk down and being aggressive about blood pressure is very low-hanging fruit.”

However, medication only works when it’s inside the person, and not sitting in the bottle unused, Freeman said. About half of adults in the US with high blood pressure don’t regularly take their prescribed medication, according to a July 2025 study published in the journal JAMA Cardiology.

Freeman recommends trying to form a habit, such as keeping your pillbox next to an alarm or toothbrush. That way, when set an alarm for the morning or brush your teeth, you remember to also take the pills.

“There’s a way to cue yourself and remind,” Freeman said. “For those people that forget, consider having a small supply in your purse or your wallet or your car, just so you can always remember to take it.”

The study’s findings also highlight the need for physicians to be alert to early signs of disease and consider blood pressure treatment, even in younger people, according to Freeman.

“We’re seeing a lot more young people now who have chronic disease and diabetes and other things that may be relatively mild, but still at risk, and we need to be even more aggressive,” Freeman said.

Contributor: Sneha Dhandapani – CNN Health

What Physicians Get Wrong About the Risks of Being Overweight

Stanford medicine statistician Maya Mathur found that doctors have misconceptions about being overweight shortening lifespans.

Based on cues she’d picked up from popular culture and public health guidance, Stanford Medicine statistician Maya Mathur, PhD, had always assumed that being overweight decreases lifespans. She was surprised, then, to come across research that suggested the life expectancy among overweight people — those with a body mass index between 25 and 29.9 — wasn’t generally shorter than for people in the normal BMI range, controlling for factors such as age and whether they smoked.

In fact, a 2013 paper — which analyzed nearly 100 studies that included more than 2.8 million people — found that being overweight slightly reduced mortality risk. (That wasn’t the case for those considered obese, with a BMI at or above 30.) A 2016 analysis of around 240 studies did find a link between being overweight and higher mortality, but the effect was small.

Mathur felt that both studies had methodological problems, such as not controlling well for factors such as diet and physical activity.

“My own exposure to public health messaging suggested that an overweight BMI was a risk factor for mortality,” she said. But after reviewing the research she concluded, “That’s just not an evidence-based perception, considering the literature as a whole.”

Mathur, an assistant professor at Stanford Medicine’s Quantitative Sciences Unit and of pediatrics, wondered if doctors harbored the same misconceptions. Her mother, Vandana Mathur, is a practicing physician and biomedical researcher in the Bay area who’d learned in medical training that being overweight was harmful. With around one in three American adults qualifying as overweight but not obese, the pair decided to survey nearly 200 primary care physicians across the U.S. on how they viewed mortality risks for this group.

A gap between belief and reality

For their study, which was published in Epidemiology, the mother-daughter duo found that 90% of the surveyed doctors believed being overweight slashed patients’ lifespans, even though clinical guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association say that being overweight is not linked to a higher risk of mortality.

“It seems there’s a really big gap between the empirical evidence and the physicians’ perceptions,” Mathur said.

The researchers also gave doctors descriptions of two imaginary patients, 60-year-old women who were identical in every way, except one was overweight (but not obese) and one was normal weight. When they asked doctors to predict how likely each woman was to die from any cause in the next two decades, the physicians estimated that the overweight woman had a 25% higher mortality risk. When they asked physicians to estimate in general how being overweight affected mortality risk, the participants perceived a nearly 60% increase.

“The estimates they gave us were much stronger associations than even the studies that do suggest increased mortality risk,” Mathur said.

Mathur speculates that the mismatch could stem from misleading messages doctors get from the medical establishment. For example, the clinical guidelines that say being overweight doesn’t increase mortality risk also tell doctors to “advise overweight and obese adults that the greater the BMI, the greater the risk of…all-cause mortality.” The website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention similarly lumps together overweight and obese people, claiming that both are at increased risk of dying sooner from all causes.

“Perhaps the gap is really between the evidence and the communication,” Mathur said. Social stigma could also play a role. “It seems very plausible that our culture gives us a lot of messaging about BMI that’s not evidence based.”

Research does show that a higher BMI among overweight and obese people comes with a higher risk of coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, according to the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. But, Mathur says, “Much of the literature does not distinguish overweight from obesity.” Being obese or underweight are associated with elevated mortality risk.

Mathur says she’s concerned that doctors’ skewed views on weight could seep into interactions with patients. “Exaggerations about certain health risks could potentially cause undue stress for patients with an overweight BMI,” said Mathur. “And when the gap between communication and evidence comes to light, this could also, understandably, reduce patients’ trust in their doctors.”

Improving doctor-patient communication

Mathur urges doctors to stick closely to the research when talking to patients about weight. Such conversations are becoming more common as new weight-loss drugs, such as Ozempic, gain popularity. “It’s really critical to be respectful and non-stigmatizing, as well as evidence-based,” she said. “Focusing excessively on being overweight as its own risk factor for mortality, independent of biomarkers or metabolic health, does not seem warranted.”

Mathur believes future research could delve into the factors shaping physicians’ beliefs and how biases affect encounters with patients, as well as examining the views of doctors in other countries.

In the meantime, Mathur advises overweight patients who are bombarded with societal and public health messaging about weight to ask questions. “If it’s claimed that an overweight BMI is the key cause of a certain health issue or risk, ask, ‘What is the evidence for that?'” she said. “Perhaps there’s not as much you might think.”

Contributor: Katia Savchuk – Stanford Medicine News Center

The Reason Behind That Stubborn Belly Fat

Curious about why women tend to develop more belly fat than men, researchers conducted experiments to answer this question. Surprisingly, it turns out that eating a high fat diet triggers a chemical reaction in women’s bodies that is different from men, leading to higher levels of belly fat in women.

Gender Differences in Belly Fat

Belly fat is strongly associated with apple-shaped bodies and high amounts of fat surrounding vital organs. As organs become saturated with fat, a person’s body becomes unable to efficiently process sugar and type 2 diabetes develops.

Many people associate high fat diets and sedentary lifestyles with the development of belly fat. However, researchers have recently discovered that an enzyme associated with vitamin A triggers hormones contributing to the formation of this type of fat. Although this hormone is present in both men and women, women have much higher levels of the hormone. As a result, they typically develop belly fat in significantly larger amounts than men.

Options to Fight Belly Fat

Even if women are more genetically prone to belly fat than men, that does not mean they cannot fight it from developing. Avoiding a high fat diet in the first place is one method of stopping belly fat from occurring. Eating a diet rich in organic whole fruits and vegetables and lean meats can effectively fight high levels of fat.

Adding routine exercise is also important. A variety of exercises can strengthen abdominal muscles and improve metabolism. For example, pilates or yoga that focus on core muscle strengthening can increase metabolism, improve flexibility and improve muscle strength. Additionally, cardiovascular activities such as walking, bike riding or swimming can increase metabolism.

Remaining active and eating a healthy diet that avoids processed foods high in sugar and fat can lead to an improved lifestyle. Type 2 diabetes is strongly associated with obesity and weight gain. By avoiding these health conditions, you will improve your longevity and overall health.

Contributor: The Alternative Daily