Plum Health Blog
How To Prepare for the Holidays During the Coronavirus Pandemic
As winter approaches with COVID cases surging, taking steps to keep yourself and your loved ones both physically and mentally healthy is of paramount importance.
Get a Flu Shot
First and foremost, those who are able should receive the annual influenza vaccine as soon as possible. The CDC defines flu season as the period from December to January, meaning the peak for influenza cases this year is rapidly approaching.
While the flu shot will not specifically protect you from COVID, the vaccination confers a host of benefits, including reduced likelihood of hospitalization or exacerbation of chronic diseases such as COPD, diabetes, or heart disease. Reducing hospitalizations can relieve some of the burden on our already-strained hospital system as we contend with the rising number of patients with COVID.
For context, influenza caused 38,000,000 symptomatic illnesses, 18,000,000 medical visits, 400,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths in the United States during the 2019 to 2020 flu season. If everyone got a flu shot prior to this season, we could see a dramatic reduction in these numbers.
Winter Holiday Planning
Another consideration is planning for the winter holidays and the gatherings that tend to accompany them. As the cold weather drives more people inside and impairs the ability to gather outdoors, we expect to see the number of COVID cases increase markedly.
This is obviously a touchy subject; this has been a stressful year, and most of us want nothing more than to spend time with our friends and families. A strong social support network lowers stress, promotes good mental health, and can even lower your blood pressure.
While these benefits from social support systems are certainly desirable, steps should be taken to ensure everyone can enjoy the festivities without increasing the risk of getting sick. The current statewide restrictions limit indoor gatherings to a maximum of 10 people and no more than two households, so it is important to plan accordingly.
To maximize safety, anyone you invite should be practicing safe habits, including wearing a face covering like a mask, maintaining physical distancing at 6 to 10 feet at all times, and washing their hands regularly, prior to coming to the event to reduce the likelihood of catching COVID from community spread.
If there is any doubt as to whether someone may have acquired coronavirus before coming to your house, there are many sites where free testing is available, including the City of Detroit testing site at the Joseph Walker Williams Community Center on Rosa Parks Boulevard and most commercial drug stores like Walgreens and CVS.
If you test positive or test negative and have symptoms highly suspicious for COVID, including fever, dry cough, and loss of taste or smell, the safest course of action is to stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days. The worst case scenario would be to spread coronavirus from yourself to an older, sicker, or more vulnerable member of your family who could die from COVID or suffer significant physical impairments from the virus.
At the gathering, try to maintain physical distance as much as possible, wash your hands frequently, avoid sharing utensils, and consider shortening the duration of the event, as longer time spent indoors is associated with a greater risk of spreading the virus.
How a Healthy Lifestyle Can Help
Finally, try to maintain your regular healthy lifestyle habits, even during the winter months. If you typically exercise outside, dress in layers and ensure you are well-hydrated. Do your best to get eight hours of sleep each night, and practice healthy eating as much as possible.
There is always the temptation to overeat during the holidays, so conscientious eating and portion control can help reduce excess calorie intake and still allow you to enjoy your favorite holiday dishes.
The changes in weather and lack of sunlight can also trigger or worsen depression in some individuals, so it is important to communicate with your primary care physician about any depressive symptoms you may be experiencing. In general, it is good practice to keep in touch with your primary care physician, as they are best equipped to manage your healthcare concerns.
For those without a Primary Care Physician, my practice, Plum Health DPC, is currently accepting new patients. We offer subscription-based care and affordable testing and medications, including flu shots and COVID antibody testing. Anyone interested in signing up or seeking additional information can visit our website, here.
Thanks for reading and watching,
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC, written with Geoffrey Ginter, Third Year Medical Student at Wayne State University School of Medicine
Healthy Food, Nutrients, Cognition, and Emotions in Detroit
Healthy Foods and Nutrients that can help with Cognition and Emotion
Today I’m talking about health food and nutrients and how they can impact your emotions and cognition. I love gardening and pulling tomatoes, peas, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and squash fresh from the vine. We have a relatively small garden, three raised beds, but they churn out a good amount of food each year. Tomatoes usually do the best, but we had a surprisingly robust batch of peppers this year.
We use the tomatoes in dishes like salads and ratatouille and the peppers can season many different dishes. Here’s some photos:
Without further ado, let’s get into some healthy foods that can help with your brain health and emotional health.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Omega 3 fatty acids help to delay cognitive decline in the elderly and can help with mood disorders. Found in wild caught salmon, flax seeds, krill, kiwi, butternut, walnut
Vitamin D
Vitamin D can help preserve cognition in the elderly. Vitamin D can be found in fish liver, fatty fish, mushrooms, milk, soy milk, and some fortified foods like cereal grains. AND you can get more vitamin D by hanging out in the sunshine.
B Vitamins
B Vitamins like B6 and B12 has positive effects on memory performance in women of various ages. Vitamin B6 is found in a wide variety of foods, including: pork poultry, such as chicken or turkey, some fish, peanuts, soy beans, wheatgerm, oats, and bananas.
Vitamin C and E
Combinatoin of Vitamin C and E can help to delay cognitive decline in the elderly. Sources of Vitamin C include Citrus fruits, tomatoes and tomato juice, potatoes, red and green peppers, kiwifruit, broccoli, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, and cantaloupe.
Want to learn more and read some relevant research? Check out this article:
Better Ways to Spend Time and Money on Cyber Monday
There are better ways to spend your time and money during Cyber Monday, I’ll list a few of them here:
invest money into a retirement account, like a Roth IRA or a 401K or 403B plan
put a little extra money into your mortgage, or if you have an auto loan, pay a little extra on your auto loan
invest into a child’s education fund
visit an elderly relative or a neighbor, bonus points if you bring them some nutritious food
go to the gym and have a good work out, bonus points if you go with a friend or a partner/spouse/significant other
take time to make a healthy meal at home
schedule an appointment with your doctor
schedule an appointment with your dentist
check your tires before it snows again
your tread can wear down over time, and sometimes the cold weather can cause deflation
make a donation to a charity
volunteer at a local service organization
if you choose to shop, shop at a local small business and get to know the people that work there and the business owner
write a thank you note to whoever hosted you for Thanksgiving Dinner or a Thanksgiving-related event
meditate
be grateful for what you already have
I know that people can overspend during the Holidays, and I’ve read that people can go into about $1,000 in debt due to holiday spending, but there are better ways to spend your time and money on Cyber Monday. You can invest into yourself and into your retirement accounts, invest into your children’s education funds, take time to exercise and eat healthy foods, and visit and spend time with elderly folks in your life and in your community.
Thanks for reading and have a great day,
-Dr. Paul Thomas
How many calories should I eat each day?
How many calories should I eat each day? This is a question that my patients commonly ask of me and there is not a one-size-fits all answer. There are several steps to finding the appropriate calorie intake on a daily basis. One of those steps is calculating your basal metabolic rate.
Once you know your basal metabolic rate, you can add in the amount of calories that you burn each day from exercising. If you jog for 30 minutes each day, you may burn about 200 calories. If you do yoga for 30 minutes each day, you can burn around 150 calories.
Take the number of calories burned in the day and add that to your basal metabolic rate. If you have a reasonably stable weight, you can estimate that you are taking in about that calorie total in your diet.
Then you have to consider your weight goals. Are you trying to lose weight or gain weight? If you seek weight loss, then removing 100 - 200 calories from your diet each day may be a safe number for you to achieve your goals. Remember, in general, it is unsafe to lose more than 1 - 2 pounds each month.
Using an app like MyFitnessPal can be really helpful, especially if you are meticulous about documenting the foods that you consume and workouts that you perform each day. If you're a patient with Plum Health, I will review your data in the App and then we can make better decisions about dietary changes and exercise regimens.
In general, my opinion is more about eating healthier foods, not necessarily less food. I recommend eating foods discussed in "The End of Dieting", found on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2snb78z
In it, Dr. Fuhrman recommends eating GBOMS, Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms Seeds and Nuts. The point is to get more nutrients/calorie and he sums it up this way: Health = Nutrients/Calorie. The more nutrients per calorie, the better your health.
Kale, Bok Choy, Quinoa, Blueberries, Almonds, Walnuts, Wild Caught Salmon are a handful of examples of highly nutrient dense foods! This would be in contrast to Iceberg Lettuce, bananas, peanuts, and ground beef - these foods are less nutrient dense then the aforementioned foods.
Making healthier food choices, especially those foods that are nutrient dense, can help you to be healthier. Further, if you make organic selections, you will have less toxins in your body. Physician and author Dr. Mike Dow discusses the importance of eating organic foods in his book The Brain Fog Fix.
I hope that this is a helpful and comprehensive answer for you! Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day,
- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health Direct Primary Care in Detroit, Michigan
Health Benefits of Plums
Plums are a great source of fiber and vitamin C. I recommend eating 4 - 5 fruits and vegetables each day, and Plums can be a great part of this. When you eat a healthy balanced diet, you don't need to take as many supplements; the foods that are available for consumption have all the essential vitamins and minerals that we need to be healthy.
As an update, we were recently featured in Crain's Detroit Business, so a big thanks to their editorial staff and Mark S. Lee for giving me the platform to spread the word about Direct Primary Care. Here's a video update:
Thanks for reading and watching, and have a wonderful day! Also, Happy April Fool's Day!
- Dr. Paul with Plum Health DPC