Ask Me Anything #3

1. What can I eat or drink to make me feel full so I don't overeat snacks and gain weight?

Foods that are abundant in protein rate highest on the satiety scale. Foods that are rich in sugar, flour, and inexpensive vegetable oils that are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids rate lowest on the satiety scale.

The best way to prevent overeating is to prioritize foods that are abundant in healthy protein like organic eggs, smaller varieties of cold water fish, healthfully raised flesh meat, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

The second best group includes foods that are good sources of healthy fatty acids and/or fiber such as avocados, olives, and vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, kale, and cabbage. This second group also includes other plant foods that aren't too sweet - examples include cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes.

The third group includes whole foods that are good sources of complex carbohydrates, resistant starch, or fructose (natural fruit sugar). Examples include hard squashes, sweet potatoes, cooled Yukon gold potatoes, cooled rice, and any fruits you enjoy. Please note that foods with added high fructose corn syrup should be avoided. Cooled potatoes and cooled rice can be re-heated before eating - for more on resistant starch and insulin sensitivity, please feel free to view:

https://drbenkim.com/resistant-starch-foods-cooled-rice-potatoes-healthy...

2. What to do about chronic hip stiffness?

Rotating or swiveling the hips a few times daily as shown in the following video provides an enormous return in hip function:

https://youtu.be/eAKmscLr2dU

3. What do you think about food combining rules?

From a metabolic perspective, I have found that the most helpful principle of food combining is to avoid eating large amounts of fat and carbohydrates in the same meal. Fat and carbs serve as our two primary sources of energy, so when we take in large quantities of both in a short period of time, we tend to end up with more fuel than we need in the moment within our circulation, and excess fuel gets stored as fat in our fascia and within our organs.

Accordingly, foods like French fries, doughnuts, and other carbohydrate-rich foods that have been fried in oil are most capable of increasing unneeded fat stores. Rather than ingest a large amount of fat and carbohydrates at the same time, it's far better for our system if we combine a protein-rich food with a carbohydrate-rich food, or if we combine protein with fat.

Of course, if we have a little avocado (fat) along with a bowl of rice (carbs) and fish (protein), the majority of us should be fine in digesting and assimilating the nutrients within.

It's also worth noting the obvious: the more physically active we are, the more overall volume we can make use of.

4. Could you recommend a decent pillow that would be good for everyone?

My experience has been that it's exceedingly difficult to find one pillow that meets every person's unique needs.

With that said, you might consider the following memory foam contour pillow which has a lower side and a slightly higher side so you can try two different heights of support:

https://amzn.to/2Z2hDEN

For Canadians:
https://amzn.to/31UoKAN

If you have tried this type of contour pillow and have found it unhelpful, my suggestion would be to get a quality adjustable pillow that you can modify to create the level of depth and support you feel most comfortable with, something like this:

https://amzn.to/359DPRg

For Canadians:
https://amzn.to/2DrANfN

5. Social media is harmful and getting to me, my blood pressure rises as soon as I start looking at it. Do you have 10 websites that you like to follow that are encouraging, helpful, fun, spiritual, etc. that you wouldn't mind sharing?

Rather than follow specific websites, I strive to stay connected with people and projects that I enjoy hearing from. For example, on Instagram and YouTube, you can find a number of accounts that focus on sharing inspiring, feel-good, or empowering content - such accounts are easily found by using the search function to look up terms like kindness, goodness, love, humor, and inspiration.

If an account I am connected with consistently shares material that leaves me feeling upset, I disconnect from or mute that account. My point is that we can customize our setup with social media to experience more of what nourishes us while minimizing our exposure to topics that we find harmful to our emotional well-being.

6. Do you have any supplement recommendations for prostate health?

For those who wish to support prostate health, I suggest including pomegranate in the diet. The easiest and most accessible source for most is likely pomegranate juice, which is readily available in most stores these days. Because it is fruit juice, it's best not to have too much in one serving. I would suggest 2 ounces three times a day, ideally, after you already have some solid food in your stomach - having food in your stomach before drinking the 2 ounces will help preserve your sensitivity to insulin.

An alternative to pomegranate juice is the following organic whole food multi which contains about 600 mg of organic pomegranate per serving:

https://drbenkim.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=150

It's also available in vegetable capsule form:

https://drbenkim.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=147

Ensuring that one does not overeat is also generally helpful to prostate health. So I suggest eating only when truly hungry, chewing foods to liquid, and stopping when one feels satisfied.

Another suggestion that I have consistently found helpful to people who display signs and symptoms of prostate dysfunction is to increase frequency of ejaculation. There is considerable evidence that points to higher frequency of ejaculation being highly supportive of prostate health and a way to decrease risk of developing benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. Where ejaculation occurs through the natural course of one's mutually monogamous relationship with both people physiologically and emotionally wanting to be together, this is helpful, of course, but where these conditions don't naturally exist, which is quite normal for many people at various life stages, I recommend daily masturbation as a means to supporting prostate health.

7. Do you think that the average person can find success without a college degree? Do you expect your children to go to college?

Clearly, there are some professions like those within health care and some types of engineering for which systematic learning in school is ideal. But more than ever, it's possible for people to learn the skills they need to work in most professions without having to go through years of unnecessary schooling.

For example, google is now offering 6-month career certificate courses in a variety of fields that are the equivalent to a 4-year college education. The cost for such courses is 49 USD per month.

Am I grateful to be here? Do I feel that my everyday work is helpful to others in some way? Do I have people and causes in my life that I care deeply about? Do I feel genuinely loved and appreciated by those around me?

If we can nod yes to these questions or at least work our way toward being able to answer in the affirmative some day, then I think we can feel that we have found success with or without a college degree. Accordingly, I am far more interested in our boys experiencing these measures of success than I am in what college or university they go to, if any.

I don't place value on going to a prestigious school to make connections and gather credentials that will make it easier for the world to take care of us. I find it far more empowering to walk with the intention of discovering people and causes that we love and learning how to take care of ourselves by creating real value for others.

With best wishes until next time,

Ben