The LILI Letter — September 2025
September,
Ahhhhhh. We made it through the summer, although technically it ends on September 22nd with the autumn equinox. Everything seems to take a breath this time of year. September is a month of transitions for many of us. Teachers are teaching, kids are in school, summer jobs come to an end, the garden and farm crops are coming on full force, and it is a time of fruition and change. The leaves are turning, daylight is fading, and on it goes. All the natural cycles continue. Wishing you a healthy and productive start to autumn.
In good health,
Jennifer James
Success story
“Success is the state or defined condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system” per Wikipedia. Meaning, success is what we define it to be. Losing weight, becoming and staying sober, getting a degree, starting a business, surviving cancer, raising healthy, well-adjusted children, or changing a flat tire can all be successes. Setting and accomplishing goals are successes.
If we take the long view of success, what pops up? I ask people to look at their current lives compared to how they would like their lives to be, and give it a percentage. Sadly, I often hear “50%”. Not great. They are stuck in a job they hate that generates a lot of income, and are the primary breadwinner. Or they wished they had become a teacher instead of getting married and raising kids. True stories from patients. Some of the factors that impact our lives’ successes are beyond our control. We are hit with things we did not see coming. For those factors we can control, and changing them would bring us closer to our “best life”, what are we afraid of? Upsetting people? Making less money? The life we end up living may not be the life we wanted, but it could turn out well, regardless. Life is short. If we are at less than 80% of the life we want, what can we change? What do we have to accept if that isn’t possible? For me, a successful life includes a calm and happy core, nurturing relationships with others, contributing to the greater good, and taking good care of myself. A little traveling would be nice, too.
Today, what is one little step we can all take towards creating the life we want? Then let’s do it! No excuses!
Do you really know…vinegar?
Vinegar has been around for at least 7000 years. What other product can we eat and also use to clean things? It is made when yeast converts sugar or starch to alcohol, then the alcohol is converted to vinegar with the addition of a bacteria, “acetobacter”, and left to ferment. It is a weak acid, so tenderizes meat, cleans a mirror and descales hard water deposits. Most varieties have no sodium or sugar, so it can be used in restricted diets to flavor food. There are many varieties of vinegar, depending on the original food that was fermented, such as grapes, rice, unhoped beer, wine, and apples. Chinese black vinegar uses rice and wheat bran to produce a very flavorful, smoky vinegar. Vinegar contains trace amounts of vitamins, minerals, and other healthy bits. Try a favorite salad using Chinese black vinegar below.
Caffeine
A former coworker of mine was married to an ICU nurse. They both worked full time and were raising five children. He worked nights in the ICU and kept himself going with coffee, Coke and No-Doz. He had a seizure one day, and after an extensive workup, the culprit was an excessive intake of caffeine. Bzzzzzz!
Many of us consume caffeine on a regular basis, (and likely not to the point of having a caffeine-induced seizure). It is a central nervous system stimulant, specifically the fight/flight branch (or sympathetic nervous system). It blocks a chemical in the brain (adenosine) from working that makes us feel relaxed and drowsy. It stays in our system for hours, increasing alertness, focus and a sense of well-being. About 15% of the population does not tolerate caffeine well, and we know who we are (myself for one). For those of us who are sensitive to it, it is a very unpleasant experience when we have too much. Anxiety, increased heart rate, sweating, the jitters and insomnia are some of the symptoms we suffer through. Others thrive on it, and can even drink a cup of regular coffee before bedtime, and still fall asleep with ease.
Many foods and beverages contain caffeine, but because the FDA does not require food manufacturers to disclose the amount of caffeine in their products, it is anyone’s guess. For example, in coffee, the types of beans, growing conditions, brewing process, brew time, size of the grounds and how much water is used are all factors that affect how much caffeine ends up in a cup of Joe. Energy drinks, sodas, electrolyte mixtures, sports gels, coffee ice cream and chocolate contain varying amounts of caffeine. Even Ensure has a café mocha flavor that includes caffeine!
So how much caffeine is in sodas, tea, coffee and energy drinks? A standard cup of coffee contains around 100-150 mg of caffeine. Red Bull, an energy drink, contains 80 mg. A regular 12-ounce diet Coke contains 46 mg (regular has 34 mg). Even decaffeinated coffee contains caffeine, albeit a much smaller amount. Coffee ice cream can contain nearly as much caffeine as a cup of coffee in one serving. A chocolate bar has 10-20 mg, with more in the darker chocolate. Up to 400 mg a day seems to be well-tolerated by most adults. For a seizure? Try 1200 mg. A fatal dose is 10,000 mg or higher. It is not a completely benign substance, obviously. Children and teenagers should avoid caffeine, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Pregnant and breastfeeding women need to limit it also.
How to manage our intake of caffeine? Monitor how we feel when consuming it. If we have trouble sleeping, try cutting off all caffeine by noon. If it makes us feel energized, but not jittery, and helps us complete our daily tasks, why not? I can tolerate small amounts, but even coffee ice cream has made it difficult for me to sleep. Know your body and how it handles this stimulant. Enjoy it responsibly.
Moyer, L. and Kock, M. (2025, May/June). Caffeine. How much is in your cup? Center for Science in the Public Interest, p. 21-23.
Evans, J. et. al. (2024, May 29). Caffeine. NIH National Library of Medicine, StatPearls.
A bit of wisdom
I am sure some of you remember the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment with children in the 1970’s, where they were offered a marshmallow. If they could wait 15-20 minutes before eating it, they would get another one. These children were followed for decades. The ones who could delay the enjoyment of the marshmallow, rather than immediately eating it, were more successful as adults, than the ones who ate it right away*. Which one are you? The one who ate the marshmallow right away, or the one who could wait? Which brings me to…delayed gratification.
Do you pay your bills first, set aside some money for savings, and then spend money on more enjoyable things? Can you study and do your college homework before hanging out with friends? Can you do the chores before watching television? Self-control is a beautiful thing. It allows us to save money, obtain certifications and degrees, play a musical instrument, build our own business, delay marriage until we have marketable training or education, lose weight, and keep a regular bedtime, regardless of the electronic temptations.
Mindfulness practice can help with this, as it helps us pause and not rush into things. The technological age with Google and cell phones has provided much instant gratification. Being willing to suffer, working through any pain we must resolve, and completing unpleasant tasks, can propel us forward into a more productive and meaningful life. If we feel we are a valuable person, we are more likely to take better care of ourselves, which likely involves delayed gratification. If we ate everything we wanted, whenever we wanted it, spent money on whatever caught our eye, didn’t trouble ourselves with household chores and binged daily on social media, television and fast food, we have a problem. This is the opposite of delayed gratification. It is the toddler’s approach to life.
What are we putting off because it is unpleasant? What would make our lives better with some discipline and delayed gratification? Delaying gratification is a critical life skill that will foster more success, health and happiness. Bet on it.
*(Interestingly, when this experiment was replicated with larger, more diverse groups of children, the results were more mixed regarding success in life. Trusting the person to bring a second marshmallow was part of it. Socioeconomic backgrounds and cultural differences played a role in the more mixed results also).
Cohen, I. S. (2017, December 26). The benefits of delaying gratification. Psychology Today.
Preventing cancer
A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, (AJCN), added more solid evidence that eating a plant-based diet lowers the risk of cancer, across the board. The researchers were from Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California, which is home to a large population of Seventh Day Adventists. Seventh Day Adventists typically eat a vegetarian diet. The researchers looked at vegan diets, lacto-ovo vegetarian (includes dairy and eggs), and pesco-vegetarian (includes fish) diets. The sample size was too small to include people who occasionally ate chicken or meat, so it was not analyzed. Earlier research had found an inverse association between plant-based diets and the incidence of cancer, meaning, more plant-based eating, less cancer. Several meta-analysis studies, (pooling data from multiple studies into one), previously found an 8-23% reduction in cancer in those who consumed a vegetarian diet compared to nonvegetarians. Incidence of gastrointestinal cancers (stomach, colon and rectum) appeared to decrease the most on a plant-based diet from these meta analyses.
The AJCN study analyzed data collected from nearly 80,000 people, from the US and Canada, between 2002-2007, who had enrolled in the ongoing Adventist Health Study. These people were tracked for nearly eight years. All participants filled out food frequency questionnaires and 24-hour diet recalls were done six times with a subgroup of 1100 people. The researchers accounted for variables such as lactation history, exercise, alcohol consumption, tobacco use and other factors that could influence specific types of cancer, such as lung cancer. They looked at frequently occurring cancers, such as breast and prostate, and less frequently occurring types of cancer, such as stomach, renal, thyroid and melanoma.
What did they find? A significantly reduced risk for lymphoma-type cancers when eating a vegetarian diet was a new finding from this study. Overall, the risk of developing any form of cancer was 12% lower for all vegetarians than nonvegetarians. For the less common cancers, there was an 18% lower risk in vegetarians. For more specific types of cancer, vegetarians had an astounding 45% lower risk of developing stomach cancer, 21% lower risk for colorectal cancer, and 25% lower risk for lymphoma-type cancers than non-vegetarians. Splitting apart the types of vegetarian diets yielded some interesting information. The greatest decrease in risk for all cancers was seen in vegans at 24%, lacto-ovo vegetarians 9%, and pesco-vegetarians 11%. For the less common forms of cancer, risk decreased by 23% in the vegans, 18% in the lacto-ovo-vegetarians and 13% in the pesco-vegetarians.
The findings from this important study does not change the diet recommendations from the American Institute of Cancer Research or the American Cancer Society for lowering our risk of cancer. It adds weight to the accumulating evidence of eating plant-based diets for cancer prevention. The importance of eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dried beans and peas, nuts and seeds still stands. Since only 10% of Americans eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, this reinforces the changes most Americans need to make. If becoming a vegan vegetarian is not appealing, making more meals plant-based, and including a meatless meal one or more times a week (think peanut butter sandwich or vegetarian chili), is doable. Eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day is not that difficult either. We just have to do it. The choice is ours: increased cancer risk vs. eating more plants. Seems pretty simple to me.
Haelle, Tara. (2025, August 26). Plant-heavy diets’ link to reduced cancer risk strengthened. Medscape.
Fraser, Gary, et. al. (2025). Longitudinal associations between vegetarian dietary habits and site-specific cancers in the Adventist Health Study-2 North American cohort - The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; 122(2), 535-543.
My current favorite salad
I cannot believe how delicious this is, and so easy. You can find the Chinese black vinegar and black sesame seeds at Ocean Mart or other Asian supermarkets. These ingredients are worth the trip. Buy a brand that does not contain caramel or caramel color, such as Fusion Select or Soeos.
Mixed baby greens, several generous handfuls
Grape tomatoes, 6
Cucumber, 1.5-inch piece, sliced
Small chunk of feta cheese, crumbled
Halved grapes, 4, halved, or a small, diced plum
Kalamata olives, 3, halved
Chinese black vinegar, 2 teaspoons
Extra-virgin olive oil, 1.5 teaspoons
Black sesame seeds, ½ teaspoon
Freshly grated black pepper
Combine the above ingredients in a large flat bowl. Add other ingredients that suit your fancy, such as radishes, pea pods, dried cherries, sunflower seeds, etc. Make it a meal with black beans, chickpeas, grilled chicken or fish. Enjoy!
Calories, as described above: 225 calories
September support groups
Mondays, 2-3 pm
Heart Center Conference Room, Suite #200
ORMC Medical Plaza
Free to graduates of ORMC weight loss classes
The ability to delay gratification is intimately linked with success. You cannot succeed at anything unless you are willing and able to delay gratification.
— Matthew Kelly