Esther Blum

Registered Dietitian & Holistic Nutritionist • www.eatdrinkandbegorgeous.com • www.livinggorgeous.com • New York, NY

Esther Blum received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Simmons College in Boston and is a graduate of New York University, where she received her Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition. She is also a graduate of the Designs For Health Institute, where she received her certification in holistic nutrition. Esther lives in New York City with her family.

Esther is a Registered Dietitian and Holistic Nutritionist who has helped thousands of patients achieve systemic harmony. With 15 years’ experience under her belt, Esther’s talents lie in helping clients gain a deeper understanding of their bodies while achieving a greater balance in energy levels, eating practices, and overall well-being.

Philosophy about Nutrition and Food

My philosophy around nutrition and food is really about balance. I never ask clients to do something that I would not do myself. I really do believe in an eighty-twenty rule of 80% on and 20% off. I do expect people to get 80% of their diet from whole foods 20% from refine foods. I find that holistically it is just the best way to heal somebody. Getting rid of flour products really clears up a lot of metabolic growth blocks that are often present. I also have people eliminate flour products from their diet just for a month to see the difference in their energy level and their weight, and it inevitably improves.

Thoughts about Supplements

I do believe in taking supplements. After working several years in the hospital setting I found that diet only was just not enough. Our soils are very over-farmed and depleted and people are just not sitting at home cooking meals. They are eating out a lot, they are traveling a lot, and it just not realistic to think that you are going to get everything you need from food. So, I do recommend supplements. I think they are a cheap insurance policy and it gets people feeling well at a much faster level than diet alone.

Is there a supplement you recommend or guidelines to taking supplements?

If people are only going to take one supplement I recommend omega-3 fish oil, because I think those are just a panacea for about 100 million things. Of course I always recommend a multivitamin. I like Biotics and Standard Process which are usually available through health care practitioners, and certain chemists carry them. They are whole foods vitamins, so that’s what I always recommend - a whole food vitamin when possible.

How did you get into nutrition?

I come from a long line of doctors. My grandfather practiced medicine until he was 95 and half. He was an ENT physician. He lived until he was 105 and half. My father is a physician and my mother is a nurse. So I was always surrounded by medical people, and a lot of medical knowledge. I did not want to go through the rigors of medical school and I was also bad at physics. So I decided to go into nutrition because I really liked the degree, I liked the study and the sciences and there was a lot of chemistry. It’s basically pre-med without the physics and a little less chemistry. So I went into it for the academics. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. When I studied nutrition – I graduated college in 1992. Nutrition wasn’t like the hip fabulous thing that is today. It was much different and I feel like I got my foot in the door at a really good time. I was very lucky. But it is a really meaningful career. At Thanksgiving one of the things that I was thankful for was really meaningful work - the practitioner part of me that is the liaison between the patient and the physician. So it is very rewarding to help patients make sense of all their blood work and kind of review medical diagnosis and explain things to them because I have the time to sit with them.

I don’t have a waiting room of fifty people in it. I work with people an hour at a time. Unfortunately a lot of medical schools do not teach nutrition for more than two to four days out of four years of schooling. And certainly there is no education on supplements. There are naturopathic physicians but I am talking MDs. So I really feel lucky that I can work in conjunctions with medications, I often work side by side with physicians and say this is what I like to put your patients on please give them the green light so they can have peace of mind while they take their medicine. If they are going to take their Lipitor, they should take CoQu-10 and fish oils. If they are going to take their thyroid medicine, some extra selenium may be beneficial, which are thyroid-supporting nutrients that they can take to really optimize their medication.

What is the response you get from physicians?

I would say 90% of the time they say, “well it won’t hurt you”. They don’t agree, but they don’t disagree. I do refer to them because the patient has to feel comfortable. And it is very difficult as a patient, even myself, I go back and forth between doctors sometimes. It can be very difficult to navigate your way through and say who is right and who is wrong, who’s advice do I take. It’s a lot of responsibility on the patient to do all the research and learn about vitamins, and which nutrients – that’s my job. So if patients are anxious and say well I’m not sure about this, I will give them research articles from peer-reviewed published medical journals that show that it is safe to take fish oils and when it is safe to take aspirin with fish oils. Then that helps put their mind at ease.

The best case scenario, and this has happened, is when the doctors says to the patient, “you lost twenty pounds and your autoimmune condition is under control, what have you done?” And the patient says, “well I cut out wheat and dairy and I am taking a couple of fish oils and a multivitamin and I am taking some magnesium.” Then the doctors say, “wow okay!” and then they are much more open and receptive because they had nothing to do with it, and their patients feel well. They see that it didn’t jeopardize their patients’ health in any way. It is just food and nutrients, while many people die from drugs every year that have terrible side effects. It so uncommon to die from a nutrient - even toxicity death is very uncommon. Usually the worse you get is diarrhea or a headache but it is nothing that will kill you. The problem is like herbs like ephedra is very useful in treating asthma when used correctly, and a lot of acupunturists use it in practice. But there are so many people that abuse it and there a so many vitamin companies that are not reputable and they put junk in their supplements – they are the bad apples that spoil it for the rest of the companies that are ethical and honest and do their due diligence and really create good products. So you just have to get your products from a reputable practitioner.

What staple should we have in our refrigerator and pantry?

I love this question! I am going to give you at least five:

1. Ground Flax Seeds. Flax seeds are little brown seeds about the size of sesame seeds – they are brown or tan. You buy them whole and grind them up in a coffee grinder – which take all of fifteen seconds. You store them in Tupperware in the freezer. Ground flax seeds are extremely helpful for treating constipation, preventing deaths from colon cancer in women and men, they are good for prostate health as well, great for digestion, and great source for fiber. Two tablespoons have 8 grams of fiber.

You put them in your oatmeal, yogurt, you can put them in salads and soups. I make buckwheat pancakes with them. You can put them in brownies. They’re just a magical food. My irritable bowel clients tell me, “wow, it really regulated my bowels and got my gut in good shape.” For some of my vegetarian clients who will not eat fish oil, I tell them to have two to three tablespoons of flax seed oil and that also does wonders to their skin, nails and their hair.

2. Canned Wild Alaskan Salmon. I say canned because it is so easy, it doesn’t spoil and you can travel with it. Wild Alaskan salmon has astaxanthin, which is the red algae that the fish eat that give them their pink color. If you ever buy farm salmon it has fake dyes in it that make it look pink but farm salmon is actually white. The farm fish is eating corn and soy, which incidentally gives them saturated fat and very low levels of omega-3and high levels of omega-6 so all the heart benefits go away. So wild Alaskan salmon – the only state where farmed raised fishing is illegal - it’s not even an option in that state. The waters are clean, pure, and earth free of mercury. And it’s a great snack. If you ever are feeling that your skin is looking wrinkled and saggy, just eat salmon for two out of three of your meals for three days in a row and your skin will really pump up. It’s a face-lift in your fridge! It also contains something called DMAE, which is a neurotransmitter that contracts and tones the muscles under your skin. So it’s a total beauty food – it’s unbelievable!

3. Nuts and Seeds. These are nature’s fast food. They are an excellent snack and they stabilize your blood sugar. They are full of calcium and magnesium, and Brazil nuts have a lot of selenium which is great for thyroid function. So they are really good portable snacks.

4. Pomegranate. I actually have a video on you tube on how to open a pomegranate:

Video: Esther Blum "THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, GIVE A GIFT TO YOUR BODY"

It is very simple, you cut the ends off the pomegranate and you score it half way down the center and you open it in a bowl of water so the juice does not stain anything. However, the juice you can also drink up to 8 oz a day and it will not raise your blood sugar. It is very rich in antioxidants and polyphenols which are plant antioxidants, and known to help reverse heart disease - coronary artery disease. So pomegranates are a really wise choice.

5. Blueberries. You can buy them frozen in the winter. Blueberries are the only fruit that is proven to prevent age related memory loss. If you can get a cup a day, it is just phenomenal for memory.

What can we do for the holidays?

I think that the big mistake that people make is that they think that they are going to try and diet over holidays. I really encourage people to eat foods that they enjoy during the holidays because there a certain foods that you only eat once a year – so why not enjoy them once a year? There are couple things you can do to offset weight gain though during the holidays. I believe in weight maintenance during the holidays not weight loss. I just don’t think it’s realistic.

A couple of things - It’s really important that you don’t miss your workouts during the holiday season. I recommend stepping it up with weights for more than cardio. I have been to so many conferences over the years and I really watch the trend shift from just get cardio everyday to hearing professional trainers who have trained Olympic athletes all say that weight training is the way to go for anti-aging. You are basically doing interval training. if you lift weights – short amounts of intensive burst of weight lifting – it stimulates what the release of Growth Hormone, which helps your body burn fat more efficiently and it builds testosterone which women are low in. The testosterone is really responsible for building muscle in the body. And it also helps you sleep better.

A lot of weight loss and being over weight is about hormonal imbalances – it’s not about how much exercise you do, it’s about the right kinds of exercise. So try weight lifting three times a week for twenty to thirty minutes and then twenty to thirty minutes of light cardio – like walking on a treadmill. Keep your heart rate 125-130 beats per minute. That is what you need. Most people are going out there, they are running six miles – doing a sprint cross for forty-five minutes – and that can really raise your cortisol levels. Once your heart rate goes above 140, 150, 160, your body starts to put out all these stress hormones that help you gain a lot of weight around your mid section. And eating a lot of sugar and drinking alcohol will also do the same thing [putting weight around your mid section]. If you really want to stay lean and mean, you need to lift weights in conjunction with eating healthy. And over the holidays allow yourself your favorite foods, but put it on a salad plate. You will be amazed how much less you eat and you will still enjoy it.

Advice if someone wants to make a change today?

I always recommend trying an experiment of really cutting out flour products for a month. It is a very dramatic change, but it has such impact on everyone’s blood sugar and energy level, their weight, and their hormonal balance. First move to whole wheat versions of things and then slowly cut down portions of things. But if someone is really ready to embrace a change then I would say just toss out the white flour – the bread, the pasta, the white rice, cookies and muffins, bagels, donuts, all the sweet stuff – and all of a sudden you are left with what am I going to eat now? Well, whole foods – brown rice, beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, oats, meats, fishes, chicken, and fruits and vegetables and fats like avocado, nuts and seeds, olive oil, coconut oil and butter - real foods. It’s all about eating real foods. If something has more than five ingredients, don’t eat it. Apples and oranges never needed and nutritional label before. Meat should be just one ingredient – meat – it is very straight forward.

If that is too much, I recommend trying to eat organically as much as possible. But an organic cookie still has sugar in it. Just because it says it’s organic doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Organic sugar is no better for you in my opinion than non-organic sugar.

One message about food and nutrition you would like to share?

My biggest take home message to my clients ever day is that small changes can make a big difference. For instance, vegetarians who just cling to a very restrictive life style –if I can get them to add in some flax seed oil, or eat a little bit of fish or eggs and that immediately helps them feel better. Or someone who says, you know what, I will not cut out my bread but I will switch to whole wheat and I will eat less of it. Or someone who starts exercising two hours a week when they never did before. Small changes can make a big difference. And usually the more gradual they are, the more permanent they will be. I find when I can educate somebody and they really come to it in their own volition and own terms and their own time table when they are ready, then it works beautifully. Fortunately most people come to me ready. If someone is not ready we work slowly and gently. It also helps to get people to focus on their health and not weight loss, because focusing on health will also lead to weight loss – it is part of a domino effect. If you take the emphasis off weight loss, it takes a lot of pressure off. It just feels more organic and more natural for a lot of people, including myself. I don’t like to think of having to lose five pounds. I think, “let me just not eat bread for a while and let’s clear the junk out!” Get your energy up and get rid of your cravings and then the rest will fall into place. And that is usually what happens. Esther Blum has her second book out for the holidays called Secrets of Gorgeous.

Must Read

Secrets of Gorgeous