A Health Blog
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES
Posted on February 19, 2012 I received a box of Girl Scout cookies today (supporting a friend's child). Read the ingredients (a mandatory requirement for health). Here is a discussion of the first 3 ingredients (remember, ingredients are listed in order of quantity - the first ingredient is the most quantity in the product). Enriched flour. Several centuries ago, as food production was being centralized, it became difficult to effectively distribute whole grain bread before it we
TOXINS IN ORANGE JUICE AND BABY FOOD
Posted on February 16, 2012 Disease is the result of our bodies losing battles. Toxins attack. Our bodies defend. If the defense is too weak, injury results. If healing doesn't happen, disease results. If we want health, we have to avoid toxins, strengthen our defense and improve our healing. Two reports on the internet today. Orange juice from Brazil contains toxins. Specifically, a fungicide to kill mold. It is banned for use in the US because of its toxicity.
THE LOSS OF LIVING. THE LOSS OF LIFE
Posted on February 12, 2012Whitney Houston Dead. It is the current leading headline. Sad. So much talent. Such a great gift. So many poor choices that robbed her gift, her talent, her life. Much is being discussed and written about the loss. Yet, millions of Americans die every year of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes. Sad. So much talent. So many gifts. So many poor choices that robbed gifts, talent, life. The leading causes of death and morbidity in this country (heart disease, cancer, stroke, d
DAILY CALORIE INTAKE
Posted on December 27, 2011Doc, how many calories should I eat? I get the question often. I find it both amusing and sad. Do you think people 100 years ago asked this question? It seems that this is a reflection of “modern times”. As I see it, there are two reasons why people want to count calories. The first is an effort to try to lose weight, as in “if I eat less calories in a day then I can get to the weight I want to be.” Unfortunately, this is more wrong than right. It is based on conc
EAT SMART
Posted on December 23, 2011Unfortunately, here in America, one of our holiday traditions is over indulgent eating. To make it even worse, most of the food we consume is not healthy for us. Here are a few suggestions for having a healthier holiday.
Eat slowly throughout the day. Feeling full after a meal (satiety) is a complex process that involves the types of food we eat, the quantity of food we eat and hormones stimulated by the food we eat. If we eat too fast,
IT IS BETTER TO GIVE
Posted on December 20, 2011True Health is more than making the right choices for your physical heart, your physical body. It requires “feeding” your spiritual heart, your soul. By design, your heart needs to give. It is more than buying your friend a card, though that is a nice thing to do. As you learn more about choosing to be healthy, you realize the right choice often requires a degree of sacrifice. It might be passing on the sweet dessert (or at least taking a smaller portion) that satisfies yo
MELATONIN: MORE THAT JUST SLEEP
Posted on December 15, 2011I was up all night the other night. Good reason; as surgical residents say, “saving lives, stamping out disease.” Things turned out well. However, I didn’t sleep. A problem. A health problem. The body needs sleep. We can’t be healthy without it. The Science of Melatonin is revealing some specific reasons why. Melatonin is secreted by our brain. It happens at night, mostly while we are asleep. It is a “lights out” signal to tell the cells of our
BE DILIGENT YOUR HEALTH IS AT RISK
Posted on December 10, 2011As a heart and lung surgeon I treat people with heart disease and lung cancer. They come to me because they have severe disease that requires significant intervention: surgery. Surgery always has risk; death, bleeding, stroke, lung injury, etc. This list can be quite long; some of the complications quite devastating. There is always pain – sometimes severe. There is always a time commitment; time in the hospital, time to recover, time to come to office visits.