• Aug17

    Salt Much? Discussion 1-on-1 For You?

    Posted in: Common Conditions, Diabetes, High Cholesterol, Hypertension, Obesity and Weight Loss, Vitamins and Supplements, Wellness and Health

    Several sneak peaks–including my statement to the Information Hearing on Diabetes and Obesity in Sacramento 8.25.10 are in the newsletter tomorrow (quick sign-up to get it, top right!).

    It was challenging to say something new, practical, and responsible…to decisionmakers about policy.   Let me know what you think.

    The news that the average American ingests 3366 mg sodium daily, over 2x what’s recommended is not shocking.

    Ditto that 90% of sodium comes not from the table or cooking, but from prepared foods.

    What is shocking is that dropping from 3366 to 2166mg daily could prevent 32-66000 cases of stroke, and up to 120000 cases of heart disease every year. The top 5 foods for salt by how much and how often we eat them in the U.S.?

    1.  Meat pizza
    2.  White bread
    3.  Processed cheese
    4.  Hot dogs
    5.  Spaghetti w/sauce

    Lastly,  I answer 10-20 emails weekly at ChefMD.com and on FB. But I feel as if I don’t really have the space or time to give you as complete an answer as you deserve.  And need. And for many people, the time and cost involved in traveling to Santa Barbara to see me is too much.

    Please take our Discussion Survey (not a medical consultation).  If you even might be interested, please take it…it’s a quickie, no contact info, no e-mail required.

    And if there’s enough interest in one-on-one discussions with me on weight loss, medication, cholesterol, more…we’ll do it!

    Share and Enjoy:
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • StumbleUpon
    • Google Bookmarks
    • Digg
    • del.icio.us
    • FriendFeed
    • Reddit
    • Yahoo! Buzz
    Leave a Comment

  • Jun15

    High Blood Pressure ARBs, Cancer and DASH

    Posted in: Common Conditions, Drug Food Safety

    The Lancet study finding that ARBs (Angiotensin Receptor Blockers), commonly prescribed for high blood pressure, heart failure and kidney disease actually result in more cancer, especially lung cancer, is alarming.

    But so would be the sound of people stopping their meds this moment because of cancer fear.  That would be the heart-breaking sound of many heart attacks and strokes, and the low rumbling of people stampeding to the Emergency Department to get checked.

    Commonly prescribed ARBs are:

    • candesartan (Atacand),
    • eprosartan (Teveten),
    • irbesartan (Avapro),
    • telmisartan (Micardis),
    • valsartan (Diovan),
    • losartan (Cozaar),
    • olmesartan (Benicar)

    What is left unsaid is that several very successful strategies exist to lower blood pressure with what you eat and how you handle stress, and whether you exercise. Here is a link to 15 free healthy hypertension recipes I did for the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). It’s an effective plant-based diet to control blood pressure, tested internationally

    The Wall Street Journal report on meals to lower cholesterol, reposted in the NYTimes is also a step in the direction of lifestyle management as a complementary and sometime replacement strategy for those who are motivated…and want to save their lives themselves.

    We are moving towards a place where people will want to count on themselves more: that’s a good thing, for your health.

    Share and Enjoy:
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • StumbleUpon
    • Google Bookmarks
    • Digg
    • del.icio.us
    • FriendFeed
    • Reddit
    • Yahoo! Buzz
    Leave a Comment

  • Jun7

    Personal Food Revolution #7: Reverse Diabetes with What You Eat…Out

    Posted in: Common Conditions, Wellness and Health

    One of the best ways to help people transform their lives and create their own food revolution is to write my patients’ stories: this is #7 of 7.*

    Carol has diabetes. She is 48 years old, the mother of two and a successful Washington litigator. She does not know what to eat at the dinner she must attend tonight.

    She eats out ten times weekly, usually orders chicken Caesar salad, and snacks on cheese, chocolate and energy bars. She often eats the last of her Taco Bell in the front seat of her car before going in for the night.

    I tell her that she can beat insulin resistance, which is causing her out of control diabetes. But she has to treat her disease like her best client–conscientiously.

    She is to avoid red and processed meat for 12 weeks: the heme iron increases diabetes risk. Ditto, any food with the words High Fructose or Enriched Flour or Sugar or Rice or Corn Syrup on the package.

    Tonight, like every night out, she should have two dinner salads with good vinaigrette over 20 minutes with good fish or lean poultry, and drink hot cinnamon tea afterwards. She should pack almonds, high protein cereal, tea bags and string cheese when she travels.

    Carol liked knowing what to eat, and practiced it, a lot, with coaching. She now teaches water aerobics in Virginia.

    *adapted from ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine.

    Share and Enjoy:
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • StumbleUpon
    • Google Bookmarks
    • Digg
    • del.icio.us
    • FriendFeed
    • Reddit
    • Yahoo! Buzz
    Leave a Comment

  • May31

    Personal Food Revolution #6: Lose 100#. Avoid Stomach Surgery.

    Posted in: Common Conditions, Obesity and Weight Loss

    One of the best ways to help people transform their lives and create their own food revolution is to write my patients’ stories: this is #6 of 7.*

    Kathi uses seat belt extenders on airplanes and airplane trays ride up on her stomach. Her car seat is back as far as it can go.

    She owns no pants without elastic waists, except those that do not fit. Sometimes she stops breathing when she sleeps. Her sister died of diabetic ketoacidosis last year.

    I recommended that Kathi see a bariatric surgeon for a gastric bypass. It does carry risk and means learning new eating habits, but it works very well.

    She refused. She had taken every diet pill and intimidated every dietitian she had met. She rejected theories of genetic fatalism. She knew that I could help her.

    So I agreed to try. I drew a plate. Three-quarters vegetables and one-quarter other foods—foods she chose. She would see me and her physician regularly.

    We have continued to work at it. As Oprah has said, “I’ve been through lots of diet programs, and there’s nothing like getting up and getting going and going for a walk in the morning.”

    Over 3 years she lost 120 pounds. And has kept off 60, after 5 years. Not perfect. But better.

    *adapted from my ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine.

    Share and Enjoy:
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • StumbleUpon
    • Google Bookmarks
    • Digg
    • del.icio.us
    • FriendFeed
    • Reddit
    • Yahoo! Buzz
    Leave a Comment

  • May24

    Personal Food Revolution #5: Eat Your Way to Lower Cholesterol

    Posted in: Common Conditions

    One of the best ways to help people transform their lives and create their own food revolution is to write my patients’ stories: this is #5 of 7.*

    Tom’s case was a quandary: a Pulitzer-winning health reporter, he already exercised diligently, running about four miles most days. He had long ago given up meat and most cheese. Yet his LDL (bad) cholesterol was 169, way above the recommended 130 and an optimal 100.

    A single Dad, Tom’s two teenagers had grown accustomed to a stick of butter in their weekend Slow Roasted Hen.

    So I worked with Tom to add multiple terrific dishes to their eating cycle. There was a Turkish eggplant recipe, and white beans with escarole and tomato.

    His internist was astonished. His LDL dropped 33% to an acceptable 114; his healthy HDL cholesterol was up to 75.

    Apart from not spending his own and his employer’s money on drugs, Tom found another benefit to this program.

    His daughter regularly makes steel cut oatmeal for breakfast and enjoys split pea/carrot soup with tarragon, nutmeg and barley. And his son’s special request for dinner this past Saturday was grilled salmon with honey-mustard marinade.

    You can’t get that with a pill.

    *adapted from ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine.
    **adapted from the Wall Street Journal report on lowering cholesterol, by Tom Burton.

    Share and Enjoy:
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • StumbleUpon
    • Google Bookmarks
    • Digg
    • del.icio.us
    • FriendFeed
    • Reddit
    • Yahoo! Buzz
    Leave a Comment
« PREV.POSTS