• Archives

  • May2

    E-Patients: Are You Already One?

    Posted in: Aging and Costs of Aging, Common Conditions, Drug Food Safety, Environmental Health, Wellness and Health

    I don’t take care of patients on the web, yet.

    Most of my patients are, however, e-patients. And I didn’t even know it.

    E-patients are real, not virtual. They’re networked, curious, want to be well-informed about and take better control of their health, confused about what info is accurate and in need of people and information they can trust.

    They usually know something about their condition from the web, like not being alone with their condition, and like learning from others…from how to remember pills to how much time the doctor spent with them at the last visit.

    @EpatientDave, a cancer survivor and scientist, spoke compellingly at TEDx on this and is the ambassador for e-patients. People’s Pharmacy founders the Graedons are hugely supportive in this one hour podcast, free for the next few days.  Mark Bittman recently wrote that e-patients (though he just said “we”) could save the U.S. a trillion dollars in the next 10 years.

    E-patients sometimes join communities–specific ones, like those considering bariatric surgery or just having had it, or broader ones like ShareCare, www.patientslikeme.com and www.organizedwisdom.com.  I often recommend an online community for patients with celiac disease, for example, with the new diagnoses generated by http://glutenfreequiz.com and the lab testing that a high score encourages.

    This movement has supporters in medicine, media, tech and among consumers. There’s a Journal of Participatory Medicine, an e-patients.net site, and many trends feeding it: medical errors; healthy food; tech; social media; health reform; and shifting of responsibility to individuals.

    E-patients should be a huge boon to better health. I can’t wait to see it grow.

     

  • May17

    Personal Food Revolution #4: Tired, Gassy and Moody? Could It Be Gluten?

    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 #4 of 7.*

    Terri is a 38 year old who traces her tummy problems back to high school. She has had off and on again fatigue, cramping, gas, bloating and mood swings. She has seen 11 doctors, and been told she is a “diagnostic dilemma” and has “atypical bowel syndrome.”

    Terry has celiac disease, an auto-immune reaction to gluten. Celiac is caused by—and can be cured by—what you eat.

    Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye and barley but is often hidden. Spelt and triticale have wheat, millet does not. Most blue cheese and soy sauce are off limits.

    The medicine? Savory, gorgeous gluten-free pasta, nuts, vegetables, meats, seasonings and even beer. They can heal and reverse insomnia, depression and osteoporosis in people with celiac disease.

    Terri re-discovered cooking and began to cure herself.

    She filled herself with the best ingredients—for her. Food became a joy, because she tasted it fully and didn’t overeat. And it changed her life.

    Off gluten, she felt better than she had in 40 years. She gained muscle strength, dropping to a size 8.

    Terri’s case inspired Gluten Free Quiz (www.glutenfreequiz.com) a free self-assessment of your risk for celiac disease.

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

     

  • Dec21

    Autism: 3 Environmental Changes You Can Make

    Posted in: Environmental Health

    Autism is up 57% in the U.S. since 2002. “Almost one percent of American children have autism,” including “one in 70 boys and one in 315 girls,” according to the CDC.

    In one peer-reviewed autism study 4779 children in Sweden were studied.

    “Five statistically significant variables emerged:
    *(1) maternal smoking;
    (2) male sex;
    (3) economic problems in the family;
    *(4) condensation on windows, a proxy for low ventilation rate in the home;
    *(5) PVC flooring, especially in the parents’ bedroom.”

    *This is within your power to change.

    PVC flooring contains phthalates, which are neurotoxic.

    All phthalates were removed from infant bottle nipples, teethers, and mouthing toys in the U.S. and Canada, but phthalates are ubiquitous and toxic. Survey your environment and dump them as much as you can.

    For treatment, the casein/gluten free diet might be helpful: 2 small studies show minor improvement. The diet will probably help parents to cook more, always good.

    In adults, however, gluten sensitivity and celiac disease are real: take the fun, quick Gluten Free Quiz to see if you need screening. Print it out for your doc.

    Autism is diagnosed at 4.5 years old, on average. Genes plus environmental factors create the condition, and related Asperger’s: probably genes important in inflammation and immunity.

    It is more diagnosed and more inclusively, but that doesn’t explain it all. Genes do not change this quickly.

    Environmental factors, including nutrition and diet; household products and vaccinations are all suspect. What do you think causes autism?

     

  • May28

    Should You Be Gluten Free? And Will You Lose Weight?

    Posted in: Obesity and Weight Loss, Wellness and Health

    About one in 133 people have a potentially fatal, chronic autoimmune reaction to gluten (the protein complex in wheat, rye and barley) and they have celiac disease (CD). But 97% don’t know it. Or that CD—like overweight and obesity—can be cured with what you eat.

    Will going GF help you lose weight, like Elizabeth Hasselbeck (the G-Free Diet)?

    Many doctors still think CD is rare. It is hard to diagnose, and commonly mistaken for irritable bowel. GlutenFreeQuiz is a fun, free screening tool (full disclosure: I wrote it). The longer you have untreated CD, the more problems you develop.

    Some patients with CD eat through it and gain weight with ice cream, chocolate and pop. But more commonly, when finally diagnosed, people with CD gain weight—and tremendous health–when they discover GF pasta, chips and cookies.

    The people who do lose weight going GF are those who like rules. They stop eating X (hamburger buns, pasta, soy sauce), especially processed X (ditto), and finally there is some order in the world. With fewer foods to eat, you eat less.

    Paradoxically, many “weight loss foods” are made with gluten derivatives: e.g., veggie burgers, cold cereals and seasoning blends.

    Common CD symptoms are fatigue and bloating. Many patients who have migraines, osteoporosis, infertility, iron deficiency, arthritis, diarrhea, constipation, depression or dental enamel defects simply struggle on.

    Gluten sensitivity is not the same as CD. It is even more common. Gluten sensitivity is a state of heightened immune response to gluten in genetically predisposed people.

    My advice: choose GF foods which are naturally GF: rice, quinoa, millet, tapioca, sorghum, teff, buckwheat. Look for ingredients in the store, not processed foods. Find great gluten free recipes. Take a multivitamin with enough Bs: GF eaters can become deficient.

    And learn to cook—a little– from scratch. You’ll get more flavor, better food, and know what is in what you eat.