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  • Oct13

    What to Ask Your Doctor About Nutrition

    Posted in: Common Conditions, Environmental Health, Uncategorized, Wellness and Health

    I was interviewed last week by Oxygen Magazine about the New York Times coverage of nutrition in medical school (or rather, the declining hours given in U.S. medical schools to the subject: full scientific article here.)
    The questions were very good, and so I thought I’d offer my answers to you too.

    1. How important is food in preventing disease?

    Food is the most powerful clinical intervention against chronic disease doctors have.  We should be able to write recipes on prescription slips, just like prescription medication.  And every doctor should know how.

    2. Should people ask their doctor how they feel about nutrition? If so, what kind of question(s) should they ask?

    a. What should I eat for my (specific condition)? {By specific, I mean fill-in-the-blank: high blood pressure, diabetes, gout, arthritis, depression, optimal health}
    b. Where can I learn about what to eat for my (specific condition)?
    c. Where can I find easy, healthy recipes for my general health by someone you trust?

    and more generally

    d. Do you think nutrition and what I eat are important for my (specific condition)?

    If you get a “No” or “I doubt it” to question d, ask “Why”? There might be a good reason. But if there isn’t, consider looking for a doctor who says “Yes, I do.”

     

  • May28

    Farmer-Doctor, TV-Farmer

    Posted in: Wellness and Health

    Janet Helm at Nutrition Unplugged suggests that farmers are the new celebrity chefs. She’s right: a smart TV exec will figure out how to make composting, amending, planting, harvesting and scaring off predators primetime ready.

    And that will help ignite more of the self-reliance I see everywhere these days. Including in health care.

    Farmers, and the town square that is Santa Barbara’s Saturday farmer’s market (and I’ll bet many other towns too), are also part of a new health care team: social media friends, pharmacy aisle advisors, and your neighbors.

    The people you meet while shopping for beets or berries can tell you what they’re good for, not just what to do with them. Some of that is home remedy, and some of it is folk culture, and some of it is Western science. People who want to look and feel better are taking all of it in.

    Michael Pollan’s Food Movement Rising writes about how buying food from farmers directly affects them: “Someone buying food here may be acting not just as a consumer but also as a neighbor, a citizen, a parent, a cook.” And I would add, a health-conscious partner. And maybe, a patient.

    Here is the MacArthur Fellow Award video of Will Allen, one of the most articulate and visible farmer-doctors on the scene today.

     

  • Jan11

    Grand Rounds on Food and Diet 2, Next Week!

    Posted in: Wellness and Health

    http://drjohnlapuma.com will host Grand Rounds early early a.m. on Tuesday, January 19, 2010; the deadline for blog submission is Sunday January 17, 2010 at 3 p.m. PST.

    A weekly synthesis of the best posts from the medical blogosphere, Grand Rounds is a convergence of top health-conscious bloggers. You don’t have to be a clinician! Grand Rounds owes huge props to founder Dr. Nicholas Genes and pioneer Dr. Val, who also details rules and FAQs on her site.

    Like the first Grand Rounds on Food and Diet and its bite-size Medscape Pre-Rounds on the add-careers-instead-of-change-them approach, this fest promises to be tasty, with a line out the door.

    I hope it will be a Korean taco truck, full of street food flavor and feeling. With a lot of napkins. Meanwhile, check out DrRich’s Grand Rounds this week.

    Theme: food and diet as Information, Inspiration, Joy, Compassion, Treatment, Reassurance and Cure. In short, as health care. Michael Pollan is pitching his new “Food Rules” as a completely different approach to health care. Can food be health care?

    The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
    Michael Pollan
    www.thedailyshow.com

    To contribute, please send me an e-mail to /grandrounds /at /drlapuma.com with your blogger name, *post name*, post URL, and a one line pithy yet juicy description of your post. Please put your *post name* in the subject line.

    Want to host? Dr. Anonymous, Emergiblog and Kevin.MD all show how to host, add value and have fun.

     

  • Jan10

    TED Talk: Make Yourself Better With What You Eat

    Posted in: Aging and Costs of Aging, Common Conditions, Obesity and Weight Loss, Wellness and Health

    TED talks are a privilege to give, and some are life-changing: Al Gore on climate change, Tony Robbins on transformation, Jamie Oliver on childhood obesity.

    In this first TEDx American Riviera in Santa Barbara, I describe healthy eating that is transformational, based on new research in aging, obesity, diet, nutrition and health. A healthy kitchen leads to a healthy life, healthy cooking and healthy eating.

    Writing this talk helped me prepare for the PBS Special “Eat and Cook Healthy” and the DVDs and keynotes on stress management, wines and teas, stocking your kitchen medicine cabinet and healthy cooking techniques.

     
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