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Aug11

Basic Food as Medicine

Posted in: Food FAQ's, High Cholesterol, Media, Wellness and Health

I had the privilege of speaking with Joe and Terry Graedon, founders of The People’s Pharmacy, on their syndicated NPR show (free podcast here) broadcast today)!, about how we’re trying to make your health and health care awesome with the right food.

Their questions made me think about why it’s so important to help people wherever they are starting.

For example, I love farmer’s markets. I give market tours, I know many farmers personally, I created a PBS DVD library on how to eat healthy (available for a donation to PBS, which I support) and I love to cook locally grown foods.

But most people buy food shipped into supermarkets, and are worried and time-pressed about cooking.

So it’s become more important to me to show how to buy and cook any broccoli, even bad broccoli (as Mark Bittman writes) than to search out the most pristine, tight head. Or to explore the wonders of the youngest broccosprouts (highest in sulforphane, and patented by Johns Hopkins).

Getting people to cook more–and people are catching up and catching on–is the key to helping them lose weight. Especially men.

Thousands of people (according to my Dear ChefMD e-mail!) want to change their cholesterol, blood pressure, back pain, constipation, irritable bowel, heart disease and diabetes. And those who have have great stories.

So if you were going to stock a kitchen medicine chest, like the one I describe in the ChefMD book, and you wanted just 10 foods instead of the 50 I name, what would they be and why? Here are mine:

Broccoli: detoxify carcinogens, reduce estrogen levels

Chilies: faster metabolism, better control of diabetes

Dark Chocolate: lower blood pressure, improve insulin sensitivity

Cinnamon: lower LDL cholesterol, improve insulin sensitivity

Fish: fewer heart attacks, fewer strokes

Garlic: less stomach, colon and rectal cancer; lower blood pressure

Nuts: lower cholesterol, improve satiety

Walnuts: protect brain cells, protect interior arterial linings against junk food

Wine (sensibly): raise HDL (healthy) cholesterol, reduce risk of heart attack, peptic ulcer disease

Yogurt: lower risk of antibiotic related diarrhea; reduce irritable bowel syndrome symptoms
Mar3

Medicare Pays for Obesity: A Webinar and Cheat Sheet

Posted in: Media, Obesity and Weight Loss, Wellness and Health

Lots of things are starting to move. The economy is getting a little better. The bees in the avocado orchard are buzzing. My patients seem to be firing on all cylinders.

And Medicare is starting to pay doctors to counsel patients about obesity…and to help them lose weight. (I’ve been lobbying for this for decades). Right now, it’s aimed at guys in John Goodman’s age bracket. But not for long!

This is remarkable, life-changing and powerful. Doctors are like other workers: they do more of what they are paid well to do. And the right word from your physician can make the difference between losing the fat, or not.

Of course, Medicare does not pay docs well to do this: I estimate (from the RVUs) $34 to counsel patients on what is arguably the most complex and difficult to treat endocrine disorder.

But Medicare does offer 22 visits (if you lose 6.6# by visit 16, in month 6). And tells doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants what they need to do to help patients.

I think this is so important I am doing a live 90 minute webinar for clinicians and mana gers later this month. I’ll publish a step-by-step downloadable log, and a separate, detailed white paper here for those who want to get the documentation just right.

I’ve been interviewing coders and clinicians all over the country! Medicare and risk management are so hard to understand! But essential! Because I’m on a mission to help people who want to get really healthy do so! Whether it’s 20, 40 or 100#, you can do it!

Another encouraging note: PBS stations in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin are re-broadcasting my “Eat and Cook Healthy” this month…and more every day!

It’s 90 minutes (+5 DVDs and a CD) jam-packed with everything I could squeeze in about culinary medicine–and what to eat for diabetes, cholesterol, back pain, heart disease and more. It’s a donation to PBS, one of the best things I know. TV is a blast to do: you can see a sneak preview on YouTube, and follow me on Twitter for broadcast times.
Aug23

It’s Time for Some Q and As

Posted in: Diabetes, Food FAQ's, High Cholesterol, Vitamins and Supplements, Wine and Tea

I am taking a short break from farming activities (avocados, anyone?) and newsletter writing to answer some reader questions. You can also post these on Facebook or Google Plus and I will try to answer there.

Q. I am wondering if you think it is a good idea to minimize the cheese, chicken and fish animal proteins? The research I have read suggests that the positive qualities of those products can be found in plant based foods, and without the saturated fat, cholesterol or mercury. My understanding is that type 1 diabetes has been linked to the casein in cows milk when given to infants, and that animal protein may be related to auto-immune diseases.

A: In general, yes, about animal proteins–moderate more than minimize.

I think most of the problem is in overprocessing and some of the hormones and toxins with which they are raised/to which they are subjected, instead of the saturated fat and cholesterol.

Cholesterol in food (unless you eat 2# of shrimp or 3 egg yolks daily) doesn’t raise cholesterol in the blood.

Most saturated fat probably raises the risk of heart disease but food is a mix of nutrients, and I think its source is the main thing.

The other question is harder: type I diabetes has been linked to casein, but so has latitude, and the confounding factor may be vitamin D levels: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19100644.

Infants exposed to casein early in life may be at increased risk for diabetes, but the data are not conclusive.

So I would not avoid milk because of diabetes risk, but I would want to know where the milk came from, whether the cow received rBGH, growth promoters and so on.

Of concern, Japanese cattle recently ate radioactive rice straw; whether it harms people to eat radioactive milk is unknown, except in high doses…but the yuck factor is pretty high.

Q. Hi, I saw you for the first time on PBS yesterday and was intrigued. I recently lost my job and health insurance and figured since I eat everyday, I might as well eat better. It has to be cheaper than healthcare insurance. I’m Mormon and don’t drink alcohol. Is there a non-alcoholic drink that has the benefits of wine?

A. Red grape juice, pomegranate juice and other dark fruit juices do provide many of the benefits of wine.

However, alcohol raises HDL, which juices do not, but they do provide tannins, flavonoids and anti-inflammatory chemicals which are helpful with inflammation.

Q: You seem to be looking at and using a variety of ways to share your information to as many people as will listen. Which I think is fantastic. Have you considered a weekly or monthly conference call for people using a service, like go-to-meeting.com, where you can have interactive discussions or presentations? I have no clue what is required on the presenter’s part, however.

A: I have thought about it and like the idea. I’ll send out a poll to newsletter subscribers and ask if they would like that, and how much it should cost.

I think I would likely use Skype (Kris Carr uses it for her coaching, apparently) and I think it would be fun. Let’s see!
Mar4

Do We Need a Cholesterol Registry?

Posted in: High Cholesterol, Wellness and Health

The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) has documented exactly what people do who have lost weight and kept it off. Over 5000 people have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.

The research of the weight control registry helps me coach my clients to long term weight loss too. I use it every day both in ChefMD and in Chef Clinic.

Many of my patients have lowered their LDL cholesterol levels by 50% and raised their HDLs by 40% with diet and lifestyle changes.

So I thought it might be helpful to create a site like NWCR which told the stories of people who have been successful, including changing the shape and size of their cholesterol, from unhealthy to healthy.

Chef Clinic is teaming up with nutrition firm Provident Clinical Research to work together to make this a reality. If you’re in the Chicago area, Provident is offering free cholesterol screenings currently.

I mention the idea of a cholesterol registry in my first PBS Special, raising money for public TV (the Special airs nationwide starting March 5 2011: @EatCookHealthy has local PBS broadcast times a few hours before air time; Super Healthy Combo pledge gifts here; video preview available).

What should a cholesterol registry do? Should it do research, offer testing, tell best stories, create or rank supplements, give best recipes, or give discounts on meds and tests? What would interest you?
Feb23

Drinks with Benefits: Wine and Tea (Top Resources)

Posted in: Wellness and Health, Wine and Tea
For the upcoming PBS Special “Eat and Cook Healthy!” I created four DVDs and a CD: one of the tastiest DVDs is “Drinks with Benefits: Wine and Tea”.

It was a lot of fun to write and discover, and like ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine, I read a lot of medical, culinary and nutritional studies and analyzed them to prepare (I love research).

For the book, there were nearly 3000 studies (with 20 pages in the book); for the Wine and Tea DVD, there are about 100 sources: here are the Top 5 books in each: Amazon links for convenience.

Health Benefits of Wine: Best Books
Health Benefits of Tea: Best Books
Wine Pairing: Best Books
Wine Tasting: Best Books