Posted: March 15th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I’m having some hot chocolate at the moment, and I have to say that there are times when a hot chocolate is the best thing you can possibly have. I don’t have this very often, but when I do, it just puts me in a great frame of mind in an instant.
I used to get the same feeling when I would see my exam scores, back in medical school. But once you knew where you stood, you just found the nearest bed and passed out. This is completely different. You drink the hot chocolate, and then get motivated to get something accomplished.
A little news story caught my eye yesterday. It was buried inside the local newspaper, but you never know where you’re going to find a gem.
There’s a competition called the USA National Memory Championship, started in 1997 by Tony Dottino, President of the Dottino Consulting Group. While Tony’s consulting group applied neuroscience to pragmatic applications in the business world, he was amazed to discover that most people were unaware of the amazing potential of their own brains.
As he discussed their unlimited and amazing brains, he discovered that most were deathly afraid to talk about the subject, especially as it related to memory.
Their number one concern: That as you get older, you’ll lose your memory.
Tony set out to educate people, teaching, “Your brain is like a muscle, and must be exercised. When given the proper training, it gets stronger, regardless of age.”
He hooked up with another Tony (Buzan), who had a little thing going in an English pub, where people competed with each other to demonstrate their powers of memory.
The USA Memory Championship was born out of that link.
So what’s Chester’s secret?
I’m getting to that.
Contestants in the Memory Championship compete in events like this:
1. Memorization of 99 names and faces
2. The order of a shuffled deck of cards
3. Poetry
4. Speed numbers
5. A list of 500 words or 1000 random numbers
Hell…I was humbled by just the list.
Chester is the defending National Memory Champion, and has competed for the last seven years.
Along with 3 hours a day of memory exercises, Chester takes fish oil, which he says improves his brain function, (as well as a B-complex vitamin, which he says improves his concentration).
Why? Well at least 30% of the brain is made of DHA, one of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. DHA is used by the body to maintain brain cell membranes and boosts brain power. So it’s not surprising that Chester finds fish oil a great resource in boosting his memory.
Good food, exercise, and pharmaceutical grade fish oil will keep your brain functioning at an optimum level, as demonstrated by the defending champ. You can keep your own brain sharp by using an ultra pure pharmaceutical grade fish oil from the deep arctic waters of Norway.
Baby boomers rate memory loss and Alzheimer’s as their number one health care concern. Pharmaceutical grade fish oil, along with a good diet and exercise can help keep your mind clear and sharp for a long time to come.
We might not be able to win the National Memory Championship, but we’ll be able to remember where we parked.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
The first thing I saw when I opened my mail this morning was an article forwarded to me from someone on the mailing list in Peoria, Illinois. That brought a liitle chuckle from me, even though I’ve never been there. One of my medical school instructors used to say to a classmate, “Bob, how do you think that will play in Peoria?” Or, in a little variation, “Bob, if you don’t pay attention… you could end up practicing in Peoria.”
Of course, as far as my instructor was concerned, there were only two cities in America, New York and Boston, and practicing anywhere else just wouldn’t have occurred to him.
I think Bob would be glad to know that there are, in fact, doctors in Peoria, and specialists, too.
The cardiologists at St. Francis Medical Center there held the first annual Cardiology Cookout, in what they hope will become an annual event.
What the staff wanted to do was show people that cooking can be fun, and that good food doesn’t have to be unhealthy.
Those who attended, over a hundred people, tasted samples of heart healthy foods, and were given recipes to take home.
I think that’s an admirable idea.
The staff at St Francis had some recommendations, and I found this one very helpful.
People are always asking how many calories they should consume.
The way to figure that out is to multiply your weight by 15.
Say you weigh 170 pounds. You multiply that by 15, which equals 2550 calories. To maintain that weight, that’s how many calories you would consume daily.
If you want to lose weight, you multiply by 13, which would be 2210 calories. That’s difference of 340 calories per day. If you drink 2 Cokes in a day, and switch to water, or tea, you have dropped 220 calories right there, and eating a sandwich with mustard, instead of mayonnaise, would save pretty close to the rest. Doing just those two things would reduce your caloric intake by 2380 calories per week, or almost a full day of food.
This doesn’t even take exercise into account.
You can lose weight without exercising, but when you do both, it’s much easier.
The cardiologists also recommended getting omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil supplements, taken from fish that are low on the food chain, such as anchovies, and sardines (less potential for environmental contaminants that way).
They’re walking right up my alley now, since I have an enteric coated essential fatty acid softgel, with the highest concentration of EPA/DHA on the market. This pharmaceutical grade fish oil, from the deep arctic waters of Norway is cholesterol free, mercury and PCB free, and meets the highest international and national standards for purity.
Dr Kent Wise, a cardiologist at St. Francis says, “We don’t believe other supplements, such as Vitamins C, or E, or folic acid, do much to improve heart health.”
“Fish oil lowers triglcyerides, one of the fats in the blood. There is even some evidence that it lowers the chance of sudden death.”
Some more recommendations:
Stay away from fast food (pack your own healthy lunch, instead).
Reduce your salt intake (stay away from chips, pretzels, and packaged foods).
Eat plenty of fiber, including beans, barley, fruit and vegetables.
And in the summertime, patronize the farmers’ market.
That’s all good advice, whether you got it in Boston, New York, or Peoria.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I’ve finished the last leg of my journey back to Long Island, and arrived safe and sound late last Friday. Last night, while checking the emails, I found a lot of letters about no fat and low fat and and low carb diets.
First of all, no fat diets are dangerous, and you really shouldn’t even attempt anything like that except under strict medical supervision. Even then, I’m hard pressed to think of why it would be necessary.
Your body needs fat to flourish, and the only question still being debated is, how much? One thing we know for sure is that it is more than the medical community believed for almost four decades.
The same thing is true about carbohydrates. For decades, the prevailing wisdom was high carbs and low fat. You can see where that theory has gotten us.
The most important word in diet is BALANCE.
You need a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
As I’ve said before, and will repeat again, what you eat needs to be close to its natural state. A baked apple is close to its natural state. Fruit Loops are not. Grilled fish with grilled vegetables is close to its natural state. Kraft Microwavable Macaroni and Cheese is not.
If it comes in a package, it probably has ingredients in it that aren’t good for you. (Like trans fats and high fructose corn syrup – otherwise known as “the kiss of death”)
Most low fat items have high sugar contents. They’re always sweet, which makes them palatable, and the same rule applies to no fat. Sugar, or a sugar substitute, is always in the mix.
Low carb almost always involves a sugar substitute too, and personally, I think it always tastes terrible. You have to convince yourself that it tastes good in order to eat it. No, thanks.
You can eat almost any food as long as it doesn’t come in a package mixed with other ingredients. Frozen vegetables, as long as they’re just vegetables, is A-okay. Frozen vegetables mixed in a sauce, is not. The sauce, if you can call it that, is mixed with all kinds of things that make the sauce stable, and you fat. More often than not, there are more calories in the sauce, than in the vegetables.
And being a vegetarian doesn’t help either, no matter how many times they say it. Many vegetarians are often seriously undernourished, and have a whole host of health problems, from not eating a balanced diet.
I recommend you start getting control of your diet, one meal at a time. Or as my friend Nate says, “Practice push ups instead of sit downs.” What he means is, that when you are full, you push up from the table, not sit down and eat more.
You should also start taking an ultra pure, enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil. This will insure that you get your daily dose of of omega 3 essential fatty acids, which keep your system running at an optimum level.
The other day someone refered me to a bodybuilding web site, where the genius bodybuilder who took fish oil was cutting back his dose, because he didn’t want to get too much fat in his diet. I guess that’s why he’s a bodybuilder, because he doesn’t even know why he’s taking it in the first place. All brawn, no brain.
He needs MORE fish oil, not less. Athletes who train hours every day have every reason to be upping their intake of fish oil, not worrying about a few fat grams. What he doesn’t seem to realize is that with the proper amount of fat in his diet, he would look better, and he might even win a competition. But I’m laying 100 to 1 odds he won’t listen.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I got to New York just in time for snow, and lots of it. Here I was dreaming of temperatures in the mid 50′s, which would have been nice, but it didn’t happen that way.
The neighborhood looks very good, as it becomes picturesque whenever we get a fresh snow. That picturesque feeling lasts a couple of hours, and then I could take it or leave it, but this time I’ll be taking it, since I don’t have a choice.
One of the problems many people have with weight loss is motivation. People often start with great expectations, and then when they hit a roadblock, their plan or program comes undone, and they fall back into old habits.
I’ve found a couple of things that work for a good number of people.
1. Changing your mental pictures
2. Measuring
3. Keeping a journal
4. Accepting the fact you aren’t perfect.
Many people who are overweight think of themselves as losers in some way, shape, or form. Eating for them is a sort of comfort therapy. They’re thinking, “As long as I have my potato chips and soda, I’m okay.”
This is delusional, but it’s true, and it needs to change. You need to start looking in the mirror and imagining yourself as healthy and fit all the time. This doesn’t happen overnight, but it is easily accomplished by practice. Changing the picture pays you huge dividends in the long run.
You will become what you imagine if you practice.
You can use a tape measure to get numbers if you want to, but I prefer pictures. When you start on a weight loss program, take pictures of yourself. Then imagine the new you, and get started.
Start keeping a diary, or a journal. You can do it on paper or do it on the computer. Every day you log what you eat, and the exercise you do. At the end of the week take another photo. 3 or 4 weeks into your program you should start seeing real changes in the way your body looks. 10 or 12 weeks in the changes should be major.
When you slip up, and you will, you log that too. This will help you to see where you have a weakness. But most important, don’t fuss and worry about it. Don’t try to double your exercise to make up for it. Just get back in your routine, smile at yourself, and let it go.
Your body will thank you.
Listening to your body will help you immensely. The more fit you get, the more your body will tell you what it needs, and if you don’t heed what it’s saying, you may get another signal, one that isn’t pleasant.
In addition to good food and exercise, your body needs certain other elements to function at a higher level. One of these elements is enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil.
You should be taking enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil every day for any number of reasons, including optimal joint function, healthy brain and nervous system function, along with the cardiovascular benefits.
I’ve been taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil for quite some time, and I can tell you, for instance, that if I miss taking it for a day or two, my joints start talking to me.
(Say Bill…I don’t believe I’ve gotten any fish oil for a day or two…I’m going to send you a little reminder…how about your left knee…yeh I know it hurts…but next time don’t forget to pack it.)
It’s happened more than once, since I travel frequently, but I solved the problem by getting extras that are “travel only” bottles which never leave my travel bag.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I’m getting a little extra work in today since all is quiet around the house. The wife is off somewhere on a mission, and the cats all seem to have taken a snow day. Usually there are at least one or two crying out for attention, but it’s almost as if someone issued a sleep command, and they all obeyed. That’s a rare event, let me tell you.
I just finished reading a very interesting article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published in 2007 that shows a couple of very interesting conclusions.
One conclusion was that study members who took fish oil and did moderate exercise lost weight. They also had increases in muscle mass, and profound changes in cardiac risk factors.
Those who took fish oil and did not exercise did not lose weight, and neither did a group taking sunflower oil.
The weight loss group took between 3 and 6 grams of fish oil per day. Now normally less would suffice for most people, but I suspect the folks in this study had fairly significant weight problems, and would need more than the average bear.
In an article which reviewed the study the author points out something else, which is exactly what I’ve been saying.
1. You get what you pay for. You should get a high potency molecularly distilled pharmaceutical grade fish oil, free of contaminants and PCBs.
2. Your fish oil should not taste fishy, or give you “fish burps.” This is why you should only take fish oil that has an enteric coating. This insures the softgels travel deep into the digestive system before they are released.
3. Flax oil is not a good substitute. You would need to ingest 12 grams of flaxseed oil to get the benefit of two high quality fish oil softgels. And you might just have to spend a lot more time in the water closet than you want to.
If you want to create synergy for weight loss, try enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil, good food, and moderate exercise.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
My car is packed, and I have just enough time to complete this before my wife returns from whatever it is she does just before we embark on a trip. I gave up trying to figure some of these things out years ago, but a trip always requires a certain amount of last minute shopping.
One of the questions I always get from people is: What kind of exercise should I do? Which is always followed by: How much exercise is enough?
Let’s start with the first question.
If you haven’t done any exercise in a while, you need to start very slowly. I say this because many people who have been sedentary for a while often jump into an exercise program whole hog, and end up with all kinds of pain, which is your body’s way of saying, “Hey…just a minute here, pal!”
When this happens, they get discouraged, and then they stop exercising because it hurts. This isn’t a good outcome, and won’t provide you with any benefits, whatsoever.
If you haven’t been off the couch or your favorite chair for a while…you need to ease in. I always recommend you start by walking, and you can start with ten minutes a day. Do that for a week, then go to fifteen minutes. Then the next week, go to twenty, and so on.
This gives your body time to adjust, and recuperate. In just one month you’ll be up to thirty minutes, and that’s pretty good for someone who was sedentary.
Work up to forty five minutes of walking a day, and then you can add things to your routine. I like bodyweight exercises, and I’ll tell you more about those in the future.
Bodyweight exercises can be done anywhere, and you don’t need a fancy gym, or any flashy exercise outfits. You can do them right in the privacy of your home, and you can get extremely fit in a relatively short period of time.
But you need to put one foot in front of the other for a time, to get started. Your body will tell you when you can add walking time, and when you can add other exercises to your routine.
How much exercise is enough?
You really should do something every day. It doesn’t have to be long or hard, but a little something every day. Walking can be the everyday exercise, and then on other days you can do bodyweight exercises, or attend yoga classes, or play tennis, whatever you are comfortable doing. Remember, listen to your body, it will tell you what you can do.
If you have pain, stop what you’re doing. Pain is a sign that something is wrong. Get it checked out, with your doctor, and then, go back to your exercise routine.
Just last week I talked to a woman who had knee pain. It turns out she went from not exercising for a number of years to jumping on the treadmill for an hour a day. Quite naturally, her body rebelled. I slowed her training program way down, and presto chango! Her knee pain improved, and then stopped.
She is also on an ultra pure, enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil, and not only is her knee pain gone, but her elbow and wrist pain has almost vanished, too.
The reduction in knee pain is certainly due to my slowing down her program, but the corresponding drops in her other joint pains can be attributed to the pharmaceutical grade fish oil. In six weeks or so, as she gradually increases her exercise, and continues with the pharmaceutical grade fish oil, she will be feeling much, much better.
Exercise is important, but remember, easy does it. Your brain will help you, but don’t ask it to do everything in a week. It is capable of returning you to a high fitness level, but it needs a little bit of time to make adjustments. The pharmaceutical grade fish oil will assist your heart and brain in getting back to being fit, and it will “lube” all your muscles and joints, as well.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
Last night, I was reading a rather interesting report out of Iowa State University about statins, the drugs that are all over television, the magazines, and newspapers. Sometimes, I think you can’t turn a page in a magazine or newspaper without seeing Lipitor, Crestor, and so on and such forth.
There is a lot of debate in the medical community about the overall effectiveness of statins, and then, there is another debate about the side effects.
The side effects of statins range from muscle pain, to eye problems, to heart arrhythmias, to liver disorders. A friend of mine stopped taking statins a couple of months ago because he woke every morning with terrible shoulder pain. He stopped taking Lipitor, and within days his shoulders had improved 80%.
But in this new study, Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State University says that statins could also be robbing brains of thinking power and memory by doing exactly what they are designed to do, which is to reduce cholesterol.
It turns out that statins not only inhibit the liver from making cholesterol but they may also block the brain from making cholesterol. It may be akin trying to run a car on gasoline with no electrical system.
Dr. Shin says there is a direct link between cholesterol and neurotransmitters in the brain. The translation is simple. No, or lower cholesterol, could mean impaired brain function.
It isn’t a stretch that statin drugs that block cholesterol in the liver also do the same thing to the brain.
One way to make sure your brain is healthy is to get enough essential omega 3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which comprises about 30% of the entire weight of the brain. If you’re taking a statin, or not, remember to feed your brain pharmaceutical grade fish oil.
Statins can be useful in treating cholesterol, but they are widely over-prescribed. Cholesterol isn’t the only way to judge heart problems. If you suffer any of the side effects, you should notify your physician and tell them you want off the drug.
There are a number of natural alternatives to statins, such as enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil that feeds your heart, brain and joints exactly what they need, on a daily basis.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I’m still enjoying what native Floridians describe as “cool weather.” That would be when the temperature is in the 70′s. In Long Island, where I have spent a good portion of my life, that is a heat wave of monstrous proportions this time of year. Here when it is in the 70′s I am peeling things off, and this time in Long Island I am always putting things on.
I always find myself laughing at what my chef friend said to me many years ago, “If you like heat, get a job in a kitchen. If you really like heat, get a job in a really busy kitchen.”
Now I’m sure I could butcher as well as anyone he had working for him, and it wouldn’t have taken me long to learn how to use all the different knives and such, but I walked by the broiler one day, and I don’t know how those guys do it. That particular broiler ran at 900 degrees, which is how they get those marvelous steaks to you in a hurry. That was too hot for me.
Moving along to medicine, here are your healthy heart tips for the day.
1. You don’t have to be old to have a heart attack. By this I mean you don’t have to be 65 or older (though that is looking younger to me, every day), or considered senior, to have a heart attack. Heart attacks can and do strike at all ages, and the demographic is moving lower. The statistics for women are almost similar to men (heart disease is now the #1 cause of death in women, beating out breast cancer) and we lose 150,000 people a year, under age 65, to heart attacks.
2. What you eat is important. When foodies talk about eating the rainbow, they are on to something. Fresh fruit and vegetables come in all sorts of colors. The brighter the colors, the more more heart healthy anti-oxidants are present. You should eat a percentage of fresh fruits and vegetables raw. If you have a juicer, that works too.
3. For men, varying degrees of impotence (or “E.D.” as they call it today) past age 35 are often a sign of artery blockages, and should be checked out immediately. And don’t just settle for an annual physical. See a cardiologist, and get your heart tested. The earlier you start making changes the better off you’re going to be.
One of the greatest things you can do for your heart is to start taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil. There are even some signs that doctors here and there are starting to get the message.
The National Institute For Health and Clinical Excellence now advises doctors to provide fish oil for patients that have suffered heart attacks. The Institute believes that if doctors follow their advice, their patients will be at lower risk of suffering further heart attacks.
That’s good advice, but it’s after the fact, and what is called post heart attack treatment. Patients need to get on fish oil early, in order to help prevent cardiac events.
Enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil can be taken by almost anyone at any age, and the benefits are numerous. A story in this morning’s newspaper told the story of a professional baseball player who is returning to play much earlier than expected. The reason? Fish oil healed his aching joints much faster than he expected.
In the Institute study I mentioned earlier, omega-3 fatty acids cut the incidence of recurring sudden death by heart attack 45%.
So my question is, why would you wait until a person has a heart attack to start recommending it?
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
Yesterday I was on the phone with my friend Jack, who wanted to know when I was going to be back in New York. Unfortunately for me it’s going to be much too soon. By Wednesday morning I should be on the road headed back to the cold spring weather in Long Island.
But on the good news front I got Jack to agree to help me with some heart healthy recipes. Jack is a chef who knows how to “throw down” as they say on the Food Network. And he agreed to start supplying me with easy to make, heart healthy recipes that I can pass along to you.
You may want to print these out and keep them somewhere. I’ve eaten at Jack’s many, many times, and I can say that I’ve never had anything that wasn’t first rate.
One of the things that I really like is cucumbers, and we seem to have them year round. So without further adoo doo, is Jack’s recipe.
Cucumber Salad, Serves 2
1 English Cucumber (the long ones) peeled, and diced, large 1/4 cup red bell pepper, small diced, 1/4 cup green bell pepper, small diced, 1/4 cup red onion, small diced, 1 tsp jalapeno pepper, small diced, 1/2 cup plain white vinegar, 1 Tbsp good olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp sugar, Sea salt, Black pepper
Peel the cucumber, and slice in half the long way. Then slice in half the same way again. Dice the cucumber in 1/2 inch pieces and put in a bowl. Dice the peppers and onions, and add to the bowl. Dice the jalapeno, add to the bowl, and wash your hands to make sure you aren’t carrying any juice from the jalapeno. Mix the vinegar, olive oil, and sugar together. Pour this over the cucumbers, peppers, and onions. Season with sea salt, and black pepper.
You can serve this immediately, but it will be better if it sits for an hour or so. It can be served cold, or at room temperature.
It’s great with anything grilled, or even by itself as a snack.
Next time Jack will take this basic recipe, and extend it into a dinner salad by adding just a few more heart healthy ingredients.
Studies have shown that olive oil is a big help in a heart healthy diet, and a mediterranean diet is also helpful to general heart health.
We can’t pick up and move to Europe, and why would we? But we can eat in that style without tearing up the foundation of how we live, and the food can taste wonderful.
Just make sure you’re getting the omega 3 fatty acids that you need every day. Your joints will feel better, your heart will run smoother, and your brain will function like a well oiled machine.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I’m getting ready for another road trip, and then I’m going to be settling in for a couple of months in Long Island. Hopefully Spring isn’t far off, and the sunshine is coming quickly. Really quickly, because these bones don’t like the cold much anymore.
I found a very interesting article today, published in the inaugural issue of Sports Health: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. It’s a medical publication, and wouldn’t have much appeal for the average sports fan.
To prove my point, what I read was titled “Evaluation of Lipid Profiles and the Use of Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acid in Professional Football Players.” I am sure most of you would have opted for the box score of a Celtics game as more interesting, but this sort of stuff fascinates me. By now you might have guessed I’m slighty nerdish. But, it all works in your favor.
To make it easier for you to understand, 36 members of the Steelers were given pharmaceutical grade fish oil, and then evaluated using what is called a VAP(R)Cholesterol Test. What they were looking for was emerging cardiovascular risk factors, and determining whether omega 3 EFAs (essential fatty acids), found in pharmaceutical grade fish oil can reduce these factors.
During the period of the study each participant in the treatment group was given 2560 mg per day of mixed EPA/DHA omega 3 fatty acid supplements.
According to Dr. James Erlich, the Chief Medical Officer of Atherotech, a partner in the study, professional football players are statistically at higher than normal risk for future cardiovascular disease and sudden heart attack.
It isn’t hard to figure out why, just by looking at the bodies when they line up to play. These guys are huge, and linemen often are considered “light” at 280 pounds. The 300 pound lineman, and up, is extremely common in professional football. When these guys stop playing, all this excess weight catches up with them fast.
The VAP Tests determined that pharmaceutical grade fish oil improved good cholesterol in Steeler players, and lowered damaging particles and triglycerides. Elevated levels of triglycerides (ie., animal fats) are associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The pharmaceutical grade fish oil taken by the Steelers may not have benefited them in the game against the Cardinals, but it surely benefits them in the much longer game of life. These guys are big, strong, tough, and a little crazy. You have to be to play professional sports.
And the fact is, many of them die much too young, often from heart attack and stroke. Giving these Sunday warriors pharmaceutical grade fish oil is a big step in the right direction.
Pharmaceutical grade fish oil isn’t just for professional athletes, big guys that weigh 300 pounds, or more. It helps virtually everyone who takes it some way, from stopping migraines to helping quell joint pain to assisting in the flushing of your arteries.
If you want to extend your reservation at this grand hotel, get some now, and keep taking it.
