Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I’m still enjoying the Florida sunshine as I write because my trip back to Long Island was delayed. One of my large family, (of cats) had to have surgery, and he can’t travel until at least Wednesday. I’ll just sit here and suffer in the 70 degree weather.
A friend of mine coached girls basketball for many years, and over that time he had a small handfull of them suffer from what is called “sports” or “exercise induced” asthma. The vigorous exercise triggered an acute narrowing of the airways, making it very hard for them to breathe.
99% of the time this was alleviated by the use of an inhaler, and 30 minutes of inactivity. Then, the girl was good to go again. These girls were exceptions to the general rule, in that most kids with this problem opt not to participate in athletics, or anything strenuous. Inactivity is not a good habit to get into at any age, but this is what happens, and many misinformed parents push their kids in this direction, not wanting them to get hurt, or embarrassed.
The way it was handled on the team was pretty remarkable. The affected girl would come out of the game, the inhaler would be brought out, usually by a teammate, and one of the assistant coaches would watch, while other girls administered treatment, relaxing the girl with the asthma attack, and getting her breathing back to normal.
Then, after a rest, she would often resume play, as if it had never happened at all.
A study I’ve just seen recently shows that a low salt diet combined with pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplementaion would reduce the incidence of bronchoconstriction, one of the medical terms used for sports induced asthma.
In the study, done at the University of Indiana in 2006, the post-exercise lung function of participants, adults with mild to moderate persistant asthma, improved by about 64 per cent… and their use of emergency inhalers decreased by about 31 per cent, when they consumed a low salt diet, supplemented with pharmaceutical grade fish oil, for the period of the study.
One of the key findings in the study was that airway pro-inflammatory cells and markers, which are responsible for airway inflammation and subsequent airway obstruction, were reduced, while on the diet and fish oil supplementation.
Where do kids get all the salt, which is a key factor?
Snack food: potato chips, Doritos, Cheetos, hot dogs, frozen pizza, and most microwavable food. They’re all loaded with salt.
And if you’re around kids, you know they’re putting this stuff away by the pound.
My advice…get rid of it. Start buying less of it, and start introducing the kids to good food. Everybody benefits.
And don’t just get enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil for yourself. Get it for the whole family. It’s never too early to start everyone on the road to healthy living, and nobody is going to get a strong, healthy body by eating Fritos.
Good food and good exercise, plus enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil, mean your chances of contracting this type of asthma may be very slim indeed.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I might be showing a little bit of age here this morning by referring to Wo Fat, a villain on an old television show called “Hawaii 5-0.” It was also the nickname of a medical school classmate, who didn’t appreciate it, even though he fit the moniker very well indeed.
I’ve never been a fan of “low fat” dishes, or ingredients, and the few “no fat” items that have crossed my lips usually fell in the “disgusting” category. Usually they ended up in the garbage disposal as soon as no one was looking.
Now, having said that, there are actually low or no fat foods that are delicious. The key here is that they are very close to their natural state. For instance, is there anything better than Jersey tomatoes, sliced, with a touch of salt and pepper, and maybe a drop or two of olive oil, or balsamic vinegar?
How about watermelon with a touch of salt? Or not?
Fresh peaches? Or cherries?
A salad pulled from the ground, only minutes before eating?
But I’m a realist, and this doesn’t happen every day, or even month. But when the opportunity presents itself, go for it. Your body loves these ingredients, as opposed to Pop Tarts, and microwaved mac and cheese.
The other thing is, most low fat and no fat items are really not food, but a sort of chemical construct. See if you recognize any of the ingredients. And most of them contain artificial sweeteners, which are just plain bad for you.
I think it’s best to follow the late Julia Childs’ approach, where she said, “If you want to lose some weight, eat a little less. You don’t need to eat a 16 ounce steak, or a one pound potato. Butter isn’t your enemy, gluttony is!” My kind of girl.
And really, it doesn’t take Larry The Cable Guy to explain to you that Hot Pockets really aren’t good for you. Although his explanation of what they did to his system is hilarious.
One of the big keys to long-term weight loss is eating real food in as close to its natural state as possible. Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, lean meats. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to eat with a group of chefs, you would be very surprised at what they really like. Almost everything they like is very simple, and there isn’t much fuss. But the ingredients are pristine.
Years ago we couldn’t do that (get really good ingredients).
But now we can, so with a minimum of effort you can find really good fresh food. So gradually introduce this into your diet. Start with one day a week, or one meal a week.
A study I just finished reading showed that people who made changes in their diets, simple changes, not radical changes, and who took a pure pharmeceutical grade fish oil, lost weight and kept it off.
That’s good news. Simple changes in diet, combined with an ultra pure pharmaceutical grade fish oil are a dynamite combination.
So make these changes and you won’t need to be spending your time sitting around reading old magazines in an overcrowded waiting room. Get started now.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I had a few laughs last night as my partners and I discussed the current political scenario. My partners are both very funny guys and also very astute, and we had a lot of fun discussing the so-called “stimulus” bill. Almost everything they said is unfit for print, but as I’ve always told them, “You need to take your act on the road.”
The question of the day is: Are you overweight? Or as comedienne Artie Lange puts it, “Too Fat To Fish?”
I’m not going to spend a lot of time with medical specifics, and the reason is simple common sense. Almost everyone knows when they are carrying too much flabbolo. I certainly know it, and in discussions with friends, they all know it, too.
There are signs.
It takes more than a second to button up the pants.
Your shirt is getting tight in the collar.
You start altering your golf swing.
You start going back to the buffet a third time.
Three flights of stairs leave you winded.
Little signs. I could go on and on. When you stop, your arms continue to jiggle.
We all know, and we all need to start getting leaner. The way to get there is by doing a little planning.
The plan starts with getting on pharmaceutical grade fish oil, and staying on it. That’s easy, a couple of swallows a couple of times a day.
While you will benefit internally from the start, you’ll start to see the results and feel better after the first 60 days, with full benefits in your blood lipid levels after 12-15 weeks, based on the scientific studies done. It takes time, so you need to get started NOW.
Then you need to start altering the way you eat, a little bit at a time. For instance, if you consume soda, or diet soda, on a daily basis, start cutting back and switching to water. One friend of mine was a Coca Cola addict, drinking up to six bottles or cans a day. When he made this simple change, switching from cola to water, he lost 14 pounds in eight weeks. He took my pharmaceutical grade fish oil, subbed water for cola, and 14 pounds disappeared.
He replaced his lunch burgers with salads twice a week, and lost 6 more pounds.
He limited his ice cream intake to 4 ounces per day, and lost even more weight.
His exercise program consisted of hill walking in the beginning, and then 6 hill sprints per day, which took him about 15 minutes.
Today he is 35 pounds lighter, and looks ten years younger.
He didn’t make any radical changes, or totally eliminate anything from his diet, other than soda. And he doesn’t miss it.
But he can tell you this. He took a business trip and forgot to pack his Dr. Bill’s Powerhouse Omega Formula, and he could feel that. He missed his dose for four days, and says if it ever happened again, he would have it Fedexed to him, immediately.
I’ve had many people repeat this same scenario to me. Once you start on the road to optimal health, your body will let you know loud and clear when you make a detour. Which is a sign you were on the right track in the first place.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
This morning I am feeling quite good because I don’t have to drive anywhere, and the weather is nice. Hopefully my wife won’t find any “honeydo’s” for me, until after I’ve soaked up a bit of sun, and finished a newspaper or two.
Earlier this morning, I was thinking about the number of Americans, possibly a third or more, who have high blood pressure, or hypertension, in medical lingo. The thing is, many of them have it, but don’t even know it, until it’s too late. High blood pressure is often referred to, as “The Silent Killer,” because it often attacks with no warning, causing strokes, heart attacks and heart failure.
The question is often asked, “What causes high blood pressure?”
There are a number of answers, and among them are body type, sedentary lifestyle, sodium intake, low potassium intake, heavy use of alcohol, eating a lot of saturated fat, and huffing. (that’s what I call smoking, because everyone I know who smokes, huffs.) And then, there’s what we in the trade call “essential hypertension,” which means we can’t identify a specific reason for it, but it’s there, just the same.
Now, if you happen to be overweight, and more people are overweight every day, or if you sit around all day on your job, and don’t exercise, you’re probably already on the road to high blood pressure. And the more fat around your midsection, the more trouble you’re likely to be in.
Salt isn’t bad, in and of itself, but for instance, here in Florida, I see people resalt almost everything they eat. They don’t even taste the food on their plate, before they’re adding more salt. Having too much salt in your diet may lead to water retention, which in turn, can lead to high blood pressure, or aggravate it, if you already have the condition.
Every time I go to the grocery store, I see piles of bananas. I try and eat at least one every day, because they happen to be very rich in potassium. But apparently, most Americans don’t eat the bananas they buy, because they aren’t getting enough potassium in their diets. And not having enough potassium may lead to high levels of sodium.
And none of this factors in alcohol use and huffing, which is about the worst thing you can do to your body.
Now before I go any further, I will tell you I am not a strict teetotaler, though I drink only very rarely. It’s okay for you to have a drink now and then. Smoking is a different story, although I’m not going to complain about a special occasion cigar (for you, not me–I don’t smoke at all and never did).
But I will tell you this: constant boozing and smoking will hurt you in the long run, if you even get to have a long run. But boozing and smoking, if you already HAVE high blood pressure, is just suicidal.
You can start lowering your blood pressure with simple lifestyle changes. Try eating better one day at a time. Try a little exercise, also one day at a time. Then, make it two. Remember, it took quite a while for your body to get in the shape it’s in, so don’t try to fix everything in a only few days or weeks. Because if you do, you’ll only end up hurting yourself and being pissed off, and then, not doing anything.
These lifestyle changes are important, too. Don’t be like a good friend of mine who always used to say, “Hey…who the…put a vegetable on my plate?” His heart attack hit him like a bulldozer, and he’s still recovering over a year later.
When I visited him in the hospital he said, “I guess it’s all carrots and celery from now on, huh?” It doesn’t have to be that way. Start making small changes, and pretty soon, before you even know it, you’ll be lighter, and happier.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
Two weeks ago I was in my study in Long Island when the phone rang. It was an old friend of mine who had been to his family practitioner because he wasn’t feeling up to snuff. The doctor had given him some medication, and it made him feel worse.
He wanted another opinion, and I’ve never had a shortage of those. At the same time, I am usually very reticent to countermand another doctor’s advice, because I don’t have the whole story, I haven’t examined the patient, and this just generally isn’t good practice. But in my friend’s case, I made an exception, since I knew him quite well.
I went through a whole series of questions, and he answered everything I asked without hesitation. I thought things over and gave him some advice, and sent him back to his doctor. After seeing his doctor again, telling his whole story, and asking the right questions, he got the same advice I gave him.
That’s a good thing.
Initially, his doctor had put him on anti-depressants, and while anti-depressants are exactly the right medicine for some, they are not the right call for others.
What I advised my friend was to get the whole story out. Many times, doctors only get the story the patient wants to tell, and what they leave out can be critically important. This lack of information affects the diagnosis, and what medications and protocols are prescribed.
After listening to my friend for about half an hour, I determined that he had a few things affecting his life that he needed to change.
1. He was not getting enough sunlight. This isn’t a joke. Sunlight is critical to mood and emotion, and those who work indoors are affected much more often than they think, especially in Winter. I advised him to get outside at least once a day for 20 minutes.
2. He wasn’t getting enough exercise. I advised him to start walking 20 minutes a day to start, and to work toward 45 minutes. When he hits that goal, I’ll advise him on what to do next.
3. He needed to cut his alcohol consumption by about 75%. This won’t be easy for him, as he is a very sociable guy, and much of his work revolves around entertaining.
4. He needed to make some changes in his diet. This should be easier, because he doesn’t have any food phobias. (This is where a person only eats certain things, and fears eating things that are actually good for you.) He needs to work in more fruit and vegetables, and decrease the amount of red meat he is eating.
5. He needs to start taking an ultra pure pharmaceutical grade fish oil, which will support his health, as well as his mood and emotion. In numerous studies, it has been shown, time and again, that fish oil supports cognitive function and neurological healing.
My friend’s body needs some balance.
He isn’t getting it by sitting inside all day, not exercising, drinking a bit too much, and eating like a lion in the wild.
The changes I outlined for him, and again outlined by his family physician, will make a significant difference in even a short amount of time. The key to optimum health is getting started, and the time for that is now.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
One of the concerns being communicated to me today is about pollution, and the question is: Doesn’t pollution inevitably find it’s way into the product?
The answer is no.
Let me start by saying that by pollution most people mean heavy metals and PCBs.
To avoid these, you need a supplement that goes through a triple phase molecular distillation purification process to maximize purity.
You want to make sure the oils of any product are distilled in a controlled, pristine vacuum environment which insures contaminant removal above and beyond traditional purification methods.
Your supplement must also surpass all national and international standards for environmental pollutants, including dioxins, PCB’s, pesticides and heavy metals, including mercury.
Are there reasons to be concerned with contaminants?
You bet.
In a recent Canadian study which sampled commercial grade fish oil, all the samples analyzed were found to contain detectable residues of both organochlorine pesticides and PCBs.
The key words here are “commercial grade fish oil.”
This is the stuff found in supermarkets, drugstores, health food stores, and shopping clubs. It is sold cheaply as a commodity, and can actually be bad for your health, and doesn’t benefit anyone.
Many recent studies suggest that pharmaceutical grade omega 3 fatty acids may confer many potential health benefits, such as:
1. Improved vascular health.
2. Reduced cardiovascular disease risk.
3. Reduced symptoms of rhuematoid arthritis.
4. Thinning of the blood.
You’re not going to get those from any old fish oil off the shelf.
A study forwarded to me today suggests a link between pharmaceutical grade fish oil and improved function of the prostate. Another thing to remember is that pharmaceutical grade fish oil is not a drug, and has no debilitating side effects. So remember to only go with pharmaceutical grade.
Posted: March 8th, 2009 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »
I took a break in South Carolina yesterday, stopping at one of those great southern breakfast joints where the biscuits are as addictive as good pain medication. (I managed to stop at two, while my brain kept crying out, “Just one more!”) While I was waiting for my food I cracked open my computer, and lo and behold there was a fish oil salesletter, and it wasn’t mine.
This one was from a doctor who has been in the vitamin business for quite some time. If I didn’t know what I know about this business, this letter would have scared me to death. But since I didn’t just fall off a turnip truck, (I learned that phrase here in South Carolina from a waitress), I started laughing about a third of the way into the letter.
Now I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t mind a little bragging if the facts are true, but this letter was bragging with no facts to speak of, or as they say in the law, “We’re in a highly questionable area here.”
In his letter the good doctor says he sources his fish oil in southern Peru and Chile. He calls this “non-industrial waters.” That’s creative, but ocean water is ocean water.
He makes the claim that fish sourced in European waters contains 8 times more dioxins than fish sourced off Peru and Chile. The information comes from something called the Scientific Committee on Food. I tried looking up this committee, but couldn’t find it.
High quality Peruvian fish oil is what he says he has. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you get high quality products from places where you can’t drink the water. Just a little common sense here is all it takes when you think about it.
There are a lot of comparisons made in the letter that appear to be scientific, but they’re not. There’s even a classic straw man chart, where Peruvian fish oil is compared to other oils in the market, and “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” just like Gomer Pyle used to say, Peruvian Fish Oil wins all the categories.
But nowhere does it say that the fish oil is pharmaceutical grade. He is comparing his commercial grade fish oil to other commercial grade fish oils. He isn’t comparing it to any pharmaceutical grade formula, which has worldwide standards.
So remember, always stick with pharmaceutical grade fish oil – and make sure it isn’t from Peru.
