It’s time again to ponder the flu immunization. When it comes to flu shots, I take a far more conventional approach than many patients at WholeHealth Chicago expect of a doctor who considers himself alternative/integrative. After reviewing some of the popular online alternative medicine newsletters warning people away from flu shots, it’s my sense that […]
Category: Healthy Lifestyle
Low-Carb vs Low-Fat: The Debate Is Over!
It’s mind-boggling how long this acrimonious debate has been raging among various experts. I remember myself as a fat little kid first hearing the word “calorie,” but was too busy chewing my second Snickers bar to pay much attention. By 11 or 12, I was taken (or rolled) to a weight loss “specialist” and remember […]
At the Corner of Criminal and Customer: Why Would Anyone Shop At Walgreens?
Sometimes when I hand a patient a prescription she’ll ask, “Where should I get this filled?” “Pretty much anywhere except Walgreens,” I answer, “unless you actually enjoy long waits and, if you’re taking a pain med, getting a humiliating third-degree runaround from the pharmacist. Me? I wouldn’t buy a toothpick from the place.” I usually […]
For A Longer Life…Stand Up Now!
By far the most common answer to my question, “Exercising these days?” is “Not enough.” This is usually accompanied by the briefest flicker of melancholy regret, as if by such a confession my patient has permanently abandoned the hopes and dreams of both a svelte body and enviable longevity. “Don’t worry,” I say, “It’s just […]
Leave Your Car At Home
Posted 08/25/2014 You must have read somewhere that every piece of research in the past few years has categorically shown the health benefits of walking or bicycling to work. If you live too far away from your workplace to make those options feasible, this Health Tip will make your day. With walking or cycling, your […]
The Health of Americans
The Lancet is a British medical journal that has been in continuous publication since 1823. Arriving each week in my mailbox (though not since its inception!), The Lancet has always been worth more than the routine glance I give to the rest of my mail. Unlike any US medical journal, it provides a truly global […]
How To Not Die At Your Health Club
All things considered, most of us would prefer not to become acutely ill in a public place. You’d rather not faint at Macy’s, upchuck in a theatre lobby, or suddenly become aware of the Mount St. Helen’s rumbling in your intestines as you sit third row center at Orchestra Hall. If you trip and fall […]
Notes From The Underground
It was the Summer Solstice this past weekend and people all over the northern hemisphere celebrated in huge gatherings of what UNESCO calls an “intangible cultural heritage.” Not knowing if we have a lot of pagan or druid Health Tip readers, in case you couldn’t make it to Stonehenge here’s a nice link on 11 […]
Are You Addicted To Food?
Being addicted to anything, from crystal meth, heroin, or prescription drugs to tobacco, alcohol, the internet, or exercise, is a lot more common–and a lot more complicated–than you might think. Perhaps the best way to view addiction is as a loss of control, whether it’s something you’re ingesting (called substance dependence) or something you’re doing […]
Cynicism and Diet Sodas
I must admit that my immediate response to an article linking cynical distrust to dementia hit home. When you read dozens of medical articles every week, a few inevitably apply to you. “Oh, dear,” I thought. “I’m known to be pretty cynical. I’d recently mislaid both my keys and wallet in one day. Maybe I’m […]
It’s That SAD Time Again
Right now, mid-December, if you happen to be sitting in a room with five of your friends, the odds are strong that one of you has seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. If you’re the one, you’re probably in your 20s or early 30s (the vulnerable years for SAD, though you can have it at any age), you know […]
Fruitcake, Genes, and Exercise: A Spooky Holiday Story
Starting around Thanksgiving and generally ending on January 2, we’re surrounded by too much food. Many of us who spent 2013 really (really!) trying to lose weight and eat healthfully dread the havoc these dark December days can wreak on our bodies. It’s agonizingly easy to add some pounds. Then, come January, we despair at […]
Our Statin Nation
Although they don’t know who they are, 11 million Americans awakened last week as victims of a new disease, the dreaded “statin deficiency disorder,” or SDD. It’s not easy to diagnose because there are no symptoms. Even the lab test once closely linked to the word “statin”—cholesterol measuring–may miss SDD. In fact, with no symptoms […]
Physicians and Guns
I guess it should come as no surprise to anyone, the increasing number of articles in conventional medical journals about the health consequences of gun ownership. After all, each year more than 30,000 people are killed by a gun and another 70,000 are wounded. Add up the past decade and you get nearly one million […]
Are You An Accidental Orthorectic? It’s Possible…
I saw a pleasant but very worried 40-something woman a few weeks ago who had written on her intake form “Candida!” “Food allergies!” and “I don’t know what to eat!” To be honest, she didn’t look particularly healthy, likely because she was both poorly nourished and depressed. Her story is provocative. Many months earlier, feeling […]
Coping With Work Stress
You’d need to be a fly on the wall of my secluded little exam room at WholeHealth Chicago to realize how thoroughly day-to-day stress contributes to chronic physical and emotional ill health. Stress occurs when some force to which you’ve relinquished power controls your life. The source might be work, money, relationships, caregiving…or some grim […]
The Price of Your Doctor’s Declining Skills
I recently read that the skills involved in taking a patient’s medical history and performing a physical exam have declined as doctors become increasingly dependent on high-tech diagnostic equipment. Compared to medical education in years past, relatively little emphasis is placed on bedside medicine, a new term for an old concept: getting the necessary information […]
C’est Moi
If I hadn’t been experiencing an annoying sensation in my throat with every swallow that in my fears had escalated to advanced throat cancer, the week would otherwise have begun quite nicely. For example, while talking to a new patient with some longstanding neck and shoulder issues, I asked if she would mind if my […]
JAMA Reports Bribing Your Doc Could Improve Care (You Might Not Want These Details)
Two separate articles appeared this week in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) reporting that financial incentives either to individual physicians or group practices might improve the overall quality of care delivered to patients. I guess it’s human nature, especially viewed through the eyes of a lifetime Chicagoan like myself, to think, “Well […]
Diet Drug Controversies
The FDA recently approved two new weight-loss drugs and literally within hours of the drugs being officially released a pharmaceutical rep for one of the companies left his card with me and a patient called wanting a prescription. In the weeks that followed, full-page ads for the drugs began appearing in every medical journal I […]