Entries by Chet Zelasko

Happy 2015!

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For my first message of the New Year, I want to say this: resolve to take better care of your health in 2015. It’s the foundation for everything you do—how you perform at work, how well you take care of your family, how fully you support your friends, how well you serve the church and organizations where you volunteer, and how much you enjoy your life every day.

One more thing: thank you. Thanks for supporting the Messages, for attending my seminars, and for buying products at drchet.com. Most of all, thank you for trusting me to . . .

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The Bottom Line on School Lunches

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Healthier meals in schools were proposed and opposed—what happened next? True to form, the federal government gave in to the food industry. They didn’t reverse the Kids Act, but they left it to the school districts to decide whether a switch to whole grains caused any hardship. They also suspended the target for lower sodium levels until there’s more research. Pathetic.

Here’s what I think as a health educator: there was no training for staff or students on what constitutes healthy nutrition. In most school districts, food is made in one central kitchen and shipped to . . .

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Kids Act Opposition

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Yesterday, I told you about the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 with the objective of improving the choices of the food offerings in school lunches. But great ideas that were started two years ago may die before they really get going. School districts, food industry advocates, and a national school-lunch association (funded in part by the food industry) are seeking to change the Kids Act. They say that the new guidelines cost too much, there’s too much waste, and school lunch purchases have declined. They want the guidelines waived if a school loses money on their . . .

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Healthy Hunger-Free Kids

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There’s no easy way to say this so I’m just going to blurt it out: we’re raising a generation of overweight and obese children. They eat too much saturated fat, too much sodium, not enough vegetables, not enough fruit, and they’re way too sedentary. When Paula and I go out to eat, I can always predict what nearby children are going to order or what they’ll be eating: chicken nuggets or mac and cheese. I’m always right, but I wish I weren’t. I understand that it’s tough to be a parent who . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb: The Bottom Line

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Today we finish the review of the latest study on the potential health benefits of low carb vs. high carb. We know what the researchers suggested are the beneficial effects of a low-carb diet and the potential problems of a high-carb diet. Were they correct? Let’s take a look.

I’m going to say this upfront because as you read on, you might get the impression I didn’t think much of this study, but that’s not really my viewpoint. This was a monumental effort by many different people. Think about it: they prepared every meal . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb: The Results

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In today’s message, we’re going to continue the review of a recent study that compared a low-carb to high-carb diet (1). Today I’ll focus on the results the researchers emphasized.

The researchers measured just about every variable associated with the development of type 2 diabetes including anthropomorphic measurements, insulin levels, and the complete breakdown of all the types of fatty acids found in triglycerides.

Let’s start with the basics. All subjects lost weight even though that wasn’t the intent of the study. The number of calories per day was decreased by an average . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb

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The debate never seems to end over which diet is best: high carbohydrates as recommended by the USDA; or low carbohydrates as promoted by those following one of the Paleolithic diets; or an Atkins diet type of approach. The different diets aren’t just supposed to be good for weight loss, they’re also supposed to help reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

In a recently published study, researchers attempted to answer the question: which diet is best, low carb or high carb (1)? They recruited overweight subjects with metabolic syndrome to participate in a . . .

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Expert Advice on Snow

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We’ve talked about the science behind the increase in heart attacks with heavy snowfalls. Today I’ll share some expert advice from Randy in Fredonia, New York; here’s what he recommends when you’re dealing with heavy snowfalls:

  • “Pry open your wallet and pay someone with a big machine to take care of the bulk of the snow if necessary.
  • “Hire a kid to dig out your walk.
  • “Wait a few days for it to melt. A couple of days after the snow stopped, it got up to 60 degrees and most . . .

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Why Snow Causes Heart Attacks

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This week’s messages were inspired by the recent extraordinary snowfall in Buffalo. Continuing with why heart attacks seems to happen more when shoveling show than other types of strenuous activity, let’s consider other factors besides breath holding that occur during a heavy snowfall.

One of those is the actual snowfall itself. A couple of inches of light fluffy snow weighs next to nothing, but heavy wet snow is more like lifting water itself—it’s heavy. For those of you who’ve never had the pleasure, fill a five gallon pail with water, put it on a shovel . . .

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Snow and Valsalva

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I got an email from a long-time friend and reader of my messages who lives in a suburb of Buffalo. You won’t be surprised the topic was snow in light of the recent eight feet of snow that blanketed the area. What you may not know is that I’m originally from a suburb of Buffalo myself, but living in Grand Rapids, we get our share of lake effect snow including the day before that storm hit Buffalo. In our yard, the snow was close to 18 inches.

He emailed me to share some thoughts on how to . . .

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