Entries by Chet Zelasko

Report Food Poisoning

What should you do if you get food poisoning? Report it. The procedure may vary state to state, county to county, and even city to city, but here’s what we did. The first thing: Paula called the restaurant where we ate and told the manager what happened, what we ate, and when. We can’t be […]

The Most Likely Culprit: Salmonella

Food poisoning happens more often than we think it does. Most often, we throw up once or have a single bout of diarrhea with no fever and no fatigue and it’s over. The question is how we know which type of bacteria was at fault. There’s no way to know for certain unless stool samples […]

Is It Food Poisoning?

It all began Saturday evening. Paula and I had gone out to dinner to celebrate the 31st anniversary of our first date and were watching a little television. After finishing a show, she said she felt like throwing up. She decided to get ready for bed while I channel flipped for awhile. I found out […]

Vaping: Better Than Tobacco

Today’s final look at vaping and quitting smoking considers the following question: Does the use of vaping to quit smoking result in eliminating the dependence on nicotine? Based on the research, the answer is no, because there’s no research that attempts to answer that question that I could find. Knowing the powerful addictive qualities of […]

Do Vapes Help People Quit Smoking?

The only answer at this point is maybe. In the most recent review of the literature, population-based studies that rely on surveys and questionnaires suggest that vaping helps; the problem is that while they tells us something about the population as a whole, it tells us nothing about an individual. We’re still missing randomized placebo-controlled […]

Warning: Vaping Update

A couple of months ago, I happened to read a story about a couple of graduate students who came up with a business plan to replace cigarettes with vapes; they wanted the nicotine from the vapes but none of the harmful chemicals in tobacco products. Turns out, the company in the commercial was their company […]

Do Your Job

Physical preparation. Mental preparation. The final thing that’s drilled in to the Patriots is to do their job and do it to the best of their ability. Don’t take it upon yourself to do someone else’s job because you want to help. Take care of your space, do what you’re supposed to do, and you […]

Peaking Mentally at the Right Time

It’s not enough to perform your best physically; you also have to be able to peak mentally. While the physical does impact the mental, you can’t just wing it if the task is important to you. To me, that was the difference in the Super Bowl. But the Patriots in particular seem to be able […]

Peaking Physically at the Right Time

The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl again. You can love them or hate them, but you have to respect what they’ve accomplished. In fact, you have to respect the physical preparation of both teams leading up to the game. No one seemed winded or gasping for air, and no one seemed to be […]

Plan Your Season

Tomorrow’s Super Bowl Kick-off is set for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The location was set years ago, and the day and time were set immediately after last year’s game. There were no secrets. Everyone knew. Every team, coach, and player knew the details. Every team had the same time to train. They all played the […]