Entries by Chet Zelasko

Why Bones Need Stress

/in /by

Something unusual happened during a recent run: I fell. Nothing serious, just a few scrapes and a sprained wrist. It got me to thinking that I haven’t talked about bones in a long time; there are 206 of them in adults, and they have to last us our entire lifetime. This week’s messages are all about bones. I’ll approach it from a different way than you can find by doing an Internet search.

The critical thing to understand is that bone is live tissue. We tend to think of it as something solid, and it is. But . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Who Can You Trust?

/in /by

With the Internet, health information is everywhere. That creates the health hooliganism that I talked about on Thursday. Everyone seems to be shouting that “This is good, that’s bad, and everyone who doesn’t agree with me (or us) has some form of hidden agenda.” It’s not just limited to the anti-something people. Scientists have joined together to start shouting their view about the sugar or food industry. How should you evaluate who’s saying what? Here’s what I do.

I check to see if the person has the background they claim to have. Do they . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Science Hooligans

/in /by

Seth Godin is an original Internet marketer and entrepreneur whose books and blog I really enjoy. His post from Monday articulately identified the problem that exists in the health field today, and I urge you to read it in its entirety (1).

This past weekend in Peoria, I was answering someone’s question about soy when another person began to give his opinion on the topic. It wasn’t related to soy itself but rather GMOs, another hot topic in health. Sometimes I can’t slough off a challenge without a response, but . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

A Reasonable Discussion

/in /by

I spent the past weekend with thousands of people in Peoria. It’s always refreshing to talk face-to-face and answer questions. Occasionally I’m challenged, but I don’t mind because it forces me to do more research to find answers for things I don’t know. But it’s not the science that presents the biggest challenge; it’s the people interpreting the science that’s the challenge. I’m going to use what I read and saw Monday morning to help illustrate the issue.

I’ll begin with a network TV morning show. The show did . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Getting Rid of Constipation

/in /by

Adults, children, even infants get constipated, and no one likes it. Over time, I developed a combination of nutrients that seems to work for many people—not every person but most. Is it based on absolute science? I would be hard-pressed to say that the research on occasional constipation is definitive. There are over 22,000 citations in PubMed for every type of cause and medication for many types of constipation, but there’s no solid research on occasional constipation. I developed this combination based on the physiology and biochemistry involved, combined with years of experience.

The solution I . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

The Types of Fiber

/in /by

There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Let me break each down for you.

Soluble fiber is indigestible carbohydrates from plants; as the name suggests, they dissolve in water. They can actually form a gel-like substance in a glass, if you don’t consume it after mixing with water, or in the small intestine. Examples of foods that contain soluble fiber: psyllium, fruit, oats, barley, and legumes.

Insoluble fiber comes from plant cell walls. It does not dissolve in water but it can add bulk to the stool; that allows it to pass easier. Foods that contain . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Why You Need Fiber

/in /by

One of the questions I get all the time is: What’s the big deal with fiber and why is it so important? In Real-Life Detox, my book that helps you naturally detoxify your body, I talk about the use of fiber during the fasting and detoxification process but didn’t cover it in great detail, so let’s take a closer look.

Fiber is the indigestible parts of plants. Because most Americans eat a diet very high in refined carbohydrates that have had the fiber . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Is Sugar the Problem?

/in /by

The questions I left you with on Thursday were related to the press and scientific reaction to the article about the sugar industry published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Was it worth all the press on CNN, Time, and even Treehugger.com? I don’t see it that way and I’ll explain why.


The Article

The paper in JAMA was not a study (1); it was a review of correspondence and papers published in the 1950s and 1960s. It was more investigative journalism than science . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Sugar: New Villain?

/in /by

Health by headlines continues, this time, from one of the Journals of the American Medical Association. The headlines revolved around how the sugar industry influenced research and scientific publications in the 1950s through the 1980s. A group of researchers, affiliated with the Philip Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, examined documents from the Sugar Research Foundation and correspondence between scientists who examined research on the role fat and sugar play in the development of cardiovascular disease. The scientists involved have all died; this was an examination of their papers archived in the universities where they spent their careers as well . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Suicide Prevention

/in /by

We spend so much time on the physical part of health, we don’t often give recognition to the mental part. A post from a long-time friend to his Facebook page drew my interest; he asked people to repost the information about this being Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. I can do better than repost—I’m sharing it with the thousands of people like you who get my message because today is World Suicide Prevention Day.

Here are a few items I found at the National Alliance of Mental Health website.

    We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

    If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.