Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
How Isometrics Help Lower Your BP
If you have a home blood pressure monitor, try a little experiment on yourself. Set up your monitor and cuff and sit quietly in a chair. After five minutes or so, take a deep breath, exhale, and hit the Start button on the monitor while breathing normally as your BP is taken. Record the results. […]
Isometric Exercise Lowers Blood Pressure
This summer has seen several studies about exercise, so we’ll just continue with the flow from last week. The first study caught me by surprise: isometric exercise lowers blood pressure. When you do isometric exercises, you increase tension in a muscle without moving the joint, such as holding your leg still while you clench your […]
The Key to Building Muscle
The mega meta-analysis I talked about on Tuesday found that every combination of resistance, sets, reps, and number of days per week resulted in increased strength and increased muscle size compared to people who did nothing, but there were some combinations that provided the best results. Finding the Best Approach to Building Muscle Without question, […]
Finding the Best Weight Training Program
This year’s Super Bowl webinar on Aging with a Vengeance focused on muscle mass: hanging on to it or building it up if you’ve lost it, and how to make it happen. The fitness columnist for the Washington Post recently wrote an article on weight training that caught my attention, and I decided to take […]
Ageism in the Mirror
In today’s society, there is one form of discrimination that is tolerated without question: ageism. It’s easy to get the impression that after a certain age, people become more of a burden than a blessing to themselves and others. Recent research confirms that most people over 50 experience ageism. It happens in stores, restaurants, and […]
Research Update: Omega-3s and Lung Function
Lung function declines as we age; depending on how we treat our lungs, our habits can determine the rate of decline. Working in toxic situations (or even worse, smoking cigarettes) can accelerate the decline. That’s why a recent study that examined blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids and measures of lung function found that our […]
Research Update: Omega-3s and Chronic Kidney Disease
Two recently published articles examined the link between omega-3 fatty acids from fish and two conditions; let’s begin with a study on fish consumption and chronic kidney disease (CKD). By definition, CKD is the loss of kidney function over time. The kidneys are the major blood filtering system, so continued decline can impact the entire […]
The Final Question on Ultra-Processed Food
Here’s what we found out so far: When we eat ultra-processed food (UPF), we tend to eat way too much of them, upwards of 500 more calories per meal. We absorb more of those calories; the absorption starts sooner in the small intestine because of the simple carbohydrates in the UPF. Finally, we found out […]
Ultra-Processed Foods: Losing Calories
In our examination of the research on ultra-processed food (UPF), we’ve found out that we consume more calories and that we absorb more calories if we eat UPF. The final question is probably going to seem a little unusual. Do we actually lose more calories if we eat less UPF? In other words, do we […]
Are Ultra-Processed Foods Absorbed Faster?
The next question to consider with UPFs is this: Do you absorb more calories from UPFs than you would from minimally processed food? The answer appears to be yes, but requires some explanation. Keep in mind that UPFs have been mechanically and chemically altered during the manufacturing process. The original grains of wheat, corn, or […]
