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.
Low Carb vs. High Carb: The Results
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
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
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
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
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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The Number One Distraction
After reviewing the first two things that irk me, I realized this could go on for a long time. Most things that bother me, and probably you as well, may be attributed to a lack of self-awareness or more likely, complete self-absorption. Things such as walking three-people abreast in a mall or an airport (Hello? Do you realize there are other people around you?) or the line to board a flight stretching all the way across the concourse (You won’t lose your place in line if the line curves—can you tell I’ve been flying . . .
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The Science: Whacked by a Backpack
This week I’m addressing why people do some of the things they do that bug me—and probably a whole lot more of you. Today is a very common one that happens mostly on planes but can occur anywhere we come into close contact: Why do people whack you with their backpacks when you’re seated in an airplane, bus, classroom, or restaurant?
This is due to a lack of spatial awareness as well as the lower number of nerve receptors on the back. For the most part, we know where our body is in the space around us . . .
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The Science Behind Left-Laners
I’ve tackled a lot of serious subjects lately and reviewed a lot of research that gets major headlines. For this week, I’ve decided to look at why people do some of the things that they do—little everyday things that bug me and probably bug most of you as well. We can just dismiss them as people being rude, but I’m going to take it a step further: I’m going to explain the behaviors from a scientific perspective. So let’s start with the thing that bugs me most:
Why do . . .
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The Big Chill: Do You Need a Flu Shot?
In this final installment of The Big Chill, I’m going to take a look at flu shots: should you get one or not? Before I do that, a word about echinacea.
Echinacea
Many readers have read that echinacea shouldn’t be used long term or used at all if you have an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. The problem is that there are no studies to support either position and no studies to suggest it’s harmful, either. In that situation, the approach is always to proceed with caution until we know more. The only problem with waiting . . .
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The Big Chill: Immune-Boosting Supplements
Getting ready for cold and flu season, let’s turn to dietary supplements that may help keep your immune system strong. Dozens of supplements are promoted to strengthen the immune system, but let’s stick to what I know works based on the research and my experience: echinacea, garlic, and vitamin C.
Make sure you read this first before you go to the amounts of each supplement to take below because in this case, close enough is. Don’t obsess about the difference between 200 mg or 250 mg, and if I say 300 mg three times a day, don . . .
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