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.
A Closer Look at Monosodium Glutamate
People these days love salty, and as I’ve said before many times, I especially love salty: nuts, chips of any kind, cured meats such as ham. I believe if bacon weren’t salty, it wouldn’t be as popular as it is. Mix salt with amino acids, especially glutamine, and it creates a taste called umami. It’s […]
That Sugar Film: A Fantasy
Let me clear up a few things right away. I’m not a fan of overeating sugar, whether pure cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup. But glucose is the perfect fuel because it burns completely with only carbon dioxide and water as the by-products. I think what everyone should do is respect glucose for what […]
That Sugar Film: The Results
I hope that this sunk in on Tuesday: Damon Gambeau, the filmmaker, was going to eat 40 teaspoons of sugar per day. The rest of the story was that he was not going to eat cakes and cookies or drink full-sugar soda. He was going to eat what might be considered health foods: low-fat yogurt, […]
Review: That Sugar Film
Summer gives us a chance catch to up on reading or binge watch a television series, so I thought I’d watch some of the nutrition documentaries that I’ve been asked about. I’ve done some in the past such as Forks Over Knives. It gives me a chance to check the facts on what’s said and […]
Making Burgers Leaner
The series of Memos on meatless burgers generated many interesting comments. With the major holiday for grilling just two days away, I want to show you how to reduce calories in beef burgers. First, use a leaner cut of meat for your burgers. Ground sirloin is often designated 90/10, ground round 85/15, ground chuck as […]
Something Greater than Yourself
Who’s going to analyze all of this data when data collection is complete? A better question might be who couldn’t analyze this data. The answer: anyone who has a good research question and agrees to abide by the guidelines of data usage can run an analysis. That could even be you. That’s correct; if you […]
All of Us: The Details
Before I go further, I want you to consider this. For every variable, there will be a million data points. Height: one million. Weight: one million. Hip circumference: one million. You get the idea—and this is the simple stuff. The blood work alone could have 100 variables. Then we get into the DNA. Every gene […]
All of Us
Would you like to be part of one of the largest studies ever attempted in the U.S.? I decided I would and I think you should as well. The study is called All of Us, and it’s an attempt to gather health data from one million or more volunteers and then track them over many […]
The Bottom Line on Meatless Burgers
There are a couple more differences between the meatless burgers and beef burgers. To get the red color, the Impossible Burger uses soy leghemoglobin from the roots of soy plants, while the Beyond Burger uses beet juice. Both are vegan and give the burgers their red color. The Impossible Burger also adds some B vitamins […]
Defining Healthier Burgers
Other than being plant-based, how do these burgers compare for being healthy? In order to know that, we must define “healthy.” Beef is criticized, no matter how it’s raised and processed, for having too much unhealthy fat. How about the Impossible and Beyond Meat burgers? A burger generally uses 80/20 beef, which means 80% protein […]