Tiger Woods – Presidential Medal of Freedom. Same league as Maya Angelou? Barack Obama – Nobel Peace Prize (prior to any real achievements). Same league as Mother Teresa (who got the prize) and Mahatma Gandhi (who did not). Bob Dylan – Nobel Prize for Literature. Same league as Rudyard Kipling and Rabindranath Tagore (both of…
placebo and sham
Shankar Vedantam did a thought provoking “Hidden Brain” podcast on the placebo effect. Franz Mesmer is the godfather of the placebo effect. He created a lot of “atmosphere” around his sugar pills and since then, the public perception is that the placebo effect is a “New Age” phenomenon and it involves deception. But there is…
one down, one more to go
Salt Institute Sugar Association Until these lobbyists are allowed to help craft the US government’s “Dietary Guidelines for Americans”, health will continue to take a back seat.
the obesity code
Well written book by Jason Fung, MD. Fung describes obesity as a chronic multi-factorial disease just like all other Western diseases. All diets work. And then they don’t work. The body like all biological systems likes homeostasis and reverts to the mean. He starts with a lot of data proving that obesity is a hormonal,…
diet soda kills
Soda kills. Diet soda kills just as many. (And so do artificial sweeteners in other products.) There have been a series of artificial sweeteners – saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose, agave nectar, stevia. They make a unique promise – you can have your cake and eat it too. But as has been proven again and…
the food matrix
This video provides some food for thought, watch it with an open mind:
if you have to have meat
I believe that meat and highly processed vegan products that taste like meat are not good for your health. I would personally rather have whole grain/beans and vegetables that are not processed. However, from the environmental and ethical standpoint, if you have to have the taste of meat, there are some alternatives: Memphis Meats (now…
work too much = AFIB
How does too much work lead to AFIB? Not enough sleep Not enough exercise Eating out too much Alcohol to relax after long day at work Stress However a recent study in the European Heart Journal showed that working long hours was an independent risk factor for AFIB. The authors state “Although the 2016 European…
nuts for AFIB
A large (61,000 subject) observational study from Sweden published in British Medical Journal in 2018. (With the usual caveats about correlation not causation, non-randomization etc.). Nut consumption ≥3 times/week was associated with an 18% reduced risk of atrial fibrillation. Nuts are a great source of the following nutrients: unsaturated fatty acids protein fiber magnesium, potassium, zinc…
AFIB patient resources
American College of Cardiology American Heart Association Heart Rhythm Society