Monthly Archives: September 2007

Healthcare Policy on Obesity Needs Changes

The blog Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review came our with an interesting write-up on the troubling epidemic about obesity and the pressure it is putting on our health care system. As a lecturer in the field of health and obesity I have seen how our nation has become lazy and unwilling to do what is necessary to take back our health. Health care practitioners I lecture too have expressed utter frustration when trying to get people to change their habits. They just don’t want to be bothered. They would rather take a drug, or pop a few vitamins under the assumption that is all that is necessary to help them get healthy.

Health should be defined as not just the absence of disease but as the vibrance that comes with optimal health. We need to stop having the mind set that we don’t need to be responsible for our own health and that of our children. Making those who abuse their bodies by overeating, not exercising and having bad health habits pay more for their health care is the first step in reversing the growing obesity trend. If you want to abuse yourself, it will cost you more.

I don’t want to continue to pay higher and higher medical insurance bills for those of you who refuse to take care of themselves. That is a form of welfare that I am tired of supporting. Many of those people would scream and yell if they had to pay for people on welfare but would think nothing of taking subsidies from people who actually try to keep themselves healthy.

Heart Attacks and Cholesterol – Public Policy That Makes No Sense

I have touted the book Overdosed America by Dr. John Abramson over and over. It is shocking to me that so few people, especially doctors, know that high cholesterol and heart attacks are only correlated through the age of 40. Lowering weight, eating right, not smoking and exercising have more benefits and reduce heart attack risk more than statin drugs by far. Too low cholesterol increases the risk of other fatal diseases and over use of statin drugs does little but enrich the pharmaceutical industry.

On his blog site, Dr. Abramson has reviews of his book listed which are well worth reading. Here is one such review from the San Diego Union Tribune:

“Abramson, who has a background in statistics and health policy, took the time to read the full 284-page version of the panel’s 2001 report, rather than the 11-page summary that most doctors saw. The results of his careful analysis are enough to shock a healthy heart into failure. He notes that data from the venerable Framingham study – a large, long-term study of risk factors for heart disease – show that elevated total cholesterol levels correlate with an increased risk of death only through the age of 40. Even more astounding is the finding that the risk of death from causes other than coronary heart disease increases significantly with lower total cholesterol levels for both men and women after the age of 50. And that doesn’t even touch on the question of the long-term side effects – both known and unknown – of the statins themselves.”

Buy two copies of the book which is in paperback and give one to your doctor. Physicians need to know that prescribing statin drugs to all but a small percentage of individuals is bad medicine, morally wrong and just plain harmful. Statin drug prescriptions is an industry not true medicine.

Update on Tasya – Seizures, Health, Behavior and Mood

It’s about time I updated everyone on my now 11 year old daughter, Tasya. As many of my readers know, she has a rare and as of yet, uncatergorized form of epilepsy that was so severe at one time, we thought that either she would die of it or become retarded by the age of 11 or 12. I am very happy to report that despite the doom and gloom that seemed to follow her 3 years ago, she is now doing better now than she has at anytime since her seizures began 8 years ago.

So what have we been doing to help her so much? Well, aside for the diet and avoiding crappy foods, aspartame, MSG and the foods on her LEAP test that cause inflammatory responses, we added two key nutrients from our previous regimen. The first was Glycerophosphocholine also known as GPC. GPC is a great phospholipid that has been shown in numerous clinical trials to be beneficial to people who have suffered strokes as well as restoring memory and concentration in both young and older individuals. Concentration issues were a major problem for Tasya so we asked Dr. Kidd what the dosage should be and his suggestion was 300 mg per day, always in the morning. I can honestly report that her concentration has markedly since starting on a regular regimen of GPC.

The second nutrient PS Omega Synergy which is a combination of Phosphatidylserine and two Omega 3 fatty acids, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), has made a truly profound change in her mood, social skills and helped to lower the number of seizures she has to almost nothing. This is the best seizure control that she has had ever since they started in October of 1999. Her classmates have noticed a difference, her teachers have and we have. She is less likely to lose her temper, she has exhibited a wider range of emotions than ever before and has started to get excited about things that normally wouldn’t have moved her off the couch. PS Omega Synergy was the right nutrient at the right time for Tasya.

Is this the answer for others?  I can’t say that honestly. Did it make that much of a difference with Tasya?  That and more. We have a happy and predominantly seizure free child for the first time in years. Even her neurologist had a smile on his face yesterday when Tasya and my wife Hillary visited him. He decided that instead of the every four month visit, we could extend it to every six months.

My big thanks today is for two people, Robert Crayhon and Dr. Parris Kidd. Robert, thanks for being who you are and focusing on brain nutrition. The second is to Dr. Parris Kidd for bringing these two marvelous products to the market and doing the research to get them done right. Both of you should be proud that you helped save a little girls life as well as give her a future. I am also proud to call you both, friend.

NFL Season Picks – Another Year of Cheer

As some of my readers know, I’m a BIG pro football fan. My favorite teams include the NY Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers (the Super Bowl two years ago was a dream game for me). Now that the new season is about to start tonight, it’s time for my prognostications for the upcoming season. Here goes:

AFC East – New England Patriots      AFC North – Indianapolis Colts      AFC South – Pittsburgh Steelers            AFC West – San Diego Chargers

AFC Wild Cards – Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets

NFC East – Dallas Cowboys             NFC North – Chicago Bears            NFC South – New Orleans Saints            NFC West – Seattle Seahawks

NFC Wild Cards – Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers

AFC Champion – San Diego Chargers

NFC Champion – Seattle Seahawks

Super Bowl Champion – San Diego Chargers

Team with the first pick in the 2008 NFL Draft – Miami Dolphins

First team to fire their coach after the season – New York Giants

So, there you have it, my wild guesses. Take them as such.

Fascinating Book About Restaurants and Chefs

Anthony Bourdain is not just a pretty darn good chef, but he turns out to be a very good writer. After reading, Kitchen Confidential, I could never eat a seafood frittata again (or any seafood on a buffet on a Sunday). He writes with such bite and wit that I was thrilled to see he had written another book on food called The Nasty Bits.

While this isn’t related to health or nutrition, I really recommend it to everyone who likes to read. It is a nice book to read in bed, or by the fireplace. Be forewarned through, Anthony pulls few punches, especially in the chapter called “The Evildoers” where he skewers the fast food industry being one of the main reasons the world is becoming obese. The book is worth the price just for that chapter alone.

 The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones

The Hippocratic Oath – Do Doctor’s Today Even Read It Much Less Practice It?

The Hippocratic Oath is something that every physician who graduates from medical school presumably takes. While most physicians follow a great proportion of this important pledge, there is one passage in the modern version created by the late Dr. Louis Lasagna that is rarely followed by those physicians practicing allopathic medicine. It reads, “I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.” Is that the way medicine is really being practiced in today’s world?  I think not and here is why.

The purple pill NexiumTM helps people with severe esophogeal acid reflux. These people suffer greatly from their disorder but by prescribing the drug without first making the sufferers change obvious bad habits are we really preventing disease? By denying the healing benefits of nutrients and proper eating do they also fail to fulfill their oath. Having been to a number of physicians over the years I really believe that it is not that they don’t want to prevent disease but that they cannot spend the time necessary to help their patients stop doing things that harm their health. There is plenty of blame to go around and here are my big three.

First off we should point our finger at the pharmaceutical industry and its focus on profits and selling drugs to overcome issues that can often times be treated by lifestyle and habit changes as well as low side effect nutritional supplements (note that I say low side effect not no side effect). Restless Leg Syndrome, while a serious issue is often times better treated with magnesium and well formulated electrolytes instead of the drug RequipTM which has numerous serious side effects. The way the pharmaceutical industry markets their drugs is a major reason why people look for a short cut drug instead of slower lifestyle changes.

Secondly, we need to blame our society as a whole where we eat bad foods and enormous supersized meals, cut back on funding physical education in our schools and take a laisse faire attitude towards health. This societal degredation is so reminiscent of the fall of the Roman Empire that it is just history repeating itself. So many physicians feed into this societal illness that they refuse to make their patients change their habits in fear of losing them.

Thirdly, we need to lay the ultimate blame on the individuals who allow themseslves to get caught up in the “blame others but not me” syndrome. From the moronic ex-judge who sued the dry cleaner for losing a pair of pants to the people who demand that their children get an antibiotic prescription for the flu. Each of us, and I am guilty at times, look for shortcuts, ways not to pay the required price for real health, not just the lack of disease. We all need to look in the mirror and assess what we need to do to get better and then do it. We need to follow our own personal Hippocratic Oath, something I will propose in my next blog.