Entries by Chet Zelasko

What Do Vegans Eat?

The simplest way to describe a vegan diet is that it includes everything—except any food that comes from animals. If it comes from a plant, you can eat it. That includes all vegetables, all fruits, all grains, all legumes, and all nuts. Peanut butter and jelly? Yes, if the bread is vegan. Baked sweet potato […]

All Signs Lead to Vegetables

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had many questions about vegan diets. Coincidentally Paula recommended a couple of HuffPost articles on rising CO2 levels and the effect on crops. Then someone asked me what I thought about the movie “What the Health” available on Netflix or online; it’s purported to be a documentary on […]

The Bottom Line on Veggies and Carbs

Go ahead and finish your oatmeal and drink your protein-kale smoothie—you do need those veggies. Meanwhile I’ll put the PURE study in perspective. This is a large study that looks at the economics of food as well as the health benefits. In a separate publication, the analysis of the data focused on the cost of […]

PURE Headline 2: Don’t Bother with More Veggies?

Using the same data base of subjects in the PURE Study, researchers examined the vegetable, fruit, and legume intake on total mortality, mortality, and major cardiac events such as heart attacks. The most important finding was that higher vegetable, fruit, and legume intake was associated with a reduced risk of mortality and morbidity. Simply put, […]

PURE Headline 1: Do Carbs Kill?

Never a dull moment when it comes to health news: now they’re asking if you should choose fat rather than carbs. The research study was called PURE: Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology, and you’ll be hearing more about it. Over 150,000 people from five continents, 18 countries, and 613 different communities were included in the study. […]

The Bottom Line on E-Cigarettes

Vaping e-cigarettes is supposed to be better than smoking cigarettes because the toxic chemicals will be gone. That may be true for the chemicals released from tobacco and paper, but the third area of concern is the e-liquids that make up the flavor component of e-cigarettes. The marketing tactic often focuses on the variety of […]

Update: E-Cigarettes Put Lungs at Risk

The second study presented at the European Respiratory Conference on e-cigarettes that caught my attention was a study done in Sweden. Researchers questioned over 30,000 people, randomly selected from the Swedish population. The purpose was to ask the subjects about smoking: did they smoke, what did they smoke, and what type of respiratory symptoms did […]

How to Reduce Mechanical Pain

Every morning, the process of getting my body moving is challenging. My back is stiff and my knee is tender, on the border of painful. The longer I’m up, the better I move. After about 30 minutes, I can get my workout. It takes my knee 10 minutes to warm-up once I start running. I’m […]

The Bottom Line on Weight Loss Supplements

In the weight loss supplement debate, who is correct: proponents or opponents? Are any weight loss supplements beneficial? The answer is complicated. The opponents of weight loss supplements have the bulk of research on their side for two primary reasons. Weight loss studies using dietary supplements have a lack of consistency in the form of […]

Weight Loss Supplements: Pro vs. Con

The proponents and opponents of weight loss supplements both cite research to support their opinions. For the opponents, the claim is that there’s a lack of adequate research that supports the benefits of weight loss supplements, and the research that has been done is marginal. The proponents often overstate the benefits of studies that have […]