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.
“In Defense of Food”: The Time Factor
I’ve heard from a number of you who’ve seen “In Defense of Food” by now. If you haven’t, find it and plan to watch it; this is one movie the whole family should watch together. As I said on Tuesday, I think it’s the most fair and balanced presentation I’ve seen on what to eat. But there were a couple of things I don’t think were covered as well as they might be.
One of the segments focuses on teaching kids in inner cities how to grow produce and how to cook it, in . . .
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A Must-See Movie
The holiday season has been filled with one blockbuster movie after another, but if you want to see a movie that can help you decide what to eat, you have to see “In Defense of Food” with Michael Pollan. It also happens to be free on your PBS station or On Demand depending on your cable or satellite offerings.
There have been many movies that examine the foods we eat today. Most are more political and a criticism of business, government, and especially meat more than anything else. Not this movie. Pollan, a journalism professor, takes a look at food . . .
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One Goal: Learn
As we reach the end of 2015, many of you are setting your goals for 2016. For those goals related to health or business, I challenge you to do one thing with each goal: learn all you can in the process. Here’s what I mean.
Health Goals
Most of you will set a weight or fitness goal. Fantastic. You’re probably going to use an established program, you’ll follow it, and you’ll get results. Excellent. What do you do when you achieve your goal, whether it takes a few months or the entire year . . .
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Merry Christmas
Every year when we bake Christmas cookies, Paula and I watch our favorite Christmas movies again. There are so many we’ve accumulated, we don’t watch them all, but one that really captures the essence of what Christmas is all about is a British film called “Love Actually” even though it’s not exactly G-rated. Here is actor Hugh Grant’s opening voiceover:
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion makes out that we live in a world of . . .
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The Bottom Line on a Probiotic for Weight Loss: Misdirection
One of the basic tenets of magic is misdirection. The magician gets you to look at his right hand when it’s actually his left hand that’s hiding something. I’m going to use that analogy as we finish our look at the probiotic Akkermansia muciniphila.
Let’s start with this. The microbiome of people who weigh less is different from the microbiome of those who weigh more. It seems if we could figure out what bacteria are different between those groups, we might be able to help those who weigh more lose weight. It makes sense . . .
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A New Probiotic for Weight Loss?
Weight is always a hot topic, so I’m telling you about two weight-loss studies this week. The idea is to give you some idea how the next great thing could hit the market—or it may not—but if it does, you read it here first. The potential solution is a good bacterium called Akkermansia muciniphila. This probiotic may be a key to weight loss, or it may not. Let’s take a look at the first study. I’ll only hit the highlights because these were two of the most complicated research papers I’ve . . .
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Gourmet Detox Weekend: Creating Healthier Habits
A long-time reader shared an interesting email response regarding the message on Fast Day. When he read that I was only doing liquids as part of the Gourmet Detox Weekend, he said that he has done one fast day with just liquids as well. When he does, he feels great and actually has more energy at the end of the day. He’s adapted it to fit his work schedule, but it’s a habit he’s had for over 20 years—20 years!
That’s . . .
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Fast Day
Tomorrow is the beginning of the Gourmet Detox weekend that I mentioned last week. Personally, I’m going to begin with a one-day fast. Why? Here is an excerpt from Real-Life Detox:
It’s a bit like rebooting your system. When your computer starts acting weird or the apps aren’t working right on your phone, you know it’s time to reboot—turn it off and then turn it back on. Usually your phone or computer work normally after a . . .
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Reach Higher
The Michigan State football team is in the final four for the national collegiate football championship. They may win, they may lose, but they made it to this point. Their motto this year was “Reach Higher” and they did. They worked harder, lifted more weights, studied more film, prepared better. They built the habits necessary to win. More than that, they learned to win on the field.
They didn’t do this in one season; they’ve built the attitude over the past eight years. They failed a lot before they began to win. When new players joined the team . . .
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Why Now?
In the last two messages, I’ve challenged you not to waste the entire month of December before changing to a healthier lifestyle after January 1st. Why now? Why didn’t I just wait until the New Year when everyone is “ready”? Maybe the latest report from the CDC will put things in perspective.
Researchers from the CDC and Emory University analyzed data from NHANES studies conducted between 2005 and 2012. They were interested in finding out how many people with high LDL cholesterol were taking medication and making lifestyle changes. There were a lot of results reported in the . . .
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