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.
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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Clean Start
On Tuesday, I called December a month of opportunity. You can choose to grab hold of a healthier lifestyle right now or ignore things until the New Year and waste this opportunity. On my Facebook page, I took things one step further. I asked people to take some measurements: body weight as well as chest, waist, and hip circumferences. I’m asking you to do the same thing today. You could also include a measurement of a particular spot that you’re troubled by such as your upper arm or above the knee.
Why? To measure it again on January . . .
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December Is an Opportunity
Thanksgiving is over, and whether you stuffed your face or just picked at the holiday foods, it’s in the past. We’re back at work, back to our routine, for the next three weeks. There’s a tremendous opportunity here. What you do this month will determine what your 2016 health goals will be. Think about it.
Are you going to set a goal to lose the weight you’ve gained over the holidays, or will you just continue the healthy eating pattern you’ve begun?
- Are you going to the gym to begin the path to . . .
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The Cause of Obesity: The Lack of Exercise
After reading Thursday’s message, I’ll bet you all saw this one coming. Together with taking in too many calories, we just move way too little and it costs us. I specifically made the title of Thursday’s message “Muscle Aging” instead of “Aging Muscle.” The reason is that our sedentary lifestyle causes the muscle to age faster than it should. The solution is exercise. Here’s a partial list of what exercise does for skeletal muscle:
Better Blood Flow
Regular exercise increases blood flow to the exercising muscles. That allows nutrients in and more important, waste . . .
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The Cause of Obesity: Muscle Aging
In the previous message, I said that there was one factor besides calorie intake that affected the rate of obesity in the United States. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, just take a look at the CT scans at right (1). These are scans of the thighs of a 25-year-old man and an 81-year-old man, matched for body weight and height. There are a couple of things that you can notice. The white area is the muscle and the dark area is mostly fat; the older man’s thigh has visibly less muscle mass . . .
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