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 Cause of Obesity: Vegetarian Diet
Last week I talked about the causes of obesity as it related to food choices. It all comes down to calories in versus calories out. There are a couple of more points I want to make so I decided to continue the message arc this week.
Let’s begin with vegetarians. Do they have any advantage in the calories in versus calories out? Yes and no. Based on the available research, mostly done on 7th Day Adventists, vegetarians have lower average BMIs than non-vegetarians. The more vegetarian the diet, the lower the BMI, with complete vegans having the lowest . . .
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The Cause of Obesity: The Data
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES for short, is large-scale survey performed by the CDC every few years. I’ve written about studies that have used the data many times. I like the survey because they use a dietary recall from the previous 24 hours instead of a food frequency questionnaire; there’s still potential for errors, but most people can remember what they ate yesterday. It’s also open-access data, meaning that if you have the credentials, you can use the data to answer questions. A couple of Cornell researchers did have a question: did . . .
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The Cause of Obesity: The Beliefs
Fried food. Refined carbohydrates. Soft drinks. High fructose corn syrup. All of these have been independently examined and implicated in causing the obesity epidemic and associated conditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Just last week, Dr. Robert Lustig and his research group published a study on children and sugar intake. The researchers lowered the sugars in the diet to 10%; they continually adjusted the kids’ food intake to give them the same number of calories but with starchy carbohydrates such as pizza, baked potato chips, and other starchy processed foods. The researchers found improvement in factors associated . . .
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The Cause of Obesity: The Wrong Call
Three weeks ago, I wrote about the improbable finish to the game between Michigan State and Michigan; the point was that nothing is over until it’s over. Hard to believe that 21 days later, a similar finish went the other way for the Spartans. There was one big difference: the final score was aided by the wrong judgment call by an official. Would it have changed the outcome of the game? Hard to say because Nebraska was on a roll. But a judgment call determined the outcome.
In the official’s opinion, an MSU player contacted the Nebraska player . . .
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Holiday Stretch: Your Way
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question about how you’re planning to keep the weight off during the holiday stretch. I think these strategies are terrific. The one thing they share is that everyone has thought about it and decided on a plan of action. Working the plan day to day will be a challenge, but those readers know what they will do. Read them all for ideas that you can put in your holiday stretch. Some readers wrote very extensive emails, and I thank you all for that; I read every one. I edited . . .
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Holiday Stretch: My Way
The past three days, the temperatures in Grand Rapids have been in the 70s with glorious sunshine. It’s going to be that way today but cloudy. Rain is coming and sooner or later, cold weather and snow. The sidewalks that are clear will become snow covered and icy at some point. I know that now. Just like I know that Paula and I will be baking Christmas cookies next month. So as the holidays stretch out ahead of us, how do I plan to avoid holiday weight gain?
My holiday stretch plan is to get 45 to 60 minutes . . .
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Here We Go: The Holiday Stretch
The final two months of 2015 are upon us. Winter is approaching. Some lucky people will be packing up to flee south. Depending on where you live, you may have leaves to rake, bulbs to plant, trees to prune, and winterizing tasks all over the house.
It’s also the busiest eating season of the year. As soon as you recover from your Halloween candy coma, here comes Thanksgiving, holiday parties, eggnog, pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies, Christmas dinner, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and month after month of sports playoff parties. No wonder the holiday seven has . . .
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Processed Meat and Cancer: The Science
In response to the headlines about processed foods and colorectal cancer, I decided to look at some of the research on cancer and colorectal cancer. Rather then write a long drawn-out article, I’m going to give you the bottom line on what I found.
- The risk of getting any type of cancer in a lifetime is one in two for men and one in three for women (1). The lifetime risk of getting colon cancer is 4.84% for men and 4.49% for women. If the risk is an average of 18% higher by eating . . .
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Processed Meat and Cancer: The Headlines
Processed Meat Causes Cancer! That was the type of headline that dominated the Internet news sites, newspapers, and local and network news. One very well known nutrition expert wrote this comment:
The just-released report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer judging processed meat as clearly carcinogenic and red meat as probably carcinogenic has caused consternation among meat producers and consumers.
Note the verbiage that says processed meat is clearly carcinogenic. More about that in a minute. California just announced it’s considering adding processed meat to the . . .
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It’s Showtime!
While I was in Richmond, VA, this past weekend, I was interviewed about my Real-Life Detox book on the local ABC affiliate WRIC. I had contacted Darrielle Snipes, the host of their morning show a few weeks ago and said I would be in the area; would she be interested in talking about detox and cleansing? She called me and said that would work. I had prepared by having my Toastmasters group ask me the toughest questions they could about detoxing. After I arrived at the studio, we went over the questions she would ask. They were . . .
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