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.
Specificity of Training
The concept of training to attain specific performance is called specificity of training. The simplest example is that if you want to run a marathon, you run long distances for training, not 10-yard sprints. I think it’s more than that: the objective is to train the body to use physical activity, food, and rest in […]
An Amazing Performance
This week, I’m going to talk about a couple of amazing examples of physical feats; it all comes down to training to perform. I’m telling you in advance that the Optimal Performance training program provides the why and the how. When I’m done with the Memos, decide if you want to revisit it if you […]
It’s Going to Be a While
In the last Memo, When Will We Get Something Better?, we looked at research on a new drug to counter obesity. But don’t hold your breath. The researchers developed a sophisticated algorithm and used AI to find the process and the potential obesity-protein hormone to help combat obesity. What’s next? Several years or longer of […]
When Will We Get Something Better?
The quest for a pharmacological solution to obesity continues—the magic pill to make us thin. While Ozempic and Wegovy, discovered and developed to treat type 2 diabetes, have been successful in helping reduce HbA1c, it has also helped people lose weight; the problem is the side effects. As you might guess, there are receptors for […]
Research Must Go On
This is the final installment of my Memo series illustrating why research funding for basic and clinical trials should never stop unless the approach is obviously misdirected. Delaying research due to the dogma of the day is bad; delaying it because someone believes in a refuted dogma is worse. This is not a debate on […]
What Research Delays Can Cost
In 1911, a physician named Peyton Rous discovered that a microbe, found in a tumor in chicken, was able to infect other chickens causing the same cancer. His findings were thought to be ridiculous because cancer wasn’t caused by a microbe—so his research stopped. Those microbes were called viruses in later years. Move forward to […]
Why We Need Basic Research
Imagine what your life would be like if you washed your face and your skin started to blister and bleed. If you tried to answer an email, typing caused your fingers to bleed so much that blood dripped on the keyboard. Welcome to the world of a young man who has recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, […]
Why Scientific Research Must Never Stop
The current U.S. administration has tried to stop or delay basic and clinical research related to human conditions and diseases, and in the next few Memos, I’m going to illustrate why that’s a serious mistake. When I’ve laid it out, you can decide for yourself whether clinical research is a waste of money or critical […]
Do You Have Sisu?
What is sisu? It’s a Finnish word that has no real translation. My interest began with watching a movie of the same name, and once the movie was over, I spent a considerable amount of time trying to get a sense of what the word could mean. The reason is based on Tuesday’s Memo or […]
Yes, But Not Now
As Paula and I were discussing something we should do the other day, I said, “Yes, but not now.” That wasn’t meaningful in the moment, but a little while later, Paula commented that she knew she should cut back on sugar, but not now. Bam. How many times have you said that? Not something you […]
