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.
Flu Shots and Alzheimer’s Disease
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoOne of the benefits of large cross-sectional studies, especially in the age of electronic medical records, is that medical tests and treatments can be examined while examining diagnoses at the same time. The Veterans Health Administration is one of many medical databases that can identify relationships between health factors and the onset of disease. In […]
Timing for Enzymes, Prebiotics, and Probiotics
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoMy digestive system has undergone changes—it doesn’t work like it used to work. Hence, I’ve been paying closer attention to digestive supplements. My voice had been getting raspy, and I had occasional reflux; I was concerned the two were related. I had an endoscopy and found I was correct. They also found a hiatal hernia. […]
Timing May Be Everything
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoI’ve recently gotten a few questions on the timing of dietary supplements. That means it’s time for a review. The first category would be multivitamins-multiminerals (MVMM) and other single- or multi-nutrient vitamin-mineral combinations such as calcium plus magnesium and vitamin D. The best time to take them is during or after a meal. The reason […]
Another Theory of Obesity
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoIt’s been a while since someone has proposed a new theory of obesity. I’m still a believer in “a calorie is a calorie” but it’s always good to find out what may be driving us to overeat. The latest addition is the Fructose Survival Hypothesis for Obesity. The diagram above was taken from an article […]
Your BMI and Shrinkage
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoI received several interesting questions regarding the loss of height and its impact on BMI: should you use your current height or your tallest height? I checked the research and found some interesting ideas, but there’s no direct answer. While it may change slightly over time, your current height should be used to estimate BMI. […]
The Bottom Line on the Blue Zones
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoThe docuseries on Blue Zones demonstrated that it really isn’t complicated to live to 100: find a purpose, a reason to get up every morning, remain physically active, eat reasonably with a focus on plant-based sources for food, and develop a social group that can provide support through the various stages of life. The docuseries […]
Blue Zones: Social Groups
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoAs I said on Saturday, when I began watching the Blue Zones docuseries, I would have wagered that either nutrition or exercise would be the most important factor in living longer. What we eat and how much we move are important, but the key to living well to 100 are the interactions we have with […]
Blue Zones: Eat Reasonably
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoAs I continued to consider the four areas that make up the health habits related to living to 100, I would have thought that nutrition was going to be the key. After much reflection, it’s not. However, it doesn’t mean you should live on a diet of sweets, deep-fried foods, and a lot of ultra-processed […]
Blue Zones: Keep Moving
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoContinuing our look at the lessons from Secrets of the Blue Zones, the next point that stood out to me was that everyone was physically active. I mentioned tai chi, but that’s organized activity. The Blue Zone secret is that the people were physically active throughout their day. In some zones, they tended to gardens […]
Blue Zones: Where Are You Going?
/in Memos/by Chet ZelaskoWhy do you get up in the morning? If you’re a parent with small children, it’s obvious. If you work outside the home, easy to understand. But what happens when you decide to retire, or even retire early? If you want to live well to 100, what are you going to do for the next […]