It’s not yet possible to stop the passage of years, but it might well be within our sights to combat the effects of aging, according to Michael Greger, MD, internationally recognized lifestyle medicine physician, author and nutritionist. Synthesizing years of research on the essential pathways of aging, Dr. Greger believes the process can be slowed down with lifestyle changes, and …
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in a World of Excess
It’s called the Plenty Paradox: an affluent environment with easy access to substances or behaviors perceived as pleasurable has actually been a key contributor to our national mental health crisis. So posits Dr. Anna Lembke, Medical Director of Addiction Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, who has extensively researched and treated patients struggling to find the right balance in what …
Sustainable Eating: The Planetary Healthy Diet
The Lancet Planetary Health Diet Is there a way to eat that not only reduces the risk of disease and promotes well-being, but is also sustainable? Could a certain diet provide enough food for the 9.8 billion people estimated to be living on earth by 2050? This was the challenge first taken on in 2019 by the EAT-Lancet Commission, comprised …
Every Walk is a Step in the Right Direction
“If you are in a bad mood, go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood, go for another walk.” – Socrates No one has a negative word to say about the benefits of walking. Accessible to most, with no special equipment or training needed, stepping out regularly can bring a plethora of health gains: improved bone …
AI in Healthcare: An Early Look at the Power, Promise and Peril of Tech’s Latest Tool
Whether you are an enthusiastic adopter of virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, and apps to monitor everything from glucose to sleep patterns— or consider them error-prone and intrusive—it’s impossible to ignore the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT. To quickly define terms, AI is the capability of a computer system to mimic human cognitive functions, such as …
Staying Hydrated This Summer: Water Infused with Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs
Stay hydrated and energized this summer by refreshing yourself with generous amounts of water, nature’s best elixir. Inspire yourself to keep reaching for another sip by infusing water with fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs…no sugar or artificial flavoring needed. Have a Plant shares how: Wash all produce and herbs before slicing and dicing. Start with a large glass bottle or …
Ticked Off: How to Recognize, Relieve and Resist Lyme Disease
Summertime is prime time for ticks, which are becoming more prevalent each year. A combination of changing land use and warmer winters has greatly expanded the ticks’ habitat and they’re now found in more than half of U.S. counties. As a result, tick-borne Lyme disease has doubled over the last two decades to nearly 500,000 cases annually, earning it the …
A New Era for Diabetes and Weight Loss Drugs
For patients seeking new solutions to managing type 2 diabetes and obesity, the introduction of a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists (RA) has simultaneously inspired hope and excitement along with misuse and confusion. We developed the following Q&A to go beyond the headlines and explore how Ozempic and similar drugs work, who may benefit most from them, and …
Joint Assets: An Osteoarthritis Update
The aching, swollen, stiff joints associated with osteoarthritis (OA) have long been considered a “wear and tear” condition, associated with aging. It was thought that cartilage, the smooth connective tissue on the end of bones that cushion the joints, simply breaks down over a lifetime of walking, exercising and moving. New research shows that it is a disease of the …
Bone Up: What Is Osteoporosis?
Except for dedicated thespians, saying “break a leg” is most definitely not a harbinger of good luck. More than 10 million Americans are living with osteoporosis, a condition of low bone mass that results in increased risk of bone fracture, sometimes even from a minor fall or pressure from a big hug. Over 1.5 million osteoporotic fractures occur annually, and …
The Future of Aging
The First Hundred Years: Healthy Longevity May Ultimately Define the Future Humankind has eternally searched for the fabled fountain of youth. While we suspect that a magical elixir to turn back time may never be discovered, in 2023 we are coming ever closer to a more achievable goal: using scientific breakthroughs to slow the process of aging and therefore prolong …
Studying the Secrets of Super Agers
The growing group of people able to enjoy 100 years of life may well be one of the most remarkable achievements of the 21st century. A generation ago, the number of centenarians worldwide was just 110,000; today they are 600,000 strong. Notably, a sizable segment of this long-lived group, aptly called Super Agers, reach 100 in good health with no …
Dementia and Alzheimer’s: Updates from a Leading Geriatrician
Senior Moments Or Something More? As Baby Boomers continue the inexorable journey deep into their senior years, preserving cognitive function understandably tops the list of worries. While Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias are seen in just 5% of people over 65, that number jumps to 30% for people age 85 and over. Questions abound: is forgetting a name a sign …
Nourish Body, Brain and Heart with the MIND Diet
Mindful Eating for Your Brain Harkening back to ancient civilizations, the concept of food as medicine represents one of today’s most cutting-edge approaches to prevention and disease management. Inspired by the intricate connection of mind and body wellness, a small, special group of diets have made their way into the mainstream offering benefits far beyond short-term weight loss. Among them …
In a Pickle and Looking for a New Summer Activity?
Try Pickleball, the Country’s Fastest-Growing Sport Tired of the same ‘ole routine every summer but find yourself in a pickle and looking for a new summer activity? Well, according to American Council on Exercise (ACE), you might want to consider pickleball. As everyone from your next-door neighbor to ACE will attest, pickleball is extraordinarily popular. Its rapid rise to ubiquity …
Tips for Safe Summer Fun
Stay Safe with Sunscreen, Sunglasses and Plenty of Water The longer, sunshine filled days of summer are upon us and without a doubt, they are one of life’s unrivaled joys, especially when you protect yourself from the powerful impact of ultraviolet rays. With that in mind, we share our tips for safe summer fun; from choosing and using the right …
Summer Fruits and Veggies
Picking the Season’s Prime Produce A seasonal bounty of fruits and vegetables is in bloom everywhere from your grocery’s fresh foods section to local farmers’ markets, and in your own backyard garden. The following is advice from experts on how to purchase summer fruits and veggies at its peak, and store them safely, until ready to enjoy. Berries and Cherries. …
What Does BMI Really Tell Us?
Definitive Diagnostic Tool or Part of a Greater Health Matrix? It’s an easily understood calculation: Body Mass Index, popularly known as BMI, computes an individual’s measure of body fat as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Levels are defined as Underweight if less than 18.5, Normal weight if between 18.5 and 24.9, Overweight if between 25.0 and …
What’s Keeping You Up at Night?
Breaking the Cycle of Anxiety, Insomnia and Sleep Anxiety A good night’s sleep does more than refresh and revitalize. It’s essential to your health, so make it a priority to understand what’s keeping you up at night. “Healthy sleep is as important as proper nutrition and regular exercise for our physical and mental well-being,” says Kannan Ramar, MD, sleep medicine physician …
Pandemic Stress Likely Compounded by Seasonal Affective Disorder
Coping With Sad This Winter As we continue to weather the storm of COVID-19, seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is once again on our radar. More subtle than an arctic blast, SAD is just as real, with just as much potential to have a chilling effect on our mood, productivity and wellness. Similar to last winter, the emotional stress and …
Pandemic Stress Likely Compounded by Seasonal Affective Disorder
Coping With Sad This Winter As we continue to weather the storm of COVID-19, seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is once again on our radar. More subtle than an arctic blast, SAD is just as real, with just as much potential to have a chilling effect on our mood, productivity and wellness. Similar to last…
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Staying Well in the New Year A Proactive Guide
In the spirit of starting 2022 with healthy intention, we’ve taken a page from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) latest recommendations, long considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services, and prepared the following proactive guide to staying well in the new year. Back in 1903, Thomas Edison predicted where we were headed: “The doctor of the future …
A Novel Approach to Behavior Change
How to Replace Bad Habits with Healthy, Sustainable Behaviors For entrepreneur physician Kyra Bobinet, MD, the typical reasons behind a failed diet served as the impetus for developing a novel approach to behavior change. “I was doing so well. I knew what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and then I just stopped doing it…and I don’t know …
Color Your World with Every Hue of Fruit and Vegetable
Eating Your Fruits and Veggies May Help Reduce the Risk of Chronic Disease Fill your plate with a vibrant, colorful array of fruits and vegetables for a naturally delicious way to meet your daily requirement of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Plant foods contain thousands of natural compounds called phytonutrients, which may have anti-inflammatory benefits that can help reduce the risk …
A Novel Approach to Behavior Change
How to Replace Bad Habits with Healthy, Sustainable Behaviors For entrepreneur physician Kyra Bobinet, MD, the typical reasons behind a failed diet served as the impetus for developing a novel approach to behavior change. “I was doing so well. I knew what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and then I just stopped…
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Staying Well in the New Year A Proactive Guide
In the spirit of starting 2022 with healthy intention, we’ve taken a page from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) latest recommendations, long considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services, and prepared the following proactive guide to staying well in the new year. Back in 1903, Thomas Edison predicted where we were headed:…
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Color Your World with Every Hue of Fruit and Vegetable
Eating Your Fruits and Veggies May Help Reduce the Risk of Chronic Disease Fill your plate with a vibrant, colorful array of fruits and vegetables for a naturally delicious way to meet your daily requirement of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Plant foods contain thousands of natural compounds called phytonutrients, which may have anti-inflammatory benefits that…
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Healthier Eating
How to Pare Down Protein & Cut Back Carbs Inspired by a belief that our diets can be redefined to integrate both healthier eating and environmental responsibility, Menus of Change encourages a meaningful “flip” in the emphasis on animal proteins and highly processed carbohydrates to an emphasis on highly appealing alternatives. Menus of Change, a collaboration of the Harvard T.H. …
COVID-19 and The Road Ahead
From Boosters & Breakthroughs to Vaccines & Variants: Where Do We Go From Here? The following reflects an 8/24/2021 discussion; please check the CDC website for real-time updates as the situation continues to evolve. Their answers may not land lightly, but epidemiologist Jodie Guest, PhD, and drug development expert Michael Kinch, PhD, have been immersed in examining COVID-19 since its …
Pandemic Inspires and Challenges Medical Innovation
Pandemic Sparks Promising Future for Clinical Trial Speed and Flexibility Like wartime medicine, the pandemic inspires and challenges medical innovation. The silver lining of the pandemic is the reinvigorated sense of urgency breaking down cumbersome and expensive barriers to the FDA’s phased approval process. While the research- lab-to-patient-arm trials for the highly successful COVID-19 vaccines famously moved the traditional pace …
COVID-19 and The Road Ahead
From Boosters & Breakthroughs to Vaccines & Variants: Where Do We Go From Here? The following reflects an 8/24/2021 discussion; please check the CDC website for real-time updates as the situation continues to evolve. Their answers may not land lightly, but epidemiologist Jodie Guest, PhD, and drug development expert Michael Kinch, PhD, have been immersed…
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Healthier Eating
How to Pare Down Protein & Cut Back Carbs Inspired by a belief that our diets can be redefined to integrate both healthier eating and environmental responsibility, Menus of Change encourages a meaningful “flip” in the emphasis on animal proteins and highly processed carbohydrates to an emphasis on highly appealing alternatives. Menus of Change, a…
The post Healthier Eating appeared first on Specialdocs Consultants.
Pandemic Inspires and Challenges Medical Innovation
Pandemic Sparks Promising Future for Clinical Trial Speed and Flexibility Like wartime medicine, the pandemic inspires and challenges medical innovation. The silver lining of the pandemic is the reinvigorated sense of urgency breaking down cumbersome and expensive barriers to the FDA’s phased approval process. While the research- lab-to-patient-arm trials for the highly successful COVID-19 vaccines…
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Keep it Moving! But Is 10,000 Steps A Day The Right Goal?
Are 12,000 steps better, or will 6,000 work equally well? From casual strollers in the park to purposeful striders in the mall, armed with phones, watches, wearables or pedometers, walkers are everywhere, tracking their daily tallies to reach the magical 10,000 step mark. However, as recently reported in Nature, few are actually reaching it. The average number of steps achieved …
Return of Walk with a Doc – July 17th
Drs. Carrie and Hector were excited to welcome back patients to the first Walk with a Doc in over 16 months. It has been a long wait but completely worth it. Speaking of a long wait, we discussed different constipation treatments. In fact, Dr. Carrie introduced the talk with “After all the *ahem* that we have been through this last …
New Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations
Spotlighting Both Challenges and Progress This winter the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released its new Lung Cancer screening recommendations, lowering both the starting age and pack-year criteria. Previously, low-dose computed tomography screening was advised for adults age 55 to 80 years with a 30 pack-year history of smoking who are current smokers or have quit within the past …
A Quick Guide to Seasonal Allergies
Pollen, Grass, Ragweed and Mold spores For more than 24 million Americans, the flowering trees and mild weather of spring and summer, signals another allergy season in full bloom. The cause: substances such as pollen, grass, ragweed and mold spores enter the body and are mistakenly identified as a threat by the immune system, triggering a variety of symptoms. We …
The Art of Cooking Without Sugar
A Chef’s Tasteful Look at Taking Sugar Off the Table In part two of our series with professional chef Stan Hodes, he shares some artful substitutes, both natural and man-made, to sweeten up recipes without dipping into the sugar bowl. “It’s almost impossible to eliminate sugar completely because it appears, sometimes stealthily, in just about all foods,” says Chef Stan, …
New Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations
Spotlighting Both Challenges and Progress This winter the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released its new Lung Cancer screening recommendations, lowering both the starting age and pack-year criteria. Previously, low-dose computed tomography screening was advised for adults age 55 to 80 years with a 30 pack-year history of smoking who are current smokers or…
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A Quick Guide to Seasonal Allergies
Pollen, Grass, Ragweed and Mold spores For more than 24 million Americans, the flowering trees and mild weather of spring and summer, signals another allergy season in full bloom. The cause: substances such as pollen, grass, ragweed and mold spores enter the body and are mistakenly identified as a threat by the immune system, triggering…
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The Art of Cooking Without Sugar
A Chef’s Tasteful Look at Taking Sugar Off the Table In part two of our series with professional chef Stan Hodes, he shares some artful substitutes, both natural and man-made, to sweeten up recipes without dipping into the sugar bowl. “It’s almost impossible to eliminate sugar completely because it appears, sometimes stealthily, in just about…
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J&J Vaccine Update: CDC and FDA Recommend Use of J&J’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Resume
On April 23rd, the pause on using J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. was lifted. Visit the CDC website to see the CDC/FDA official statement. For more information, download a copy of the CDC recommendations.
Please continue to check the CDC w…
4.13.21 J&J Vaccine Update
As news regarding the J&J vaccine has changed significantly since our COVID-19 Vaccine Update posted on 3.24.21, we offer the following link to today’s Joint CDC and FDA Statement on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine.
Please continue to…
COVID-19 Vaccine Update
Experts Weigh In With Reassuring Outlook The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is in full swing around the country but many questions remain. We reveal the latest answers (as of February 2021) from nationally recognized vaccine experts Dr. Paul Sax, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Clinical Director of Infectious Disease, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and…
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A Guide to the Power Players in Pain Relief
Which Pain Relievers Work Best? When you reach for a pain reliever, what are you most likely to find in your medicine cabinet? And does it matter? While aspirin, Tylenol and Aleve may appear similar and aim for the same results, their effects can vary. Below is a quick guide to today’s most recognizable over-the-counter…
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Cooking without Sodium or Sugar
Executive Chef Stan Hodes Shares Secrets of the Spice Rack The benefits of reducing sodium and sugar in the diet are compelling, backed by well- documented studies. The flip side is an equally powerful human craving for enhanced flavor, compounded by years of exposure to products boosted with salt and sugar and the ongoing quest…
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New Year’s Resolutions Are So 2020!
What are your 2021 Anti-Resolutions? Year after year, the pattern rarely varies. Resolutions made, promptly followed by resolutions broken. The odds of sticking to New Year’s resolutions are, in fact, completely stacked against us, as research shows a paltry success rate of between 10 and 20%. But since the challenges of 2020 have reconfigured every…
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Start 2021 off Right by Sticking to your Winter Exercise Plan
A Winter Workout Routine Will Prepare You For Life After COVID Exercise will reduce pain, improve function and mobility, lower blood pressure and blood sugar, decrease risk of chronic illness and death from heart disease and many forms of cancer, enhance mood and focus, and may even help reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19. Despite…
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Can We Co-Exist with COVID-19?
An Epidemiologist Separates Fact from Fiction and Offers Hope for the Future Epidemiologists seek to learn why, how and when some people contract diseases when others don’t. Their findings are used to help monitor public health status, develop new medical treatments and disease prevention efforts, and provide an evidence base to healthcare and policy leaders. Whether…
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Let It Go: The Ancient Art of Meditation
Finding Peace Through Mindfulness and Meditation Mindful, compassionate, serene, happy: emotions that have been in short supply during the pandemic but can be beautifully restored to those who embrace the chance to learn the time- honored practice and art of meditation. For many, it is as easy as downloading the Headspace app on their smartphone,…
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How Red Meat Went from Taboo to Acceptable and Back Again
What’s the Beef With Red Meat? It’s long been the case that provocative headlines, unexpected findings and misinformation travel far faster than conventional wisdom, especially in the internet age. Even respected medical journals like the Annals of Internal Medicine can become caught in a crossfire of disagreement, as occurred last year when a controversial nutritional…
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Coronavirus Vaccine: Expert Says, ‘We Need Time to Get This Right’
Expert Calls for Slow & Steady Approach in Vaccine Development While the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine may seem as if it’s being run in slow motion, with most experts predicting a 2021 launch at earliest, by historical standards it’s unfolding with incredible swiftness. Looking back at timelines for other vaccines, it becomes evident…
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Superfoods and Your Immune System
Food for Thought: Nourishing the Immune System As football coaches and nutritionists know, the best offense is a good defense. In the fight against COVID-19, the promise of boosting the immune system with specific ‘superfoods’ is an enticing one. However, registered dietitian Linda Gigliotti, who is a fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics…
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Navigating Uncertain Times with Hope and Optimism
How to Adjust, Adapt and Embrace the New Normal As we emerge cautiously from the safety of home into a world that seems comfortingly familiar yet irrefutably altered, a swirl of conflicting emotions is certain to be triggered. Relief and thankfulness may mingle uneasily with fear, anxiety and uncertainty, making it difficult to cope at…
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Fighting the Colonoscopy Fear Factor
Colorectal Cancer awareness could save your life. As one of the country’s most preventable illnesses, with a readily available test that is both diagnostic and therapeutic, why does colorectal cancer (CRC) stubbornly remain the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US? The key to reducing deaths is in the colonoscopy, a direct visualization test…
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Kombucha, Kimchi and More
Nutrition Health Spotlight: Kombucha, Kimchi and More Researchers continue to examine the trillions of bacterial species residing in our gut microbiome to better understand their potential to help maintain health and prevent disease. Some of the most studied are probiotics, microorganisms found in yogurt and other fermented items. Probiotic foods are much in demand as…
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Pet Therapy: The Healing Power of Dogs
Unleashed: The Healing Power of Dogs “Who rescued whom?” They’re already considered best friends, trusty companions and beloved members of the family. Now add to the dog’s list of accomplishments, heart healer, exercise coach, and mood enhancer, and the answer to the question above, often used by rescue organizations, becomes even more meaningful. There is…
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Are Plant Based Burgers Really Healthier?
Examining Plant Based Burgers as Meat Alternatives They’re 2019’s most sizzling success story, found everywhere from grocery freezer to fast food counter. Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have brought plant based burgers from fringe to mainstream with remarkable rapidity. So quickly, in fact, that despite their ubiquity, questions abound regarding the burgers’ benefits. What exactly…
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Heart Healthy Valentine’s Day Recipes
In celebration of American Heart Month, please enjoy these two delicious heart-healthy recipes below.
Headaches – Types and Remedies
Oh, My Aching Head A dull pressure, a sharp pain, an uncomfortable pounding, a vise-like sensation – all can signal the start of a headache. A painful part of the human condition since the beginning of time, more than 150 different types of headaches have been identified, categorized and treated in increasingly effective ways. We…
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Antibiotics Awareness is Good for Your Health
Antibiotics Awareness Spurred by Alexander Fleming’s serendipitous discovery of penicillin in 1928, antibiotics have rightfully become wonder drugs, often able to change the course of deadly bacterial infections in a matter of days. But in recent years, their unmatched healing power has become overprescribed and over utilized, leading to concerning findings like these: Nearly 23%…
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Alcohol Affects Women Differently than Men
The Female Factor: Alcohol is Not Gender-Neutral Given the growing popularity of the cocktail culture and wine time, it’s important to know that alcohol affects women differently than men – physiologically, psychologically and socially. It’s worth asking: For women, is the wine glass half full or half empty when considering the risk-versus-benefit ratio? First, there…
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When Are the Best Years of Our Lives?
Life’s Happiness Continuum Is there a predetermined peak age for happiness, before which our normal outlook is gloomy and melancholy and after which we slump back into these non-euphoric ways? When Are the Best Years of Our Lives? Studies Show Two Stages of Life Happiness Like trying to define why some people are born to…
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Manage Prescription Drugs Effectively
Managing Prescription Drugs: From Pickup to Take Back If you are not taking your prescription medications as directed (or at all), you’re far from alone. Compliance is estimated at just 50% among U.S. patients. Unfortunately, adherence is a direct impact on quality and length of life, and overall healthcare costs, accounting for up to 50%…
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Kidney Stones: Treatment & Prevention
This Too Shall Pass: Treating and Preventing Kidney Stones More common, frequently less painful and far more preventable than reputed, kidney stones have, entered a new era of highly effective, noninvasive procedures. We bring you up to date on kidney stone treatment & prevention Q: Why do kidney stones happen? A: They form when substances…
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Keto Diet: Right for You?
Considering Keto: Is It the Right Diet for You? The truth is that a silver bullet for weight loss likely does not exist, but Americans’ perpetual search continues unabated. Low-carb diets such as Paleo, Whole30, and most prominently, Ketogenics, or “keto” may be the latest contenders, yet Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Ginger Hultin,…
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Fighting Fatigue
Wake-up Call: Fighting Fatigue at Its Roots Feel like you are fighting fatigue throughout the day, the joy in life slowly diminishing and your active lifestyle becoming a distant memory? Are these ordinary signs of aging? No, no and no! Feeling tired all the time is not a normal part of the aging process. Instead,…
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Walk with a Doc: July 21, 2019
According to the American Heart Association, walking has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity. Think it doesn’t do any good? Think again. Walking is low impact; easier on the joints than running. It is safe – with a doctor’s okay – for people with orthopedic ailments, heart conditions, and those who are more than 20% overweight. Join Dr. …
An Update on the Measles Outbreak in the US
What are the newest guidelines for measles vaccinations? Adults with no evidence of immunity should get 1 dose of MMR. Immunity is defined as documented receipt of 1 dose, or 2 doses, 4 weeks apart if high risk, of live measles virus-containing vaccine, laboratory evidence of immunity or laboratory confirmation of disease, or birthdate before 1957. High-risk people, including healthcare …
Spring Fitness
Ramping Up your Sprint Fitness after a Long, Sedentary Winter Whether you went into hibernation as the result of a record cold winter season, or took time off from your usual exercise routine because of a busy schedule or illness, spring is an ideal time to get back in action. When done with care, starting…
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Medical Marijuana Myths
Smoking Out the Myths: Medical Marijuana Does medical marijuana offer a solution to treating epilepsy, chronic pain, anxiety and neurogenerative diseases? Or is it an untested, potentially unsafe treatment that will eventually turn out to be more of a pipe dream? As with so many of today’s biggest questions, the truth is somewhere in between….
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Adult ADD
Attention Please: ADD/ADHD is Not Just a Childhood Condition In the 21stcentury, it’s standard procedure to test unfocused, impulsive and restless children who struggle to achieve in school for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and provide support and treatment well into adulthood. But for those who came of age prior…
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The Age of Anxiety
Higher Anxiety? Our ‘age of anxiety’ began four centuries ago It can come on suddenly and intensely, causing shaking, confusion and difficulty breathing for no apparent reason…trigger an irrational avoidance of elevators or public transportation…or become a steady drumbeat of worry always in the background. All are known as anxiety disorders, one of the country’s…
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Whole Grain Superfood
Going with the (Whole) Grain Whole Grains may be the culinary trendsetters of the 21st century, but the ancient wonders of the grain world have remain unchanged for the last several hundred years. From chia to kamut, sorghum to spelt, like many whole grains, they are significant sources of protein, fiber and other important nutrients,…
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Health Studies: Expert Insight
Why Today’s Health News Often Becomes Tomorrow’s Retractions We’ve all seen it played out hundreds of times, as a drug, food or habit is trumpeted as the way to lower the risk of cancer or heart disease only to be walked back the next month in another study. The reasons can be diverse, including a…
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Decoding Diets
Finding the Path to Better Health Through Your Diet In the quest for a healthier lifestyle, even inveterate beef eaters may be considering a more vegetable-centric diet. If you’re on a journey to vegetarianism or simply curious about the side roads surrounding it, follow our road map to nutritious eating and decoding diets with the…
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Pain Management: The New Approach
The New Approach to Pain Management: Fewer Pills, Lower Doses, More Vigilance It’s hard to imagine a medical crisis more widely discussed, dissected and debated in the last two years than opioid abuse. As a result, clear action steps have been taken, including retooling of the 2016 guidelines for opioid-prescribing protocols – dosage recommendations, follow…
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Staying Healthy During the Flu Season
Your Best Shot at a Flu-Free Winter Last year’s flu season was severe in most parts of the country and left many wondering why the flu vaccine hadn’t performed more effectively. However, it remains our best line of defense for averting and lessening the severity of this common but potentially deadly illness. Below we clear…
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Autoimmune Disease on the Rise
The Enemy Within Autoimmune Disease, a condition that is thought to have tripled in prevalence over the last 50 years, impacting over 23 million people, could justifiably be seen as an epidemic, or at least, a growing health concern. Autoimmune diseases are not often thought of in that way because they manifest as 80+ different…
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Plant-Based Diet
Plant the Seeds of Healthy Eating Plant-based diet proponents are growing at a rapid clip in the US, buoyed by ongoing reports that following the regimen faithfully can result in a multitude of health benefits, ranging from increased energy and elevated mood to lower risks of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. The abundance…
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Genetic Testing and Your Health
20,000 and You: Unlocking the Genetic Code In just the past few years, there has been a significant shift in the practical uses of genetic testing, which examines changes, or variants, in your genes that may lead to illness or disease. Once considered more of an investment in the future and less applicable to individual…
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Healthy Eating: From Food Pyramid to MyPlate
Nutritionists Weigh in on Healthy Eating Picturing a healthy meal has never been more accessible, thanks to the ubiquity of visual aids such as MyPlate, successor to the well-known Food Pyramid of the ‘90s. A quick scan of the plate’s quadrants enables users to see at a glance proportions of vegetables, proteins and other foods…
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Got Milk? Or Calcium Supplements? Or Neither?
Calcium, so essential to strong bones and teeth, as well as nerve transmission, muscle contraction and blood clotting, can be in short supply as we age. Exactly how much is needed of this important mineral, and Vitamin D, its companion to ensure optimal absorption, has been the subject of intense scrutiny over several decades. However,…
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Aging Well, Aging Healthy…a continuing series
As almost 10,000 Baby Boomers officially become senior citizens each day, the focus on preventing and treating age-related ailments becomes distinctly more urgent. HealthWise presents an ongoing look at research that provides valuable insights to help today’s seniors – and the generations set to follow – create a vibrant next chapter. We began with strategies…
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Salt Shake Down: Sodium Reduction is on the Table
Turkey sandwiches…soups…deli meats. Are these the building blocks of a healthy meal or stealthy contributors of excess sodium? Both, according to experts, but improved versions are in the works, thanks to June 2016 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended guidelines and commitments from food manufacturers and restaurant operators to shake down the salt. Implicated in…
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Bring It Down: Healthy Blood Pressure Numbers May Go Even Lower
If you’ve ever wondered why a blood pressure check is part of almost every visit to a doctor’s office, consider what is communicated through the familiar black cuff in just a few seconds. The force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps is a critical measure of how well…
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The Painful New Reality of Opioid Prescriptions
Nothing erodes the quality of life faster than pain and unfortunately more than half of American adults report they live with it on a chronic, recurring basis. That makes it easy to understand why, when seemingly safe, effective opioid drugs became widely available in the 1990s, they were quickly embraced by physicians and patients. Considered…
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Is What You’re Reading What You’re Eating?
While the evidence is not yet in on the enhanced nutritional value of organic or natural foods, consumers appear to have made their own decision. The latest research shows more than 62 percent of Americans now regularly shop for these types of products and pay premium prices for ‘farm to table’ dishes when dining out. Many…
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Joint Assets
The aching, swollen, stiff joints associated with osteoarthritis (OA) have long been considered an inexorable result of aging. According to conventional wisdom, cartilage, the smooth connective tissue on the end of bones that cushion the joints, simply breaks down over a lifetime of walking, exercising and moving, allowing the bones to rub together. When medications and…
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Aging Well, Aging Healthy…a continuing series
HealthWise presents an ongoing look at research that provides valuable insights to help today’s seniors – and the generations set to follow – create a vibrant next chapter. We have looked at strategies to keep the aging brain healthy and to protect the aging senses. In this issue, we get under your skin to learn…
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Find Your Roots with Winter’s Best Veggies
While they may not have the crisp appeal of sugar snap peas or the sleek appearance of a summer tomato, winter’s bounty of root vegetables and greens brings some of the year’s most nutrient-rich dishes to the table. Serve up as chips or gratins, roasted or braised, mashed or raw, in soups or salads…see our recommendations for a…
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In Our Sights: Sharper Focus on Macular Degeneration Offers New Hope
In the not so distant past, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), characterized by a loss of central vision, was deemed just another unfortunate consequence of growing older. The gradual breakdown of light-sensing retinal tissue that results in a blind spot directly ahead has caused each generation to struggle with driving a car, reading a printed page or recognizing a friend’s face. As the…
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How Much Vitamin D Do We Really Need?
In the multi-lettered world of vitamins and minerals, why did Vitamin D move to the top of the list…and should it be there? Following is a look at the paradox of the “sunshine vitamin,” critical to the body’s healthy function in numerous ways, but may not be important enough to warrant regular screenings, according to the latest national recommendations. The undisputed…
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Thinking on Your Feet: The Latest on Warning Signs from Below
Every step you take is a physiological marvel, made possible by the 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 ligaments of the foot working together to ensure maximum movement. The intricate sequence begins as your heel hits the ground, and ends with a push off the big toe at the same time the Achilles tendon lifts the heel, requiring a…
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The Healthy Aging Brain…a Continuing Series
While exercise has an undisputed key role in maintaining brain health throughout our lives, promising new research points to a number of other factors that can spell the difference between thriving or just surviving the senior years. We checked in with Eric Terman, MD, personal physician and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Northwestern University for…
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MIND Your Diet
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. – Hippocrates Food’s healing properties is a concept that stems back to the earliest days of medicine, but has taken on new significance as a natural way to prevent or manage today’s most devastating illnesses, from dementia to heart disease. The regimens presented below are…
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Unlocking the Genetic Code: Spotlighting Pharmacogenomics
This is the first in a series exploring some of the most promising advances inspired by the Human Genome project. From the burgeoning field of pharmacogenomics to consumer genetic testing such as 23 and Me, the time from discovery to application is progressing rapidly. We’ll look at some of the latest thinking and its impact…
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Forget Me Not: Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia?
We’ve all had the experience of frantically searching for car keys in the morning or walking purposefully into another room only to forget why we were going there, and as we age, it seems to occur with increasing frequency. Are these just signs of normal aging, or harbingers of a more serious condition? It’s a…
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Sweet Surrender: Is Sugar Off the Table for Healthy Eaters?
As we become more aware of what comprises healthy eating, sugar is increasingly viewed with a wary eye. Evidence is mounting that a sugar-filled diet – and the resulting weight gain – can lead to increased cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation, and to a higher risk of obesity and obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, pre-diabetes,…
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Hepatitis C Testing Recommended for All Baby Boomers
It’s called ‘the forgotten virus,’ but after a sustained advertising campaign and years of strong recommendations for testing by the Centers for Disease Control it’s almost certain that the liver-damaging Hepatitis C will be remembered…and for good reason. All people born between 1945 and 1965 – the Baby Boomer years – are now advised to…
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Stressed Out? A Guide to Signs, Symptoms
“I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times. I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest, and, let me say also, new objects for anxiety.” Was the above heard: 1. At a…
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The Healthy Aging Brain: Making Strides by Taking Strides
“Walking is man’s best medicine.” Hippocrates Put away the handheld brain games and turn your focus from lifelong learning to lifelong walking. The road to sustaining brain health is an active one and taking that first step, followed by thousands more on a daily basis, can make an enormous difference in quality of life in your later years. Arthur Kramer, PhD,…
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A Quick Spin on Dizziness, Vertigo and Other Balance Disorders
Common, rarely life-threatening, but very unsettling, an attack of dizziness or vertigo can send your world into a spin with simple acts like turning around to back up a car, bending down to tie a shoe or looking up at the sky. A range of sensations may keep you off balance, from tilting, swaying, whirling…
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The Connected Patient: Keeping Up with Apps
The ubiquitous smart phone has boosted its useful- ness tenfold in the past decade with a mushrooming library of health and wellness apps. Some aim to help you monitor your condition day-to-day, understand and stay on track with medications, or diagnose your symptoms, while others prepare you for an unforeseen emergency, allow you to share…
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Gut Instincts: Can More Bacteria Mean Better Health?
Healthy bacteria may seem like a contradiction in terms, but years of research and real world experience point toward an unexpectedly promising finding: the microorganisms continually forming in your intestine may confer health benefits that we are only just beginning to understand. Here is what we know: each of us has an individual set of…
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Try a New Approach to Food in the New Year: Stop Dieting and Focus on Mindful Eating
The dieting-overeating-weight regain cycle is almost inevitable, not because people fail diets but because diets fail people. It is important to understand that rebound overeating happens to almost everybody, and should not be viewed as an individual weakness or fault. The main reason diets do not work over the long term is they create deprivation…
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The Zika Virus: Prevention is the First Line of Defense
As the Zika virus continues to make headlines daily, it is essential to know who is at risk, how it is transmitted and most importantly, to understand strategies for prevention. Following are the latest findings on Zika, according to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. How does Zika spread?…
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