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Home » Expert Authors » Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Gabe Mirkin, M.D. - EzineArticles.com Expert Author  

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in Sports Medicine and three other specialties. Dr. Mirkin's daily features on fitness have been heard on CBS Radio News stations since the 1970's. He has written 16 books including The Sportsmedicine Book, the best-selling book on the subject that has been translated into many languages. His latest book ... [More]

[View Gabe Mirkin, M.D.'s Extended Author Bio]

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  • Breakfast Cereals-2007's Best
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] The most healthful breakfast is whole grain cereal. If you're trying to lose weight, control cholesterol or diabetes, or just need a lot of energy, your best bet is oatmeal. Prefer cold cereals? Here's my list of the BEST in 2007. plus my guidelines for reading the list of ingredients and nutrition information on any cereal box.


  • Calorie Restriction to Prolong Life: A More Human Approach
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] The latest work at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center shows that monkeys eating only 30 percent of their normal caloric intake live much longer and appear much younger than those eating their full diets. Can this research be applied to humans?


  • Exercise Does Not Cause Inflammation, Reduces Heart Attack Risk
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Many scientists have expressed concern that hard exercise damages muscles, so it may turn on inflammation and thus increase heart attack risk. A recent study shows that this does not happen. Read on to understand the latest research on benefits of vigorous exercise to reduce heart attack risk.


  • Older Exercisers Recover as Fast as Children
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Older people can recover from hard exercise as fast as young children can, according to new studies. If you find this hard to believe, read on to understand these findings and apply them to your exercise program.


  • Most Type II Diabetes is Preventable
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] If pre-diabetics take medications used to treat diabetes, or change their lifestyles, they markedly reduce their chances of going on to develop diabetes. Understand the latest research to reduce your risk and to help your loved ones.


  • Muscle Burning: Reduce with Baking Soda?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Researchers in Greece have shown that ordinary baking soda may neutralize the acid in muscles during intense exercise and helps athletes to exercise longer. Should you apply this idea to your exercise program?


  • Efficient Running Form
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] Efficiency in running form is measured by how much energy is lost by wasteful movements. Understand the latest research to learn how to improve your own running form and study the condition of your competitors.


  • Injured? Try Cross-Transference to Keep Fit
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Did you know that exercising one leg or arm helps to maintain strength, endurance and power in the other limb? If you have an injury, you can use the principles of cross-transference to keep fit while you recover.


  • Spin Faster for Greater Efficiency
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] The key to riding a bicycle efficiently over long distances is to find out how fast you can pedal before you become uncoordinated. Let the latest research help you figure out the best cadence for you.


  • Foods to Build Muscle
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] If you want to become very strong, you should lift heavy weights, eat carbohydrates before you lift and eat plenty of protein afterwards. Understand the science behind the foods that benefit weight lifters with this new research.


  • Mild Dehyration Does Not Impair Performance
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Recent studies show that fit humans can tolerate significant fluid loss before their performance suffers and that most cases of muscle cramps are not caused by dehydration or salt loss. These findings can help you understand your fluid requirements during exercise.


  • Exercise Lowers Homocysteine
    [Health-and-Fitness:Heart-Disease] High blood levels of homocysteine increase your risk for heart attacks, but at this time, nobody knows why. It may be that homocysteine does not cause heart attacks, strokes or dementia, but is just a marker associated with them. Understand the latest research an what you can do to reduce your own risk.


  • Strengthen Bones with Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] Regular exercise helps to keep bones strong and exercising into later life protects bones of older people even more. Read on for the latest research on protecting your bones...


  • Calf Pain May Be Intermittent Claudication
    [Health-and-Fitness:Heart-Disease] If your legs don't hurt at rest and you develop pain in your calves after walking for a short time, you may have a condition called intermittent claudication, a partial obstruction of the blood flow to your legs. Recent research explains the exercise program that helps most.


  • Increase Endurance with Carbs and Fats
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] A high carbohydrate, high-fat diet for three days before competition can help athletes store more fat in their muscles and use much more muscle fat for energy during exercise. Learn how to apply this recent research to your training program.


  • Memory Loss Linked to Overweight
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] How could excess weight cause memory loss? How much do you need to exercise to lose weight? Apply the findings of these recent studies to your weight loss program.


  • Salt Sensitivity Lowered by Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Heart-Disease] Why do some people develop high blood pressure when they take in a lot of salt, while others do not? A recent study explains why people who start an exercise program lose their tendency to develop high blood pressure when they take in extra salt


  • Lactic Acid is Good For Your Muscles
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] You've probably learned to fear lactic acid, but it is the most efficient fuel that your muscles can use, even more than sugar. Research from New Zealand explains why.


  • Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Some Cannot Be Detected
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] Drugs appear to be the cause of many recent records in sports requiring strength and speed. Many bicycle racers know that some drugs that make them better riders can’t be detected by testing techniques that are available today.


  • Soybeans: Healthful or Harmful?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Recent research was widely reported in the news media stating that eating soybeans prevents heart attacks, but that’s not what the study showed. Here's what you need to know about soybeans or soybean products in your diet.


  • Fit Women Live Longer
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] The strongest, best-coordinated, fastest older women with the most endurance live the longest. Read on for the results of a French study that should encourage you to keep on exercising, or to start an exercise program if you are out-of-shape.


  • Fat Restriction Does Not Reduce Heart Attacks, Strokes or Cancers
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] A long term study of 50,000 women shows that it is difficult to reduce total fat intake, and that it does not reduce the risk of heart attacks or cancers. Here's the latest thinking on fat restriction.


  • Sports Drinks: What Do You Really Need?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Higher body temperatures during exercise slow you down and tire you earlier. Before you choose a sports drink, you need to know how it will affect your body temperature.


  • Master Athletes Age Better
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] Master athletes are older men and women who compete in sports at a very high level, no matter how old they are. They are healthier than age-matched people in virtually every category that has been measured, according to a new study. Here's what these findings should mean to you.


  • Second Wind: A New Explanation
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] Second wind means that when you run very fast, you reach a point where you gasp for breath, slow down but keep on pushing and after a few seconds, you feel recovered and pick up the pace. Some people think that you just slow down and allow yourself enough time to recover from your oxygen debt, but this new research gives another explanation.


  • What Causes Diabetes: Genes or Environment?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] Is diabetes more likely to be caused by your genes or your environment? What diagnostic test is the best predictor of diabetes? Two new studies give interesting answers.


  • Obesity in Children and Teens: The Role of Fruit Juices & Weight Loss Drugs - 2 New Studies
    [Health-and-Fitness:Childhood-Obesity-Prevention] Are fruit juices a better choice for children and teens than soft drinks? Are any of the weight loss medications safe and effective for teenagers? Two new studies give guidance for these important issues.


  • Caffeine Increases Endurance in Long Races
    [Recreation-and-Sports] Caffeine increases endurance during long events such as a marathon, triathalon or bicycle race. A new study shows that caffeine helps the body use more carbohydrates from drinks that you take during exercise. How should you apply this information to your training program?


  • Cadence: Pedal Faster to Ride Better
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] Muscle fatigue and damage are caused by excess pressure on the pedals, not by how fast you pedal. Pedaling at a faster cadence with less pressure allows you to pedal longer and harder. Know the pros and cons.


  • Children Need More Exercise for Heart Health
    [Kids-and-Teens] Children need at least 90 minutes of exercise a day to avoid heart disease when they are older, according to a new study. How do these findings apply to your child's activity program?


  • Race Longer with a Low-Glycemic Index Meal
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Triathlon] Athletes in sports events lasting more than a couple hours may benefit from a pre-competition meal that has a low glycemic index, according to a new study. How long you can exercise a muscle without hurting depends on how much sugar you can store in that muscle and how long you can keep that sugar in the muscle during competition. This study explains why a low-glycemic-index pre-race meal can help you.


  • Protein Drinks: Will They Improve Your Performance in a Race?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] When you compete in an athletic event lasting more than an hour, you need fluids and calories. In events lasting more than three hours, you also need salt. Will adding protein to your drinks improve your performance?


  • Testosterone and EPO: How Quickly do they Affect Performance?
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] After Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was alleged to have taken testosterone, several physicians were widely quoted in the media as stating that taking testosterone for one day cannot improve performance. They are wrong. After multiple Olympic gold medal winning sprinter Marion Jones tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), many physicians stated that EPO doesn't help sprinters. They are also wrong.


  • Low Testosterone: Does it Cause Heart Attacks?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Mens-Issues] Two widely reported studies showed a link between low testosterone and heart attacks in diabetics. This does not mean that low testosterone was the cause of the heart attacks. What does this research mean for you?


  • Strength Training Helps to Prevent Diabetes
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] One third of Americans will become diabetic because they eat too much and exercise too little. A recent study shows that lifting weights can help to prevent and to treat diabetes. Here's how this applies to you.


  • Weight Gain During Pregnancy Is Essential
    [Home-and-Family:Pregnancy] No woman should ever severely restrict food during her pregnancy, no matter how much she weighs when she gets pregnant. Several studies have shown that babies that are small because they are deprived of food in the uterus are the ones most likely to die in infancy or to suffer heart attacks later in life. Here's what you need to know.


  • Joint Replacement: Hastened by Exercise?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Recreational exercisers have a much lower incidence of knee replacements than their non-exercising peers. However, former competitive athletes have the highest rate of knee replacements. What's the difference, and how does it apply to you?


  • Sunscreens or Veils Cause Vitamin D Deficiency
    [Health-and-Fitness] For many years we have been advised to wear sunscreen to help prevent skin cancer, but what happens if you don’t get any sun at all? Scientists don’t know exactly how much sunlight you need for good health. Here's what you need to know.


  • Muscle-Moving Machines Won't Make You Fit
    [Health-and-Fitness:Fitness-Equipment] If you see ads for equipment that promises to make you fit by moving your muscles for you, save your money. Exercise strengthens your heart only when you do it vigorously enough to increase your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute above resting. Here's why the passive exercise machines don't make you fit or increase strength.


  • Blood Type: Functions Beyond Matching for Transfusions?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Researchers in England dug up the bodies of people who had died from the 1665 London plague, and made the startling discovery that most of the people who died had type B blood, and that far fewer people have type B blood now than before the plague. What does this mean for you?


  • Stress and Recover: The Key to Muscle Growth
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] If you do the same exercises every day and do not feel sore on the next day, you will not become stronger and faster or have greater endurance. Here's why you need to understand the training principle of "stress and recover."


  • Walking for Fitness
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Walking is a very safe sport because it rarely causes injuries. If you want to walk to become fit, you should move vigorously enough to increase your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute higher than when you rest. Here's how to get the most out of your walking program.


  • Lightning Strikes During Sporting Events
    [Recreation-and-Sports] In the United States each year, lightening kills more than 500 people and injures more than 1000 people. Seventy-four percent of the survivors suffer permanent injuries. The people who are killed by lightning are often spectators or participants in sporting events. Here's what you need to know to protect yourself.


  • Vinegar for Weight Loss?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] One author claims that vinegar helps you to lose weight because oil and vinegar don't mix, so vinegar and body fat won't either. I hope you don't believe that. Here's what you need to know.


  • Colds and Wet Hair: Mother Was Wrong Again
    [Health-and-Fitness] Will you catch a cold if you go out with wet hair in cold weather? Being cold or warm, being dressed or undressed, or having wet hair or dry hair have no effect; what determines whether you get a cold is exposure to the cold virus. Here are the facts to debunk this myth.


  • Caffeine During Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Caffeine can help you exercise longer. When a muscle runs out of its stored sugar, it hurts and cannot contract as effectively. Here's how caffeine can help.


  • New to Running? Start Out Right for Success
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] If you think you would enjoy jogging or running, here's how to get started. First, check with your doctor and get a good pair of running shoes. Read on for a program that will help you use the training methods of competitive runners.


  • Overactive Immunity, Syndrome X and Diet: Two New Studies
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] The latest data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) shows that an unhealthy diet causes inflammation, which in turn causes heart attacks. A second study showed that people who suffer from the metabolic syndrome should increase their intake of omega-3 fatty acidsHere's what you need to know.


  • Brittle Nails? Gelatin Won't Help
    [Health-and-Fitness:Beauty] In one of advertising history's most successful campaigns, the founders of Knox's gelatin claimed that their product would make fingernails stronger, presumably because cow hooves are strong. Many people still believe the old claims, even though there is no evidence that gelatin has any effect on nails. Here's what you can do.


  • Exercise, Cholesterol and Statin Drugs
    [Health-and-Fitness] Some patients with high cholesterol levels are afraid to take statins because off fear of developing side effects such as muscle pain. How important is exercise if your cholesterol is high? How common are side effects from statin drugs? Two recent studies provide new insight.


  • Slower Pace or Rest Between Races? It's Your Choice
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] If you compete in sports that require repeated short bursts of very fast running, such as in basketball, soccer, or football, will you recover faster by standing still or by continuing to move at a slower pace?


  • Hiccups: Causes and Remedies
    [Health-and-Fitness] Have you ever wondered what causes hiccups? Read on for an explanation, and some favorite remedies.


  • Push-Ups: Train to Win
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] If you want to be able to do 100 pushups in a row, do not try to do as many pushups as possible every day. Follow these instructions and soon you will be ready to compete.


  • Recovery from Exercise Takes Longer in PM than AM
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] It takes longer to recover from hard exercise in the evening than in the morning. Late-day mental performance improves after napping, and the same may be true of muscle function. Here's what you need to know.


  • Pain? Injuries? Know When to Change Sports
    [Health-and-Fitness] If your favorite sport causes chronic pain or an injury that does not heal, you should probably switch to another sport. The good news is that switching to a new sport is much easier than starting from inactivity. Here are the findings of two recent studies to help you decide.


  • Chocolate Milk: Best for Recovery!
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] What should you eat after strenuous exercise or competition? Many studies have shown that eating a protein-rich meal as soon as possible after this hard workout hastens muscle recovery. Here's a new study you will like.


  • Stretching to Prevent Injuries? Maybe
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] There is little scientific evidence that stretching helps to prevent athletic injuries. However, a survey of high school coaches shows that almost all have their athletes stretch prior to practice or competition. Here's what you need to know.


  • Does Your Heart Get Tired During Exercise?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Can your heart run out of energy or oxygen while you're exercising? Not if it's healthy. Here's what you need to know if you get tired during exercise.


  • Belly Fat: Danger You Should Not Ignore
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] If you store more fat in your belly than in your hips, your cells are likely to be resistant to insulin which puts you at high risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and premature death. Storing fat in your belly causes you to store excess fat in your liver; read on to understand how insulin resistance works and what you can do about it.


  • Strength Training Builds Stronger Bones
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] When you strengthen your muscles, you also strengthen your bones. If you're not exercising, regardless of your age, you are setting your bones up for osteoporosis. Here's what you need to know.


  • Did Lance Armstrong Cheat?
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] This month, some of the favorites to win the Tour de France endurance bicycle race were prevented from entering because of suspicion that they may have taken drugs or had blood transfusions to raise their red blood cell counts. That brings up the accusation that Lance Armstrong, possibly the most dominant endurance bicycle racer of all time, took blood boosting drugs when he won the first of his seven Tour De France victories. What's the evidence?


  • Running Intervals Teaches Your Muscles to Use Lactic Acid
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] Recent research shows that lactic acid is the most efficient source of energy for muscles. Anything that helps muscles to break down lactic acid faster will make you a better athlete because it will increase your endurance and allow you to move faster when you are tired. Here's what you need to know to get the most from your training program.


  • Carry Weights While Jogging or Walking? Pros and Cons
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Should you carry weights while your run, walk or jog? That depends on your goals. Competitive runners should never carry hand weights, but they can help if you want to get more exercise while moving slowly. Here's what you need to know.


  • Guillain Barre Syndrome: Caused by Infection?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Guillain Barre syndrome is thought to be an auto-immune disease but may be caused by infection with an intestinal bacterium called campylobacter jejuni. A previously healthy person suddenly develops tingling and numbness primarily in the feet which within a couple of weeks spreads through the body to cause loss of muscle control and feeling throughout the body. Read on for more information on the diagnosis and treatment.


  • Lichen Planus: Itchy, Purple Bumps
    [Health-and-Fitness] If you have itchy, angular, purple bumps on your skin, particularly on your forearms or have white patches in your mouth, check with a dermatologist, you may have lichen planus. The only way to prove a diagnosis of lichen planus is to have your skin biopsy show its characteristic appearance. Doctors don't have the foggiest idea of the cause, although reaction to drugs and infection are possible. Here's what you need to know about the diagnosis and treatment.


  • Gilbert's Disease: Harmless, Possibly Helpful
    [Health-and-Fitness] Bilirubin is a yellow pigment released from dead red blood cells into your bloodstream. Recent research shows that having high blood levels of bilirubin may help to prevent heart attacks. Here's what you need to know about a diagnosis of Gilbert's disease.


  • Athlete's Foot
    [Health-and-Fitness:Foot-Health] Do you have chronic itching or peeling on your feet, often between your toes? Here's what you need to know about the diagnosis and treatment of athlete's foot.


  • Hammertoes: Diagnosis and Treatment
    [Health-and-Fitness] A hammertoe is a general name for a toe that is bent. Hammertoes are caused by genetics, arthritis, poor-fitting shoes, or feet that are either excessively high-arched or flat. Here's what you need to know about the diagnosis and treatment.


  • Legal Drugs, Non-Banned Drugs: Do Any Help? Two New Studies
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Will the nonsteroidal pain medicines help you recover from a workout? Are there any drugs to make you stronger that are not banned by sports authorities such as the Olympic committee? The answers from two new studies may surprise you.


  • Weight Loss Strengthens Your Heart, Lowers Heart Attack Risk
    [Health-and-Fitness] More than 40 percent of Americans die of heart attacks and other blood vessel damaging diseases and 35 percent ultimately become diabetic. Two new studies show that weight loss strengthens your heart, and explain why lowering blood sugar levels reduces your risk for a heart attack. Here's what you need to know.


  • High Blood Pressure: Salt or Insulin? Exercise? Two New Studies
    [Health-and-Fitness] Nowhere in medicine is there more confusion than the issue of salt as a cause of high blood pressure. A new study found that people who lowered blood insulin levels had a significant reduction in high blood pressure even though they also markedly increased their salt intake. Another study may explain why exercise helps control blood pressure. Here's what you should know.


  • Leg Clots May Be Caused By Infections
    [Health-and-Fitness] Leg clots occur without warning with sudden pain and swelling in a leg muscle, usually the calf. This is a particularly dangerous condition because the clot can break lose from the veins in the leg, travel to the lungs and block blood flow to kill a person. A recent report links these clots to infections. Here's what you need to know.


  • Artichokes Star in Salads, Soups and Appetizers
    [Food-and-Drink:Salads] Fresh, canned or frozen, artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables. A big fresh artichoke, steamed and served with lemon juice, stands on its own as a starter course. Far more often, I'll just open a jar of marinated artichokes and use them to dress up a tossed salad. Here are some of my favorite healthful recipes that feature artichokes.


  • Lose Weight, Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol with the Show-Me! Diet
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] If you would like to find out whether you are one of the 80 percent of people who can control high blood pressure or cholesterol with diet alone, have your doctor give you your current numbers. Follow my SHOW ME! Diet for just two weeks, then have your doctor re-check your cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure. Once you have proven to yourself and your doctor that you can control your blood pressure and cholesterol with diet, you will need to learn how to apply this way of eating for the rest of your life.


  • Sweet Potato Salads and a Soup!
    [Food-and-Drink:Salads] If you think sweet potatoes are only for Thanksgiving, you're missing out on one of nature's most versatile foods! Try these easy, delicious recipes and you'll change your mind. Sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals, and are such a pretty color that they dress up any table or party buffet. Sweet potato salads make a refreshing, healthful change from ordinary potato salads. The Sweet Potato Bisque is so good that it's bound to become a family favorite.


  • Whole-Meal Salads: The Perfect Warm-Weather Meal
    [Food-and-Drink:Salads] Hearty salads made with whole grains, beans, vegetables and a variety of other ingredients should star on your menus, especially in the warm months. If you're not familiar with whole grains, visit the Nutrition section of my web site (see the link below); I explain all about how to cook them, where to find them, and why they are so important for healthful eating. Try these favorite recipes and then experiment with your own variations.


  • Vine-Ripened Tomato Salad Recipes
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Nothing tastes like summer as much as a vine-ripened tomato. Eat one straight out of the garden, as you would an apple. Then take your tomatoes into the kitchen and toss them into these four delicious, easy salad recipes. Nothing could be simpler, better for you, more colorful, more tasty! What more can you ask for?


  • Whole Grains: Easy Cooking Instructions
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] If you are serious about healthful eating, learn how to make whole grains a staple in your diet. Whole grains are easy to cook on the stovetop (as you would cook rice or pasta), or in a countertop steamer. Cooke whole grains keep well, refrigerated or frozen. Leftovers can be reheated in a microwave or used in salads. I make my own "instant grains" by packaging ½-1 cup portions in baggies and storing them in the freezer. Here are complete instructions with time charts.


  • Oxygenated Water Does Not Increase Endurance
    [Health-and-Fitness] Have you seen ads for oxygenated water, claiming to cure tiredness, improve memory, and help you to exercise longer and make you a better athlete? A study from Austria shows that oxygenated water offers none of these benefits for humans. Here's what you need to know.


  • Loss of Strength With Age: Is It Inevitable?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] The older you become, the more you need to exercise. With aging, a person loses nerve fibers that cause loss of each connected muscle fiber. However, you can continue to build strength in the remaining muscle fibers into your 90's and beyond. Here's what you need to know.


  • Wine Prevents Heart Attacks? The Studies are Flawed
    [Health-and-Fitness] Studies proclaiming the health benefits of alcohol are widely promoted by the wine, beer and alcoholic beverage industries, but they have a major flaw. Researchers from the University of Victoria in British Columbia reviewed 54 studies and found that only seven corrected their non-drinking population for people who had to stop drinking for health reasons. Here's what you should know.


  • Endurance and Heart Size
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] What laboratory test is the best predictor of finishing times for a running race of 100 kilometers (62 miles, or more than twice the distance of a marathon)? A study from Yokohama, Japan suggests that it is an echocardiogram to measure the size of your left ventricular heart chamber which determines how much blood your heart can pump with each beat. What does this mean for you?


  • Exercise Won't Hurt a Healthy Heart
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] A study from Northwestern University shows that running a marathon did not cause any abnormalities in heart function. This does not mean that everyone can go out and run a marathon. People who have damaged hearts can die from over-exertion. Here's what you need to know about your heart and exercise.


  • Sports Drinks Won't Prevent Dehydration or Hyponatremia
    [Health-and-Fitness] Do you believe the ads for sports drinks that tell you they contain everything you need during exercise? Sports drinks contain a small amount of salt, but not enough to meet your needs. Here's what you need to know to prevent collapse or even death during prolonged exercise.


  • Living High, Training Low
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] Athletes in endurance events practice a training technique called "living high, training low". Many years ago, scientists noticed that people who live in the mountains, where the air contains lower levels of oxygen, have higher than normal blood oxygen levels. A limiting factor in events that require endurance is the time it takes to move oxygen from the lungs into the muscles. Here's how you can apply this information to your training program.


  • Are Cell Phones Safe?
    [Communications:Mobile-Cell-Phone] Researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life reported that people who use cell phones for more than an hour a day for ten years are at significantly increased risk for brain cancers This study disagrees with the Dutch Health Council study and a British survey, both released this year, that failed to show increased any risk. Most studies so far have failed to show an association between cell phones and brain tumors. Here's what you should know.


  • Know When to Stop Exercising
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] After you have played a long tennis match on a hot summer day, you feel weaker and less accurate with your shots. The fatigue, muscle weakness, tired aching feeling and decreased coordination that you get in any sport lasting several hours is caused by low levels of fluids, salt or calories. Here's what you need to know.


  • Pressure on Pedals Tires You More than Spinning Fast
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] Experienced bicycle riders know that fatigue comes from how hard you press on the pedals, not how fast you turn them. Novice racers may try to ride with maximum force on the pedals, but they quickly exhaust themselves and often can’t even finish the race. Here's how to decide on your best cadence.


  • Food Label Health Claims: Read Between the Lines
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has loosened restrictions on how much scientific proof is required before possible health benefits appear on food labels. Here's what you can expect to see on labels in the future.


  • Panic Disorder: Did Charles Darwin Have It?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Panic disorder is unexpected attacks of extreme anxiety, with symptoms including rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, sweating, nausea and dizziness. Some victims feel they are losing their minds or are about to die. It affects about 13 million Americans, who can relate to this story of Charles Darwin.


  • Dreams and Depression: Was Sigmund Freud Correct?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Depression] Psychotherapy, by itself, has not been shown to be an effective treatment for most cases of depression, anxiety or schizophrenia. On the other hand, psychotherapy plus medication is more effective than medication alone to treat anxiety and depression. So Sigmund Freud may have been correct.


  • Coca Cola and Sigmund Freud
    [Food-and-Drink] Most people know that Sigmund Freud was the father of modern psychoanalysis, but did you know that he was also the foster father of Coca Cola? The only scientific paper that Sigmund Freud ever wrote was not about psychotherapy. It was about cocaine.


  • Memory Loss: Prevent with Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] Nobody really knows how exercise helps prevent loss of mental function, but every factor that helps protect you from getting a heart attack or stroke also protects you from dementia. The Nurses' Health Study from the Harvard School of Public Health has shown that exercising your muscles improved cognitive function. Here's what you can do.


  • Improve Your Coordination with Strength Training
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Lifting weights to develop large strong muscles can improve coordination, make you faster and more flexible as well as stronger. It will not interfere with the coordination that you need for such fine muscle movements as playing the piano or shooting a basketball.


  • Teflon Pans Cause Cancer? Rumor and Truth
    [Cancer] If you have heard rumors that your Teflon pans will give you cancer, relax. PFOA, a suspected carcinogen, is used to manufacture Teflon, but there is none present in the finished products. However, non-stick pans may release other toxic particles if they are used at very high heats. Here's what you need to know.


  • Will a Clean Colon Prolong Your Life?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Alternative] In the early 20th century, many people took enemas regularly because they thought that it would clean out their colons and help to prolong their lives. Some entrepreneurs who try to sell you colon cleansing products still promote these outdated ideas today.


  • Lead Poisoning, Hair Anaylsis and Beethoven: Solving a Medical Mystery
    [Health-and-Fitness:Medicine] Beethoven died in 1827 and no tests were available to prove or disapprove the cause of his deafness and his death. After he died, hair was removed from his head and kept by his admirers; it is still available today. Here's the fascinating story of a medical mystery solved with hair analysis


  • Chemistry Course Got You Down? Here's Hope
    [Reference-and-Education:Science] If you're struggling through high school or college chemistry, take heart. In 2003, a man who got a D in chemistry in high school won the Nobel Prize, the most prestigious award any chemist could ever receive.


  • Will Bed Rest Help You Get Better?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Remember the last time you had the flu or a cold? Do you think you heal faster by staying in bed for a day or two or going to work?


  • Beriberi: Finding the Cause and Cure
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] From 1600 to 1920, one of the most common causes of death in North America was beriberi. Most people don’t even know what it is because it is extremely rare today, but the detective work to find the cause and cure spanned many centuries and countries.


  • Overactive Thyroid: Grave's Disease and
    [Health-and-Fitness:Thyroid] In May 1991, 66 year old, George Bush, the 41st President of the United States and father of the 43rd president, was diagnosed with Grave's disease, an overactive thyroid. How could the president, his wife and his dog all develop autoimmune diseases that are thought to be inherited from one's parents?


  • Olympic History Tidbits: The Marriage of Two Great Athletes
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Olympics] If you are envious of great athletes, you'll be interested in the true story of the marriage of two great Olympic athletes. The dominant athlete of the 1968 Olympics was Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia who won 4 gold and two silver medal in gymnastics. Right after the closing Olympic ceremony in 1968, she married Joseph Odlizil, the 1964 Olympic silver medalist from Czechoslovakia in the 1500 meters. Their story is a sad one.


  • STD's, Cardiomyopathy and Wilt Chamberlain
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diseases-STDs] He was the greatest basketball player and possibly the greatest athlete who ever lived. The 63-year-old Wilt Chamberlain was reported to have died of a heart attack, but that tells you nothing. You are supposed to ask why the world’s greatest athlete would die of a heart attack?


  • Stop Breathing While You Sleep? You May Have Sleep Apnea
    [Health-and-Fitness:Sleep-Snoring] If your spouse notices that you stop breathing for more than 10 seconds more than 10 times an hour during sleep, you may have sleep apnea. Many overweight people suffer from sleep apnea and have difficulty staying awake during the day because stopping breathing interferes with deep sleep, causing them to wake up tired each morning.


  • Typhoid Mary Would Have Had Cancer
    [Health-and-Fitness:Medicine] One hundred years ago in New York City, at least 10 epidemics of typhoid fever were traced to a single cook who was later called Typhoid Mary. Recent medical reports tell us how the epidemics could have been prevented and what could have been done to help her. Today, the term Typhoid Mary refers to a person who spreads diseases to other people, even though she has no symptoms herself.


  • Strong Muscles for Stronger Bones
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Rugby] Exercising to strengthen muscles strengthens the bones on which these same muscles attach. Bones in the arm that holds the racquet of a professional tennis player are much larger and stronger than the bones in the other arm. The arm bones are bigger, denser and stronger in athletes who whose activities involve upper body strength, such as rugby, rock climbing, kayaking, and weight lifting.


  • Growth Hormone and Muscle Strength
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Thousands of athletes in many sports spend millions of dollars on growth hormone and growth hormone promoters in the hope that it will help them grow larger muscles, become stronger and therefore be better athletes. As you age, blood levels of growth hormone drop. Here's what you need to know.


  • Senior Exercise: What's Safest and Best?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] If you are thinking of starting an exercise program late in life, the safest exercises are cycling and swimming. If you have a hard time walking up stairs, or getting out of a chair without using your hands, your thighs are weak and you can strengthen them by pedaling stationary bicycle. Here's how.


  • Muscle Building is Not Just for the Young
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Older men and women can enlarge and strengthen muscles in the same way that younger people do. Most young people can lift very heavy weights and continue to lift through the soreness, but older people should stop lifting as soon as they feel the soreness during a workout.


  • Stride Length or Cadence: Which Makes You Faster?
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] There are two ways to run faster. You can move your legs at a faster rate, called cadence, or you can take longer steps. A video at the New York City Marathon showed that the top 150 runners had the same cadence, taking 92 to 94 steps a minute. The difference between the top runners and the others was that the best runners took longer strides. Here's how to apply this to your running program.


  • Exercise in Air Pollution: Does the Benefit Outweigh the Harm?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] It's healthful to exercise and harmful to breathe polluted air. Many people wonder if they will do more harm than good by exercising on days when the air is heavily polluted.


  • Socks: Do You Need Them?
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] Should you wear socks with your running shoes, tennis shoes or any other workout shoes? The main purpose of socks is to keep your feet and shoes from smelling. Foot odor is caused by bacteria or fungi rotting old skin. If your feet smell, read on.


  • Most Athletes Do Not Need to Replace Potassium
    [Recreation-and-Sports] Many sports drinks advertise that they contain potassium, but potassium deficiency is not common in athletes unless they are trying to control weight by vomiting. Even with prolonged exercise in very hot weather, potassium needs can be met by eating a normal diet because potassium is found in virtually all foods except refined sugar.


  • Prevent Sports Injuries With Strength Training
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Muscles are injured because the force on them is greater than their inherent strength, so they tear. Resistance training makes muscles stronger so that they can withstand greater forces and therefore helps to prevent injuries. Here are more ways to prevent sports injuries.


  • How to Buy Exercise Equipment
    [Health-and-Fitness:Fitness-Equipment] Selecting a new piece of exercise equipment can be daunting because there are so many possibilities. DON’T give in to high pressure sales people until you know exactly what you want. Here are some tips to make sure you get the most for your money.


  • How to Make Exercise Fun!
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] When you are just starting out, it may be hard to visualize how exercise could ever be fun, because in the beginning it just seems like plain hard work. Here are five ways to make your exercise program more enjoyable.


  • Should You Keep an Exercise Diary?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Competitive athletes keep exercise diaries, and I encourage all my patients to do the same. Here's why it's important, and how to do it.


  • Stretch to Prevent Back Problems, Falls or Pulled Muscles
    [Health-and-Fitness] Three-time Olympian and coach Pat Connolly gave me these tips for building flexibility to help you prevent falls, pulled muscles and back problems. When you stretch a muscle, be sure to loosen or shake it gently after each stretch. Start with these stretches.


  • Spouse Won't Exercise? Here's What You Can Do
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] How can you get your spouse or other loved one to get more active if they’re not the least bit motivated? It’s always hard to get someone else to get off the couch; the excuses are endless. But couples who exercise together have the lowest drop-out rates of all new exercisers.


  • Just Starting? Build Muscle in 20 Minutes a Day ( No Expensive Equipment)
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] You can start a strength-training program at home without expensive equipment, and improve your strength and flexibility in less than 20 minutes a day. Don’t push yourself if any of these moves are difficult for you; start small and build up gradually.


  • Blood Clots: What You Need to Know
    [Health-and-Fitness] You are supposed to form clots only to protect you from bleeding, but any trauma or inflammation in your body can cause clots to form in blood vessels. If a clot breaks off from a blood vessel wall, it can block arteries to cause a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism. Here's what you need to know.


  • Gas, Constipation, Belching and Other Digestive Problems
    [Health-and-Fitness] From your mouth to your colon, your digestive tract is loaded with bacteria and so is a common site for a variety of infections or inflammations. Other digestive problems, such as constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, are usually caused by a faulty diet. Here's what you should know.


  • Stress: Cause of Heart Attacks, or "Blame the Victim"?
    [Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] Does stress cause heart attacks? A situation that causes you great distress may be just a minor annoyance for someone else, and vice versa. What should you do?


  • Varicose Veins: Exercise is the Best Treatment
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] Veins are supposed to contain valves that keep blood from backing up. When the valves cannot close properly, veins become varicose, blood backs up, causing the veins to widen and look like blue snakes underneath the skin. Should you wear support hose? Should you exercise?


  • Larry King's Heart Attack Saved His Life
    [Health-and-Fitness] For ten years, I told Larry King that he was a walking time bomb and should change his lifestyle before it was too late. When he had his heart attack, I was the first person to see him in the emergency room. Now he eats the way I do, exercises regularly, has normal cholesterol and blood pressure, and never felt better. His heart attack saved his life. But some people are not as lucky as Larry and don't get a second chance. Here's what you can do.


  • Know Your Fats: Some Are Good
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] All foods contain a mixture of the three different types of fats: saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. There are no foods that contain only one type. Know which ones are healthful and which are unhealthful, to help you make good food choices.


  • Triglycerides: What's Too HIgh? What Can You Do?
    [Health-and-Fitness] When you take in more calories than your body needs, your liver converts the extra calories into fat molecules called triglycerides. If your triglyceride level is above the normal 150, it means that you eat too much food or have high blood insulin levels which can cause heart attacks. Here's what you can do.


  • Blood Pressure: Understand It, Control It (Preferably with Diet)
    [Health-and-Fitness] When your heart contracts, it pushes a huge amount of blood forward to your arteries. Your arteries are supposed to act like balloons and expand to accept the blood and prevent your blood pressure from rising too high. Having plaques in your arteries stiffens them and prevents them from expanding when your heart contracts, causing your blood pressure to rise higher than normal. Most people can control high blood pressure with diet alone.


  • Large Belly: A Warning Sign Even if You're Thin Everywhere Else
    [Health-and-Fitness] In Victorian times a large belly was a sign of prosperity and manliness, but now we know that having a lot of fat in your belly increases your risk for heart attacks and diabetes. People who store fat primarily underneath the skin in their bellies also store a lot of fat around their intestines and in their liver.


  • Overweight or "Big Boned"? Three Simple Tests to Help You Decide
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Muscle weighs more than fat, and some people have larger, heavier bones than others. You can be heavy and perfectly healthy if a large percentage of your weight is in bone and muscle. However, if a high percentage of your weight is fat, you are at increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, strokes, some types of cancer and other health problems. Here are three simple tests to help you decide whether you should be concerned about your weight.


  • Are You Pre-Diabetic? Do Nuts Prevent Diabetes? Two Interesting Studies
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] Will eating nuts keep you from becoming diabetic? Should you be concerned about a high fasting blood sugar if you don't have diabetes? If you're trying to prevent diabetes, you'll want to read the answers to these questions.


  • Does Viagra Cause Heart Attacks? Is Testosterone Lowered By Marriage?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Mens-Issues] Have you wondered whether Viagra really causes heart attacks, and whether testosterone is higher when you're single or married? Two studies give some interesting answers.


  • Salt Restriction, Statin Drugs: New Heart Health Findings
    [Health-and-Fitness] Do people who restrict salt have lower rates of heart attacks? Are statin drugs the best way to lower cholesterol? If you're concerned about your heart health, you'll want to read the findings from two new studies.


  • Older Women Must Exercise Every Day
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] Can you explain why a study from Canada showed that exercising three times a week improved insulin sensitivity in younger women but not in older women? The only places that you can store extra sugar in your body are in your liver and muscles. Learn what changes as you age.


  • Why Sled Dogs Have Such Great Endurance
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] How can sled dogs run more than 100 miles a day for weeks on end, while humans can’t possible recover from such abuse of their muscles? A limiting factor in how long you can exercise a muscle is how much sugar you can store in a muscle, how quickly you use it up, and how quickly you can restore sugar the sugar in your muscles.


  • Wrinkles, Memory Loss: Can You Prevent Them?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] What can you do to prevent wrinkles? A study from Denmark shows that skin wrinkling and aging are influenced heavily by genetic factors. And how about memory loss; will exercise really protect you? Read the findings of two interesting studies.


  • Nose-less Bicycle Seats Keep You Comfortable and Potent
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] The greatest source of discomfort for cyclists is the nose of their bike seat pressing on nerves and soft tissues. For men, this pain brings the additional worry of impotence. If you feel no discomfort when you ride, keep on riding and stop worrying. If you feel numbness, get a new seat. Here are 8 tips for comfortable riding.


  • Muscle Fatigue in Endurance Events Is Caused by Muscle Damage
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] When you exercise for a long time, your muscles start to burn and feel sore. This forces you to slow down, because keeping up the pace will make your muscles burn and hurt even more. You call this fatigue and tiredness, but a recent study from Japan shows that muscle fatigue is caused by damage to the muscle itself.


  • Rests Between Intervals Should Not Be Too Short
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Athletes train by breaking down individual workouts into intervals of stress and recovery. The shorter the rest during an interval, the longer it takes to recover. If you are a regular exerciser, you probably have already noticed this in your own body. Here's how to learn your ideal interval rest.


  • Stress Fractures, Blood Pressure Medications: Common Runner's Health Issues
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] What’s the best way to treat a stress fracture? Will blood pressure drugs interfere with your running program? Read the findings from two recent studies that will help you with your running program.


  • Whole Grains Make Great "Spanish Rice" and Other Side Dishes
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] If you're trying to include more WHOLE grains in your diet, don't overlook the traditional white-rice side dishes. It's so easy to convert these recipes just by subsituting brown rice, cooked barley or other whole grains for the refined-carbohydrate white rice. Try these 3 recipes, then use the same strategy on your own favorite rice recipes.


  • Bean Dips: So Easy and Cheap to Make, You Should Never Buy Ready-Made
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] When I see jars of expensive bean dips for sale in the supermarket, I just shake my head. Nothing could be easier to make. Just open a can of beans and pour it into a blender along with some seasonings. Here are three recipes to get you started; you'll find it's easy to invent more.


  • Oatmeal-Fruit Bars Plus a No-Bake "Cookie"
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Dried, fruits, nuts, oatmeal and spices are my favorite ingredients for healthful desserts and snacks to satisfy the sweet tooth. You can vary these recipes endlessly by using different fruits and nuts.


  • Beans for Dinner: High Protein, Cheap and Delicious
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Beans provide vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, and are very high in fiber. They are good sources of the essential fatty acids and are the best plant source of protein. Dried beans are usually more economical, but they take longer to prepare. Canned beans are more convenient. They are equally nutritious; it's your choice. Try them in these easy recipes.


  • Vegetable Curries: An Easy, Flavorful Way to Eat Your Veggies
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] A flavorful, mild curry powder or curry paste, or a bottled curry sauce, makes just about any combination of vegetables into a gourmet meal. Try these recipes and then experiment with your own favorite vegetables, whole grains and beans.


  • Dips Aren't Just For Chips - Make Them Healthful with Veggie Dippers
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Salsas, bean dips, guacamole and other dipping favorites don't need to be scooped up with unhealthful chips. Use strips of red pepper, cauliflower or broccoli florets or that old faithful, celery. For a new veggie dipper twist, peel a raw sweet potato and slice it into thin "chips", and dig in! Try these three great dip recipes to get you started with healthful snacking.


  • Soups Thickened with Oatmeal! Creamy and Healthful, Too
    [Food-and-Drink:Soups] You don't need butter or flour to make soup thick and creamy. Instead, stir in a cupful of rolled oats or quick oats, and cook for 20 minutes or more. Then whirl a hand blender in the pot to make the soup smooth and extra creamy. Try this in the delicious recipes below, or invent your own.


  • Desserts from Cooked Whole Grains: If You Like Rice Pudding, You'll Love These
    [Food-and-Drink:Desserts] Healthful whole grains can be featured in every part of your meals: breakfast cereals, salads, soups, main dishes, and even desserts. Try these recipes that use cooked whole grains sweetened with fruit and seasoned with fragrant spices.


  • No Time to Cook? Try These Extra-Quick Recipes for Healthful Meals
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Do you think you're too busy to cook your own healthful meals? Take advantage of bags of frozen mixed vegetables, canned beans and other shortcuts with these delicious, super-speedy recipes. If you're not in the habit of cooking your own whole grains, learn how, and learn why whole grains are so important to a healthful diet, in my Good Food Book; it's free -- see the link at the bottom of this article.


  • Asparagus: Springtime Bounty
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Fresh asparagus is available year-round, but it's most plentiful and cheapest in springtime. Steam them, add them to any salad, or try one of these easy, healthful recipes. And don't be surprised if your urine smells of asparagus after you eat it. Many foods affect the odor of urine, and asparagus is notorious for this.


  • Vegetarian Chili - Three Recipes for Healthful Meals the Whole Family Will Love
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Chili seasonings bring out the best in vegetables and beans; your family and friends will never miss the meat. You can improvise with these recipes, using whatever type of beans you like, and adding or subtracting other ingredients to match your personal preferences. You can always freeze any leftovers.


  • Potato Salads - Three Easy, Healthful Recipes
    [Food-and-Drink:Salads] Potato salads are not just for picnics! They're good year-round, and the variations are endless. I never peel potatoes for salads. The skins of the red ones are pretty in a salad and if you throw them away, you waste their fiber. Just scrub the potatoes with a plastic scouring pad.


  • Lentil Soups: Easy, Filling and Delicious
    [Food-and-Drink:Soups] Have you made a pot of lentil soup lately? It's healthful cooking at its best: easy, hearty, tasty and loved by young and old. Lentils come in one-pound bags in the dry beans section of your supermarket. Usually you will find two kinds: ordinary greenish-brown lentils, and orange lentils which are actually just the ordinary lentils with their skins removed. All cook quickly and make wonderful soups.


  • Salads with Whole Grains and Fruit
    [Food-and-Drink:Salads] Cooked wild rice, barley, brown rice or other whole grains make wonderful salads when combined with fruits, vegetables and seasonings. Here are four recipes to get you started. Experiment with your own combinations and favorite flavors; it's hard to go wrong!


  • Vitamins: The Basics from Food and Sunshine
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] You can get all the vitamins you need from the food you eat plus some sunshine. A daily multi-vitamin for extra "insurance" won’t hurt you, but an unhealthy diet with vitamin pills is still an unhealthy diet. Don’t be misled by high-priced supplements that make extravagant promises.


  • Beans and Other Legumes: Nutritional Powerhouses
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Legumes are our second most-important food source (grains rank first). The huge legume family includes the many varieties of beans, as well as lentils, peas and peanuts. Seeds contain everything necessary to bring a new plant to life, so they are nutritional powerhouses for us as well. They provide vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, and are very high in fiber.


  • Minerals: Plants Need Most of Them, Too
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Most of the minerals we need are the same ones plants require for their own growth. If any of their 16 essential elements is not available, the plant withers and dies. If you buy a tomato or a red bell pepper, you know that the plant grew successfully and had all of the minerals it needed.


  • Seafood Stews: Healthful Recipes from Around the World
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] I love the seafood stews that come from almost every region that borders on an ocean! They’re wonderful served over whole grains instead of white rice or pasta. Here are some of my favorites to get you started.


  • Healthful Diet Rule #1: Stay Close to Nature
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] For most of human history the struggle has been to get enough food, so the survivors were those best equipped to cope with deprivation and scarcity. For most North Americans today, the problem is too much food that is too cheap, too convenient and too tasty to resist.


  • Is Diabetes Genetic?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] If you think you are doomed to become diabetic because it "runs in your family," take heart. You inherit a susceptibility to Type II diabetes; you do not inherit diabetes. Read on to find out how to protect yourself.


  • Will Hard Exercise Damage Your Heart Muscle?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Many researchers have been concerned that very hard exercise would damage heart muscle in the same way it damages skeletal muscles. A study from Freiburg University in Germany shows that hard exercise does not damage a healthy heart. Here's why.


  • Flax Seeds: A Rich Source of Omega-3's
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] If you are trying to restore the balance between Omega-6 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids in your diet, you may want to eat a tablespoon or two of whole flax seeds each day. Flax seeds are the richest commonly available plant source of alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3's).


  • Omega 3's From Plants May Be Best
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] The omega-3 fatty acids in seeds such as flax and whole grains may be even more important in maintaining your health than the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. Fish oils are extremely low in vitamin E, while virtually every seed or plant source of omega-3s also has vitamin E, so your body stores far more short chain omega-3s from plants in your body fat.


  • Sugar Cravings and "Carbohydrate Addiction"
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Sugar cravings can be caused by the high rises and rapid drops in your blood sugar which occur when you eat any refined carbohydrates, not just sugar. But no one should try to avoid them completely. Here's the difference between "good carbs" and "bad carbs."


  • Isometric Exercises
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Isometric exercise means that you push against something that doesn't move, such as a wall. Thirty years ago, most weightlifters and athletes is sports requiring strength used isometric training to make themselves stronger. But athletes don't use isometric training much anymore.


  • Mitral Valve Prolapse: Usually Harmless
    [Health-and-Fitness] One in ten Americans suffers from mitral valve prolapse and the vast majority have no symptoms and will never know that they have it. The vast majority of people with mitral valve prolapse do not need any treatment, but those who are bothered by irregular heart beats or chest pain are often given beta blockers, such as propranolol to control symptoms.


  • Tonsils and Adenoids: Should They Be Removed?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Removing tonsils and adenoids has little, if any, effect in preventing recurrences of ear infections, yet doctors still remove more than 400,000 tonsils each year. Tonsils should never be removed before age four, because prior to age four they are a major supplier of the cells and proteins that help to protect you from being infected with viruses and bacteria.


  • Iron: Too Much Can Harm You
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] High blood levels of iron are associated with an increased risk of suffering heart attacks and certain cancers. People who eat a lot of meat, fish and chicken have higher blood levels of iron than vegetarians. Should you be concerned?


  • Monoglycerides and Diglycerides
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Monoglycerides and diglycerides are fats, but people who are trying to lose weight do not need to worry about restricting them. They are added to foods to make bakery products taste smooth and to prevent the oil from separating out in foods such as peanut butter.


  • Green Tea, Black Tea, Herbal Tea: Healthful Beverage Choices
    [Food-and-Drink] The health benefits of tea have been trumpeted in the media recently. Even though the claims may be exaggerated, if you're going to drink much of any beverage other than water, tea is probably your best choice.


  • Chelated Minerals: Worth the Extra Cost?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] Drug stores, supermarkets and internet sites sell chelated calcium and iron pills that are advertised to be absorbed better than cheaper non-chelated minerals. Are they worth the price?


  • Blue-Green Algae: Wonder Food or Waste of Money?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] Algae are abundant, high in minerals, and depending on the species, a good source of protein, carbohydrates, fiber, essential fatty acids and vitamins. But it makes no sense to buy blue-green algae in pills. A pound of dried soybeans costs 89 cents; a pound of dried blue-green algae in pill form costs over $1000. Read this before you spend your money.


  • Food Additives and Preservatives
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Anything that doesn't occur naturally in a particular food is considered an additive. But you should be more concerned about what's taken out of your food than what's added in. "Enriched" means vitamins, minerals, other nutrients and fiber were been removed during processing, and what is added back may be only a small part of what was taken away.


  • Ephedra: Should It Be Banned?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] Ephedra is a stimulant that is sold to help people lose weight, get bigger muscles, keep them awake when they drive long distances, and a host of fraudulent reasons such as to prevent and treat cancers, allergies, and certain diseases and make you more sexual. This drug has been sold over-the counter, without need for prescription, for more that 30 years primarily for weight loss, energy and sports supplements. Should it be banned?


  • Scurvy: Vitamin C Deficiency
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Vitamins are parts of enzymes you can't live without, and your body can't make. We take them for granted today, but vitamin deficiency diseases plagued our ancestors and took a long time to figure out. Vitamin C is found in fruits and vegetables, and Scurvy, caused by lack of vitamin C for many weeks or months, wasn't identified until people were separated from plants for long periods of time.


  • YoYo Dieting is Harmful
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Most people who try to diet by restricting calories lose and regain weight only to make themselves fatter. Food restriction causes binging. Healthy people do not willingly leave the table hungry or go to bed hungry. Studies on rats show that each time that they regain fat, they do so at a faster rate.


  • Peanut Butter: Check for Trans Fats
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Many of the major brands of peanut butter contain partially hydrogenated oils, which we recommend that you avoid. They try to fool you because if the amount is less than .5 grams per serving, they can say "0 grams of trans fats" or "no trans fats." A serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons -- so they can put as much as 8 grams of trans fats in a 16-ounce jar and still attach a label that says "No Trans Fats"!.


  • Salt, Sea Salt or No Salt?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] You need to eat foods that contain iodine for your body to be able to make thyroid hormone. The best sources are iodized salt and seafood. Plants can be a good source, but only if they are grown on iodine-rich soil.


  • Syndrome X Puts You at Risk for Heart Attacks and Diabetes
    [Health-and-Fitness] Syndrome X describes people who have low blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol and high blood levels of triglycerides, which puts them at high risk for heart attacks. Excessive amounts of triglycerides cause a condition called fatty liver that interferes with liver function.


  • How Old Should a Child Be to Start Serious Athletic Training?
    [Home-and-Family:Parenting] Do you think your child is an exceptionally fast runner or swimmer? Outstanding in gymnastics, skating or little league baseball? Young children can start training for athletic competition at a very young age as far as their bodies are concerned, but they should not start before they want to accept the regimented lifestyle required for athletic competition.


  • To Peel or Not to Peel?
    [Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Vegetable and fruit skins are loaded with fiber and nutrients. You don't want to throw them away unless you have to. Recipes in many cookbooks tell you to peel potatoes, apples, eggplants and everything else, whether you need to or not.


  • Ear Tubes for Toddlers?
    [Home-and-Family:Babies-Toddler] Should your toddler have ear tubes inserted to help prevent ear infections? The inner ear is full of air and is connected to the outside through the eustachian tube that opens into the back of your mouth. Young children have narrow eustachian tubes that can close and fill with fluid that causes ear pressure and pain.


  • Hard-Easy Training Principle Applies to Any Sport or Fitness Program
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] You will not become a better athlete by doing the same training regimen each day. Athletes train by taking hard workouts on one day, feeling sore on the next, and not taking another hard workout until the muscles stop feeling sore. It's called the hard-easy principle. Here's how to apply it to YOUR fitness program.


  • Fear of Pesticides Should Not Keep You From Eating Your Fruits and Vegetables
    [Food-and-Drink] If you avoid fruits and vegetables because of fear of pesticides, you're harming yourself. People who eat the most produce, which is the highest source of insecticides, are the ones least likely to suffer cancers and heart attacks. Almost all the pesticides that we eat were placed in fruits and vegetables by nature, not by man.


  • How Diabetes Causes Heart Attacks
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] The heart muscle of diabetics uses a much higher percentage of fat for energy than that of non-diabetics, markedly increasing risk for heart attacks. Many people discover that they are diabetic only after they have had a heart attack.


  • Osteoporosis Caused by Vitamin D Deficiency?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] Do you believe that lack of calcium is the most common cause of osteoporosis? Vitamin D deficiency may be even more important; a study from Amsterdam shows that 64 percent of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis lack vitamin D.


  • Vigorous Exercise Treats Diabetes
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] An exciting study from Yale shows that intense exercise is far more effective in preventing and controlling diabetes than exercising at a leisurely pace. The diabetic who exercises hard enough to sweat and raises his heart rate above 80 percent of its maximum will be far less likely to suffer the terrible consequences of uncontrolled diabetes.


  • Fat Thighs May Be Good For You
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Do you hate your heavy thighs and hips? If you are woman who is thinking about getting liposuction to rid yourself of the fat in your thighs, think again. Thigh fat may be good fat.


  • Aspirin Can Cause Hyponatremia
    [Health-and-Fitness] Several recent studies how that aspirin, Indocin, Celebrex and other arthritis pain medicines may cause some cases of hyponatremia, a condition that can kill novice athletes in ultra long endurance events. These medications, often taken to relieve muscle and joint pain, cause the body to retain fluid during exercise.


  • Muscle Cramps During Endurance Events
    [Recreation-and-Sports] If you’ve ever developed severe muscle cramps during long-term exercise, the odds are that you never found out why it happened. Doctors in South Africa studied triathletes and found that most of the time, the muscles cramps were not caused by dehydration, thyroid disease, blocked blood flow, nerve damage, or mineral abnormalities. Here's what they found...


  • Why Diabetes Can Be Caused By Obesity
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] We've known for many years that being overweight increases risk for diabetes, but researchers now are explaining why and at the same time, offering new hope for a cure.


  • Blood Pressure and Heart Size in Athletes
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] In 1976, 413 high school runners in Finland competed in a 2000-meter race. At the time of the race and in a follow-up study twenty-five years later, the faster runners had much lower blood pressures than the slower ones.


  • Low Fat Diets Fail the Test?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] You should not be surprised by the latest three studies showing that low-fat diets do not prevent breast or colon cancers or heart attacks. The women in the study did not lose weight. That means that they did not eat fewer calories, even though they were instructed to avoid the most concentrated sources of calories.


  • Beginning Weight Lifter? Get the Most from Your Workout
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Do you know how to get the most from your weight-lifting workouts? A recent study shows that you benefit either from increasing the number of sets of repetitions or from training faster, but not both.


  • Diabetics Should Eat Fruits and Root Vegetables
    [Health-and-Fitness:Diabetes] Root vegetables and fruits are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber. Many studies show that diabetics who do not eat fruit and root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots or beets, are at increased risk for heart attacks and strokes.


  • Warming Up and Stretching Can Impair Performance in Competition
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Have you watched football players, sprinters and other athletes warming up and stretching before competitions? Two new studies show that they may be harming their performance.


  • Margarines to Lower Cholesterol: Do You Need Them?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Eating plant sterols and exercising lowers cholesterol, blood pressure, body fat and weight, but you don't have to eat special plant sterol margarine. You can get plenty of plant sterols in nuts, seeds, vegetables and beans. Many of the special cholesterol-lowering margarines are still made with partially hydrogenated oils.


  • Healthful Diet: Include Lots of Seeds
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Seeds have been the staple of the human diet for millions of years. They come in many sizes and shapes, but they share the same basic design: a tiny germ, or baby plant; an energy supply of carbohydrates or fat to fuel the first stages of growth; and a protective outer skin, husk or shell. Everything necessary to start a new life is packaged in each seed, so for humans and other animals, seeds are nutritional powerhouses.


  • Whole Grains? How Can You Tell What You're Buying?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] When the label says "Whole Wheat Pasta" or "Stone Ground Wheat Bread", does that mean it's healthy? How can you tell if a food is made from whole grains or refined grains? It's not always easy, but here are some tips.


  • Ringing in the Ears: Tinnitus
    [Health-and-Fitness] Tinnitus means that you hear a sound that no one else hears. It can be a buzzing, roaring or ringing and it can even sound like a heart beat. It's almost always the result of damage to the nerve that carries hearing messages back to the brain, but there is no specific treatment and drugs are ineffective.


  • Couples Stay Together on a Tandem Bicycle
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] Many couples don't exercise together because one partner is much more fit than the other. Riding a tandem bicycle is a great equalizer. The amount of work you do on a bicycle depends on how hard you push on the pedals.


  • Hives: An Itchy Mystery
    [Health-and-Fitness] Allergies can cause hives, itchy red splotches on your skin that come and go, but being evaluated for allergies as a cause of chronic hives is almost always a waste of time and money. Often doctors can't find a cause for chronic hives, but when they do, it's usually a hidden infection, tumor or an autoimmune disease.


  • Bad Breath Can Usually Be Cured
    [Health-and-Fitness] Bad breath can be caused by food rotting in the mouth, stomach acid regurgitating up to the mouth and infections releasing chemicals that smell. Your doctor should look for white dots on your tonsils, that are often pieces of food that your saliva has turned white.


  • Carbohydrate Loading Slows Sprint Performance
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Cycling] For more than fifty years, athletes in sports requiring endurance have used a training technique called carbohydrate loading. A recent study from South Africa shows that this technique slows sprint performance of cyclists.


  • Lactose Intolerant? Have a Healthful, Calcium-Rich Diet with No Milk
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Fifty percent of North Americans are lactose intolerant. They lack the enzyme to split the double sugar, lactose, found in milk and other dairy products. Since you can only absorb single sugars, if you can't split the double sugar, it passes to your large intestine where it is attacked by bacteria and fermented, causing gas and cramping. You can eliminate all dairy products and still have a perfectly healthy diet.


  • Gout: A Painful Big Toe?
    [Health-and-Fitness] If you have recurrent pain and swelling behind your big toe or in your ear, you may have gout. Gout occurs when uric acid crystals precipitate out from your joint fluid to cause pain, swelling and heat. The only way to prove that a hot painful joint is caused by gout is for the doctor to remove joint fluid and to see crystals in it under the microscope.


  • Don't Let an Injury Set You Back: Use Cross Transference
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Injuries upset competitive athletes because they know their competitors are still training. They can maintain fitness by using a training technique called cross transference, and so can you. Exercising one leg or arm helps to maintain strength, endurance and power in the other limb.


  • Canker Sores (Aphthous Mouth Ulcers)
    [Health-and-Fitness] Millions of people suffer from recurrent painful mouth ulcers or canker sores. A blister forms in the mouth and the top is quickly sloughed off, leaving a punched out whitish circular area that hurts to touch, particularly when food is in the mouth. Among the causes are infections including herpes, cytomegalovirus, yeast, and other viruses that have not even been identified.


  • Memory Loss, Nerve Damage Caused by Vitamin B12 Deficiency: Pernicious Anemia
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] Pernicious anemia is due to lack of vitamin B12, which causes progressive nerve damage, forgetfulness, loss of ability to concentrate, and abnormal sensations such as burning, itching and loss of feeling. However, many people with pernicious anemia do not have abnormally low blood levels of vitamin B12.


  • Salt Sensitivity: Will Salt Raise YOUR Blood Pressure?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Eating salt does not raise blood pressure in most of us, but it will for some people. A study in the Journal of Hypertension showed that salt-sensitive people can be detected by finding increased amounts of protein in their urine.


  • Sex After A Heart Attack?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Mens-Issues] Making love is extremely unlikely to cause a second heart attacks in men, and the men most likely to suffer a second heart attack during lovemaking are those who do not exercise. The best way to prevent a heart attack during lovemaking is to stay with your regular partner.


  • Cholesterol: Can It Be Too Low?
    [Health-and-Fitness] Can your cholesterol be too low? Many of my patients recall old news reports of studies that linked very low cholesterol with liver cancer, lung disease, depression, alcoholism and suicide. The latest studies shows that a low cholesterol may be associated with cancer, but does not cause it.


  • Burning On Urination: Treat Even If No Cause Can Be Found
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] If you have burning on urination or discomfort when your bladder is full, and your doctor can't find a cause, you and your sexual partner(s) should be treated with antibiotics anyway. Practicing physicians cannot order dependable tests for mycoplasma and ureaplasma, two of the most common causes of venereal diseases in North American today.


  • Venereal Warts are Common and Treatable
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] Sixty percent of female students in one university were infected with venereal warts, a virus that causes 100 percent of cancers of the cervix, but only one in 200 women with warts will get cervical cancer. Of the women who are infected with warts, the vast majority will get rid of them, while the ones who have them persistently are those who are at increased risk for cancer.


  • Cortisone Injections Into Joints Can Help or Harm
    [Health-and-Fitness] Doctors often inject cortisone-type medications into painful damaged joints and tendons. Single injections can relieve pain and swelling and appear to be safe, but repeated injections can damage joints and delay healing.


  • Homocysteine Causes Heart Attacks and Birth Defects
    [Health-and-Fitness] More than 10 percent of all heart attacks and most cases of a birth defect called spina bifida are caused by a buildup of a chemical called homocysteine. Homocysteine causes heart attacks by punching holes in arteries, starting plaque formation and then causing clots to form in the plaques. Lack of folic acid is more likely than B12 or pyridoxine to be the cause of heart attacks.


  • Joint Pains Can Be Caused by Venereal Diseases or Other Infections
    [Health-and-Fitness:Arthritis] Bacteria and viruses can cause arthritis, and antibiotics are often effective in controlling symptoms. Retroviruses can be found in joint fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Venereal diseases, such as chlamydia, mycoplasma, ureaplasma, gonorrhea and Gardnerella cause arthritis, and the practicing physician has no available tests that are dependable in diagnosing these infections.


  • Why I Prescribe Antibiotics
    [Health-and-Fitness:Medicine] I am often asked why I prescribe antibiotics to my patients with rheumatoid or reactive arthritis, late-onset asthma, Crohn's disease, fibromyalgia and other so-called "autoimmune diseases". Before I prescribe any medication, I ask myself whether it will help or hurt.


  • Hair Loss in Circular Patches: Alopecia Areata
    [Health-and-Fitness:Hair-Loss] Alopecia areata affects one out of every 100 people, causing loss of scalp hair in well-demarcated patches, usually in a circular pattern. Most doctors feel that alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease caused by a person's immunity that is supposed to be killing gems attacking the hair follicles and causing the hair to fall out.


  • High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Obesity
    [Health-and-Fitness:Obesity] High fructose corn syrup is the leading sweetener in the United States today, with 4.5 billion dollars worth sold each year. High-fructose corn syrup first appeared in the American market in 1966, and now the average American takes in 62.6 pounds per year. Evidently there is something in soft drinks makes people eat more food than they would otherwise, and high fructose corn syrup may be that factor.


  • Why You Need More Omega-3 Fatty Acids
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Polyunsaturated fats are classified by their structures into omega-3s and omega-6s, and you need both types; these are called the essential fatty acids because you cannot make them in your body and must get them from your food. For most of the time humans have been on earth we have eaten foods containing omega-6's and omega-3's in a ratio of about 2:1. However, over the last 50 years in North America, the ratio has changed to from 2:1 to 10-20:1. Here's why you should get more omega-3's in your diet.


  • Soybeans: Too Much of a Good Thing?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] The soybean industry has generated so much publicity on the health benefits of soybeans that some people eat soy products at every meal. Virtually all plants contain some chemicals that make us healthy and some chemicals that can harm us. Soybeans are a good example; here's why.


  • Garlic Pills: No Odor, No Effect
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] In 1844, a German chemist distilled a pungent substance from garlic and called it allyl, the Latin name for garlic. Four years later Louis Pasteur in Paris showed that allyl could inhibit the growth of bacteria. Entrepreneurs now sell garlic pills claiming that they kill germs and have no smell. The research that I have found shows that if it doesn't smell, it isn't allicin and therefore it hasn't been shown to kill germs.


  • Large Doses of Antioxidants Can Harm You
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] Many people take large doses of antioxidant vitamin pills, even though there is little evidence that large doses of antioxidant pills prevent disease, and there is some evidence that they may cause disease.


  • Rickets: Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants
    [Home-and-Family:Babies-Toddler] Many people believe that rickets (soft bones and other developmental problems)is no longer a problem, but has shown up in children who are breast fed and dark skinned. It's caused by lack of vitamin D.


  • Sugar is Sugar; Honey is Not More Healthful
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Some people believe that honey is more healthful than sugar. They tell us that honey is a quicker source of energy and a richer source of minerals, and is less fattening. All of these clams are nonsensical. As far as your body is concerned, there is no difference between honey and table sugar. Your body handles white granulated table sugar in the same way that it processes brown sugar, turbinado sugar, maple syrup, fructose, and all other sugars.


  • Dieting? Glycemic Load is More Important Than Glycemic Index
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Many popular diet books give you a list of foods based on the Glycemic Index, and recommend avoiding all foods that have a high glycemic index. If you look at the glycemic index lists, you will see things that should bother an intelligent person. A carrot has almost the same glycemic index as sugar, which is ridiculous. That's why nutrition scientists developed a new measure to rank foods called Glycemic Load.


  • Coenzyme Q10 in Pills Cannot Get Into Cells
    [Health-and-Fitness:Supplements] Do you believe that coenzyme Q10 pills prevent heart attacks, allergies or cancers or prolong your life or make you a better lover? For coenzyme Q10 to improve health and energy, it must get into the cells, particularly the mitochondria, where it functions. Studies show that coenzyme Q10 pills get into the bloodstream, but cannot be recovered in the cells. Here's why you should save your money.


  • How Refined Carbohydrates Can Harm You
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] I advise my diabetic patients and people who are trying to lose weight to avoid all foods made with refined carbohydrates because they cause a high rise in blood sugar. Even if you are not diabetic (yet) and are not concerned about your weight (yet), you should understand why the large amounts of refined carbohydrates in the typical Western diet can harm you.


  • Juices Are Not Health Foods
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Contrary to the ads that you may see on television, juices are not more healthful than whole fruits or vegetables. Diabetics shouldn't drink fruit juices because they drive blood sugar levels too high, nor should people who are trying to lose weight drink fruit juices because a rise in sugar calls out extra insulin that makes you hungry.


  • Housework is Not Good Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] Do you believe that housework, gardening or slow walking will make you fit? The theory is that people are more likely to achieve a goal of using small chunks of time doing leisurely activities than performing a scheduled vigorous exercise program. Many doctors felt that this would provide more health benefits to more people, especially older people. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), there is no evidence that housework is good exercise.


  • Understanding Carbohydrates: Some Help, Some Harm
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] You want to eat carbohydrates that release their sugars slowly and restrict carbohydrates that release sugars rapidly. The easier it is to break carbohydrates down into single sugars, the higher your blood sugar level rises and the more insulin you produce. The most healthful carbohydrates are those left with fiber where nature puts it in seeds, nuts, beans, whole grains and vegetables. The most dangerous carbohydrates for diabetics and people who are trying to lose weight are foods made from flour, white rice or milled corn; or with added sugars.


  • Cooking and Human Evolution
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] For years, anthropologists have told us that humans dominate the earth because they learned to make tools that could kill big animals that would give them more food so that they could survive. Dr Richard Wrangham of Harvard thinks they are all wrong. He thinks that man dominates earth because he learned how to cook.


  • Body Temperature During Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Heat stroke is a concern primarily during hot weather, but in the relatively cool environmental temperature of 50 F, healthy marathon runners can have body temperatures as high as 103.8 F. Weight lifters often have temperatures of 101 F during workouts in a warm gym. To protect yourself from heat stroke when you exercise, start out slowly and gradually increase your pace. This gives your body time to circulate the heat to the skin where heat can be dissipated.


  • Lack of Vitamin D Causes Cancer?
    [Cancer] Lack of vitamin D interferes with immunity and a person's ability to kill germs and cancer cells. My advice is for you to think about your vitamin D status. You will be protecting yourself from cancer and infections. Don't wait for the medical community to agree on this.


  • Lack of Muscle Increases Cancer Risk
    [Cancer] Researchers at the American Cancer Society have found that excess fat may account for 14 percent of all cancer deaths in men and 20 percent of those in women. I think the researchers should have concluded that lack of muscle, rather than just having too much fat, causes cancer. Here's why.


  • Does a Mile of Running Equal Four Miles of Cycling?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Although running requires the same amount of energy per mile at any speed (110 calories per mile), riding is affected by wind resistance so the faster you ride, the more energy you use. So you have to compare running and cycling at different cycling speeds. Here's how to make the calculation.


  • Sex Before Competition Does Not Harm Performance
    [Recreation-and-Sports] Muhammad Ali wouldn't make love for six weeks before a fight and many football players won't make love on the night before a game. An article in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness shows that sexual relations on the night before competition have no effect on endurance to exhaustion on a treadmill, strength, the ability of the body to transport oxygen to muscles and the amount of blood pumped by the heart.


  • Older Runners Postpone Disability
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Running] How long you live is not as important as the quality of your life while you are alive. Most Americans over 70 cannot run or even walk fast. Most Americans over 70 can't lift a 25 pound weight over their heads. Most Americans over 70 cannot do common household tasks that require strength, but regular runners over 70 could do all of these tasks and much more.


  • Lifting Weights Won't Make You Musclebound
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Training for strength improves coordination. Your brain is a master switchboard that coordinates your muscles. Lifting weights does not interfere with brain function; it improves coordination in all activities that require strength. Violin players and watchmakers, who require extraordinary coordination and dexterity, lift weights because they know that there is no such condition as "musclebound".


  • Fatigue is Not Necessary for Strength Gain
    [Health-and-Fitness:Build-Muscle] Training that causes fatigue is not necessary to grow large strong muscles. What is the difference between lifting a weight 40 times in a row with 30 second rests between each lift, and lifting a weight ten times in row, resting 30 seconds and doing 3 more sets of ten, since both groups lift the heavy weights 40 times? There is no difference in strength gain, but there is a great difference in fatigue, pain and time spent lifting.


  • Orchestra-Conducting is Good Exercise
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Pablo Cassals, Nadia Boulanger, Arturo Toscanini, and Leopold Stokowski all conducted major orchestras into their nineties. Nobody knows why many orchestra conductors live longer than people in other professions, but the very act of conducting may be the reason. The odds are that you will never conduct a major orchestra, but you can turn on the radio, pick up a stick, wave your arms around and become fit.


  • Which Minerals Do You Need During Exercise?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Do you believe that exercisers need to take potassium, magnesium or any other mineral? The only mineral that you need to take during prolonged exercise is sodium, found in salt. If you don't take salt and fluids during extended exercise in hot weather, you will tire earlier and increase your risk for heat stroke, dehydration and cramps.


  • Exercise to Delay Aging
    [Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging] The only mechanism ever found to prolong life and delay aging is exercise. There is no data whatever to show that antioxidants, vitamins, or anything else prolong life. All tests that are used to measure aging really measure physical fitness. A fit 70-year old will score younger on aging tests than an out-of-shape 20 year old.


  • Is Hard Exercise Helpful or Harmful for Children?
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] Children who start training while they are still growing will have a great advantage over athletes who start training after puberty. There is no data to show that hard exercise damages growth centers in bones to interfere with growth. There is no evidence that growing larger muscles stunts growth. However, there is great concern that some children will be subjected to abusive coaches and inconsiderate parents who place athletic training above the child's own wishes and desires.


  • Canned Seafood: An Easy Way to Get Your Omega-3's
    [Food-and-Drink:Recipes] One easy way to increase the amount of omega-3 fats in your diet is to eat canned fish two or three times a week. The richest sources of omega 3's in seafood are the fatty fish that live in cold, deep water. Tuna, salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel and anchovies are all in this category. With recipes.


  • Breast Enlargement Products are Scams
    [Womens-Interests:Cosmetic-Surgery] Don't waste your money on creams that are supposed to enlarge your breasts. Eighty-five percent of a woman's breast is fat, so the only way to make your breasts larger is to make you fatter, but most women don't want to gain weight. Here's why the products don't work.


  • Fiber: Soluble and Insoluble (You Need Both)
    [Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] You should eat at least 30 grams of fiber per day, and the average North American gets only 11 grams. There's very little fiber in the typical diet of hamburgers, pizza, fried chicken and coke. Foods made from animal products never have any fiber, and processed foods made from grains, vegetables or fruit frequently have most of the fiber removed. How can YOU get enough of both kinds?


  • Food-Combining Diets
    [Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] Books and programs on food combining have been on and off the best-seller lists for years. They should be in the fiction section. Your digestive system has evolved to deal with mixed foods, and the enzymes secreted by your pancreas can digest them all in any combination.


  • Cross-Training for Fitness
    [Health-and-Fitness:Exercise] You can exercise vigorously on one day and easy on the next few days or until your muscle soreness disappears, OR you can train in two or three sports. This is called cross-training, and it can make you very fit and help to prevent injuries.


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