Health Notes

The Bad News

Low dose aspirin does not protect women from cognitive decline.

Apparently Naproxen does not prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but what about Ibuprofen?

If a single high-fat meal is bad for you, just think of what those people who eat nothing but high-fat meals are doing to themselves.

Using ethanol fuel may be healthy for the environment, but what good is a great environment if you kill all the people?

The Good News

Consuming omega-3 fatty acids appears to slow cognitive decline as we age.

Alzheimer’s disease is fairly uncommon in India, where they eat a lot of curry and turmeric.

Eating less salt could be good for your heart.

Eating chocolate or cocoa appears to help lower blood pressure, although I don’t think they are talking about eating a bunch of Hershey bars to get this effect. It is possible to buy and eat cocoa while at the same time avoiding the fat, calories, and cholesterol associated with candy bars. (I think I’ll have some now. I microwave about a half cup of water for a minute, then mix in two teaspoons of sugar and two teaspoons of cocoa. I like it.) You don’t have to go overboard in order to enjoy a little chocolate.

aspirin, aging, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, cognitive, blood pressure, decline, naproxen, cancer, Ibuprofen, stress, cholesterol, fuel, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, ethanol, inflammation, LDL, environment, omega-3, curry, turmeric, salt, chocolate, cocoa, pollution, obesity,

A Great Deal

I saw an advertisement on TV recently that said every hour you exercise may add two hours to your life. To me that seems like a great deal. Exercise is not a waste of time. Not only do you get back the hour spent exercising, but you get another hour on top of that. It is like investing in yourself, with a wonderful rate of return.

Anyway, this is the website to which the advertisement was referring. If you press on the START button you get a lot of information about leading a healthier lifestyle. I have explored it a little and it is all very interesting.


walking, aging, cooking, calorie restriction, cholesterol, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, immunity, inflammation, LDL, longevity, obesity, smoking, sugar, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss, women, life expectancy,

Influenza Causes Heart Attacks?

Now I am really confused. This article says “flu is a trigger of heart attacks.” It goes on to say that “vaccinations could save thousands of deaths from heart disease.”

I am nearly sixty and have never had a flu shot. Why not, you might ask? For one reason I never saw the need to get one before. Also, I have changed a lot in the past twenty years or so. I used to be all for vaccinations. Now, not so much.

But the above article got me to thinking, and this article also says “flu shots prevent cardiac death.” I am very afraid of having a heart attack. If flu causes heart attacks, then I should probably get a flu shot, right?

I don’t know. This article says that the first article above “doesn't prove that flu caused fatal heart attacks or other heart disease deaths. For instance, the researchers don't know the medical history, medications, or heart risks of the people who died of heart attacks or other types of heart disease -- or whether those people actually had the flu about the time of death.”

OK, well that makes me feel better. Maybe this was all just a false alarm, and maybe I just got scared for nothing. Besides, there are, I think, a lot of reasons not to take a flu shot. There seems to be some question as to whether or not the flu shot might contribute to Alzheimer’s disease, or Guillain-Barre Syndrome. There is some question as to whether or not the flu shot protects against the correct strains of influenza. And there are substances in the flu vaccine – such as mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde – that you might not want to have injected into your blood. I know I don’t want them.

Here is more discussion. And Doctor Bob doesn’t seem to be for getting a flu shot. And here is something else. I may have already included it, but better safe than sorry.

(By the way, they say more people die from heart attacks during flu season, but more people have heart attacks in the winter anyway.)

This article says it is important to have a flu shot if you have heart disease. Maybe that is true. I don’t know. But so far I don’t have a diagnosed medical condition, so I still don’t see any real reason to get vaccinated. I think I am pretty healthy. The last time I got really sick was about seven or eight months ago. That was definitely not during flu season, although I may have had the flu. I really felt bad for more than a week. I was glad, however, that it gave me a chance to lose some weight I had wanted to lose. Since that time I have occasionally been around people who had the flu, but fortunately I dodged those bullets.

Here are articles from Wikipedia on the Flu Vaccine, Vaccines generally, and Vaccine Controversy. And here is a link to the National Vaccine Information Center.

I remember that I had a tetanus shot (which I think was unnecessary) when I was about twenty years old. I had a bad reaction to it. I was in the bed for several days afterwards. I don’t want to go through anything like that again.

As I say, I think I am fairly healthy now. I don’t see any reason to do anything. And I don’t see any reason to inject something into my system that might not even work; that I might not even need; and that might compromise my health. If I were in imminent and real danger, then maybe I would do something, but as of right now I don’t see an imminent or real danger from the flu. And certainly not serious enough to warrant my getting a flu shot, which seems to have enough threats and dangers of its own.


influenza, aging, shot, Alzheimer's disease, heart attack, vaccine, vaccination, flu, death, adverse, reaction, mercury, illness, sick, controversy, health, heart disease, immunity,

PFOA AGAIN

Researchers found the chemical PFOA in 100 percent of newborns examined. This just makes me sick. Even newborn babies are not safe in their mother’s wombs from PFOA.

I have talked about some of this before, most notably on Jan. 29 and 31, 2006, as well as Feb. 6 and 13, 2006 (to which you can refer for background material.) PFOA is a chemical byproduct of Teflon. It is used in many packaging materials to prevent sticking, including microwave popcorn bags, storage bags for frozen french fries, pizza boxes, etc.

PFOA persists in the environment for a very long time. It is in virtually everyone’s body. And I do not believe it is a harmless chemical. And I am extremely dismayed that it is found in the blood of newborn babies. Don’t they deserve a chance to develop in an unpolluted environment? Is no one safe from pollution these days, not even unborn fetuses?

They’re presumably going to stop using PFOA by 2015. That’s great, but is it too little too late? The PFOA that is already here will continue to affect us for years to come. And apparently it will even affect those who are as yet unborn. There is no escaping it, and I also think there is no avoiding it because it is apparently ubiquitous. So the only thing we can do, it seems, is just hope it doesn’t kill us or cause anymore dreaded birth defects than we already have. I am not very optimistic.


PFOA, pollution, prenatal, babies, children, pregnancy, food, health, chemicals, environment, birth defects, Teflon, nonstick,

Green Tea and Autoimmune Disease

This article says that green tea may help prevent autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren’s Syndrome. I was curious to know what that is, so I looked it up. Sjogren’s Syndrome is a condition in which immune cells attack and destroy tear glands and salivary glands, leading to dry eyes and dry mouth. About nine out of ten people with this syndrome are women. There is no cure or prevention available. But in the research reported above the doctors said, “Those treated with the green tea extract beginning at three weeks, showed significantly less damage to those glands over time.” And in China, where they drink a lot of green tea, only 5 percent of the elderly suffer from dry mouth, compared to 30 percent of elderly Americans. Who knows, maybe green tea could help.

I was having dry eyes recently. I remember I was blinking them repeatedly because they were uncomfortable. I think it was associated with using the heater in my car, though – the warm air blowing up and into my eyes. I don’t have that condition much anymore, but I was interested to read about Sjogren’s Syndrome, and I will definitely pay more attention to the condition if my eyes become dry again.

I know that people who smoke often have dry eyes, and perhaps dry mouth as well. That is just a function of having heated smoke swirling around your face and being inhaled all the time. I guess the point is, sometimes dry eyes are a result of something quite simple like air blowing in your face, or cigarette smoke irritating them. Sometimes it is a result of something more serious. If you think you might have Sjogren’s Syndrome, or anything similar, please see your doctor. He or she might be able to help. In the meantime I will continue drinking my two cups of green tea per day.


aging, autoimmune, health, immunity, inflammation, autoimmunity, EGCG, green tea, Sjogren’s Syndrome, dry eyes, smoking, women,

Depression and Diabetes

This article says that depression may cause a person to be diabetic. If this is true, then I think we want to do all we can to treat depression, because we certainly do not want to get diabetes or any other health disorder.

The above article mentions cortisol, a stress hormone, as a possible cause of diabetes in depressed people. This just goes back to what I have said for a long time, that stress is potentially a big problem, and we should do all we can do to deal with it effectively. Here is an extensive discussion of stress which also mentions cortisol.

The question arises, however, that if cortisol is a problem, is there any way to lower it in our blood? I think the answer to that is maybe. Here is an article that discusses cortisol at some length, and here is an article that talks about ways to possibly lower cortisol levels. I do not vouch for the accuracy or validity of these two articles, but I present them in hopes that you can make your own determination of their accuracy and validity. And maybe you will get some ideas about how to deal with cortisol.

This is a very complex issue that is not going to be solved right away. But if we become aware of it because of articles like these, maybe that can lead to a solution in the future.


aging, health, heart disease, inflammation, diabetes, depression, cortisol, stress, hormone,

Bypass the Bypass?

I still think I may eventually need some sort of cardiac intervention, mainly because of my earlier unhealthy lifestyle, so I am constantly interested in any discussion of bypass operations, angioplasties, stents, etc.

When I think about having a bypass or having a stent, I think that these procedures in large measure take care of the problems that existed before they were performed. And in most cases, of course, they do. But some people have major complications, such as heart attack, following the procedures: five percent of patients who had drug-eluting stents, and 3.8 percent of patients who had a bypass. Also, research suggests that about six percent of patients die within three years of having a bypass, compared to about nine percent treated with drug-eluting stents. This whole discussion is complicated, so please read the entire article for fuller understanding.

Here is another article that discusses the same research. It makes the point that about 50% more people die following stent therapy than following bypass. One expert is quoted as having said, “So the trend is not in favor of drug-coated stents.” And another person said, “When we tried to tackle the tougher patients -- those with greater risk, like the typical patient sent to bypass surgery -- our complication rate went up. We can no longer say we are safer with stents than with bypass at the time of procedure." Once again, read the entire article for fuller understanding.

In the meantime, I am thankful that whatever my condition is, I seem to be healthy enough at the present time to avoid both of the interventions mentioned above. I hope to stay healthy long enough for doctors to figure out how to have safer cardiac procedures. Besides, I have plans for the next three years, and I don’t want to be part of whatever percent of patients it is who die following a trip to the hospital.


health, heart disease, heart attack, stent, bypass, death, recovery, complications, surgery,

Aspirin and Cancer

This article says that “A daily dose of adult-strength aspirin may modestly reduce cancer risk in populations with high rates of colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer if taken for at least five years.” I thought this article was interesting, although I personally would not take aspirin of any strength for five years because I would be afraid I might get tinnitus, which is one common side-effect of aspirin use. But this article is interesting not only because of the cancers against which it may protect, but also because of the cancers against which it does not protect, namely lung cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma, leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, and kidney cancer. More research needs to be done.

Here is another article that says aspirin may help protect against cancer, while other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may not.

If you Google this you get a number of articles that suggest aspirin protects against cancer. In fact one article, in seeming contradiction of the first article above, says aspirin may reduce lung cancer risk.

Sorry, I still don’t plan to take aspirin.


aspirin, prostate cancer, lung cancer, smoking, breast cancer, leukemia, Ibuprofen, cancer, NSAID, colon cancer, health, tinnitus,

Omega-3

This article says that Omega-3 fatty acids – and DHA in particular – may help prevent two types of brain lesions found in Alzheimer’s disease: neurofibrillary tangles and an accumulation of beta amyloid.

The article goes on to talk about the unhealthy amount of omega-6 fatty acids found in a typical American diet, with ratios of at least 10:1 to as high as 30:1 omega-6 versus omega-3.

It concludes by saying that we may be able to prevent Alzheimer’s disease if, in addition to consuming more omega-3 we exercise, get mental stimulation, quit smoking, and avoid stress.


omega-3, aging, omega-6, Alzheimer's disease, diet, exercise, food, health, fish oil, DHA, stress, smoking, fatty acids,

Aneurysms of the Abdominal Aorta

We have talked about this before, and I thought we pretty much had it settled: male smokers and former smokers over a certain age (65, I think) needed to get checked regularly for aneurysms of the abdominal aorta. It is a dangerous condition that could lead to death, and it is just good to get it checked. I did not realize there was any controversy surrounding the whole thing, but apparently there is. Read this article, and discuss any questions you may have with your doctor. I have known two people who had successful surgery to repair an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta. I knew another person who died of a ruptured abdominal aorta, AND there was a big story in the Raleigh News and Observer in the 1960s or 1970s about a famous Raleigh resident (I forget his name now, sorry) who died unexpectedly of a ruptured abdominal aorta, so this is not some obscure condition that never comes up. And as I said, it can be dangerous.


aorta, aneurysm, surgery, smoking, men, health,

Juice

This article says that flavonoids are only contained in citrus fruit. Since I love to prove statements like that wrong, or at least verify their accuracy, I found that they are also contained in onions, green tea, wine, etc. I will say, however, there may be some natural substances that are found only in citrus fruit, and for that reason alone they deserve to be included in a healthy diet.

At another point the above article says Americans consume 21 quarts of orange juice per year. That is amazing – amazing that it is so little! When you consider the fact that Americans consume 55 GALLONS of soft drinks per year, and that children consume about 80 gallons of soft drinks per year, is it any wonder that we are a sick, obese society? We should consume more juice and less soft drinks.


soft drinks, juice, citrus, orange, green tea, wine, flavonoids, diet, food, health,

DMAE

If you go someplace like Amazon.com and type in “DMAE” you come up with lots of products including nutritional supplements and anti-wrinkle cosmetics. This article talks about some of the effects of DMAE on the skin. I must say that any article that uses words like “pathological swelling” and “mortality rate” tends to frighten me, but maybe that’s just me. Needless to say, I don’t use cosmetics, and I am glad I don’t.


aging, wrinkles, DMAE, supplements, cosmetics, skin, health, face lift, women,
 

Cauliflower

After my recent bout with cooking soups I had some unused cauliflower left over. I did not know what to do with it, and I certainly did not want to let it spoil or anything because it was organic and a little pricey. Anyway today I had another bout of cooking, so I decided to find some way to use the cauliflower. (It was about the size of the back of my fist.)

I steamed it for thirteen minutes. When it was finished cooking and had cooled off enough I cut it apart some with my paring knife, put a little salt on it, and ate some. I was surprised at how good it tasted. I have eaten cauliflower a lot over the years. I always try to get some when I eat at Whole Foods. But usually the taste is bland and hardly appealing. My cauliflower, however, actually tasted good. Even my son agreed.

The fact that it tasted so good will encourage me to eat it more often. Cauliflower is in the same family as broccoli, which I LOVE, and Brussel sprouts. They are very healthy for you, particularly when eaten with turmeric or curry.

Here’s to discovering that not only is cauliflower good for you, but also it can be quite good to the taste. Hooray.


cauliflower, recipes, cooking, diet, food, health, vegetables, vegetarian, vegan,

Health Notes

Here is an article that says some brain functions actually improve with age. And here is an article about a possible new tool for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

This article has a discussion of stroke symptoms, as well as treating ischemic stroke with intravenous clot-busting drugs. And this article says that after heart surgery, using corticosteroids may reduce risk of atrial fibrillation and stroke. It also mentions inflammation, which is often a problem after heart surgery, so presumably administration of steroids helps reduce inflammation as well? The article was not totally clear on that point, but that would be something to discuss with your doctor.

Exercise is supposed to reduce our risk of developing high blood pressure. Is this really news? I have assumed for some time that was true.

There is a link between the immune system and high plasma lipid levels? I would not be surprised. High levels of cholesterol and triglycerides are not good. Lowering those levels is definitely a worthwhile goal.

I talk a lot about weight loss and diet. These are serious subjects, mainly because I think our health depends on them to a large extent. For a more humorous look at these subjects, though, check this installment of Miss Cellania’s blog.


brain, memory, diagnosis, Alzheimer's disease, EEG, dementia, stroke, ischemic, corticosteroids, blood pressure, cholesterol, surgery, diet, exercise, bypass, food, health, heart disease, immune system, inflammation, LDL, hypertension, triglycerides, humor, jokes, blood clot, immunity,
 

Diabetes and Heart Disease

MayoClinic.com says that “many cases of diabetes are preventable and even small changes can help reduce your risk.”

For those who don’t have diabetes, one reason to do everything you can do to avoid getting it is that apparently having diabetes can take 15 years of health from a person’s heart. In other words, a 40 year-old person with diabetes has about the same risk of cardiovascular disease as a 55 year-old person. Stated another way, diabetes can age a person’s heart by 15 years. My mother was diabetic. She died from a stroke at the age of 70. Without diabetes she might have lived to 85.

For those who have diabetes, here is more information about the condition as it relates to heart disease, and some things you can do to possibly lower your risks.

MayoClinic.com also has a wealth of information about diabetes, as you can imagine, including tips on prevention, diabetes diet, and other articles that deal with treatment of and coping with diabetes.

Diabetes is a serious disease. For some people it may be unavoidable. For everyone else it just makes good sense to live a sensible lifestyle so that we don’t get diabetes along with all the complications that it can bring.


diabetes, aging, stroke, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, longevity, obesity, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss,

Health Notes

There are so many interesting stories out there I thought I would just pass on to you some things I have been reading lately.

Here’s another reason to try and avoid diabetes, as if we needed anymore reasons: apparently there is some risk that a person with diabetes might develop some cognitive impairment. Diabetes takes a real toll on a human body.

While I am on the subject of diabetes, here is something that I have mentioned before: apparently having diabetes can take 15 years of health from a person’s heart. In other words, a 40 year-old person with diabetes has about the same risk of cardiovascular disease as a 55 year-old person. Stated another way, diabetes can age a person’s heart by 15 years. My mother was diabetic. She died from a stroke at the age of 70. Without diabetes she might have lived to 85.

Canada appears to be an example of an evolved society: apparently there is a “national effort to curb obesity.” Good for them.

I have talked a lot about stress before. Managing it is one thing that is well within our power to do, and it can have a real positive impact on our health. We can eat a healthy diet, lose weight, but if we are stressed out, a lot of our efforts can go for naught. For example, this article says that stress may make cancer more difficult to kill.

This is very interesting: the drug Lithium, which is used to treat bipolar disorder, is said to build gray matter in the brain. Maybe I could try some. (Just kidding. Bipolar disorder is a serious condition.)

This article says that Australian teenagers eat a really poor diet. Do American teenagers do any better?


diabetes, aging, memory, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, stroke, Canada, cancer, stress, children, cholesterol, diet, fat, food, health, heart disease, longevity, mental health, obesity, fast food, junk food, teenagers, brain, Lithium, bipolar, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss, women,

You've Gotta Have Heart

I woke up yesterday morning at 6 am with a burning pain in my left shoulder. Needless to say I was a little worried about this since the pain seemed to have come out of the blue, and I had heard that most heart attacks happen in the morning.

Maybe I should have gotten up and gone to the hospital, which really is quite nearby, but I did not do that. I stayed in bed and eventually the pain went away.

I did not really feel bad, but later in the day I did go to a doctor. The nurse gave me sort of a hard time for not coming sooner. They checked my blood pressure, which was 100 over something – a really fantastic number for a guy my age. They gave me an electrocardiogram (ECG) and took some blood to check for cardiac enzymes, etc – I guess to determine if I had had a cardiac incident like a heart attack or something. The ECG was normal, and all the numbers from my blood test were within normal range. According to the doctor, my heart was fine. Yayyy!!!!

She said that I was doing about everything right – drinking a little wine, losing weight, cutting down on fat in my diet, going vegetarian, exercising, not smoking, dealing with stress. In fact, if a person has heart disease, these are the risk factors that the doctor suggests that you address first. (Does anyone remember my post a few weeks ago that talked about this?) In other words, short of taking medication or having surgery I am already doing most everything I can do to avoid serious heart problems.

Do I feel better now that I have gone to the doctor? Somewhat. The main reasons I went were to find out if I was ok, and to consult with someone who could tell me what I should do in the future if I encountered a similar situation. I got the answer to the first question, but I am not extremely clear on the second one. And I wonder what I am supposed to do if I wake up at 6 am tomorrow morning with a burning pain in my left shoulder. After all, I have already been to the doctor and there was nothing wrong with me.

I don’t know. I don’t think my condition has reached heart attack proportions yet. If I were having a heart attack I think I would have shortness of breath, the pain would probably be worse, and I may even be nauseous. Therefore, if I ever have trouble breathing, if I can’t bear the pain, and if I throw up for no apparent reason, then I will call 911. Until then I guess I will just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

I do worry about all this, though. I smoked for a long time, and I did not always eat a healthy diet. But there’s nothing I can do now except keep doing what I am doing and hope it is not too late to avoid serious consequences for my youthful behavior.

PS, It is now the next morning after all the excitement at the doctor’s office. I had a good night’s sleep last night without any pain. In fact it was so dark and rainy this morning that I wish I had stayed in bed longer, but my son got up early and started moving around, so that was that.

I put some BenGay and a heating pad on my left shoulder last night. That seemed to help. And I tried to be sure not to roll over on my left side while sleeping.

I find that the older I get, the more precautions I have to take: don’t sleep on my left side, don’t lace my shoes up too tight, don’t eat too much fat, etc. I liked it better when I didn’t have to worry about all that. But that is ok. You live and learn. If you don’t learn, life can be pretty miserable. If you do learn, and if you do have to take certain precautions, well that’s life. And besides, the alternatives really don’t seem so appealing.


aging, cholesterol, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, heart attack, diagnosis, LDL, obesity, smoking, stent, life, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss,

Walking

I recently doubled my exercise routine from 30 minutes per day to two sessions of 30 minutes each, for a total of 60 minutes per day. That was partly responsible for my being able to lose about twelve pounds. (Changing my evening snack routine was also a big part of the equation.)

I was curious to know how many calories l was burning by doing all that walking. I measured the distance I covered by setting my car odometer back to zero and then driving over my exercise route. The results showed that I walk about 3.2 miles in one hour, which is not really all that fast – one mile in about nineteen minutes – although I do not know how I could really go any faster unless I started jogging, or something like that.

Anyway, I calculated that I was burning about 250 calories per day for one hour of walking.

Here is a table that shows number of calories burned per mile.

Here is a calculator for determining number of calories burned walking over a period of time.

The above two links contain many other links for information about walking. And here is another page with a lot more links.

I believe that a healthy lifestyle should include exercise as one component, and it does not necessarily have to be walking. Hard work qualifies as exercise too. I know, the weather has been so cool the last few days that I have done a lot of cooking. Rinsing beans and chopping vegetables can be a little strenuous at times. I have enjoyed it, though, but I still found time to fit in a walk or two.


walking, exercise, burn, calories, health, weight loss,

Calorie Restriction

I am thinking about going on a calorie restricted diet. A lot of research says that calorie restriction may lead to a healthier, longer life. I certainly want to be healthier (although I think I am pretty healthy as it is) and I don’t want to die anytime soon.

There was a great article the other day which said, in effect, that it is never too late to start restricting calories. This was particularly interesting to me because I am no longer as young as I used to be. Apparently a person can still receive many of the supposed benefits of calorie restriction later in life. Some of those benefits include potentially lower risk of cancer and heart disease.

This article says that calorie restriction is “the most potent, broadly acting cancer-prevention regimen in experimental carcinogenesis models.” That sounds like a pretty strong statement to me, and makes me sit up and take notice. If I were afraid of getting cancer, I would take a serious look at calorie restriction as a strong preventive measure.

Apparently, as with the first article above, calorie restriction is supposed to protect against aging.

And it is supposed to have a particularly protective effect on aging of the heart.

Here is more information on calorie restriction from Wikipedia, including some aguments against it.

Here is a review of the literature on calorie restriction. It is a few years old, but it covers some important topics. And here is a website that serves as sort of a clearinghouse for articles on calorie restriction.

There is one potential downside to all this – at least most people would call it a downside – besides the objections mentioned in Wikipedia. The man in this article said something to the effect that by following a calorie restricted diet he lost all of his sex drive. He even said that his testosterone level was about the same as that of a woman’s. Now in all fairness, the article in question does say that the man followed an “extreme” calorie restricted diet. I am not really talking about anything too extreme – just enough to have a noticeable effect on my health. And I don’t know if everyone responds to this type of diet in the same way as this man did. (BTW, the man who was interviewed in this article claims that calorie restriction had some very positive psychological benefits for him.)

(Just for the record, let me mention the Hallelujah Diet. It is a raw food diet. And I realize it has some religious components that some people might find distasteful. But it is a viable, relatively easy to follow, low-calorie vegan diet, and their website has some pretty good soup recipes. Also on their website are testimonials from people who claim to have recovered rather dramatically from serious disease while following the diet, or some version of it. Usually I take all that with a grain of salt, but if I were faced with a truly serious disease myself, I would probably not hesitate to try this diet, or some version of it. What would I have to lose? The idea for me, however, is to take steps to make myself healthier before I am faced with a truly serious disease, not after.)

Going on a calorie restricted diet would be a major step for me. It would be comparable to when I gave up smoking, or when I became a vegetarian. It took me a long time to get used to the idea of making those changes. It may take me a long time to get used to the idea of really restricting my calories, and eating a truly nutritious diet. I think it would entail a lot more grocery shopping, and a lot more cooking, or food preparation in general, not to mention a lot more research and planning about what to eat and how to eat it.

I want to do everything I can to make myself healthier. Calorie restriction might accomplish that goal, but I’m just not quite ready yet to make that change. Besides, in some ways I am restricting my calories now, in an informal way, by eating less and exercising more. That is really about all I can handle for now. When I get ready to go to the grocery store, buy a lot of fresh vegetables, bring them home, and cook them (or eat them raw) then I suppose I will. In the meantime I’m doing what I can do, especially within my comfort zone, and that’s not too bad.


libido, aging, sex, sex drive, calorie restriction, happiness, cancer, cholesterol, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, longevity, obesity, smoking, stent, vegan, vegetarian, weight loss, women,

Omega-6 Fatty Acids

According to this article, “The current typical American diet contains 20 times more omega-6 than omega-3, a ratio that researchers say should be lowered to 4-to-1, or even 2-to-1.” One of the main reasons I mention this article is that I have long understood this situation to be the case – i.e., that Americans consume too many omega-6s, and that such a diet is not good – but so far it has been difficult to find a trustworthy article that explicitly stated these numbers. Furthermore this article goes on to talk about a possible relationship between omega-6 consumption (think French fries, corn oil, soybean oil, etc.) bodily inflammation and other health issues such as depression. We need to stop consuming so much omega-6 fatty acids. We would be a lot healthier if we did.


omega-6, omega-3, fatty acids, depression, fast food, junk food, diet, fat, food, health, immunity, inflammation,

Huntington's Disease

Here is an article on possible new treatment for Huntington’s disease. I don’t fully understand it all, but I am sure someone out there would be interested in seeing it.


Huntington's disease,

Green Tea

We have often talked about the health benefits of green tea. Now they are saying that drinking green tea might “reduce the risk of becoming infected by HIV, and could also slow down the spread of HIV.” Wow! That is quite an assertion. Of course there are better ways of avoiding HIV infection, but if green tea helps, great. I wouldn’t rely on it working, though. HIV is still a problem in China where they presumably drink a lot of green tea.


green tea, EGCG, HIV, AIDS,

Health Notes

Apparently diabetes and high blood pressure play a greater role in heart failure than race does.

If a pregnant woman eats a lot of beef, that might adversely affect her son’s sperm count.

The Mediterranean Diet may be a viable alternative for those who have suffered a heart attack.


diabetes, hypertension, blood pressure, heart failure, pregnancy, prenatal, children, Mediterranean diet, diet, fat, food, health, heart disease, heart attack,