Remember poor Morgan Spurlock, eating nothing but McDonald’s for a month in his documentary Super Size Me? As meal followed meal, lubricated with gallons of Big Gulps, he became fatter, his liver turned to a greasy mush, and he felt simply terrible. If you listened carefully to the voiceover, he also sounded fatigued…and depressed.
Category: Healthy Lifestyle
Achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can include visits with a lifestyle medicine provider, nutrition counseling, meal planning, stress management and exercise and sleep plans.
Q&A: Tanning Beds to Boost Vitamin D and Serotonin?
Click here for the original post. Q: You write a lot about how sunshine increases vitamin D and serotonin. Do you recommend using a tanning bed or booth to accomplish this? A: Short answer: No. Longer answer: You shouldn’t be using ultraviolet tanning salons for anything. A World Health Organization position paper on tanning beds […]
First Line Therapy
FirstLine Therapy is a physician-supervised approach to implementing simple lifestyle changes that can dramatically improve your overall health. The therapeutic lifestyle you’ll learn in FirstLine Therapy integrates food choices and preparation with physical activity and stress management to enhance your well-being, alleviate symptoms, help prevent chronic disease, and give you greater control of your health.
Bad Breath: Eight Ways to Sweeten
On our patient questionnaire at WholeHealth Chicago, we list a lot of symptoms that people can mark if they want help with them. Since bad breath appears as a concern so frequently, I thought I might save you some unnecessary anxieties.
Healthy Living is the Best Revenge
In a recent health tip I commented that we Americans hadn’t learned much when it comes to taking care of ourselves.
Walking Away From Chronic Stress (and Three Useful Herbs)
Today I’m going to skip over the obvious suggestions: meditation, yoga, self hypnosis, biofeedback, relaxation recordings, and regular exercise. They’re all undeniably useful tools to alleviate the stress of your Cuisinart existence (picture yourself trying to avoid those spinning blades). I’m also going to skip over psychotherapy, another extremely good approach to chronic stress. A […]
How Stress Shortens Your Life (And What To Do About It)
Click here for the Health Tip link. If you’ve ever been curious about how your body “feels” when challenged by relentless stress, consider this experiment. Obviously, I don’t recommend you try it. Like the car ads on TV say, “Do not attempt this. A professional is driving a closed course.” I’m asking you to think […]
Farmers Markets: The Way to Eat
In May the Chicago Tribune ran a list of strategies for making the best of your visit to the farmers market. But, honestly, most of it is common sense. My list of tips is decidedly shorter and easier to remember: 1. Do most of your food shopping there. Choose whatever fruit’s in season and eat […]
This is Your Moment (And You Didn’t Even Know It)
I’m surprised there’s been no mention in the newspapers or on TV of a newly published article from the prestigious American Journal of Medicine. Maybe it’s that we’re all suffering a bit of bad-news fatigue and the media decided to take mercy on us. Let’s face it. The conclusions from an immense survey (40,000 participants […]
Astonishingly Unhealthful Eating
Click here for the Health Tip link. This all began when one of the pharmaceutical reps brought in some “treats” for our staff. Bringing morning snacks is one of those strange drug company rituals that’s been occurring for decades across the US. And recently, snack dispensing is on the rise because new government restrictions make […]
Insomnia
Virtually all of us have experienced problems with sleep at some point in our lives. Sleep problems come in a variety of forms. Perhaps you’re unable to fall asleep, or maybe staying asleep is the problem, or perhaps you awaken unrefreshed two or three hours before you’d planned. The end result is that you’re tired the next day, or grouchy, or you can’t concentrate. And the next night arrives accompanied by that lurking fear: What if it happens again? Fortunately, most insomnia is transient, meaning that it clears up by itself.
Heart Disease Prevention
We’re constantly hearing about how heart disease is the nation’s “number 1 killer.” Yet if I took a survey of my patients, I’m sure most of them would say they’re more worried about cancer than having a heart attack. Especially my female patients. So when the subject comes up, I take the time to point out that heart disease kills about 500,000 women each year–more than 10 times the number who die of breast cancer–and half those deaths are from heart attacks. To which I quickly add there are more effective strategies for preventing a heart attack than there are for preventing any other chronic disease.
Cancer Prevention
Every person on the planet fears getting cancer (and believe me, doctors are just as frightened as everyone else). But in a very dramatic way, we have made one major advance against cancer: We know, in many cases, how to prevent it. Actually, we really don’t have a way to prevent all types of cancers (yet!), but we’ve made great strides with specific cancers, most especially lung, colon, and skin cancers, all of which can be avoided to a great extent. Experts now think that lifestyle choices contribute to about 75% of all cancer cases. Here at WholeHealth Chicago, you will find general guidelines for avoiding all cancers, from getting regular screening exams that make early detection possible to increasing your intake of cancer-fighting antioxidants.
My Annual Smoking Rant
Click here for the Health Tip link. You needn’t bother reading this if you’re a non-smoker or you don’t know a soul who still smokes. If you do know a smoker, do a favor and forward this piece. You never can tell. Your forwarded e-mail might trigger the decision to quit and believe me, an […]
Laugh Your Troubles Away
Click here for the Health Tip link. It’s been one tough day. Your boss chewed you out for something that was clearly her own doing and your computer crashed. The dry cleaner lost your favorite suit. Your car is making an odd but expensive-sounding noise. But wait–don’t pull a blanket over your head or reach […]
I Went to the Doctor and I Left Feeling Much Better
Posted 03/10/2009 At WholeHealth Chicago we view health care differently than most conventional doctors, so when patients share sentiments like the one in the headline, it makes our day a very good one. Following the original definition of the word “doctor,” we see ourselves as teachers, not body mechanics (or in my case, someone who […]
Toxic Food Syndrome, Part 2
Posted 02/06/2009 What surprised me most about toxic food syndrome (TFS) is the number of chronic medical conditions that have been linked to it. Now certainly not every person with one of the following conditions can attribute the symptoms to toxic foods, but if I or a family member was suffering from any of these, […]
Toxic Food Syndrome
Posted 02/03/2009 • A 35-year-old woman who has had two unsuccessful sinus surgeries and still remains chronically congested.• TR, 44, described by the rheumatology department of a leading Chicago teaching hospital as having “seronegative rheumatoid arthritis,” meaning she had all the features of rheumatoid arthritis but her blood tests were negative for the condition.• A […]
Q&A: New Year’s Resolution
Click here for the Health Tip link. Q: Dr Edelberg, if you could recommend one new year’s resolution to your readers and patients, what would it be? A: Let’s face it, 2008 has been a very rough year and we keep hearing that it may be a walk in the park compared to 2009. During […]
All Your Vegetables Soup
Click here for the Health Tip link. The Triple Whammy Food Plan focuses on eating a wide variety of nutrient-packed fruits and veggies. Carbohydrate timing using complex carbs is at the heart of eating the Triple Whammy way, to help your body generate feel-good serotonin all day, keeping energy and mood up. Read more in […]