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 […]
Less Stress: Aromatherapy
Click here for the Health Tip link. You’ve probably seen one of those aromatherapy displays in health food stores and thought, “One of these days, I’m going to learn something about aromatherapy.” I admit that confronting the 40-odd different oils put me off aromatherapy for a long time. Too many options paralyzed me into indecision. […]
St. John’s Wort as Effective as Pharmaceuticals for Mild Depression
Several years ago, the herbal antidepressant St. John’s Wort (SJW), best known for its excellent combination of effectiveness and absence of side effects, was dealt a serious and unfair blow by the US pharmaceutical industry. But there’s a hopeful end to this tip, so read on. In an example of how the industry’s greed will […]
Oprah: Poster Child for My Book, The Triple Whammy Cure
Click here for the Health Tip link. It comes with being a doctor, I suppose. I just can’t keep myself from reading about illnesses of the rich and famous. So when I saw Oprah’s name linked with the words “depressed,” “overweight,” and “thyroid,” I had to explore further. You can read about her major health […]
Mayo Clinic Sells Its Soul
Click here for the Health Tip link. The moment I saw the title of the “research” article comparing the effectiveness of the non-generic statin Lipitor to the generic version of the statin Zocor on the cover of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, I knew its conclusion without reading it. My first thought had to do with the […]
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 […]
Holiday Cheer
The holidays are fast approaching. For most people, this is a time of great anticipation, and also a lot of work. There are presents to buy, decorations to put up, preparations for travel or for guests, and this year, there is the added financial uncertainty. So, as wonderful as this time of year is, it […]
Our Governor the Sociopath
Click here for the Health Tip link. For many amateur and professional psychologists, Rod Blagojevich’s diagnosis was a snap. I myself muttered it aloud as the indignant US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald related what he had overheard in those fateful wiretaps. A day or so later, in a New York Times op-ed piece, former TV talk […]
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 […]
Holiday Food…and More Food
Click here for the Health Tip link. Weight gain around the holidays is an American tradition. Let’s face it, we work and live in a giving society, where the gift of “bulge” comes in the form of holiday cookies, cakes, candy, care packages, office parties, holiday dinners, and desserts. Making healthy eating choices this time […]
Crestor: To Take or Not To Take
Click here for the Health Tip link. When drug research like the recent Crestor study makes headlines in the Chicago Sun-Times and the national media, I know I’ll be fielding questions from patients. The very day after the Crestor study, in fact, the perky Crestor drug reps arrived in my office, barely able to contain […]
Pre-diabetes Prescription Drugs
Click here for the Health Tip link. Q: My doctor told me I need to take drugs for something he calls pre-diabetes. After reading your tips on the pharmaceutical industry, can you give me any advice on whether or not I need to take them? A That’s a great question because it exemplifies how doctors […]
Anti-Aging Industry
I just received a flyer announcing the 16th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine to be held next month in Washington, DC. The way this brochure reads (“3000 participants, 300 exhibitors, 60 speakers, global market of anti-aging products to reach $115.5 billion by 2010, your Gateway to Opportunity”), you’d think any doctor failing to become […]
On Their Knees: Doctors and Med Schools before Big Pharma
Big Pharma–the multi-national companies that make up the pharmaceutical industry– gives staggering amounts of money to medical schools for research that virtually always manages to come out favorably for the company. With this much power, physicians-in-training simply don’t learn any means of treating most illnesses short of pulling out their prescription pads. And as a […]
Why I Dislike Drug Companies
If you’ve been reading this series, you already have an inkling that your health, your most precious possession, is being compromised by tacit collusion among the pharmaceutical industry, government, medical profession, and health insurance industry. Most prescription medications are prescribed unnecessarily, and you have the power to stop, or avoid altogether, some of the most […]
Why You Don’t Need Lipitor
Posted 10/28/2008 You could see smoke pouring from the ears of some doctors, myself included, at information released earlier this year. A combination of junk science, the drug industry, FDA, and American Heart Association (AHA) had convinced us that lowering cholesterol actually prevented heart disease. It turns out we’d all been conned. And it’s interesting […]
Why Doctors Avoid Prescription Drugs
The massive Physicians’ Desk Reference is distributed at no charge once a year to every practicing physician in the US. Weighing in at about five pounds, its 4,000-plus tissue thin pages are printed in painfully small type across three columns. With publishing costs underwritten by the pharmaceutical industry, the PDR is essentially one immense drug […]
Help! I’m Getting the Flu
Click here for the Health Tip link. We’ve talked about the flu in my last couple health tips, but let’s review before we discuss Tamiflu, the antiviral drug. First, learn to differentiate a common cold from the flu. With a cold, most of the symptoms you feel are evidence that your body is trying to […]
Preventing Flu
Click here for the Health Tip link. The advice in this health tip works for preventing virtually all virus infections, including the flu. Of the 150,000 genetic variations of mushrooms on our planet, it’s guesstimated that about 5% have useful medicinal properties. Of these, we know something about just a scant handful. Like every other […]