YourHealthMatters

9 Pillars of Weight Loss

Here is a new free report posted on Life Extension Foundation http://www.lef.org/lpages/pillar  which discusses the 9 areas that need to be addressed for successful weight loss. I am going to discuss each of these areas in a series of post in the next week. In the meantime you can download this excellent report if you wish.

This report is tied to an exciting new product just introduced by LEF for weight loss. I have been recently taking this supplement on a trial basis and I am impressed.

The 9 areas only cover nutritional issues, not the mental attitudes needed for successful long-term wegiht loss. I will address this as well in coming posts. Regaining and maintaining health is always better with mind-body changes.

drBob

Swine Flu #5

Here's a new article in TIME magazine that proposes 5 questions we still need answered about  the H1NI virus. The article is found here.

The Five Questions Are-

1. How Deadly is H1N1

2. Should We Close Schools with H1N1?

3. Where Did H1N1 Come From?

4. Should WHO revise its Pandemic Response?

5. Who is Legally Responsible?

With 13,000 cases now reported in the US, we must all stay on top of this spreading infection.

drBob

Burning Fat with Exercise - New Study

Here is a new study about exercise. metabolism and fat-burning which busts a few beliefs about fat-burning. The study was done at Duke University and also provides some insight into using exercise for muscle building, a favorite wish of many people.

Essentially the study looked at different combinations of exercise and metabolic effects. All study participants had controlled caloric diets. The conclusion - yes exercise does boost metabolism while you exercise and can burn fat while you exercise but when you finish these benefits will soon stop. There is no increase in metabolic rate during the next 24 hours as many people mistakenly believe. But there was a burning of fat for a maximum of 24 after the exercise, depending on the type of exercise.

AND, if you eat as many calories soon after, as you burned during the exercise, there will be no net fat burn. The study also looked at building lean muscle mass with exercise.

So skip the (un)healthy snacks right after the exercise. I still support the use of Dr. Sears' PACE system of exercise as the best way to burn fat with exercise and he has  the results to prove it. You can buy his PACE book and as well he now has a DVD on the system which is very useful for getting you started.

The Duke study was reported on MSNBC here.

drBob

Latest Report on Longevity

Our new HHS secretary, former KS Governor, Kathleen Sibelius, has announced her initial vision of health care reform in this country. She wants every person to have a Medical Home and there to be greater emphasis on wellness. This comes at an opportune time. The AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians) has been calling for a Medical Home for every patient for some time. The idea is to have one physician coordinate all medical care for each person, arrange initial testing, make referrals and keeping all the medical records in one central place. Perhaps the new HHS secretary heard the message. The second issue of wellness emphasis comes into focus when the Harvard School of Medicine yearly report on preventable deaths is considered. I reported on this earlier in May at this post.

Now the Kronos Longevity Institute has released its yearly report on aging factors. It identifies the following in its report titled "Grey is Good" found here.

It's recommendations for longevity are topped by checking your Vitamin D levels (one of my favorite topics) and supplementing it. They marked it as a "critically important vitamin". As they report, I find up to 100 percent of aging men and women have critically low levels of this vitamin D and are missing its many benefits for our health longevity. HAD YOUR LEVEL CHECKED LATELY? It takes only a simple blood test.

Then the reports mentions the "three horsemen of aging" - oxidation, inflammation and insulin resistance which are all becoming more common problems. Then physical exercise and keeping all hormones optimal are mentioned. Finally the "Longevity Dividend is based on the theory that, if we can intervene scientifically to slow the aging process and delay the onset of age-related diseases, trillions of dollars now spent on health care could be redirected to schools, energy, jobs, infrastructure -- the "dividend."  It's interesting isn't it that as President Obama reports his health care reform will cost $1.5 trillion over 10 years, here is a report showing how to save more than that if we all focused on regaining our health.

drBob

Preventable Deaths Rising

The Harvard School of Public Health recently reported that 2 million people die in the US each year from causes that are preventable. I have to ask if this will be addressed adequately in health care reform this year.
Three factors, namely smoking, high blood pressure and obesity, are the top three preventable cause in this report, accounting for at least one million deaths each year.
Other listed preventabe factors listed in order were lack of adequate physical activity, elevated blood sugar, elevated LDL (the lethal kind of cholesterol), low intake of essential fatty acids found in saltwater fish (omega-3 fatty acids) high trans fat intake (read those labels), alcohol abuse, low vegetable and fruit intake and low intake of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). This last item must be watched carefully in your diet because over-heating of PUFAs can change them to dangerous trans fatty acids already on this list.

Alcohol may be protective of heart problems when taken in small amounts, when abused it was responsible for at least 64,000 deaths.

You can read an article with more information on the website of the Life Extension Foundation by clicking here .

What do you think can be done in health care reform to address this issue? Would you be in favor of higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol as a way to reduce use? When I practiced in Ontario the provincial government regularly raised taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and knew how many thousand people would likely stop either one for a specific increase in taxation.

Leave a comment on what you think would help these deaths from rising.

drBob

Swine Flu #4

I received the following update from the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians on Friday. It details the cases suspected and confirmed in Kansas and this is rising. None have been reported from the southwest counties. Last week I saw 9 people with symptoms that are associated with H1N1. BUT - none had a positive flu test so they most likely had adenovirus cold infections. This is late in the season but possible. Because their flu tests were negative, the KDHE will not test them for confirmation of H1N1 infection. They are recovering.

The last paragraph here gives phone numbers and email addresses if you want more information about the H1N1 infection.

The US picture may be found by clicking here. As of May 10 there were 2532 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 in the US. There have been 3 deaths in the US and 48 in Mexico. 44 US states have confirmed cases of H1N1. The latest stats for KS are higher than in the following update - 36 confirmed cases.

drBob

Update: H1N1 Flu Virus Outbreak

The Health Alert Network Update on the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus Outbreak from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports the current situation in Kansas:

Confirmed Cases – 12 total

Dickinson County – 2 cases
• Two cases involving two adults residing in the same household. Neither of the patients was hospitalized. One of the patients had recently traveled to Mexico.

Johnson County – 5 cases
• One case involving an adult with travel to Mexico. The patient is currently hospitalized.
• One case involving an adult who is a Texas resident but is visiting Johnson County. The patient has not been hospitalized.
• One case involving a child. No additional details are available at this time.
• One case involving a child. No additional details are available at this time.
• One case involving a child. No additional details are available at this time.

Sedgwick County – 1 case
• One case involving a child who traveled out-of-state to an area of known transmission where he/she was presumably exposed to the virus.

Wyandotte County – 4 cases
• One case involving a child. The patient was hospitalized, but has since been discharged and has fully recovered. The child is not known to have recently traveled away from the Kansas City metro area or have come into contact with anyone who had been to an area known to be affected by the epidemic.
• One case involving an adult. No additional details are available at this time.
• One case involving a child. No additional details are available at this time.
• One case involving a child. No additional details are available at this time.

KDHE is continuing to work with local health departments and other healthcare providers to identify cases in Kansas and interrupt the chain of virus transmission wherever it is found.

Kansans with questions about the virus can email H1N1fluinfo@kdheks.gov. Information is also available from KDHE at www.kdheks.gov. KDHE has established a toll free number for concerned Kansans to call with questions about the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus. 1-877-427-7317. Operators will be available to answer questions from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday–Friday.

For My Patients - Advance Holiday Notice

Lynda and I are planning two trips before the end of June. Check your refill dates on your medications.

We will be away May 21-June 1 and June 19-July 5.

Our office staff will be off for their summer holiday June 19-28. Otherwise they will be in the office when we are away except on the Fridays. (May 22,29, June 26 and July 3)

drBob

Swine Flu #3

It's good news,bad news this w/e in swine flu reporting.

First Dr. Besser. acting chief of the CDC said today maybe it may not be as bad a problem right now. But look out for the fall when the virus may come back in stronger form.

WHO did not raise the alert status to 6 - a pandemic international alert.
Mexico is opening public buildings again and urging people to resume regular activities.

4 new cases of swine flu are suspected in KS now. One of the 4 has no obvious connection to travel to Mexico. The nearest case to us is in Sedgwick County - tha's the Wichita area.

There is now a hospitalized case of swine flu in Alberta, Canada with pneumonia.

To read Dr. Besser's comments as reported on MSNBC, please click here.

drBob

FDA asks People to Stop Using Hydroxycut™ Now

Hydroxycitric acid (HCA), brand name Hydroxycut™, has run into problems with the FDA which has asked the product be withdrawn from the shelves. This supplement has been marketed as a weight loss aid for years without any objective human evidence of effectiveness. It does work in lab rats which is why it first came to prominence. The only human study I have found showed it worked, but the study was funded and done by one of the companies making it. The weight loss was not any better though than other approaches.

Apparently a death from liver failure and some other liver problems have surfaced. The company has recalled the product that caused the death, but any other source of HCA should also be stopped until more is known about what caused the liver problems.

You may read the news item by clicking here  at MSNBC  or CNN .

This again highlights a problem with over the counter supplements. We do not have a formal way of watching for or easily reporting side effects in any over-the-counter product. The FDA relies on reporting voluntarily by the manufacturers or public. Given the technology of today, why isn't there an easy online way to make these reports? If I find an adverse reaction to a drug in my patients, I first have to report to the manufacturer using different forms for each company, then they report to the FDA. This is a cumbersome procedure to say the least.The young man who died of liver problems died in 2007 and his death was finally reported to the FDA in March 2009.The FDA knows of 23 other problems now with HCA.  A better system of reporting would have prevented such a long delay.

So what supplements work safely to help weight loss? That is a topic I will soon address again as some new approaches have recently come out.

Stay tuned....

drBob

Anniversary Reactions

April this year was a time for two important anniversaries in my life. April 13th was the 10th anniversary of our marriage and it was interesting to think back over the last 10 years here in Liberal - good memories and stressful ones. Both our Best Man and Maid of Honor for that memorable day have since passed on, which is the only down memory about our marriage day.
April 24th was the one year anniversary of my brain surgery at KUMedCenter by Dr. Grant and a much more stressful time to remember. I realized last weekend that I had been having an anniversary reaction to this time a year ago. I was feeling tired, stressed and down and it was more than just the recent office move. When I realized I was having the feelings related to what happened a year ago, I understood what was happening.
In my practice for years I have seen people having sudden unexplained depression start and when I question them often the depression has started within a month of a stressful loss or depressing event, such as loss of a spouse, child, favorite pet, relative,close friend etc. Now I have had the same reaction and I realize more than ever what these reactions can be like.
I'd welcome your comments of similar times in your life. Since all comments are moderated by me before being published you can also send me a comment and ask me not to publish it on the blog.