New England Health Advisory

Is there anything more exciting than the sight of a suitcase sitting open, just waiting to be packed? At first it’s a rectangular abyss, with its pockets empty and straps sitting idly. But before long, the space starts to fill. Socks are wedged into place, compartments are jammed with tiny toiletries, and as you stuff in that extra bathing suit, you realize it’s finally here: vacation!

August finds thousands of people vacationing near and far from home. I know from experience that taking precautions can mean the difference between a sick sojourn and a terrific trip. So check out these tips and learn how to ensure good health on your holiday!

• Heading overseas? Some countries pose health risks that require vaccines or special drugs to prevent diseases like yellow fever, typhoid and malaria. These are not reminders of your trip that you want to take home with you, and I feel almost sure that your friends and relatives would be much happier with an overpriced novelty keychain. The website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contains information about mandatory and suggested vaccinations.

Most vaccines need to be administered up to four weeks ahead of time. Even if you’re a spontaneous traveler and don’t have a month to spare, see your doctor anyway; you may still get some protection from shots or medicines.

• That worried face doesn’t go with those shorts. It’s hard to unwind on vacation if you’re afraid you haven’t brought enough of your prescription medication. And you don’t want to spend your hard-earned relaxation time inside drugstores, which may not have what you need.

Be sure to pack any medications you use regularly and to pack more than you think you need. Flights are canceled. Rail workers strike. Volcanoes erupt. Be prepared for any event by bringing a generous supply of medications in their original bottles. And of course you’ll keep them with you, right? I don’t want to even think about your statins getting sent to Sicily in your checked luggage while you’re on route to the south of France.

• Keep your stomach safe. Travelers’ diarrhea is a very common ailment that affects about 10 million travelers each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East pose the largest risk.

Most cases of travelers’ diarrhea are caused by contaminated food and/or water. Take precautions by using purified or bottled water for drinking, making ice cubes, brushing teeth, rinsing contacts, and taking medications. Safe drinks include anything prepackaged that’s canned or bottled (like soda or juice) or anything that is made with boiling water (like tea). If you do use tap water, boil it or purify it with iodine tablets.

When you’re making food choices, be sure that meat and seafood is well cooked. Ask whether or not dairy items have been pasteurized. And although street vendors offer lots of exotic treats, it’s best to avoid them, since you may get more local flavor than you bargained for.

• Vitamins love coming on vacation. In addition to any prescription medications, remember to pack any vitamins, minerals or other supplements you take regularly. They can really make a difference! When you’re visiting a place with different food, water, air and people, you want to keep your immune system bolstered and at the ready. And if your vacation includes air travel, vitamins may help prevent you from catching any of the germs that endlessly re-circulate throughout the plane.

— Advertisement —

Don’t Let Tummy Troubles Ruin Your Vacation

Did you know that your stomach is teeming with bacteria? Nature designed it that way. A lot of those bacteria are doing good things for you, like digesting your food and preventing infection. These “good bugs” boost your immune system and help your system function properly, especially when you’re trying exotic treats on the road.

Click here to learn how probiotics can help restore balance in your digestive system.

—

• The captain has cleared us for tiny seats and meager snacks. Airplane travel is physically stressful, and the longer your flight, the more you’ll endure (and I’m not even counting the terrible in-flight movie). Keep dehydration at bay by drinking water or juice. Avoid caffeinated and alcoholic drinks. Eat lightly before flying and carry some healthy snacks to eat during the trip. I like granola bars and fruit, because they’re so easy to pack and eat.

If you suffer from motion sickness, you know that getting there isn’t half the fun, so talk to your doctor about medications and motion sickness bands.

• You are now urged to move throughout the cabin. Deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, is a potentially dangerous problem that occurs when blood clots form in the body’s large veins. It’s especially likely to develop in leg veins. People who have cardiovascular disease or a history of stroke or blood clots are at higher risk of DVT during flights of 10 hours or longer, where sitting cramped and immobile is pretty much all there is to do.

You can help prevent DVT by walking around the plane periodically and by stretching and moving your legs when you are in your seat. The American Heart Association states that a dose of heparin may lower the risk of DVT in travelers with heart disease or a risk of blood clots. Studies also show that compression stockings may cut post-flight risk. If you’re in a high-risk group and taking a long flight, ask your doctor for suggestions.

• Get back to basics. Over the years, I’ve noticed that vacations can make normally sensible people do silly things, myself included. Everybody knows someone who got so sunburned on the first day of a trip that he or she spent a lot of time suffering in the hotel room. I don’t want you to be that someone! Apply sunscreen religiously, and use one that blocks both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of at least 30. (Click here to read our recent article about which sunscreens are best.) Put on insect repellant if you are going to be in buggy areas. For most people, drinking on vacation is OK. Operating a motor vehicle or any kind of watercraft when you’re drinking is never OK. If you’re visiting an area that has unsafe neighborhoods, steer clear.

• Think about travel insurance. Travel insurance is a smart idea if you are taking a big (read: expensive) trip where you have to prepay a large portion in advance (like cruises or package tours, for example). A travel insurance package generally costs about 5% of the cost of your trip, and it will reimburse you for, among many other things, medical emergencies.

Travel insurance can also be a good deal if you have a medical condition that can unexpectedly prevent you from traveling. I have lupus, a chronic disease that can flare without much warning, so I always buy travel insurance before a big trip. The last time I bought it was for my honeymoon, which included stops in Iceland and Scandinavia. Luckily, everything was fine and we had a super time! But the peace of mind was well worth the extra cost.

Here’s to happy and healthy travels!

Yours in health,

Eugénie Olson
Contributing Editor
New England Health Advisory

In the 20 years that I’ve been practicing medicine, diagnoses of diabetes have gone up every year.

It looks like it will keep getting worse, because medicine is still not focusing on the real solution.

Diabetes is a problem of diet, and the solution must come from food, not drugs.

Yet new drugs are used in ever-greater numbers.

And some of these drugs cause real problems!

The new diabetic drugs Avandia and Actos, for example increase a woman’s chance of breaking a bone by 50%. If you’re over 65 years old, your chances jump to 70%.

And broken bones aren’t the only problem.

Avandia is linked to over 83,000 heart attacks between 1999 and 2007. If you take Avandia, you have a 43% greater chance of having a heart attack. And your risk of dying from a heart attack increases by 65%.

In 2009, Avandia caused 304 deaths in three months. It was the highest death rate of any prescription drug during that period.

Before you think you can just switch to Actos:

Actos does seem to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. But when it was tested, researchers found Actos actually increased the chance of serious heart failure.

Thousands of people are still on these drugs. If you’re one of them, I suggest you talk to your doctor about the risks, your options, and what it means to you.

A better way to manage your blood sugar is to pay close attention to what you eat and supplement with the nutrients we are lacking in modern times:

• Avoid starches: Stay away from bread, bagels, muffins, cookies and cake, as well as grains like corn, potatoes, and rice.
• Choose good-quality protein: Grass-fed beef, free-range poultry, cage-free eggs and wild salmon are all good choices.
• Choose low-glycemic vegetables: Above-ground veggies are best. They don’t spike your blood sugar. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and leafy green vegetables are good examples.
• Eat low-glycemic, whole fruit: Such as berries and those you eat with the skin on. Skip dried fruit and fruit juices, and avoid high fructose corn syrup, as it contributes to insulin resistance.
• Avoid processed foods: They’re loaded with bad fats and carbs, artificial sweeteners and preservatives.

The main nutrient deficiency causing blood sugar problems in modern America is chromium:

• Chromium: Chromium makes your insulin work better. It moves your blood glucose from the bloodstream into your cells for energy. Ninety percent of American adults have a chromium-deficient diet even though chromium is in foods like meat, cheese, fruits, and vegetables. Chromium isn’t absorbed when you take it by itself. Take 400 mcg in a form called “chromium polynicotinate.” This form contains a carrier molecule to help it get into your blood and tissues.

Before considering medications, I usually try a combination of herbs to lower blood sugar:

• Gymnema Sylvestre: This herb may reduce your cravings for sugary snacks. Patients who took 400 mg of this extract daily for 18 to 20 months along with their oral medications showed a significant drop in their fasting blood sugar levels.
• Cinnamon: The same spice you use in apple pie contains a compound that works with insulin to increase glucose metabolism by roughly 20 times. Take 1-6 grams per day for best results.
• Fenugreek: Fenugreek is one of the herbs used in curry. Fenugreek stimulates insulin release. Many studies confirm the seed and herb help stabilize blood sugar in patients with insulin problems.8 Start with 100 mg of powdered seed. You can find it in capsules, or you can soak powdered seed in water or juice and drink it. You can increase the dose to as much as 10 grams.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD
For New England Health Advisory

—

1.    Morrow, R., Carney, G. et al. “Impact of rosiglitazone meta-analysis on use of glucose-lowering medications.” Open Medicine. 2010; 4(1).
2.    Nissen SE and Wolski K. “Effect of Rosiglitazone on the Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Death from Cardiovascular Causes.” N Eng J Med 2007; 356: 2457-2471.
3.    Harris, G. “Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes.” NY Times. 2010 Feb.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/health/policy/20avandia.html?pagewanted=al
4.    Kaul, S., Bolger, AF., et al. “Thiazolidinedione Drugs and Cardiovascular Risks: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Foundation.” Circulation 2010;121;1868-1877.
5.    Juturu V., Komorowski J. R. ”Effect of Chromium Picolinate/Biotin Supplementation with Diabetes Education on Blood Sugar Levels in Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot Program” The Internet Journal of Nutrition and Wellness. 2007; 3(1).
6.    Baskaran, K., et al. “Antidiabetic effect of a leaf extract from Gymnema sylvestre in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients.” J Ethnopharmacology. 30(3):295-305, 1990.
7.    Khan A, et al. “Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes.”Diabetes Care. 2003 Dec;26(12):3215-8.
8.    Raghuram, TC. et al. “Effect of fenugreek seeds on intravenous glucose disposition in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients.” Phytotherapy Research. 2006; 8(2):83-86.
9.    Kassaian N, et al. “Effect of fenugreek seeds on blood glucose and lipid profiles in type 2 diabetic patients.” Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2009 Jan;79(1):34-9.

Did you know one of the best ways to lose weight is by walking?

I don’t mean going out and buying an expensive treadmill that will end up abandoned in a corner and used as a storage shelf or clothes hanger. You do not need to make an expensive purchase or join a fancy gym to lose weight.

All you need is a nice walk outside!

Many people walk outside at all times of the year, even in the winter. I admit it may sound more fun in Florida than in Maine come February, but that state’s residents aren’t called “Maineiacs” for nothing!

If weather is a problem, there are many free facilities you can use to do your winter walking. Many churches have gyms that are open to the public. There are also community centers with indoor tracks and most shopping malls open early for walkers.

Before you walk, don’t forget to warm up first by stretching and loosening up your muscles. Walking for exercise needs to become a routine. Once or twice a month will not give you the results you seek. You’ll want to do it three to four times a week to see results. Make it a part of your life.

Instant change is not going to happen.

The reality is that we don’t gain weight overnight. The changes in our bodies occurred slowly over time based on a series of decisions: Eating an extra serving of food at dinner, stopping at a fast food restaurant, taking the elevator instead of the stairs. So you’re not going to lose that extra weight overnight with a fad diet or fitness routine.

The secret is to make small changes to your diet while increasing your exercise (like starting a walking routine) over time to slowly lose those extra pounds.

And while you’re making better nutrition and fitness decisions, there’s a new product on the market that could help you drop your unwanted fat!

Our contributor Dr. Sears found a new clinical study that says it’s possible. In fact, he’s found what may be the most successful weight loss compound ever tested.

Please click on the link below to find out how this new safe and effective natural remedy ramps up your body’s ability to burn fat … and may just change your life.

Click here for details!

Yours for health and wellness,

Andrew Palmer
Publisher
New England Health Advisory

P.S. Sounds too good to be true, eh?  Take a look at this …

“I’m 50-years-old and started taking Primal Lean about six months ago. I’ve lost a total of 75 pounds and I’m now a size 2. A SIZE 2!!! I have never been a size 2 ever, probably not even as a child. Thrilled is an understatement. It has brought my marriage back to life. I am noticed everywhere I go. I have so much energy and am so sincerely happy I cannot begin to tell you. The ability to try on anything and be happy with the way it fits and looks is amazing.

“Dr. Sears, you have given me something I could never accomplish on my own. The smallest I could ever get was a size 8, which seems huge compared to the size I am wearing now. THANK YOU!!!!”

Our contributor Dr. Sears gets emails like this every week. Please click below to learn how this product can change your life too!

Click here for details!

By Al Sears, M.D.

If you enjoy breakfast or lunch on-the-go, I understand. Our lives are so busy; we don’t always have time to cook.

But beware: Some “convenience foods” aren’t worth it. You’ll pay for it with added inches to your waistline. And those excess pounds lead to chronic diseases like obesity, cancer, and heart disease.

Here are three foods that will put you on the fast track to fat:

Breakfast Cereal: This one is a little deceptive. No one thinks of cereal as being a threat to their health.

But no matter which one you choose, breakfast cereals are high on the glycemic index (GI). For many people, a dose of high-glycemic carbs in the morning is the prescription for building excess body fat.

You’d almost be better off eating a candy bar or a piece of cake.

The GI of an average piece of chocolate cake is between 31 and 38… a Snickers bar is about 43. Not bad.

Compare that to the GI of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes… which registers a whopping 132. That means corn flakes break down into sugar in your bloodstream faster than pure glucose!

And if you add fuel to the fire by putting sugar on your cereal, you’re sending an overwhelming surge of sugar into your system.
Remember, high blood sugar triggers a wave of insulin. And insulin is the hormone that sends the message to build and store fat.

Even “healthy” cereals like Grape-Nuts have a GI of 80. That’s also very high.

It might be a fast fix when you’re rushing in the morning, but cereal in the morning will make you fat. Avoid it at all costs.

French Fries: Possibly the worst foods you can eat. First off, potatoes are high-glycemic and not good for you in any form. But when you take potatoes and deep-fry them in trans fatty oil, you have a recipe for sickness and disease.

While white potatoes aren’t the best choice, the oil they’re cooked in adds much more danger than the potatoes do. If you need a potato fix now and then, opt for a baked potato or, better yet, sweet potatoes. They’re loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.

Bagels and Breads: Don’t fall for the “whole-grain goodness” trap. When it comes to the glycemic index, it matters very little whether breads are made from whole grain or not. Grains spike your blood sugar, and you know what that means.

Forget about the commercials you see on TV. Unless you are very poor and can’t get enough calories without them, you should avoid grains at least until you get as lean as you want to be. You’ll be better off without them.

In the morning, take a few extra moments and scramble some eggs. Before you throw the eggs in, sauté some sliced tomatoes and spinach. Maybe some onion, too. In less than 10 minutes, you can have a breakfast that will make you feel pumped and energetic for the whole morning.

And if you need a fast lunch, try a wrap instead of a sandwich. More and more restaurants offer wraps these days. They come in all styles – spinach is my favorite. (Try and avoid the heavy flour tortillas.)

To your good health,

Al Sears, M.D.

Bibliography

1.    Whitehouse MW, Macrides TA, Kalafatis N. “Anti-inflammatory activity of a lipid fraction (Lyprinol®) from the N. Z. green-lipped mussel.” Inflammopharmacology. 1997;5:237-46.

Give Peas a Chance

It’s Not Just About Obesity; It’s About Wellness

Evolution to Revolution

Before I jump into today’s topic, food, I want to point out two new resources for New England Health Advisory readers. One is my Twitter account, where I’ll be tweeting interesting articles, news and thoughts about health. You can follow me here. The other is our Facebook page, which you can become a fan of here. Please take a minute to check both of them out. Now on to today’s issue …

—

My relationship with food has evolved over time.

As a child, I was a picky eater and I ran away from home more than once over a vegetable I refused to eat. One time, I was so adamant that I would not eat my green beans that I packed my little suitcase and left. As it got darker and colder, I took refuge in the back seat of the car. My parents, not unfamiliar with my intentions, waited for me to return. As the evening grew later and I was still not back, they got into the car to drive to the police station to report me missing and found me asleep on the back seat.

My uncle had witnessed some of my food bouts as a child. He wrote me recently that he was having lunch in a restaurant and thought of me when he saw a picture on the wall of a young John Lennon with his mother standing over him. John had a look on his face much like I did those days, of a child unwilling to eat something on his plate. And the caption over Mrs. Lennon said, “All I am saying, is give peas a chance.”

Try It, You’ll Like It

Back then, meals were a battle and I didn’t think I liked food much. But I was wrong. When I was a grad student at Columbia University in New York, my Dad and his business partners came to the city for some meetings. They had dinner planned at La Cote Basque and I was invited—likely because they felt sorry for me being a poor student in the city. I knew nothing about the restaurant other than that I had to dress nicely. I was reluctant to spend money but I didn’t own a single skirt so I went to Macy’s to buy something to wear. It turned out to be one of the best investments I ever made.

The menu was all in French and while my French was decent, there were food words I didn’t know, like foie gras. So my Dad ordered for me, knowing what I’d like. I also got to try a bite of everything he ordered. My life was forever changed; in that moment, I became a “foodie.”

Elaborate Became Simple

Before I had kids, I loved to cook big elaborate meals, often experimenting with French sauces and throwing multi-course dinner parties. It was fun! Soon, however, life got busier and the fun was no longer worth the hours of clean up afterward. I began to cook more simply. As I became more health conscious, my simple meals evolved into healthy, organic food, cooked with love.

I found that it was easy to make delicious meals with just a handful of ingredients and do it quickly, taking no more time than making a processed food alternative. I became passionate that everyone should know how to prepare a few simple healthy delicious meals. I believe we should teach families in our communities and kids in school how to cook and eat well.

Spreading the Word

I have also become passionate about improving the food in schools. The meals my kids would be fed at school are full of sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, MSG and a host of other additives that aren’t keeping kids healthy, let alone helping them stay focused and alert in school.

The food in my daughter’s upper-middle class public school is shocking: nachos, hotdogs, fries and pizza. But the food in my son’s school, where kids are all facing language-based learning challenges, is even more shocking to me because these are kids who need every advantage to help them learn. Processed foods with preservatives, dyes, additives and chemicals make learning (and paying attention) that much more challenging to kids who are already struggling.

Don’t our kids deserve a healthy school lunch? (For more on this topic, see my article on ammonia in meat.)

Starting with Children

Shouldn’t we be teaching our kids foundation food skills, from shopping to cooking to eating?

It can be hard, especially for children who want to fit in, to navigate food choices. If everyone else can have soda and eat at McDonalds, why can’t I?

It takes a little time to educate kids about food choices. But once they have that information, they can—and will—make better choices. To make it less stressful, I encourage mine to live by an 80/20 rule. If they are eating well and making good choices 80% of the time, then the other times, they can indulge in their treat of choice and not feel guilty.

I might say, “If you’re going to have soda and pizza at that birthday party, have a really good healthy lunch before.” or “If you want ice cream for dessert, be sure you have filled up with fresh vegetables, healthy fats and fiber beforehand so that you are not hungry and your portion size will be more moderate.”

I also teach my children that there are two ways to make positive changes: One is to do more positive things, the other is to do fewer negative things. If one feels overwhelming or hard, then follow the other path for a while. So while my kids struggle at times resisting temptation (and don’t we all!), they know they can always add in some good. They can go for a bike ride, grab an apple or some carrots or drink a big glass of water—knowing that empowers them.

— Advertisement —

The Closest You’ll Get to Effortless Weight Loss

Suppose you could drop all of your unwanted fat … without going to the gym or forcing yourself to eat rice cakes and tofu burgers?

A new clinical study says it’s possible.

It may be the most successful weight loss compound ever tested.

The people in this study—which was published in the medical journal Lipids in Health and Disease—lost an average of 28 pounds and 6 inches off their belly. And they didn’t change their diet or exercise habits.

Click here to find out how they did it.

—

It’s About Wellness

Both my kids are very lean. For them, like for many of you, it’s not just about obesity; it’s about wellness. A friend who is in his 50s confessed to me recently that he eats too many sweets. But being lean and active, he figures it’s ok. And while most things in moderation are fine, lifelong patterns do add up over time. Just because some of your bad food habits haven’t caught up with you in terms of weight gain does not mean they are not wreaking havoc inside your body.

Many lean active people suffer from type 2 diabetes. Often, seemingly healthy people are surprised when they face a health challenge that appears to come out of nowhere, but in truth, it has been building for years from too much sugar, not enough fiber and healthy fats, too many chemicals and processed foods, not enough fresh whole foods, too much stress and not enough sunshine and physical activity.

The Food Revolution

When I heard that Jamie Oliver, the famed British Chef who had taken on school lunches back in England, was tackling obesity in America in a new television show, I was excited. I read that Oliver would focus on bringing people back to simple healthy cooking and address the school lunch problem. I marked my calendar for the March 26 premiere of his new show, called “Food Revolution” on ABC at 9 p.m. I can’t wait!

After my welcome letter went out to new subscribers to New England Health Advisory, a friend of mine sent me a note. He said that Jamie Oliver and I are aligned in views and asked if I had seen his speech at the recent TED conference. (TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.) I said I had not; between our school vacation and gearing up for the launch of New England Health Advisory, I had not had the time.

My friend told me I had to watch Oliver’s presentation because we are both “surfing the same wave.” I wish I had seen the presentation before I wrote my welcome letter, but even now, it’s clear that we agree on many important points. I’m thrilled TED recognized him with a $100,000 prize.

I highly recommend you take the 20 minutes to watch it as well. Here’s the link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html

It has been my mission to change the way we think about food and wellness in this country for some time now, and I’m glad that if you are reading this, you have decided to join me on this venture.

I will be cheering and I hope you’ll be there too.

It’s not too late. The time is now.

Along with fellow surfer Jamie Oliver, we can be part of a Food Revolution, and together make a difference in our future, and the futures of our children and grandchildren.

To your health!

Inger Pols
Editor of New England Health Advisory

P.S. Lose weight effortlessly with the help of the results of a new clinical study. The people in this study—which was published in the medical journal Lipids in Health and Disease—lost an average of 28 pounds and 6 inches off their belly. And they didn’t change their diet or exercise habits. Click here to learn more.

P.P.S. Jamie Oliver has a petition to go along with his new TV show that you can sign to support his assertion that America’s kids need better food at school and better health prospects. Jamie plans to take his petition to the White House after the TV series airs, to show the president and first lady how many people across the country really care about this and ask for their support. The link below will take you to the petition.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

—