920 results found for: Heart

How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Really Need?

I have a retired 64 year-old patient, I’ll call him Bob, who tells me that he never sleeps more than 5-6 hours a night and that he’s always up with the sun, full of energy for his active retiree day and never gets that mid-afternoon sleepy slump.   He’s doing well, has no major health concerns, and this amount of sleep seems to be working well for him. Another patient I have, I’ll call her Ellen, 46 years-old, working full-time every day as a busy legal secretary, tells me she’s a zombie unless she has at least 9 hours of sleep a […]

Six Steps to a Healthier Diet in 2023

As sure as there will be another year, there will be New Year’s resolutions. They usually go something like this: Pay off all debt. Finally quit smoking. Shed those pesky 25 pounds that don’t seem to budge. Despite the wide array of ways we can feel, look and live better, one thing rings true. Most of these resolutions are so extreme that they have very little staying power. “People easily become discouraged when they set big goals because they are too overwhelming,” said Sarah Zangerle, registered dietitian at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Comprehensive Weight Loss Center. “In […]

Making a Case for ‘Other’ Milks

While I was growing up, my father made sure that I didn’t eat too many dairy products. He was a doctor and he felt that the saturated fats in animal products were best enjoyed in moderation. To this day, I don’t really drink milk. Lately, I’m not alone. Many people have come to question the wisdom of drinking cow’s milk every day

Superfoods: Time to Celebrate Cilantro

When you choose to cook with cilantro, or the seeds of the plant that cilantro comes from, known as coriander, the simple act of spicing up your dishes becomes an easy way to spice up your health and boost your longevity. Cilantro is a power-packed flavor enhancer that contains an eye-popping amount of phytonutrients, including borneol, carvone, camphor, elemol, geraniol, and linalool, among the most prominent. It also contains popular flavonoids that Life Extension® readers are familiar with, such as quercetin andapigenin. Along with such incredible antioxidant potency, cilantro contains active phenolic compounds and is nutritionally dense in dietary fiber, manganese, iron, […]

Seaweed – The Ancient Asian Superfood

Increasingly, my patients have become more and more interested in trying to improve their health using natural foods and supplements.  Lately, several of them have asked me about seaweed – the centuries old staple of Chinese, Korean and Japanese cultures revered for its many health benefits.  As I tell my patients, seaweed – a sea vegetable – has many outstanding nutritional benefits that are worth taking advantage of.  Here’s what you should know about seaweed. Seaweed – A Legendary Nutritional Powerhouse If you’ve ever eaten sushi – a traditional Japanese food – you may know that the edible wrapper that […]

Estrogen Pills Found Safe for Some Menopausal Women

For certain women, taking estrogen supplements for a few years close to menopause appears safe, and may reduce their risk of breast cancer, says a new study from the landmark Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). Those women include only the 30% of menopausal women who’ve had a hysterectomy, or surgery to remove the uterus.

Food as medicineFood as medicine

FoodTrients Pack Powers of Medicine

As a healthcare professional, I see doctors prescribe five, ten, even twenty medications to one patient without giving any nutritional advice. I’m not saying that food should replace all medicines, and you should check with your doctor to make sure that any medications you take are not counteracted by a particular food.  However, I do think that the plate is the place to start for living a long and healthy life. For centuries, many cultures have used natural foods as their medicine chest. They understand that certain herbs and leaves offer curative powers. Hippocrates, a Greek physician who practiced medicine […]