Texas doctor discovers the power of Wheat Belly!
Dr. Mahdavi Ampajwala, a family practice physician in Plano, Texas, wrote me a wonderful letter detailing her wheat-free experience and what she is witnessing as she incorporates wheat elimination into her medical practice:
I have found an answer.
Finally, there’s a resource I can recommend with confidence. Dr. William Davis’ book, “Wheat Belly,” has given me the ability to help those patients who come to me looking for a way to improve their health and lifestyle.
Many of my patients ask for advice on effective nutritional strategies for weight loss. Oftentimes, they are looking for an answer besides ‘exerci...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 21, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Doctors Wheat-elimination success stories Source Type: blogs
What Is Atrial Fibrillation?
Atrial Fibrillation is the most common abnormal heart rhythm.
More than 5.1 million Americans are living with Atrial Fibrillation (Afib). As the Baby Boomers age, these numbers will increase and are expected to reach nearly 16 million by 2050. September is Afib awareness month, take a few moments to learn about the symptoms and risk factors and be kind to your heart.
Symptoms of Afib vary from patient to patient. Some people feel as if the heart will jump out of the chest, others have no symptoms at all. Patients describe symptoms feeling like:
The heart skipping beats.
Racing or thudding of the heart.
Erratic heart bea...
Source: Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative - September 11, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Eliz Greene Tags: Award Winning Blog Heart Health Answers.com arrythmia Atrial Fibrillation busy woman's guide to a healthy heart Mellanie True Hills StopAfib.org Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, September 9, 2013
From MedPage Today:
E-Cigarette Might Help Smokers Quit. A nicotine-dispensing electronic cigarette helped smokers quit at least as much as nicotine patches did.
Can Gut Bugs Make You Fat? Or Skinny? Transplanting intestinal bacteria from lean or obese humans can turn mice fat or thin, and diet may transform that phenotype.
Fat Plus SNP Fights Metabolic Syndrome. Patients with metabolic syndrome who have a certain gene variant may benefit more from a high-fat diet than a low-fat one.
Recruiters Still Looking for Primary Care Docs. Doctors are reacting to changes in the healthcare system — and their job placements a...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 9, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: News GI Pulmonology Source Type: blogs
Video: Pill Dress in the making
How do you create a larger-than-life dress out of pills? This short film shows artist Susie Freeman of Pharmacopoeia doing just that. Knitting on her old industrial machine, comparing pill fabrics, and putting them on the dress base.
Together with Dr. Liz Lee she has weaved a dress made of ten years of prescription pills for two women, one from Denmark, the other from the UK, with metabolic syndrome, i.e., the combination of, among other diseases, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
The artwork tries to visualize and provoke our understanding of life with this complex cluster of metabolic diseases, using the pill ...
Source: Biomedicine on Display - September 3, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Astrid Mo Tags: aesthetics art and biomed art and science art and medicine metabolic syndrome pharmacopoeia Source Type: blogs
Metabolic syndrome
Features of metabolic syndrome:
a) Central obesity
b) Hypertriglyceridemia
c) Insulin resistance
d) All of the above
Correct answer: d) All of the above
Metabolic syndrome is also known as Reaven’s syndrome and Syndrome X. Hypertension and low HDL (high density cholesterol) are the other associations. There is another syndrome X which is angina with normal epicardial coronaries. (Source: Cardiophile MD)
Source: Cardiophile MD - September 1, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: Cardiology MCQ DM / DNB Cardiology Entrance Source Type: blogs
Arguing for Rapamycin to Slow Aging
There is presently some debate over whether or not rapamycin actually slows aging - based on rigorous studies some researchers say yes, say no, it extends life in mice but only by reducing cancer risk. Rapamycin and various derivatives under development are presently the longevity enhancing drug candidates best supported by the evidence in laboratory mice, so there is probably a lesson to be learned here in regards to the soundness of the whole strategy of trying to slow aging via metabolic manipulation.
The researcher quoted here is a vocal proponent of one of the programmed theories of aging (the hyperfunction theory), ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 20, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Pharmacopoeia Pill Dress -coming soon
However outré, none of the brands at this month’s fashion fair have what we will have soon: A dress made entirely out of pills woven into fine, black fabric. Spectacular and (thought) provoking, the art work tries to visualize the cluster of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions (often referred to as ‘metabolic syndrome’), as well as related complications like depression and pain, that is one of the great health problems of our time.
In the art work, the 10 year medical records of two women living with chronic metabolic diseases, come together to form one larger-than-life pil...
Source: Biomedicine on Display - August 19, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Astrid Mo Tags: aesthetics of biomedicine art and biomed art and science pharma industry visualization art and medicine london artists metabolic syndrome pharmacopoeia pill dress Source Type: blogs
Keystone Habits For Health
Courtesy of Ali Karimian, Flickr
The following is a guest post from Naturopathic Doctor, Kate Whimster.
I know Kate quite well and she knows her shit.
She is also academically trained and as such included a long reference list supporting every claim she made.
I have always wanted to say with authority, “Trust me I’m a doctor” but alas I remain sans PhD.
So instead I shall say, “Trust her she’s a doctor” because I deleted the reference list for brevity’s sake.
Keystone Habits For Health
Have you ever wanted to do more with less? I’ve recently been reading ‘The Power of Hab...
Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : - August 14, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tim Brownson Tags: Guest Posts Source Type: blogs
Breakthroughs in Bipolar Treatment
"We should continue to repurpose treatments and to recognise the role of serendipity" (Geddes & Miklowitz, 2013).That quote was from a recent review article in The Lancet, which did not hint at any impending pharmacological breakthroughs in the treatment of bipolar disorder. In other words, the future of bipolar treatment doesn't look much different from the present (at least in the immediate term). Bipolar disorder, an illness defined by the existence of manic or hypomanic highs, alternating with depressive lows, can be especially difficult to treat. And the mood episode known as a mixed state, where irritability, ex...
Source: The Neurocritic - August 2, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Considering Correlations Between Character and Dietary Intake
This study doesn't have anything to say about calorie level variations, but one might assume that where there is variation in constituents there will also be variation in calories. (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - July 22, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Rename Type 2?
By Quinn Phillips
A few weeks ago, we wrote about an online petition to change the name of Type 1 and possibly also Type 2 diabetes. That effort was begun by two mothers of sons with Type 1 diabetes, who didn't feel that their children's condition was being taken seriously enough by teachers and other parents. In the petition, which is addressed to the American Diabetes Association, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Diabetes Federation, they write that a name like "autoimmune beta cell apoptosis diabetes" could help teach people what is really going on in Type 1 diabetes. Similarly, they write, a nam...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - June 5, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
The Incredible, Edible Egg
High cholesterol causes cardiovascular disease. Eggs are high in cholesterol; a large egg contains about 210mg of the stuff, which is concentrated in the yolk. The American Heart Association has recommended that people limit their daily cholesterol consumption to less than 300mg to maintain heart health [1]. Thus, it would seem that we should eat fewer eggs, or at least fewer egg yolks, to prevent cardiovascular disease. Right?
Two new reports call that conclusion, straightforward as it may seem, into question. One examined how the other nutrients present in egg yolks can actually protect against coronary artery disease ...
Source: Highlight HEALTH - May 30, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Diana Gitig, Ph.D. Source Type: blogs
Can Pot Smoking Counter the Negative Metabolic Consequences of Atypical Antipsychotics?
DISCLAIMER: This is a hypothetical question and not a medical recommendation. But it might be an idea worth investigating in epidemiological studies.Everyone knows that pot gives you the munchies. So the paradoxical finding that marijuana use is associated with a lower prevalence of obesity and diabetes came as a quite surprise to me. Now, a new study has concluded that pot smokers also have lower fasting insulin levels and smaller waistlines (Penner et al., 2013).I'll let the authors summarize the clinical significance of their study (Penner et al., 2013):Marijuana use is increasingly common, and use of medical marijuana ...
Source: The Neurocritic - May 27, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Statin May Reduce Benefits of Exercise
By Diane Fennell
The generic cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin, previously sold under the brand name Zocor, may diminish the positive effects of exercise in overweight and obese adults, according to a small new study from the University of Missouri. Statins are the most widely prescribed type of drugs in the world and are taken by 56% of people with Type 2 diabetes.
Statin use had been linked with muscle damage and reduced function of mitochondria (the energy centers of cells). Because these medicines are often prescribed along with lifestyle changes, including exercise, researchers sought to determine whether stati...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - May 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
