Toxic Food, Profitable Sickness: The Hidden Connection

I recently heard an interview with Calley and Casey Means that really resonated with me regarding my concerns about the state of health in America. Their message struck a chord with me, and I believe it's crucial for everyone to hear. Casey Means, a physician who left a thriving career in traditional medicine, and her brother Calley, a whistleblower advocating against the corruption in the food and pharmaceutical industries, have joined forces to address what they see as the root cause of America’s health crisis: our toxic food environment.

Casey and Calley have a compelling story. Casey was frustrated with the medical profession's approach to treating illness, as she found herself constantly treating symptoms rather than addressing the underlying causes of her patients' ailments. Calley, on the other hand, was disturbed by the overwhelming influence of big food and big pharma on both doctors and patients. Together, they concluded that our poor health is due to the modern processed foods dominating our diets, and the reason we remain sick is because the pharmaceutical and medical industries benefit from this steady stream of unhealthy patients. This post will discuss their concerns and recommend the solutions.

Understanding Chronic Pain: A Biopsychosocial Perspective

In 1977, George Engel's revolutionary call for a new medical model helped pave the way for a holistic approach to chronic pain. He advocated for the integration of social, psychological, and behavioral dimensions of illness. This model allows for greater flexibility in understanding and treating pain by moving away from the simplistic correlation between pain and tissue damage and recognizing that psychosocial factors often play a substantial role. His ideas became known as the biopsychosocial model. This post will cover what it is and how it can help address the complications of chronic pain.

Lack of Sleep May be Hurting Your Teen: Here’s What to Do About It

Today, I would like to talk about a few other causes of poor sleep, especially in children and especially teens, as they normally have earlier school start times. According to numerous studies, people, including children and teens, who sleep less than five hours per night are more vulnerable to respiratory infections. But the bad news doesn't end there. Poor sleep can eventually lead to certain forms of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, depression and other mental disorders, and obesity. At the end of the post, I will cover some helpful tips to help us and our children to sleep better-especially our teenagers.

What Is Eudaimonia?

Philosophers have long distinguished two basic forms of well-being: a hedonic form representing the sum of an individual's positive affective experiences and a deeper eudaimonic form that results from striving toward meaning and a noble purpose beyond simple self-gratification. It turns out, so do scientific researchers. There is robust scientific evidence that living a eudaimonic life extends life. This post will cover some of the science behind eudaimonia and how to achieve it.

The Season Of Hope

The holidays always bring more love, laughter, cheer, and peace for me, my family and friends. It has become increasingly more difficult because of all the fear mongering going on. I gave a message of hope last year by posting that things were not nearly as bad as everyone was led to believe. Once again, I bring tidings of comfort and joy that we are not dying in much greater numbers than usual. I will also share insights that Omicron is generally mild and has a much lower hospitalization and death rate than previous Covid variants. I will also discuss the main reason why the death rate is climbing, and what we can do to avoid an early exit. Lastly, enjoy the holidays and have a happy new year.

Should You Be Taking CoQ10?

Coenzyme Q10 has two main functions. Most importantly, it helps us make ATP, our energy source for life. Since it is critical for energy production, it is most abundant in heart muscle, pancreas tissue, the brain, and the liver. The other function is to increase some of our essential antioxidants and act as one. Many factors can contribute to CoQ10 deficiency. These are aging, disease, dietary deficiency, statin drugs, and increasing tissue demands. Although our bodies make it, it is easy to get from foods, it is one of the more popular supplements available today because evidence shows it is beneficial for our health. This post will cover what it is, what it does for us, and how you can maintain adequate levels.

Coronaphobia, Herd Mentality, Opportunists, And The Dunning Kruger Effect

In December of 2020, Alisha Arora and some of her colleagues defined Coronaphobia as an excessive triggered response of fear of contracting the virus causing COVID-19, leading to accompanied extreme concern over physiological symptoms, significant stress about personal and occupational loss, increased reassurance, and safety-seeking behaviors, and avoidance of public places and situations, causing marked impairment in daily life functioning. In the paper, the author urges politicians and media personalities to refrain from scare tactics to minimize the condition. Additionally, recent events have resulted in a bombardment of virology, epidemiology, death statistics, immunology, PCR technology, public health policies, and more. Each subject is complex by itself; together these subjects intertwine in an endlessly confusing way. Our tendency to believe we have mastered a subject long before we have is called the Dunning Kruger effect. The combination of fear, the Dunning Kruger effect, and opportunists have created a dangerous situation that could lead to serious societal disunity and upheaval if we are not careful. This post will shed light on our current situation and offer some strategies to unite in a spirit of cooperation to fight the coronavirus madness.

Sarcopenia: A Common Yet Avoidable Health Problem

Sarcopenia is a condition that starts in our forties characterized by loss of muscle, strength, and stamina. Unfortunately, 10% of the population over the age of 60 have it. It starts slowly, and the rate of muscle loss can reach 15% per year in later years. It typically progresses until 50% of muscle mass is gone by our eighth decade. Since muscles account for 60% of our total mass, this condition can result in serious weakness and other health issues. Although the effects may be noticeable early, they can lead to increased hospitalizations and nursing home care, and early death with older age groups. The good news is that it can be avoided with proper lifestyles. Read on for more information.

The Domino Effect of Sleep, Facial Development, And Childhood Behavioral Problems

Today I am sharing a video about a child who was incorrectly diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD when his real problems were allergies and poor breathing that we call sleep disordered breathing. His mother describes a kind of domino effect that when recognized, is easily treatable. At my offices, we have teams of pediatric dentists, orthodontists, surgeons, orofacial myofunctional therapists, and lactation specialists to detect and treat these problems early. When needed, we refer to ENT, allergists, speech pathologists, and more. If more people were aware of the connection between childhood behavioral problems and sleep disordered breathing, millions of children would not suffer as they do. Please watch the video and share it; even if only one child is helped by your sharing, it will be worth it.

Laughter

My son and I went to a sold-out comedy show at a large venue for the first time in over a year and a half. It was amazing to finally spend a normal night enjoying ourselves. The next day I felt unusually good. I thought the laughter may have had something to do with it. Research into laughter is quite common, so I thought I would share some info with you, like why we do it, and why it is good for us.

Native American Wisdom Withstands the Test of Time

As an active clinician with an insatiable appetite for knowledge, I am always searching for new perspectives on our poor health. Sometimes I find antique descriptions of current health problems. I recently found and read a book by George Catlin on how our children can achieve beautiful faces and superior health by ensuring that they sleep with their mouths closed. I had thought this knowledge to be a recent scientific finding, so naturally, I was intrigued and read the book in a few short hours. I was highly impressed with the Native American wisdom he shared. Sadly, the knowledge was largely forgotten and is only followed by a few people today. Here's some of what I learned...

Burning Mouth Syndrome

Burning Mouth Syndrome is a burning, stinging, or itching in any portion of the mouth, including the tongue, lips, or cheeks. About one million Americans suffer from it. Because primary BMS is so rare, there is little research on it. Since investigations into the cause and treatment are lacking, patients have few options for diagnosis and treatment, leading to prolonged suffering. This post covers what we know and possible treatment options for Burning Mouth Syndrome.

Before the advent of farming, our jaws were larger; our faces were broader, our teeth were straight, we had adequate room for our wisdom teeth, larger brains, and more space in our throats to breathe. It is a virtual certainty that our changing diets contributed to crooked teeth and a lack of adequate space for wisdom teeth and constricted airways. SMALL JAWS CAUSE BIG PROBLEMS. Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, ADHD, depression, and anxiety are a few. In this post, I am going to cover how our lifestyles have changed leading to our current problems, and what we can do about it.

What Science Tells Us About ASMR

The topics I usually cover in my posts center around tangible ways you can improve your health. I am not sure if it fits into that mold, but some research claims it is beneficial to your health and well-being. I also have the first-hand experience that it helps. I am talking about ASMR, and I have it, but I never knew that most people don't experience it. I will explain what it is later, but I would like to talk about my personal experience with it first.

What Is The Mallampati Score and Why Knowing It Could Have A Huge Impact On Your Health

Combined with age and neck circumference, a Mallampati Score over 2 is about 94% predictive of sleep apnea. When I see a Mallampati score of 3 or 4, I know the airway is compromised and dig a little deeper into the patients’ backgrounds. If you have never heard of the Mallampati classification system, you are in the majority. It is actually something you can measure yourself. Read on if you are curious.

The Cure For The Winter Blues

Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD can be mild or debilitating. Here are the facts and some cures.