Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Difficulty conceiving in Chicago?

Ladies, if you're having trouble conceiving, come to the Fertility Boot Camp, Saturday Nov 14th 2009 at the Tiffani Kim Institute, 310 W. Superior. 9am-5:30 pm. My wife is the top fertility acupuncturist in the Midwest and she has put together an expert panel made up of herself, a reproductive endocrinologist, a nutritionist, a bodyworker, yoga instructor, and a psychologist. The team will answer all the questions you have and teach you how to nourish yourself in order to maximize your fertility. If you're up against the clock, there is no time to lose. Call and register today. Fertility friendly snacks and lunch will be served. $149 for the whole day. Space is limited.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Most doctors do not use their professional judgement

This is because they are not allowed to. Doctors are being used more as technicians than as critical thinkers and experts. The decisions are made by the insurance companies. I think this is a travesty and hurts a lot of patients.

The trend now is towards "evidence-based medicine" which means that we only want to use things that have been shown to work. Of course no one wants to spend time or money on a treatment that has no effect, but this approach has some serious drawbacks. If a treatment works for 51% of people, it will be then used for 100% of cases. Never mind that your doctor has seen this a thousand times before and knows that treatment B would probably work better for you. If treatment A works better for more people, then it must be used on all. This system reduces people to statistics and neglects individual differences.

And it is not always cost effective. I tore cartilage in my knee several years ago. My orthopedist told me, "We'll send you for an x-ray, and when that doesn't show anything, we'll send you for an MRI which will show me the location and extent of the tear." I asked him, "If you know the x-ray will be useless, why don't we skip straight to the MRI?" To which he answered, "that's the only way the insurance will pay for it". How many unnecessary tests are done in the hopes of avoiding other, more-expensive tests? How many patients wind up requiring more care in the end because the insurance company was trying to save money at the outset.

Yes, we want to reduce waste and inefficiency, but I don't think the evidence-based model is the best one to do this. Our doctors should be allowed to exercise their professional judgment and do what is best for each individual patient. We need to demand that insurance bureaucrats stop being in the position of making our medical decisions and put that responsibility back where it belongs, between the patient and his/her doctor.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

sugar guidelines set to fight obesity

My good fried Graeme sent me this link to a good article about how our increased sugar consumption has contributed to our obesity. It sounds like a no-brainer, but many of us are not aware of just how much extra sugar we are consuming.

My favorite radio personality Thom Hartman spoke recently of an ad agency he used to own and operate. He was commissioned to publish a booklet by Kellogg entitled "Sugar: the vital nutrient". This blatant propaganda at the expense of consumers' health was one of the factors that prompted him to sell the agency and change careers. This was many years ago. Once sugar got a bad rap, they took the word out of brand names such as Super Sugar Crips, but the sugar remains.

And to be sure, sugar substitutes like splenda, aspartame, saccharine, equal, and nutrasweet are not better. We should eat the food in it's natural state (although cooked is better than raw), without extra sweetness added. If you must sweeeten, use: Pure cane sugar, rapidura, agave nectar, stevia, honey, fruit juice, beet sugar, pure-cane molassas. All in moderation and in a rotation.

Monday, October 5, 2009

google analytics

I just set up google analytics for TheAsianDiet.com and it's cool to see from where people are viewing my site. In the past week, I have had visitors from all over the US, and Canada, the UK, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Romania, India, Turkey, Austraila, New Zealand, the Phillipines, and Japan. I am very excited to see its broad reach. I really believe that this information can change the world; but I am more concerned that it can help save America. Ailing health is our greatest nation's greatest liability; adopting the principles in my book will greatly reduce this burden on society.

Dean Ornish explains why the Asian Diet is preferrable

Video of Dean Ornish encouraging The Asian Diet. I'll need to send him a book.