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Health Clicks: Reader's Favorite Health Tips and Strategies

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A variety of health tips and strategies


Here are some popular posts from The Health-Minded you may have missed this year.  I cover a variety of topics here at The Health-Minded that can help you create a healthy lifestyle for yourself and your family. There are so many ways to go about it and these posts reflect that assortment. The topics range from how to create a home gym with no space or much cash to when to treat a fever and even how to take your coffee.  I sure had a lot of fun putting them together for you, and I look forward to creating lots more in 2015 and, of course, hearing about how you stay health-minded, too!




Did You Catch This?

Please, click on the links, take a peek and, as always, let me know what you think!

1.  Just another example of how green can do so much darn good! 

2.  Low funds and little space, but want to get in shape? Here's how to fix that!

3.  Expand your choices of adding a touch of sweet and drizzle this over your dish or try this one here to reap loads of health benefits.

4.  This gland has a lot to do with a whole lot in your body. Best take care of it.

5.  Get the softest skin ever with hardly spending a dollar!

6.  Sleep like a baby tonight with a routine like this one.

7.  Warm up this winter with a technique that gets rid of the gunk as well.

8.  What's on your spice shelf? Here's some of what is on mine and why.

9.  Sometimes, your body knows best.

10.  Here is what to season your food with most of the time.

11.  Next time you change your sheets, you may want to change this, too!

12.  Some like it iced, some like it black, but science is showing us a morning cup can be a healthy start.

Related Posts:

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part V

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In this post, I'll examine the possible relationship between meat intake and type 2 diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, and it is strongly linked to lifestyle factors.

Non-industrial cultures

Non-industrial cultures have an extremely low prevalence of diabetes, whether they are near-vegan or near-carnivorous.  This is supported by blood glucose measurements in a variety of cultures, from the sweet potato farmers of the New Guinea highlands to the arctic Inuit hunters.  Here is what Otto Schaefer, director of the Northern Medical Research Unit at Charles Camsell hospital in Edmonton, Canada, had to say about the Inuit in the excellent book Western Diseases (Trowell and Burkitt, 1981):
Read more »

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5 Last-Minute (But Thoughtful) Gifts That You Can Get Anywhere

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5 last-minute but thoughtful gifts you can get anywhere



Need a gift for someone with no time in the schedule to go about finding it?  Ah, yes, I have been there, too! With hectic work schedules, family demands, and holiday functions, these things can slip our mind or at least go to the bottom of the "to do" list.

Allow me to save you the sweat, the guilt and the embarrassment of looking and feeling a bit thoughtless.  I offer five solutions to your potential problem. Five last-minute, thoughtful and health-minded gift ideas that you can get anywhere.  In fact, these are all from Walmart, which is everywhere (in the US anyway, except, ironically enough, not in my area, until very recently). For readers outside the US, these gift ideas could be found at many superstore type of retailers as well.

Keep this post handy, because if your schedule is tight and you are racking your brain for ideas, save yourself and make a quick trip for a thoughtful gift for a health-minded one  . . . just like you!


5 last minute but thoughtful gifts you can get anywhere

Five Quick, Thoughtful Gifts For The Health-Minded

Consider one of these gift ideas if you find yourself in the eleventh hour empty-handed:

1. Delight with a trendy but healthy dinner idea.  Place the spiral slicer in the center of the four stacked colorful bowls and tie (like a cross) with a hefty thick ribbon.  These could work:
Why it is a health choice: For those wanting a lower-calorie, lower carb, higher vitamin profile for their pasta meals, zucchini noodles may be a good choice.



2.  Go zen.  This bonsai tree is a nice idea for those who love nature and are on the nurturing side. How about this one? Chinese Elm Bonsai Tree ($25).

Why it is a healthy choice: Digging in the dirt and giving some love to plants is good for your health!



3.  Promote outdoor time.  For outdoor enthusiasts or those with a family, badminton is a game anyone can play but do keep the bugs away from ruining the fun. Try these tools to get the shuttlecock flying, bug-free:

Why it is a healthy choice: Everyone knows outdoor time with others and moving your body is oh-so-healthy!


4.  Open the lid to yummy eats. Pop in a favorite healthy stew or soup recipe under the lid that your friend or family member can make with this: Tramontina 6.5 Qt Enameled Round Cast Iron Dutch Oven ($40)

Why it is a healthy choice: Cast iron is a much better choice to cook in than teflon coated pans and it lasts forever!


5.  Encourage relaxation:  Give the gift of stress relief with a bottle of mineral bath salts along with a dry brush for the softest skin ever. Try these:
Why this is a healthy choice: Dry brushing is a chemical-free and easy way to rev up the circulation while exfoliating yourself to much softer skin.  (Here's the right dry brushing technique.) Using mineral salts along with a few other steps is a great way to turn that bath into a detox bath.

Need a bit more?

  • Staying with some friends for the weekend? Here are some hostess gift ideas she or he may like.  

Make sure you don't miss a healthy thing!
  • Join in on Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+, too! Just click on the "connect box" in the upper right hand corner to link in there, too.
  • And, it would be a shame if you missed a health promoting post! Don't forget to enter your email address in the box in the sidebar, "Follow by email." 

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Is Concierge Medicine For You and How to Find It

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A new way of seeing your doctor has emerged: concierge medicine. Find out if it is right for you.








Familiar with the term concierge medicine? I wasn't until two of our regular family doctors transformed their practices using the approach. We were forced into learning about it quickly and assess whether this type of practice could work for our family. Here is what I found out about how this approach to medicine works.

A small but growing number of doctors are making the switch to a practice incorporating the concierge method of practicing medicine in the hopes of offering more-personalized patient care. Patients may look to concierge care because they seek a doctor who is more available and will actively manage a serious illness or serve as an advocate within the system. Some consider the convenience of it a huge plus and need help with prevention and wellness that many practices build into their practices.

Others say it is a solution to the concerns regarding the Affordable Care Act pulling more patients into the health care system resulting in more-crowded waiting rooms and longer waits to get an appointment to see a doctor. But, whatever the reason, it is something that is gaining traction in the United States. Let's take a closer look and see if it may be something for you to consider.




CONCIERGE MEDICINE: BENEFITS AND COSTS


Concierge medicine is probably how all medicine should be practiced in a perfect world if there were enough talented health practitioners and other medical resources to go around.  Doctors creating practices using the concierge outline see fewer patients. Seeing fewer patients allows these benefits:
  • Much more time spent with the patient at the appointment
  • An especially thorough yearly exam
  • Access to your doctor 24 hours a day and same day appointments
  • Better patient/doctor ratio which equates to earlier appointment scheduling and less time in the waiting room
  • More individualized care 
  • Wellness programs and classes for free that emphasize prevention
  • More job satisfaction for the doctor as he or she is able to give the time needed to get the patient better
It all sounds great, doesn't it? But, it comes with a price - a hefty one at that.  But, I bet you knew that was coming. Depending on where you live, a typical yearly (usually) out-of-pocket membership could begin at $1,500 for an individual to $3,000 for a couple. But, some of those membership fees could include some services that you may have paid for anyway.

Some call the concierge model "elitist" with those only "in the club" and able to pay the fee are allowed to be seen, but many doctors find they practice medicine more effectively. It also may attract more talented individuals to the field of medicine giving more job satisfaction. In addition, many doctors do keep space for lower income patients in their practices that they will see as well without the fee.



HOW CONCIERGE MEDICINE CAN ENHANCE YOUR LIFE

Those health benefits from seeing a doctor in a concierge practice also can benefit your life in other ways, too.  Joining a practice using concierge medicine could enhance your life in these ways:
  • Less time waiting at the doctor means less time away from your job or family or whatever else you want to be doing.
  • You may solve your health complaint a lot faster and a lot easier as the doctor has more time to spend to fit the puzzle pieces of your symptoms together.
  • You may be alerted to a small health issue before it becomes a bigger health issue because a thorough yearly exam is included in the fee.
  • You get an answer to your health complaint earlier because the doctor may be able to schedule diagnostic tests faster and easier.
  • It could be life saving as you have access to your doctor 24 hours a day, which could greatly assist in an emergency issue.
  • You have the comfort of dealing with one person and establishing a deeper rapport and relationship with your medical team.


A new way of seeing your doctor has emerged: concierge medicine. Find out if it is right for you.



HOW TO FIND THE BEST POTENTIAL CONCIERGE MEDICAL PRACTICE FOR YOU

If you are interested in finding and comparing various concierge practices in your area, this tool may help or this one as well.  Then, when you have a few names you are interested in investigating and can possibly afford, you should interview the practice before agreeing to any fees. After all, your health (and those who monitor and treat it) is one of the biggest investments you can make!

Dig deeper.  Here are some questions to ask the potential practice:
  • What is the ratio of doctor to patient?
  • How does that ratio equate to how long a wait time to get an appointment and for waiting room time?
  • Are you able to schedule required testing sooner?
  • What is the average length of an appointment?
  • Do you offer free classes or wellness programs?
  • What services are included in your fees?
  • What other doctors do you refer to regularly and can you schedule an appointment with him or her sooner if needed?
  • Do you have digital record keeping for easier sharing of information among the medical team?
  • Does the group specialize in any form of medicine?
  • What hospital affiliations do your team members have?
  • What are the costs?
  • How do you handle billing and insurance?
  • If your practice is not a good fit, what kind of fee reimbursement do you offer?
  • Why should I come to your practice and not another one?
  • Are there any other benefits you can tell me about?

Click over here. Check out a post I wrote regarding tips to finding the right health care provider over here that can apply to any doctor (concierge or not).  It is a big decision that deserves attention.  

Swing by the office.  Before you sign the dotted line, visit the office to see whether you like the practice and those that work there.

Check your insurance.  Your health policy may cover procedures that the concierge contract does not such as laboratory tests and diagnostic screenings.

Compare with others.  Create a chart with the various attributes, costs and services you are seeking to easily compare the practices.


We ultimately did not join the concierge practices, but it is something I will revisit periodically in the future and will be sure to investigate the plans thoroughly to get the right fit.  But, I would love to hear - has anyone used this type of doctor before? If so, what has been your experience? If not, what do you think of this new movement in the practice of medicine? Are you for it or against the idea?



FOR MORE ON THE TOPIC . . . 


Related Posts:

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part IV

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In this post, I'll address the question: does eating meat contribute to weight gain?

Non-industrial cultures

I'll get right to the point: humans living in a non-industrialized setting tend to be lean, regardless of how much meat they eat.  This applies equally to hunter-gatherers, herders, and farmers.

One of the leanest populations I've encountered in my reading is the 1960s Papua New Guinea highland farmers of Tukisenta.  They ate a nearly vegan diet composed almost exclusively of sweet potatoes, occasionally punctuated by feasts including large amounts of pork.  On average, they ate very little animal food.  Visiting researchers noted that the residents of Tukisenta were "muscular and mostly very lean", and did not gain fat with age (1, Western Diseases, Trowell and Burkitt, 1981).

!Kung man gathering mongongo fruit/nuts.
From The !Kung San, by Richard B. Lee.
Another remarkably lean hunter-gatherer population is the !Kung San foragers of the Kalahari desert.  The !Kung San are so lean that many of them would be considered underweight on the standard body mass index scale (BMI less than 18.5).  Average BMI doesn't exceed 20 in any age category (The !Kung San, Richard Lee, 1979).  Is this simply because they're starving?  It is true that they don't always get as much food as they'd like, but on most days, they have the ability to gather more food than they need.  The fact that they are able to reproduce normally suggests that they aren't starving.  Richard Lee's detailed work with the !Kung San indicates that approximately 40 percent of their calories came from animal foods during his study period in the 1960s.  This was mostly meat, with occasional eggs when available.

Read more »

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Recent Interviews

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For those who don't follow my Twitter account (@whsource), here are links to my two most recent interviews.

Smash the Fat with Sam Feltham.  We discuss the eternally controversial question, "is a calorie a calorie"?  Like many other advocates of the low-carbohydrate diet, Feltham believes that the metabolic effects of food (particularly on insulin), rather than calorie intake per se, are the primary determinants of body fatness.  I explain the perspective that my field of research has provided on this question.  We also discussed why some lean people become diabetic.  Feltham was a gracious host.

Nourish, Balance, Thrive with Christopher Kelly.  Kelly is also an advocate of the low-carbohydrate diet for fat loss.  This interview covered a lot of ground, including the insulin-obesity hypothesis, regulation of body fatness by the leptin-brain axis, how food reward works to increase calorie intake, and the impact of the food environment on food intake.  I explain why I think proponents of the insulin-obesity hypothesis have mistaken association for causation, and what I believe the true relationship is between insulin biology and obesity.  Kelly was also a gracious host.  He provides a transcript if you'd rather read the interview in text form.

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No Gym? No Problem! Create Your Own With Little Money or Space

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Over the weekend it occurred to me that the "gym" that I belong to does not take up much real estate or put much of a dent in my wallet. No, it does not. No monthly fees or elaborate rooms with all mirrors and state-of-the-art treadmills and exercise machines.  Rather, I'd say, my gym is small, rather modest (but gets the job done) and low key.  In fact, so small, it just about fits in a mid-size box . . . under my sofa. Really! Come take a look!





Why I Don't Belong to a Gym


I am in the midst of restarting my regular exercise program and spoke about how important it is to fit in a regular fitness routine and why I am trying to get back on track with it, but it does not mean I spend a lot of time at a gym or driving to one either. Although gym memberships can offer great incentive and be an effective tool for many, here is why, at this time, I do not belong to a gym:
  • Gym memberships in my area are expensive.  
  • It takes gas and more time to drive to it and back.
  • You have to wait to use equipment adding to the time to exercise.
  • Sometimes the vibe can be sort of "meat marketish."


No gym membership? No big deal! Make your own home gym that is just as effective with very little space and money and be on your way to getting fit. Tap here for ideas just how to get it done!



My Home Gym and What's In It


I am not an exercise fanatic by any means, but I try to move in some fashion most days of the week.  I prefer to get exercise doing an activity (discussed here), but when I do not have time for that, my goal is to keep to a fitness routine that is generally short (so that I can get on with the other parts of my day) but more intense (so that I get the health benefits of exercise).

Here are the inexpensive tools I keep in that "gym" under the sofa to do just that and why. I simply choose a routine (I try to switch it up) and usually complete it in 30 minutes or so.

1.  Choose your weight.  

I have various weights for the various type of exercises I may be doing. Dumbbells allow you to do upper-body exercises as well as adding to lower body challenges like lunges or squats.

2.  Swing your way to a great workout. 

A kettlebell can serve as another dumbbell for strength training and used for a kettlebell exercise program (many of which you may find on-line). They offer a high-intensity, interval training cardio workout.


3.  Hop along.

Jumping rope can offer a quick, intense cardio and lower body workout. I wrote more about it here as well as what kind of ropes to buy too.


4.  Open your laptop.

You can access all kinds of workouts ready to follow on YouTube. I like these quick barre3 videos a lot.

5.  Pop in a CD:

Exercise CDs offer lots of variety of every workout imaginable. They are inexpensive and can be used over and over.  I talked about one I have used a lot here.

6.  Gentle jumping. 

Yes, a rebounder does not technically sit under my sofa but it could as there are foldable varieties.  Rebounding is a great tool to strengthen the lymphatic circulatory system and can be a gentle workout on the joints as well.

7.  Strike a pose. 

A yoga mat offers a bit of cushion to that downward facing dog, cobra, or triangle pose. Choose a PVC-free one though like one of these as many are made with toxic chemicals.

8.  Just me.  

Planks offer a great abdominal exercise and require zero machines or tools.  The same goes for push-ups, jumping jacks, burpees and more!

9.  Take man's best friend.

Walking my Giant Schnauzer offers time outdoors in the fresh air and can be a great time to catch up with friends and family if you get them to come along too.


I like the fact that a lot of what I need to get in better health and feel and move a bit better too is all under the sofa, (with not too much time sitting on it).

So that is what is presently in my gym box at home.  What's in yours?  Any suggestions of anything else I should include? Tell me, how do you keep fit?

Need More?



    weights photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericmcgregor/346990046/">ericmcgregor</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>
    treadmill: photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/militaryhealth/8652397443/">MilitaryHealth</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>

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