We need all the help we can get through these difficult times. Unfortunately, lots of people cope by eating a lot of sugar. Brain function and mood get worse with refined diets. I hope you take the time to read the article below. Gut microbiota: How does it interact with the brain? Wr

This is not the first time I write about how toxic soda is. Hence the title. BUT we are all free to eat/drink whatever we want. This indisputable fact makes me think of the old, worn out statement, “doc, it hurts when I do this.” Reference Dangerous Side Effects of Drinking Soda Every

More evidence that what we eat affects our gut bacteria, which in turn impacts our cardiovascular health. Unfortunately, I can think of a few patients who won’t/can’t stop eating poorly, despite deteriorating cardiac health. Reference Reduction of intestinal trimethylamine by probioti

If you are long in the tooth like me, you probably are. I hope that fear induces you to eat better. Get off refined foods, especially sugar and trans-fats. They disturb your immune system in the Microbiome (gut bacteria). Also eat as organic as possible. Graduate work: become vegan. R

OLIVER BURKEMAN Special to the New York Times “The psychological advantages of time spent in nature are well known, and plenty of research demonstrates that in-person interaction brings benefits the digital kind cannot. In one typical study of older Americans, published in 2015, parti

When my patients are not sure they can change their sweet diets, I ask if they would at least consider quitting soda pop. Most of them are surprised to hear how toxic it is. Years of sugar coating by the soda industry are not easy to overcome. Good luck to you. Artificially sweetened

Corollary: if you don’t believe in masks, are you prepared to accept, for you and your grandma, a cot in the hospital parking lot with a nurse’s aide squeezing an airbag to help you/her breathe? You may have pandemic and politics fatigue. I sure do. I will not blog about COVID-19 anym

Pandemic coverage still has many “holes” which allow surprise medical bills The AP (10/11, Murphy) reported that while “many” insurance companies “and the U.S. government have offered to pick up or waive costs tied to the virus, holes remain for big bills to slip through and surprise