Obesity: One Big Eating Saga Is Taking You

Obesity affects more children and adults than ever before. About one-third of the world's people are overweight enough to be considered unhealthy. It is a risk factor for more serious health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and more. Body mass index (BMI) is an indicator of obesity. BMI is calculated from your weight and height. You are considered obese if your BMI is over 30. Research shows that you can reduce your risk of concurrent health conditions and potential associated risks by losing weight.

You can prevent obesity as well as control the one big eating saga primarily responsible for the cause. Portion control and exercise are the main ways you can keep your weight in a healthy range. Choosing healthy foods is also a way to keep the pounds off. Strict attention to these factors alone will help you maintain instead of gain.  Check with your doctor for further resources including a registered dietitian, nutritionist, and formal exercise training.  Make healthy eating and exercise part of your life routine.

Best health!

Father's Day Health Checkup

"If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." — Mickey Mantle

Statistics show that men are less likely than women to get routine health checkups and physical exams. Men are more likely to seek medical attention when there is an acute problem, and once that has resolved not until another acute problem. Part of the reason for this is lack of health education. Men are also more prone to the "this can't be happening to me" syndrome. Is ignorance truly bliss? Short term, maybe. Long term, no.

So what's a fella to do? Make a yearly checkup routine. Do it around your birthday or holiday like Father's Day or Christmas as a gift to yourself (your most important asset!). In addition to a complete medical history (be sure to take your notes and questions http://bit.ly/122ZEeF) and physical exam, there are other things your doctor should do. This includes:

• complete blood panel including a PSA (prostate specific antigen) if over 40 or have a history of prostate cancer in your family - please note that PSA screening is very controversial as to if it should be done and should be discussed at length with your doctor as this test does save lives
• EKG, baseline at first physical then every 2-3 years - yearly if over 50, have risk factors such as smoking, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, increased cholesterol, family history of heart disease
• cardiac screening by a cardiologist if any signs or symptoms of heart disease especially if there is a family history of heart attack, angina
• colon cancer screening with stool guaiac cards - stool samples are placed on these and returned to your doctor who checks for blood (this should be done when a rectal exam is performed, but if for some reason it is not, be sure to get these cards)
• colonoscopy, baseline at 50, sooner if stool positive for occult blood or gross rectal bleeding, weight loss, stomach symptoms
• mental health assessment

Be sure to include regular visits to the dentist, and optometrist or ophthalmologist (eye doctor).

Best health, guys!

by J.L. Richardson, M.D., family medicine doctor and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.

Health News Anemia

Have you noticed that there is a health news deficiency in television programming? In 24 hours of TV observance, mostly redundant repetition, health news rarely got repeated or even mentioned. In addition, health stories seemed to stem from some person's misfortune rather than their health challenge. As many times as the story is repeated, rarely, if ever, is there a clue about what you could do if it happened to you.

Within a 24 hour period health commercials comprised more health information than actual broadcasts.  If you wanted to know about the daily health news like the current blood shortage or the worldwide Ebola outbreak, you will hear about it from someone, or read about it on line before it becomes old news on TV, if at all.

Of course there are newsworthy things going on in health and medicine - everyday. Drug recalls, disease outbreaks, new disease research, and public health hazards infect our communities daily. Local news may mention it, and is more likely to carry health news you can actually use as well as local resources to help you out.

Medical information on TV is limited and stagnating. Sixty seconds on the news. Two minutes on the talk show after commercials on prescription medication. Outdated show on this channel, and outdated repeat on that channel in between the new show. Watch some on this channel then click and click to different channels to connect your medical news for today. Channel surfing can become quite cumbersome with a low yield within 24 hours. Excluding taped health shows the daily intermittent health news infusion averages less than one hour.

Health and medical coverage on TV is surely lacking in this consumer driven health conscious society. We can watch as much sports, cartoons, movies, news as we want, but we still have to piece together our medical news and supplement it with the written word, and spoken word of health care providers. Solution: health channels. The television is one of the most used sources by which folks get their news and information. It is certainly a way to get and give health information. The most used information source is one of the least used for health and medicine in general.  Dedicated health channels and more daily health news would make us even healthier and richer. Transfuse STAT!