Pain, Pain, Go Away!

Diabetes Down Despite Dietitians' Directions Last Sunday when I wrote about the grifters over at EatThis.com, which calls itself "Eat This, Not That," I was worked up enough to tweet to their medical expert board members if they stood by the site's article flogging sugary drinks and fast food for St. Patrick's Day. The site has over 1,300 articles, mostly puff pieces, on McDonald's and a news feed full of "the most important breaking news" on Doritos, burger joints and Chips Ahoy! I asked a dietitian who responded to me what exactly the "not that" part was in "Eat This, Not That." Important news about what you should eat! I was worked up until I remembered the saying, "You can't cheat an honest man." Meaning that this con, like a lot of others, requires some dishonesty on the part of the mark. Every Joe Six-Pack knows that cookies, chips and coffee-flavored milkshakes from Starbucks aren't health food. It takes s...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! For me, it's the day to plant snow peas, but for the site Eat This, Not That, it's the day to recommend Irish food . If you're thinking that the " world's #1 nutrition website and one of the top five food outlets in the U.S. " whose "brand [is] comprised of an award-winning team of journalists and board-certified experts, doctors, nutritionists, chefs, personal trainers, and dietitians" might recommend healthy Irish food like corned beef and cabbage or Irish stew and suggest going easy on the Guinness, guess again.  Their #1 St. Patrick's Day deal is a sugary drink from Starbucks topped with whipped cream and caramel. The rest of their 26 suggestions are just as bad: more liquid sugar, fast food sandwiches, doughnuts, cheesecake, and even cocktails. Yes, cocktails. How does a nutrition site recommend something without nutrients? This isn't a one-off article written for a holiday. I was originally looking for their...

If you donated to Jeanette Breen's GiveSendGo fund thinking she'd saved kids from getting the clot shot, I'm afraid to tell you that you can't get your money back . Quack, quack! Photo from Unsplash Breen is a midwife in New York City who was handing out "Real Immunity homeoprophylaxis" pellets in lieu of childhood vaccines, and then falsifying vaccination records. The pellets appear to be these --which Renovo Natural Health is selling for hundreds of dollars. Breen's scheme started in 2019, before COVID was a thing in the US.  The New York State Health Department says , It should be noted that these actions began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not include the COVID vaccine . The immunizations that were part of the scheme included: diphtheria, tetanus toxoid-containing and pertussis vaccine (DTaP or Tdap); hepatitis B vaccine; measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR); polio vaccine; varicella (Chickenpox) vaccine; meningococcal conjugate vaccine (M...

For the past several months, I thought my hair was getting thinner. There was more hair in the shower drain than before and the hair at my temples was getting thin and wispy. I put it down to age until I changed conditioners. Immediately, there was less hair in the drain and more on my head. I'd been using a lightening conditioner (Sheer Blonde) that must have been damaging my hair. I've changed shampoo since then, too--both products (Herbal Essences) are free of sulfates, added phthalates, parabens and colorants. Stock photo from Pixabay.com My sister-in-law had a win, too. On a member's advice offered at Dr. Davis's Inner Circle (members aren't necessarily medical professionals), she applied tea tree oil on a toenail that had had a fungal infection for years. After three months, she said, the fungus was gone.  With that in mind, I applied Vick's Vapor Rub (actually, a store brand version) to a red, scaly patch on my ear that has popped up from time to time m...

One thing I've always missed on a low-carb diet is chip and dip. There are low-carb alternatives, but most of them are full of junk ingredients like emulsifiers or vegetable oil. Surprisingly, Kroger (and probably other chains it owns ) has chips, dips and more that are low-carb, free of junk ingredients and taste great.  Pork rinds, chicken drumettes, seed crackers, cheese crisps, dip, and guacamole. The seed crackers are thin and crunchy and hold up well under a scoop of dip; the cheese crisps are crunchy and filling (great to take on the road); the dips are delicious and even dairy-free. Look for the dips and guacamole in the refrigerated section.  The chicken drumettes from Miller Poultry (no relation) come from "egg to table" farms whose barns are certified by the Global Animal Partnership and meet or beat Step 2 standards. This particular brand isn't available at all stores, but there are probably similar brands near you. 4505 chicharrones (aka pork rinds ) are...

I'm an incorrigible night owl. Never in my life have I wanted to get out of bed; none of the tips and tricks I've tried to go to bed and get up early have worked long-term. This hack will hopefully prevent me from staying up really late, since I'm usually on my laptop when I'm up past midnight.  Hat tip to Coach April at Dr. Davis's Inner Circle site from prompting me to find a solution for staying up too late.  It can't be morning already. Photo from Pixabay . There are two ways to schedule your Mac to automatically shut down depending on your operating system (OS). To find your OS, click on the apple in the upper left, About This Mac, Overview. Full instructions here .  Monterey OS and Earlier Open System Preferences Go to Energy Saver on a Mac, or Battery on a Mac laptop. Find Schedule (In older versions of macOS, the Schedule button was at the bottom of the Energy Saver tab.) Choose your start up time. Choose your sleep time. Source:  https://www.macworld.co...

Readers might recall that I started doing strength training this year. I work out with free weights, a stability (Swiss) ball and do some bodyweight exercises so I'll have strong bones and better metabolic health. (Muscle burns energy; fat mostly sits there.) I use 10- to 25-pound free weights. Some women worry that lifting heavy weights will make them look like body builders. ( Here's what actual Olympic female weightlifters look like ; they wouldn't get far in a bodybuilding contest.) In my case, I'll let readers be the judge.  March 19, 2023.  Around December 20, 2023.  It's not a dramatic transformation, but you can see my shirt is looser in the bottom picture. I'm about five pounds lighter and had to get new pants last month. Oh--and I don't look like a lumberjack. Dip! Kroger's organic brand, Simple Truth , has some terrific dips that are less than half the price of Primal Kitchen. The tzatziki is like onion and dill dip that I haven't had in o...