Normally your blood pressure shoots up when you answer your phone to hear a campaign ad or sales call for something absurd. But the American Heart Association is now telling us that an automated calling system can help people with hypertension be more aware of the potentially disabling or...

Swine flu. Yes, definitely heard of it. But, what is it, really? Should I be worried, really? Dr. Charles Ericsson gives this primer — everything you needed to know — about the swine flu outbreak. It turns out that we have come a long way since the last incident....

Yields Approximately Ten One Cup Servings You’ll Need 2 ½ Tablespoons dried lavender 1 tray of ice cubes 2 cups boiling water ½ cup sugar The juice from 8 lemons 5 cups cold water (you may want to add more to adjust for personal taste) Directions Place the ice...

Eat less salt, lower your risk of heart failure. We know this, but are often not coached very well on how to achieve it. For example, in this research report, researchers found that patients THINK they are lowering their salt by having a few less shakes on their food...

Yawn. Ho-hum. Here it is again. Another study to confirm that the Mediterranean diet basically rules. Now the Archives of Internal Medicine weighs in to show that the Mediterranean diet “is the only dietary pattern associated with a lower risk for heart disease.” Faux foods, on the other hand,...

We have it on good authority …. The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) is calling for a new era of beverage formulation. We need less sugar in our drinks. Why didn’t we know this already? Just asking. Harvard has called for beverages to have less than 1 gram...

Plastic containers can leech a chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA) into your foods and drinks. This is particularly true if you warm up your food while it’s still in the plastic. The amount of leeching is proprotional to the temperature it is kept at. Also, foods with some acidity...

If you could bottle laughter, and prescribe it to patients, you would make a gazillion dollars. According to this report, laughing (basically) gets rid bad chemicals and encourages good ones. Dr. Lee Berk, at the Oak Crest Health Research Institute in Loma Linda, assigned 20 adults with type 2...

Guess which diet got the best ranking? According to this report by WebMD, it’s the Mediterranean Diet. Study Shows Mediterranean Diet Lowers Heart Disease Risk; Western Diet Gets Poor MarksResearchers evaluated more than 50 years of research on diet and heart disease and found those that follow a Mediterranean...

The polyphenol-rich pomegranate may reduce inflammation, and lower your risk of chronic disease. This is the conclusion of this new study from the Journal of Inflammation. Read the report here. This is great and all, but keep your feet on the ground. Don’t run out and buy Pom pills,...

  Serves 12   You’ll Need · 6 medium sweet potatoes · 1 ½ cups apple, sliced · ½ teaspoon salt · 1/3 cup brown sugar · 4 Tablespoons butter · 1 teaspoon cinnamon Directions Preheat oven to 350-F. Boil sweet potatoes until tender. Slice in 1/4 inch pieces....

Sports drinks, by definition, are marketed to sportsy people, and those who have aspirations to be sportsy people. Concerns are being raised, however, regarding this assumption — because of their high sugar content, and dyes that give them their multiple Day-Glo color palate. This article reports on research (from...