A special synergy comes from investing in three different kinds of activities that combine to improve your health and wellness: eating patterns, activity patterns, and rest & relaxation patterns. Activities that combine more than one at the same time — like gardening, picnics, or yoga, to name just a few — bring an extra special benefit. Here are a few examples of ways I have found to mix and match eating, moving, and relaxing. Continue reading
Author Archives: Dr. Sukol
Everything You Need to Know About Your Cholesterol
Every once in a while, a friend thrusts their latest cholesterol lab results in front of me and asks a barrage of questions:
“What do you think of these results, are they okay?”
“My doctor said the HDL is too low.”
“Why are my triglycerides so high?”
“What should the LDL be?”
“And why is the total so high if the individual numbers are good?”
This week we’re talking about what your cholesterol profile results mean, and how to make them better. Continue reading
Fruit: Friend or Foe?
Here is how this all got started:
Last month I received an email from a friend asking about whether it was okay to eat a lot of fruit every day. She had seen an article in the NYTimes, “How to Stop Eating Sugar,” in which she read that fresh fruit is a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth without resorting to processed items with their excessive (absurd even, I would say) amounts of added sugar. Without specifying exactly how much was too much, the author included a warning… … Continue reading
The Art of Deception: More Ways the Food Industry is Influencing Your Purchases
Did you know that there’s a massive difference between “cereal” and “breakfast cereal?’ Cereal means grain, such as brown rice, bulgur wheat, oatmeal (not microwave-able), millet, amaranth, spelt. Breakfast cereal means Coco Krispies, Frosted Flakes, Life Cereal, Raisin Bran (one of the highest sugar breakfast cereals on the market). Cheerios and Kashi, too, in case you were wondering. Cereal comes from the field; breakfast cereal comes from the factory. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Curried Lentil, Tomato, and Coconut Soup
Everything Yotam Ottolenghi touches turns to gold. If you don’t already have one of his cookbooks [Ottolenghi (2008), Plenty (2010), Jerusalem (2012)] in your home, prepare yourself. YO takes flavor to the next level. Look at this list of ingredients – I’ve used them all, but never to such glorious effect. And it’s not just flavor. He takes texture to the next level, and color. Surely his kitchen has more than three dimensions. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Eddie’s Lentil Soup
Last night, when I arrived home from work, I walked into a house full of family and friends of all ages eager to spend the evening together, catch up, share stories, and allow the crazy, busy workweek to recede into the distance. And the house smelled wonderful. Continue reading
Growing Season Begins!
The first time I joined a community-supported agriculture (CSA) project, almost ten years ago, the kickoff, late on a Thursday afternoon, sent me racing out of the office at the end of the day. The first week’s bounty included lettuce greens, herbs, onions, kohlrabi, radishes. Adults chatted and jacketed children hopped around like hungry little rabbits as we waited for the strawberries to arrive. After a long, cold winter, we were all hungry for fresh food. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Karen’s Spiced Nuts
My friend and fellow yogi Karen Bush comes up with some of the very best recipes, and this one is guaranteed to make you very popular. You can bring it to a party, to book group, to work to share with your coworkers. You can sprinkle it on your salad and turn a little meal into a spectacular celebration. Guaranteed, everyone is going to love it. Continue reading
Most Manufactured Salad Dressing Isn’t Food
I recently decided that it was time to look at the ingredient lists of salad dressings, whatever that means, so I picked four popular brands to examine. You will be very interested to learn what I discovered. The first ingredient in the first product I picked up, Wishbone Italian dressing, was water. Frankly, that seems like a very expensive way to buy water. And surprising, too, given that Italian dressing consists primarily (and traditionally) of olive oil and vinegar. Not Wishbone Italian dressing, though. Continue reading
Slow Food for Passover and Other Times
This week I’m starting to prepare for Passover, which begins this coming Friday at sunset, and I am reminded of an experience from a few years ago, when I got an email from a neighbor asking if anyone knew where she could find horseradish. Now it turns out that I had planted a horseradish root a few years prior, so I happened to know the answer to her question. Continue reading