When I cared for adults in an internal medicine practice in suburban Cleveland, I frequently observed a wonderful phenomenon. It was not at all unusual for patients to bring along their children and grandchildren, fresh from a prior appointment across the hall with their pediatrician. Beautiful, bright-faced, fresh-scrubbed, engaging, chubby, usually well-behaved, American children. The pediatricians’ well-intended recommendations on reducing the rate of weight gain continued to be unsuccessful, and my patients’ faces told me that the ongoing exhortations had become tiresome. If they knew how to fix this problem, they told me, they already would have. Continue reading
Author Archives: Dr. Sukol
The Message
Today I’d like to speak about something that has been on my mind all week, and that something is “the message.”
As we all know, over the past 100 years the processed food industry has developed ever more sophisticated strategies for influencing the public to purchase an ever-growing proportion of processed edibles to replace real food. And the industry has been so successful in this endeavor, if you want to call it that, that ⅔ of Americans are now overweight, and 50 percent are expected to carry a diagnosis of diabetes by age 65. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Jason’s Kale Chips
This recipe for kale chips is a little treat from a friend down the street. He says that he doesn’t actually measure, but just eyeballs everything. Other than the first two ingredients, therefore, you should consider the amounts listed below as suggestions only, and feel free to make it your own. Kale chips are a really great option with a sandwich, or instead of a bowl of popcorn, or for an afternoon snack.
Lucky Enough
An old friend of mine is lucky enough to live at the confluence of two small lakes. I hope I’m using that word right — what I mean to say is that if you look out the windows of his home toward the east you see one lake; and if you look toward the north you see a different one. Can you picture it? On the little spit of land that juts into the space between the two lakes, right next to where families of ducks and swans cross all the day long in a patient parade of parenting, sits a small cabin. And in the front window of that cabin rests a sign:
“If you’re lucky enough to live on the water, you’re lucky enough.” Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Cucumber Salad with Dill and Red Onion
My aunt used to make a recipe just like this. She was famous for mixing the brine with a little sour cream and drinking it after the cucumbers were gone. No kidding, her idea was once written up in a national magazine, and my family has been excited about it ever since! Continue reading
Breakfasts for Kids and Their Loving Parents
I was talking with a dear friend who teaches in the younger grades at a small school north of Detroit. “The kids are bouncing off the walls by 9:30,” my friend says, and I think to myself that maybe their blood sugars are starting to fall. Nine-thirty in the morning is pretty early. He says that a snack often helps. Yup — it very well may be their blood sugars. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Brussels Sprouts Slaw
When you hear about a recipe for cole slaw, you usually think about cabbage. The “cole” in cole slaw” actually refers to cabbage, and it’s related to the “kohl” in kohlrabi, as well as the “col” in colcannon, that delicious Irish dish of cabbage and potatoes. Like Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and cabbage are members of the Brassica family of vegetables, also known as crucifers. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Rustic Zucchini Layered with Tomatoes
A long time ago, I spent an exciting albeit exhausting day climbing inside the Pyramids at Giza. Later that night, I ate a dish just like this in a restaurant in Cairo. Having worked up quite an appetite, my memories of that meal are layered through with the sounds of noisy waiters and clanging pots, the smart smack of pottery plates being gathered to and from tables, and the sight of dozens of cats walking silently above us on the ceiling beams of that busy restaurant. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tabouleh Like You’ve Never Seen It!
I’m still collecting recipes for July 4th! This particular tabouleh is a Mediterranean masterpiece! If you’ve never tried sumac and za’atar, you are in for a treat — packed with phytonutrients and flavor, they make for a major mouth rush! If you don’t have any and you’re not inclined to go find some, then just substitute a teaspoon of thyme and don’t give it another second’s thought. Continue reading
Insulin is Like Money in the Bank
Have you ever considered that the amount of insulin you are capable of making over your lifetime is limited? That your pancreas can make, oh, let’s just call it 1000 pounds, of insulin, and that after that it starts to have trouble trying to keep up with demand? Think about that. What would happen if you used up most of your supply by the time you were 40 or 50? Then what? Continue reading