Returning to the Beginning: Two Core Messages

Today I want to focus on two of the core messages to which I continue to return time and time again: First, there is an enormous difference between real food and manufactured calories. And, second, as we have been discussing at length in recent weeks, manufactured calories have been associated with an epidemic of chronic diseases, including not only diabetes, coronary artery disease, and obesity, but also depression, dementia, and other brain diseases. Continue reading


Nourishing Breakfast Ideas for Kids and the Parents Who Love Them

A while back, a good friend of mine, an elementary school teacher at a small school north of Detroit, says “The kids are bouncing off the walls by 9:30.” It occurs to me that maybe their blood sugars are falling, though 9:30 a.m. is pretty early for that. Then he says that a snack usually helps get them back on track. Yeh, I think, it’s probably their blood sugars. Continue reading


Trying to Eat in a Hospital

My mom doesn’t take diabetes medicine; she keeps her blood sugars normal through a combination of common sense and careful carbohydrate consumption. A few years ago, she had to be hospitalized at her local hospital for what she called a “minor procedure.” The procedure went fine, but the food did not. Continue reading


Inspiration & Motivation for Your Reading Pleasure

On a regular basis, I have to tell a new patient that their blood sugars are too high. But please don’t shoot the messenger: It’s nothing personal. Not when the latest statistics reveal that fully one-half of the population over age 65 is now diabetic or prediabetic. And certainly not when the stats show that the majority don’t even know. Unbelievable, right? But it’s true. It’s either you or your spouse. You or your next-door neighbor. You or your best friend. Fifty percent. It doesn’t have to be this way. Continue reading


Let’s Go For a Walk

This is a good week to talk about taking a walk. When it comes to health care, I consider mobility a goal of the highest priority. The one other goal about which i feel this way is blood sugars; I’ll pay any price to keep patients’ blood sugars normal. And I’ll pay any price to keep a person mobile. When my kids were growing up, and they were feeling crummy (I’m cranky; I don’t feel well; I’m bored; I have too much homework), I would always say, “Go for a walk!” It got to be a joke in our house. They took it to the next level. Fever? Go for a walk! Migraine? Take a hike!  Broken leg? Walk it off! Appendicitis? “Very funny,” I said. Continue reading