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Tips for How to Handle The In-Laws for the Holidays . . .

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Not all of us have access to effective sedatives . . . So, for the rest of us in the real world Here are 7 ways to deal with annoying in-laws and family during the Holidays:

  1. Manage your expectations. Setting realistic expectations is the key to not getting frustrated or angry with your partner’s family. It’s inevitable that there will be differences and disagreements, but don’t try to change them or assume that things will be different this year. Instead, strive to find some common ground. It is ok to disagree, but don’t focus on differences, focus on the common ground.
  2. Make it a team effort. Include your in-laws in the planning. Ultimately, everyone wants to feel important and included.  A team effort makes every family member feel like an essential part of the meal or party. If someone doesn’t like to cook or bake, have him or her bring something to drink, flowers, a game or the plates and napkins. People get along when they feel listened to and included. 
  3. Recognize it for what it is: a control issue. Seriously, it’s about control.  Often we take comments from our in-laws personally, especially if it’s about something important to us, like our marriage, parenting style or work situation. Keep this in perspective: Your in-laws’ comments aren’t about you; they’re a reflection of them. Usually the most prickly issues are about who will have the most influence and control. Parents are fearful of losing total control over their child. They also don’t like to acknowledge that they are getting older themselves — and losing some of their power. When you recognize this, you can ask for input or advice, making them feel less out of control in the relationship. 
  4. Respect differences. You can’t change anyone’s behavior or opinion, so be a role model and show respect for everyone’s point of view. If there’s a topic that creates too much conflict — like politics or religion or food — steer clear of it. You don’t have to accept your in-laws’ opinions, just respect them and listen politely.  
  5. Set emotional boundaries. Don’t spill your guts about everything in your life, and establish limits around what you ask others — and how much you’re willing to shape-shift to accommodate them. Most of us want to be accepted and liked, especially by our in-laws, and sometimes we do and do and do for them at our own expense. Shape-shifting and attempting to conform is physically and mentally exhausting.   Boundaries are what you will and will not do. You and your spouse should decide together what the boundaries are in your own family. For example, if you value your kids’ early bedtimes, you may not attend evening events, even if it’s your sister-in-law’s birthday.
  6. Enlist your partner’s help. If you’ve tried to communicate directly with your in-laws but there’s too much tension and conflict, it might be time to ask your spouse to step in. He might have to talk to them alone or come to your rescue when you’re in their company. This may not be easy for him, because parents tend to push our buttons. He might have to say, for instance, “Mom, this is how my wife feels about this issue. Please respect her. It’s important to me that you two get along.”  Always focus on maintaining a healthy relationship with your spouse as the number one priority. You two are a team and should act as a united front when addressing issues with each other’s parents.
  7. Always Be Kind.  Your kids are always watching and listening, so it’s important to value kindness in all your interactions with family members and extended family. Extend kind greetings to your in-laws and speak in a respectful tone at all times, even if you don’t feel like they do the same to you. No one wins if you try to treat others like they treat you.

Tuesday’s Rumination

Eating whole grains to get more fiber is like eating carrot cake to get more vegetables.

CarrotCake

 

So, in early medieval Britain, when sugar was hard to come by, they were smart enough to know that one carrot was almost the equivalent of 1 tsp of sugar. The sly baker’s, knowing that they could substitute high starch vegetables as a replacement for sugar, convinced us over the years that this was “healthy” because of the fiber.

Yea, right. . .  I’m seeing a heart-attack-on-a-plate.

Those that tell you to eat more vegetables, because you need the fiber, deserve to step on a Lego late this evening on their way to the commode.

Either way, the following table should deter you from looking for fiber in the land of starch:

  • 1 cup of beets – 4 tsp sugar
  • 1 cup or one medium ear of corn – 3 tsp sugar
  • 1 medium (1/2 cup) sweet potato – 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 cup peas – 2.4 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 sweet onion – 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 medium carrot – 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 medium bell pepper – 1.2 tsp sugar
  • 1 cup green beans – 1.1 tsp sugar
  • 1 medium tomato – 0.8 tsp sugar

Do you want to find more important ketogenic lifestyle training that is easy to access, in a way that is simple and painless to remember?  Are you confused by all the contradictory information about a ketogenic lifestyle on the “interwebby?”  Are you tired of people claiming street smarts, when they’re really just Sesame Street smart?

Come join me on my membership site and take the Ketogenic Lifestyle 101 Course.

You’ll thank me later. . .  Seriously, what are you waiting for?

 

Did you join yet?!

Dear Grammar Police . . .

Dear Grammar Police,

After 15 years of blogging, writing and podcasting, I feel it is time to take a stand. It never ceases to amaze me how prosaic, pedestrian, unimaginative people can persistently pontificate about classical grammatical structure as though it’s neurosurgery or rocket science. I assume you, grammar police, are the same people who hated Picasso, because he couldn’t keep the paint inside the lines and the colors never matched the numbers. You must be related to those who imprisoned Galileo for heresy, implying that the Earth was not the center of the universe. It is one thing to enjoy good prose, but it is completely different to publicly deride someone about misplacing a coma or misspelling a word.

Most of my posts and articles are written after a very long day. I do all my own writing. No one pays me for it. It is done because I care. In my effort to provide a principle and a concept that will dramatically change one’s health, I may miss the misspelled word or inappropriately conjugate my verb.

I will admit that I’ve had my fair share of “its” instead of “it’s,” and I’ve spelled many a word wrong at 12:32 AM. But, I’m not performing surgery. (I’ll admit that I’ve never left the “i” out of public before.) The fact that I actually publish loads of FREE articles and videos after working 16-18 hour days, taking care of thousands of patients, should be enough to receive a simple “Thank you, Dr. Nally.”

But, NO! The grammar police attack and tell me on a regular basis how terrible I am because I spelled supplement with an “a” or my i-phone’s auto correct changed “there” to “their.”

Grammar Police

It seams that I usually get my point across about health and diet, because the inspectors of the written word tell me that my grammar or punctuation or spelling needs to align with the clearly understood point I attempted to write. In fact, they will print the information off and bring it to my office… with corrections in red pen, mind you.

I realize that in the pompous minds of the “Word Nazi’s” those of us who misspell or incorrectly conjugate our written prose lose credibility. Do I need your pedantic pompous credibility? Not really. These are often the same people who won’t take my medical advise, even though their version of a vegan diet is causing progressive obesity, hypertension and vascular disease.

You don’t own the words. You don’t have the right to mock and deride people for misplacing a coma. The free use of words, is not elitist and is not governed by you. To my recollection, I never voted for a “Word Sheriff.”

Many of you are English teachers, editors, or experts in the fields of writing. Do you write to me to help me construct my prose more effectively?

I think not.

I say that because, your letters are publicly posted and laced with sarcasm, derision and some of the rudest comments I’ve ever read. I am an expert in field of obesity and weight loss, yet, I don’t run up to you, or a stranger for that matter, when I see you in Wal-Mart buying cereal or donuts and yell, “Don’t eat that… you’re already FAT!”

Do I stand by the McDonald’s drive-through and criticize you for buying French fries?

No.

So why do you think you have the right to pedantically cast stones at my prose when I’ve never met you, and I have never solicited your advise? What gives you the right to whip out your sharpie and feel obligated to perform the equivalent of derisive graffiti on my prose? Your unsolicited public criticism of my “wordsmithing” is the equivalent of calling me “FAT” in public.

I see language like music, it has the ability to be modified, twisted and accented to tickle, tantalize and tease the reader by the creation of emotion. But you wouldn’t understand that, because you’re too busy worrying that my misuse of an apostrophe when I wrote “donuts” might cause a puppy to die.

If I turn a noun into a verb for the sake of fun, or to stir emotion, don’t have a conniption! Shakespeare is famous for this, he did it all the time. If you can’t hack it, then table my blog for another time when you have matured enough to chair your emotions. (See, it wasn’t that painful, was it?)

To be honest, I’m really uninterested in your opinions about my prose . . . or should I say disinterested just to piss you off?

Two Most Common Elements in the Universe: Hydrogen & Moronium . . . Maybe, Not In That Order

Over the last few months, I’ve found myself amid the center of vehement nutritional arguments about fat, carbohydrates, calories and diet.  I have found it fascinating that very intelligent men and women, over the last 50 years, have accepted, without reservation, a dogma taught them by their eighth grade nutrition teachers.  This dogma is interlaced and interwoven throughout the textbooks, manuals, and college cafeterias throughout the world.

Low-carb is bad

Very few souls have questioned this dogma, and even in light of it’s utter failure to improve one’s health, it becomes the fall back point upon which millions have accepted nutritional disease and defeat.  It makes no sense that a dogma of this nature, without anything more than a scientific corellation in the 1960’s, could sway the minds of intelligent researchers, physicians and scholars for over 50 years.

It is a well known fact, however, that hydrogen is the most common element in the universe and is used as a basic building block for most molecular structures.  What many don’t realize is there exists another element yet to be added to the periodic table that is almost as prevalent called moronium (pending symbol approval  – Mu).  It fills the blank space on the table of elements between Hydrogen and Helium.   I, and those who have been able to identify this element, suspect that moronium is a gas at room temperature and has some affinity to binding the white matter of the brain responsible for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene regulation of the prefrontal cortex.  It is suspected by some that when it is inhaled by a person of low intellect, it has only a mild effect. However, when combined with either oxygen (O), hydrogen (H) or Helium (He)  and inhaled by those of higher intelligence, it has a much wider, more potent and even stupefying diffusion effect, that is quite surprising to witness.

PeriodicTableBoilingPoint

Moronium reacts adversely when diffused into blood with a higher alcohol concentration and seems to spontaneously combust when it is exposed to old paper and libraries. Moronium is very difficult and very expensive to isolate.  Moronium seems to be more prevalent during the summer and winter solstices, which may be why moronium intoxication seems to appear around holidays.  Recent attempts in a nearby lab to synthetically create even small crystals of moronium cause an explosion, physically and psychologically stupefying all of the researchers involved and inducing them to leave the study of science and pursue individual careers as drummers.

The presence of moronium seems to be higher in those that do not read, or have an aversion to reading.  There is some correlation that moronium drops in proportion to listening to iTunes podcasts, however, follow-up reading does appear to have a potential lowering affect on the moronium levels within the brain.

Why do I bring this up?

I suspect that this little known element may be responsible for intelligent men and women introducing questionable theoretical science as incontrovertible truth.  Those with suppressed COMT regulation seem to have a propensity to accept theoretical science because it sounds good,  even when there’s really no way to actually prove the theory at the time, or when colleagues have accepted the theory in a peer-pressure instead of peer-review situation.

The stupefying effect of moronium bound COMT produces dogma like:

The amazing thing about science is that it is self-correcting (at least it used to be). A scientist makes a set of observations about nature, and then identifies a plausible theory within the laws of nature to fit those observations. Then, researchers take that theory and test it in as many ways as possible, attempting to disprove the theory and isolate the cause of the observation.  If the theory withstands scrutiny it becomes widely accepted.

At any given point in the future, if contradicting evidence emerges, the original theory is discarded and a new theory is then identified.  In essence, this is the simple scientific method, however, in modern day application, it has become a great deal more messy than you’d think.

This approach (application of “the scientific method”) was skirted during the 1960’s and 1970’s regarding the “fat causes heart disease” theoretical proposition.  Interestingly, there was also a notable increase in the number drummers and musicians during the 1980’s Hair Bands era.   This begs the questions, which I wholly agree needs further study: Does moronium exist? and . . . . Did levels of moronium actually increase between 1960 and 1990 causing a surge in the presence and popularity of Hair Bands?

HairBandsmontage

It only took us 20 years to get past the Era of the HairBands, hopefully we can turn the nutritional ship around and recognize the real culprit causing the Diseases of Civilization.

 

 

KetoOSKanv21
Ketosis in 60 minutes . . .

 

KetoEnhance3bottles
The Multi-Vitamin Dr. Nally Personally Uses

(Author’s Note: For those who may possibly be under the influence of moronium toxicity, the post above is written in sarcastic jest, and to be clear, there IS NOT an element currently under investigation called moronium!)

Will A Ketogenic Diet Protect You from the #FitchSlap?

HeSaidRedSaid Guest Host

Join Dr. Nally this evening when he appears as a special Guest Host with Vicki Fitch, veteran author, speaker, business coach.  He appears live on blab tonight on Vick’s #HeSaidRedSaid at 7:30pm PST.  You click here to subscribe to the live blabcast.

Find out if Dr. Nally can handle the pressure.  Will a Low-Carb, High-Fat diet protect you from the infamous #FitchSlap?

Will Vicki ask the really challenging questions like:

  1. How tall was the 50′ mast on the Mayflower?
  2. What color was George Washington’s White horse?
  3. Has technology really created a Generation of Idiots?

Albert-Einstein Idiots

4. Is Heaven really made of bacon?

bacon-heaven

The Belly

5. Will you break your toe if you eat a Low-Carb, High Fat diet?

diabetes4lowcarb

6. Was this really the first insulin pump?  Or, is it Vicki’s old accordion being tuned up?

first insulin_pump

 

And, see if the fears of many around the world will come to fruition this evening:

houston-we-have-a-problem

MartianHeSaidRedSaid

ChristieRedisRight

BlackWidowAvengerHeSaidRedSaid

HouseAdviseHeSaidRedSaid

JackSparrowFitchSlap

ClintEastwoodFitchSlap

IndianaJonesHeSaidRedSaid

ClarkGableHeSaidRedSaid

ChuckNorrisFitchSlap

Caine_and_Master_PoFitchSlap

LegolasQuestions

ObiWanHeSaidRedSaid

BoromirFitchSlap

StridorOnHeSaidRedSaid

MrBeanHeSaidRedSaid

 

Random Thoughts from the Toilet Paper Roll

Random-Thought-Notebook

I am a family physician.  Each door I open holds another challenge, another question or another puzzle. You never know what will be behind door number 2 or number 3.  This leads to becoming very adept at understanding and thinking about the random.  Door #1 one holds the rash. Door #2 holds the patient with diabetes.  Door #3 . . . rectal bleeding.  Yes, my morning often starts out just that way.

While randomly thinking about the randomness that my career choice brought to my life, I’ve made a few random decisions that relate to our health in general.

Smedbo CS3414 Cabin Euro-Style Toilet Roll With Lid Toilet Roll

First, if I ever decide to buy a toilet paper roll company, I’ve already made the executive decision that each piece of paper on the roll needs the opportunity to express itself in a random way. One piece would say, “Nice fingernail polish.” Another would say, “Wow, you have a nice bottom.”  A third would say, “Please don’t apologize, brown is my favorite color.” A fourth might say, “You know, you really should see your doctor about that . . . ”

If I Get Hit By a Bus Tomorrow, Here's How to Replace the Toilet Paper Roll

Second, if I live until I’m 70 years old, I will have spent 10 of those years on Monday.  This calls for sausage and eggs for breakfast every Monday morning.  Wait, I’m already doing that . . . no wonder I like Mondays.  It also means that if I set my clock to wake up earlier on the weekend, then Monday morning I will start the week off “sleeping in.” It is amazing to me that even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and even pinning the tail on the donkey . . . but I’d bet everyone of us can find & push the SNOOZE button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time…

Dok CR32 4 Port Smart Phone Charger with Speaker, Alarm, Clock & FM Radio

Third, with all of this randomness . . . someone needs to invent the “Sarcasm Font.” There are some things that shouldn’t be written in “Times New Roman.”

Fourth, Can I take back all those times I didn’t want to take a nap when I was younger?  I am quite convinced that a significant number of my obesity patient’s would be so much more successful with an afternoon nap.

Fifth, in the age of computers, voice recognition, iPhones and electronic medical records, I really want to meet the person that invented cursive and ask, “Was that really necessary?”

Sixth, in this new era of reality everything, I think that print newspapers would still be fascinatingly successful if the obituary column told you how the person died.

KetoOS
KetoOS – Drinkable Exogenous Ketones

Seventh, with all the high fat, moderate protein I recommend, the freezer has become an important appliance in the ketogenic world . . .yet no one can answer me this question: “Why is there still no freezer light?”

Are the Keys in the Freezer?

Last, bad decisions often make for the best stories. . . .

 

The Low-Carb Restaurant

It's Not About The Nail . . . Or Is It?

It's NOT about the nail

“But I don’t understand why I still feel this way . . .”

I hear this every day.

Sometimes we have to dig deep for the answer, sometimes it’s just the act of listening that helps us find the answer and sometimes it’s the nail staring us right in the face.  We often don’t want to recognized patterns in our lives that adversely affect us because we’ve become comfortable with those patterns.

Is that piece of toast, that piece of fruit, that creamer in your coffee, that bowl of cereal or is it really the nail?

Sometimes, you don’t need to be fixed . . . you just need to be heard.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg%26lt%3B

 

Ketogenic Lifestyle Rule #1: There should ALWAYS be bacon in the fridge

BaCoN Fridge

I thought that over the next few weeks I’d address a number of Ketogenic Lifestyle Rules that I have adopted.  These seem to help and bring a little clarity to one following a Ketogenic Lifestyle or someone on the road to becoming a true “Ketonian.”

The first of these rules is that there should ALWAYS be bacon in the fridge!
Adapt Your Life

We address this rule and some interesting facts around having bacon in the fridge in this evening’s Persicope below.  We also address the benefits of journaling, how to help stop binge eating, what are your real protein needs, and red-meat fear-mongering. We even discuss whether or not pigs like bacon.  Enjoy!

 

Links referenced in this video:

Red & Processed Meats: Bacon Fear-Mongering

Calculating Your Protein Needs from Ideal Body Weight

The Power of a Good Vitamin

 

(Just a note: I love Katch.me’s service; however, due to the contract language allowing Katch.me to have unlimited rights to my Periscope Videos, I have withdrawn from Katch and my videos are no longer available on this medium until the contract usage can be modified.)

Does Jung & Myers-Briggs Typology Effect Obesity?

Sitting around the dinner table this evening we began discussing personality types.  As a fun exercise, we each took the Jung Typology Test based on Jung and Myers-Briggs findings about personality.   If you haven’t taken this personality test, you might find it quite interesting and the topic of hours of conversation around the dinner table  . . . as we did this evening. The test is free on-line and takes about 10 minutes.

jung
Carl Gustav Jung – Swiss Psychiatrist & Psychotherapist

The actual Myers-Briggs Type Indicator costs about $50.00 and includes an interpretation by someone trained in giving the test. It differs slightly in its questions and the way the testing is interpreted.

Both tests provide an interesting insight into your individual psychological preferences regarding four categories.  According to Carl G. Jung’s theory of psychological types published in 1971, people can be characterized, first, by their preference or general attitude about the source of and how they express their energy:

  • Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I)

The second preference is one of the two functions of perception, or related to how they perceive information coming from either the external or internal world:

  • Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)

and the third preference relates to how one processes the information that they have received, acting as one of the two functions of thought or judgement:

  • Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)

Isabel Briggs Myers, a researcher and practitioner of Jung’s theory, proposed that the fourth preference related to how one applies or implements the information that he or she processed above.  She proposed a judging-perceiving relationship as the fourth dichotomy influencing personality type in 1980:

  • Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

Each of these dichotomies represents an opposite pole of preference and each of us have a dominant pole toward which we gravitate.

Based upon your dominant traits, a personality type index is assigned.

PersonalityChart

Kim and Lee studied these personality preferences and how they relate to diet, health and propensity toward obesity.  Their findings were interesting in that expression, perception and judgement did not seem to have any bearing on  health or obesity. However, the application of judgement vs perception did play a role in health. Judging (J) means that a person organizes all of his or her life events and, as a rule, sticks to those plans. Perceiving (P) means that he or she is inclined to improvise and explore alternative options.

Significantly better dietary and health behaviors were identified in those preferring Judging (J) versus those preferring Perceiving (P) traits.  Those preferring the Judging (J) behaviors included eating breakfast, regularly eating three meals a day, smoking less, exercising more and having a lower tendency to nocturnal eating.

The findings show that the use of  Jung Type or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator may be helpful in identifying and index those with a Perceiving (P) trait that would benefit from dietary and exercise education, nutritional counseling and/or behavior modification programs.

It has been my experience that those with a “P” type dichotomy preference would benefit greatly from daily food planning and journaling.

So, what is your Jung/Myers-Briggs type?

Just for fun, and because my kids were very curious about what each personality type would appear as in character, I’ve included the Jung/Myers-Briggs Disney typing.

I’m an ENFJ, just in case you’re curious.

Disney Character Personality Types

References:

  1. Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types (Collected works of C. G. Jung, volume 6, Chapter X)
  2. Briggs Myers, I. (1980, 1995) Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type
  3. Kim BS, Lee YE. College Students’ Dietary and Health Behaviors related to Their Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Personality Preferences. Korean J Community Nutr. 2002 Feb;7(1):32-44. Korean.

 

Take Just A Moment and Admire . . . (Then Calculate Your Ideal Body Weight)

A patient just sent this picture to me this evening.  I got a good laugh out of it.

pile o bacon

It brought up a couple of principles. So, Seriously, take just a moment and admire this pile of bacon. . .

  • First, it’s important that we take a moment and think about what is important in life.  What really makes you tick?  To those of us following a ketogenic lifestyle (low carb, moderate protein & high fat living), this represents food, fuel, taste and a great conversation tool. This pile of bacon forces one to think about what is really important in ones life.
    This pile of bacon represents 2-3 weeks of breakfasts.
    It represents wonderful flavor for a salad.
    It becomes something wonderful to dip in guacamole.

Low Carb Gluten Free Salad

Second, how much of this bacon can one following a ketogenic lifestyle have at a meal?  That depends upon your need of protein.  We base our basic protein need on a persons calculated ideal body weight. (No, your ideal body weight is not the weight you’re supposed to reach! It is a calculation based on height that gives us a starting point fro protein needs).
Many people have asked me how to calculate ideal body weight this week.  I’ve provided the calculation below:

Ideal Body Weight (IBW) – Estimated in (kg)
Males: IBW = 50 kg + 2.3 kg for each inch over 5 feet.
Females: IBW = 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg for each inch over 5 feet.
The average female needs 1.0 g of protein per kg of ideal body weight per day.
The average male needs 1.2 g protein per kg of ideal body weight per day.
If you are exercising more than 60 minutes 5 days per week then those values increase to 1.4 grams per kg for females and 1.6 grams per kg for males.
Example:
A 6 foot male’s IBW would be 50 kg + (2.3kg x 12 inches) = 77.6 kg
A 5 foot 4 inch females IBW would be 45.5 kg + (2.3kg x 4 inches) = 54.7 kg.
If you eat three times per day, then simply divide your IBW by 3 to get the maximum protein you need per meal.
I hope that helps.

Bacon Fear-Mongering Month

In celebration of the World Health Organization’s bacon fear-mongering and October’s Halloween trick or treats, I officially dub this month: Bacon Fear-Mongering Month!!

Bacon Fear Mongering Month

Yes.  Please be advised that your risk of getting colon cancer from bacon is identical to your risk of being struck by lightening.  Please, spread the word . . . Oh, and pass the bacon.

Essential Life Facts for Growing Older

Nine Facts About Growing Older

1. Death is the number one killer in the world.

2. Life is sexually transmitted.

3. Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

4. Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months or even years.

5. Health nuts are going to feel a little sheepish someday, just lying on a hospital bed, dying of nothing.

6. All of us could take a lesson from the weather.  It pays absolutely no attention to criticism.

7. In the 60’s, people took acid to make the world feel weird.  Now, the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it feel normal.

8. Life is essentially carbohydrate induced. . . This all started because someone was tempted into eating an apple.

9. Don’t worry too much about old age; it doesn’t last that long.

 

What is the “Fountain Of Youth” as We Know It Today?

  1. A ketogenic or carnivorous diet placing one into ketosis regularly slows aging and reducing the risk of dementia dramatically (1, 2).
  2. Berberine Plus 500mg twice a day if you are at all insulin resistant has been shown to stop progression to diabetes and insulin resistant, improve weight loss, reverse symptoms of PCOS and has notable research demonstrating anti-inflammatory properties (3) all of which are know to  slow aging.
  3. Vitamin D 1000-5000 IU Daily (4.)
  4. 6-8 hours of restful sleep nightly (5.)
  5. At least 15-30 minutes of HIIT exercise 5-6 days per week.
  6. Stress reduction through journaling, meditation, hypnotherapy or story telling/reading.
  7. Daily expression of gratitude, Doc Holiday was right . . .

Check out my recent video talking about this an answering over 100 of your ketogenic related questions:

References:

  1. Veech RL, 2004, “The therapeutic implications of ketone bodies…,”Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids, 2004 Mar;70(3):309-19.70
  2. Ott A, Stolk RP, Hofman A, van Harskamp F, Grobbee DE, Breteler MM. Association of diabetes mellitus and dementia: the Rotterdam Study. Diabetologia. 1996 Nov;39(11):1392-7. doi: 10.1007/s001250050588. PMID: 8933010.
  3. Yin J et al., Efficacy of Berberine in Type II DM, Metabolism, May 2008
  4. Gallagher JC. Vitamin D and aging. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2013 Jun;42(2):319-32. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2013.02.004. Epub 2013 Apr 9. PMID: 23702404; PMCID: PMC3782116.
  5. Scott, S.B., Graham-Engeland, J.E., Engeland, C.G. et al. The Effects of Stress on Cognitive Aging, Physiology and Emotion (ESCAPE) Project. BMC Psychiatry 15, 146 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0497-7

Lesson in Irony

Irony

The Food Stamp program is administered by the UDSA (Department of Agriculture) and proudly displays that they distribute free meals and food stamps to over 46 million people annually.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, operated by the Department of the Interior states, in no uncertain terms, “Please DO NOT Feed the Animals . . .”  Their policy and reasoning for this statement is  . . .

“The animals will grow dependent upon the handouts, and they will never learn to take care for themselves.”

Cured . . . by Definition.

Cured Ham Low Carb Humor

A friend posted this image and I couldn’t help but think about this little cartoon throughout the day.  In the 15 years that I have been in medical practice, it was re-emphasized to me that my definition of cure and the patient’s definition of cure may at times be notably different or even in opposition.

I am reminded of a sweet a patient in her early nineties that was brought in by her three well meaning and very caring daughters.  This patient was a type II diabetic and, for the most part, her blood sugar was in pretty good control.  To put it in medical terms, her morning blood sugars were in the 120 range and her Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) was a 6.4%.  She was obese by the standards of her body mass index (BMI) and her cholesterol was elevated.

The concern of her three daughters, “there to rat her out,” as the patient put it, was that she was eating donuts for breakfast each morning for the last few months. I noted that her HbA1c had gone up from 5.9% at the last visit.  We discussed the fact that the change in her dietary intake appeared to have caused the rise in her blood sugar and her cholesterol.

With my affirmation of the cause as ammunition, the patient’s daughters began to individually take shots at her choice of meals over the last year. They did it, I could see because they loved and cared for heir mother.  But I noticed the patient’s demeanor change suddenly, and a bit of trust between me and my patient began to slip.

This sweet centenarian turned and looked at me, square in the eye, and then proceeded to give me an education.

“Dr. Nally, do you know how old I am?” she asked.

“Why, yes, you are 93 years old,” I replied.

“And do you know how much longer I am going to be alive on this earth?” she inquired.

“Well, no. I do not know how much longer you will be alive, but I can tell you that you have out lived most of your peers and the average age of most Americans.”

“Then, why the hell are you, and my daughters, worried about me eating a damn do-nut?” she yelled.  “My blood sugar is still pretty good and I figure that if I have to be around on this earth any longer, then by stars, I am going to enjoy my favorite breakfast. If it kills me, then so be it. I am going to enjoy it.”

Well, that was that.  The cure was to enjoy her last few years upon this earth.

She did just that.