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Browse every published article connected to Bette Dowdell, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Browse every published article connected to Bette Dowdell, or search within this exact expert archive.
Doritos Well, looky here! I read that the CEO of Frito/Lay describes Doritos as a ‘healthful snack.’ Well, I had to check that out. Who knows? Maybe I could start eating Doritos. So off to the web! Holey Moley! It takes a special kind of dictionary to describe Doritos as healthful. Let’s a quick look at just some of the ingredients, in the order listed on the label, and you’ll see what I mean.
Milk and cookies make a great snack, right? Well, maybe not so much. Besides the fact the cookies almost certainly have high fructose corn syrup in them, everyday milk is a killer. Literally. I mean, you don’t keel over right away, but take it from me, you’re asking for trouble. Here’s the deal: Factory farms give hormones to their cows to force greater milk production. This changes the composition of the milk, reducing its nutritional value. The hormones also give the cows mastitis. Not a problem! Just shoot ‘em up with antibiotics. That’s the ticket.
There’s a lot of to-do going on about natural vitamins having an edge on the synthetics. And, truth to tell, going natural sure sounds good. The way God intended and all. But like with so many things, the devil’s in the details. The major sources of natural vitamin B vitamins are wheat and yeast. Well, if you have candida–a constant conce with thyroid or adrenal problems–you don’t want to throw yeast down the old hatch. Same thing if you have a mold allergy.
We’re way too casual about concussions. In fact, when I suffered a concussion in a car accident a few years back, the doctor didn’t tell me. And when I asked, she told me it wasn’t important. And she was wrong. Concussions are huge. You see, most concussions damage the pituitary gland, sometimes temporarily, sometimes not. If you don’t take care of business in treating your concussion, you move toward permanent. If you get repeated concussions, you almost surely end up with permanent pituitary damage.
Senator Patrick Lehman and Representative Henry Waxman rush about, day after day, year after year, to do Big Pharma’s bidding. Let’s talk about where this takes us. Big Pharma, the major pharmaceutical companies, is about money. They advertise their wares as wonders created especially to improve your health. In reality, not so much.
If you’ve read much of my stuff, you know that I do go on–and on–about the evils of soy. Why is soy bad? Besides stealing all your minerals, giving you kidney stones and depressing your thyroid function something fierce, soy is, among other things, estrogenic. That is, it adds bogus estrogen to your system. The bogus estrogen takes over, your real estrogen becomes homeless and wanders around causing problems. Read on to see what I mean by ‘problems.’ Scary stuff. And soy isn’t the only thing that floods us with pseudo estrogen.
Super foods, by definition, have more nutrition per ounce than your average health food. Most health foods strut around, proud as a peacock of their power and glory, but when a super food shows up, they fold up their tails and take a back seat. Now, I’m talking a real super food. Some people get all giddy and call anything with a trace of nutrition a super food. Not a chance. Even many of the foods known for their nutritional power, blueberries, for instance, can’t really be called super foods. Good, yes. Super, well no.
What in the world, you might ask, does eating canned food have to do with getting pregnant? Well, it’s a risk. As is drinking anything that comes in a can.
The latest thing in medicine is the ‘fact’ that all medicine is based on solid, scientific evidence. Excuse me? At least 70% of all medical practice has no scientific basis, relying instead on tradition, rumor and best guess. Meanwhile, doctors, according to the latest statistics available, kill 1200 patients a month with the medicines they prescribe. Obviously, their evidence doesn’t come with a ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ requirement.
Some years ago, self-appointed busybodies screamed and yelled and hollered about McDonalds using beef fat to cook their fries. Deciding ahead of time that McDonalds was evil incarnate, they accused McDonalds of purposely risking our very lives with saturated fat. And so it was in 1990 that McDonalds switched to trans-fats. The busybodies who suggested that action took a bow. Well, now, there’s an oops! Trans-fats, liquid vegetable oils shot through with hydrogen to make them solid at room temperature–and to extend shelf life–are an unmitigated disaster.
Fish oil’s good for you. Everybody says so. Yeah, fish oil, that’s the ticket. Well, what about all the warnings about mercury in fish? Okay then, flaxseed’s good for you. Everybody says so. Yeah, flaxseed, that’s the ticket. Begging your pardon and all, but there’s a teensy problem with ...Fish oil’s good for you. Everybody says so. Yeah, fish oil, that’s the ticket. Well, what about all the warnings about mercury in fish? Okay then, flaxseed’s good for you. Everybody says so. Yeah, flaxseed, that’s the ticket.
Problems of the endocrine system are everywhere, often unacknowledged and untreated by most doctors. People talk freely about the thyroid, and they should; it’s estimated 40% of us have thyroid problems. Adrenal fatigue is in style–and uglier than massive shoulder pads ever were–so we’re ...Problems of the endocrine system are everywhere, often unacknowledged and untreated by most doctors. People talk freely about the thyroid, and they should; it’s estimated 40% of us have thyroid problems.
Mold allergies are as common as dirt. Perhaps because the mold spores that cause the allergy are in dirt–from sea to shining sea and around the world, and dirt is out to play dirty tricks on you. Of course, any body of water, such as a lake, produces clouds of mold spores to play havoc with your health. Breathing problems, anyone? How about digestive uproar? And, as if they didn’t already have enough problems, people with thyroid problems are particularly susceptible to entering the badlands of a mold allergy.
I tell you true, this Ebola thing is a mess, and the reactions to it are not promising. Medicine has nothing to offer, so they’re in a panic. Which means the media is beating a very loud drum about death and mayhem marching in shortly. Meanwhile, the President has sent soldiers, trained to defeat the enemy with guns and tanks, into Ebola-stricken lands where, apparently, they’re expected to win the war against a virus. Sayeth the brass, “Training? We don’t need nostinkin’ training!”
Thyroid, Metabolism and All That Jazz Kelly asks, “How can my husband jumpstart his metabolism to lose weight? His TSH is ‘in normal limits’ at 1.1 and his Free T3 is low at 2.3, but his doctor won’t treat him since his TSH is normal.” Well, Kelly, before I launch, let me explain your question to those fortunate enough not to be battling thyroid problems or tests.
1. Today's first tip is you should breathe. Well, that sounds pretty obvious, but there's breathing and then there's breathing. Most people, especially those in less than tip-top health, take shallow breaths. And that's part of why they're dragging their patooty day after day. With every breath, their bodies ask, "Is that it? That's all you've got?" People can miss the message, though, because shouting takes energy, so it's more like easy-to-miss quiet pleading.
Liver disease is on the warpath–from sea to shining sea and around the world. If you have endocrine problems, the liver tsunami probably hit you. Perhaps your endo problems whacked the liver. Or maybe vice versa. It’s kind of like a tag team of misery. And since liver problems put a world of hurt on your immune system, I thought I’d let you know some of the symptoms of a liver in trouble.
In my articles, The Blank Slate Myth and The Dietitian's Blank Slate, I wrote about the blind spot of seeing only what you want to see so you can do what you want to do. Today, let's talk about the blank slate of doctors. With so many examples and so little time, where do I start to talk about the blank slate of doctors, seeing what isn't there? Or, in other words, continuing to practice what medical school taught them even when it consistently fails to heal.
In The Blank Slate Myth, I talked about parents who see newbo babies as blank slates, an invitation to push, pull and otherwise shape their kids to fit their parental fancies. Well, good luck with that. And parents aren't the only blank-slate believers. Hoo boy! Medicine comes chock-a-block full of blank-slate types. That's what they know, and that's what they do. And if things don't work out, well it's your fault, not theirs. Prominent in the blank-slate parade are dietitians.
Our thymus gland, located behind our breast bone, leads the immune system into battle against evildoers intending to snatch our health away. So we know where it is and what it does. And that about sums it up for most of us. It seems like we should know more about such a big-time player, but we don't. At least, doctors and patients don't.
Medicine sees our various body parts as separate and entire unto themselves. Each speciality treats a specific body part–with almost no reference to anything else. There’s no point in asking, say, a heart doctor about your digestion. Heart doctors don’t do digestion. And while nobody can know and treat everything, the one-part-at-a-time approach leads to bad choices and bad health. Years ago the poet Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire unto itself.” Were Donne alive today, perhaps he’d add something about no body part being an island, either.
It interferes with thyroid function. It gets estrogen and testosterone out of whack. It puts a hurt on your immune system by messing with your thymus gland. It increases your chances of becoming resistant to antibiotics. It sets your kids up for asthma and infections. And it’s probably in your house right now. It’s triclosin–the health scourge that almost nobody’s heard about. And it’s everywhere.
People used to call bread “the staff of life.” But those days seem to be gone forever. Bread is now a problem of life. Let me count the ways. • Celiac disease: Caused by an intolerance to gluten–part and parcel of grains–celiac disease gets diagnosed a lot as irritable bowel syndrome, sometimes as colitis. Which can mean a digestive system that demands a whole lot of attention and action. Or it can mean a brain that doesn’t quite function. Symptoms vary, but those are the top two.
Carve this in stone: Your body will balance itself no matter what you think, do or say. This is one of the many things they don’t teach us in school. And I’ve never seen a headline about it on a magazine cover, either. It seems to be somebody’s secret, but we need to let that cat out of the bag right now. This is important stuff. For instance, your body insists the calcium in your body be balanced with the magnesium in your body. Well, everybody’s heard about taking calcium to protect your bones, so we piously chug down calcium and wish our bones well. Not so fast, Chester.
Half of us have thyroid problems, mostly undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. A whacked out thyroid tends to drag down the whole endocrine system, of which it is a part. In turn, a misbehaving endocrine system can drag along all kinds of stuff. Stuff you’d never in a million years figure out had anything to endocrine issues. For one instance, allergies get an open invitation to drop by any time. And mercy me, drop by they do. And stay.
The pancreas is below our stomach, front and center, near the bottom of the rib cage. It may be the busiest twelve inches going. First off, just to make things more complicated (and who in the world thought that was necessary?), the pancreas is both an exocrine and an endocrine organ. The exocrine part comes with the necessary tubing to send digestive enzymes to their designated destination.
The hypothalamus controls both our nervous system and our endocrine system. Which adds up to pretty much everything that goes on. It’s the tiny king of a vast realm. About the size of an almond and the shape of a little, lumpy pancake, the hypothalamus tucks up under the base of the brain, part of the brain, but unprotected by the blood/brain barrier I think you should stand and salute every time you read the word ‘hypothalamus.’ That would slow things way down, but perhaps you’d end up filled with an appropriate amount of awe.
The labels on baby shampoos sure sound good. Gentle. Non-irritating. Everything a good mother could want. And some have pictures of smiling, happy babies to seal the deal. Most of those labels don’t tell the truth. They can’t, because if moms knew the truth, they wouldn’t buy the shampoo. Why not? Most baby shampoos–most shampoos for any age–contain sodium lauryl sulfate or its equally ugly cousins sodium laureth sulfate or ammonium lauryl sulfate.
I’m one of five siblings, and we’ve all had heart surgery. Like most people with heart problems, none of us ever had any of the so-called risk factors. No high cholesterol. No high triglycerides. No high blood pressure. Nothing. My ‘turn’ arrived on Christmas Eve, 2005. Of course, nobody worked on Christmas Day, so my stent had to wait a day. You couldn’t say anybody showed a sense of urgency. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had seen that as a big-time clue and taken a pass on surgery. But, with a family history replete with death by heart attack, I didn’t.
My doctor no longer practices medicine, so I had to find another. Like most long-time thyroid patients, I’ve been through the proverbial mill. I knew for sure I didn’t want to be bullied into taking Synthroid, which most doctors prefer–even though it doesn’t work. I found a listing for doctors who prescribe Armour thyroid, the medicine that does work, found a doctor near me and made an appointment. I signed in and handed my information–my list of supplements and one medication (Armour thyroid), a very brief medical history and my two current concerns–to the receptionist.
So, you go to the doctor and spill your bucket of symptoms–fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, etc. If you happened upon an alert doctor, you’ll get a thyroid test. And you’ll celebrate that help is on the way. Well, maybe. While doctors love blood tests–and disdain symptoms–thyroid tests aren’t reliable. Doctors know this, but they go by the book. But perhaps the test actually says you have a punk thyroid. The doctor prescribes Synthroid, levothyroxin or some other T4 med, assuring you it will fix things. And you celebrate that help is here.
Some years back, about thirty or so, the medicos labeled the sun an enemy agent. We all needed to slather on sun screen all day, every day, or risk dying of melanoma in slightly more than a trice. If, like me, you’ve lost a loved one to melanoma, you reacted quickly and positively, making sun screen a regular part of your daily routine. And melanoma rates skyrocketed.
Did you know that some animals produce their own Vitamin C? They never get heart disease. No atherosclerosis. No heart attacks. Just singing a song all the day long. Sad to report, humans aren’t part of that happy group. Heart disease runs rampant amongst humans. Hark, Sherlock, might that not ...Did you know that some animals produce their own Vitamin C? They never get heart disease. No atherosclerosis. No heart attacks. Just singing a song all the day long.
A dismayed grandmother said her precious grandson was diagnosed and treated as autistic–when, in fact, he has lyme disease. She reports that a recent study said 90% of California kids diagnosed with autism actually had lyme. Then she asked the jackpot question: How come doctors don’t know ...A dismayed grandmother said her precious grandson was diagnosed and treated as autistic–when, in fact, he has lyme disease. She reports that a recent study said 90% of California kids diagnosed with autism actually had lyme. Then she asked the jackpot question: How come doctors don’t know better?
The latest Big Thing in medicine is “Standard of Care.” It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? The name alone makes you believe that no matter what doctor you go to, there’s a Standard of Care ensuring a quality outcome. What a comforting thought. Clever name, that. The sad truth is ...The latest Big Thing in medicine is “Standard of Care.” It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? The name alone makes you believe that no matter what doctor you go to, there’s a Standard of Care ensuring a quality outcome. What a comforting thought.
Did’ja ever get the feeling you’re in Wonderland looking for Alice? Where two plus two doesn’t equal four any more, and too much of what you see offers only puzzlement? For instance, our powers that be outlawed mercury thermometers. Better you shouldn’t know your temperature than risk breaking ...Did’ja ever get the feeling you’re in Wonderland looking for Alice? Where two plus two doesn’t equal four any more, and too much of what you see offers only puzzlement?
Wanna choose sides in the latest autism war? One side says the mother’s lack of Vitamin D during pregnancy causes autism, while the other side says it’s the glutamate that’s in the many immunization shots babies and young children receive. Let’s take a look-see. Autism comes from brain ...Wanna choose sides in the latest autism war? One side says the mother’s lack of Vitamin D during pregnancy causes autism, while the other side says it’s the glutamate that’s in the many immunization shots babies and young children receive. Let’s take a look-see.
Or, for that matter, does God understand what’s going on in the life of a road warrior sales person? Or life on a clanging, banging, push, push, push assembly line? Or on an oil rig? As part of a building crew? To tell the truth, the God of our Sunday School days kind of comes across as a part ...Or, for that matter, does God understand what’s going on in the life of a road warrior sales person? Or life on a clanging, banging, push, push, push assembly line? Or on an oil rig? As part of a building crew?
Back in the olden days–say 1960–doctors diagnosed thyroid problems by asking about symptoms, then working to alleviate them. Simple system, that. And it worked for the 20% of the population with flaky thyroid glands. Ah, but then blood tests, purportedly able to diagnose thyroid ...Back in the olden days–say 1960–doctors diagnosed thyroid problems by asking about symptoms, then working to alleviate them. Simple system, that. And it worked for the 20% of the population with flaky thyroid glands.
You know life is not all you hoped it might be when you find yourself spending time at www.planeturine.com. Pray let me tell you a story of staggering to triumph through, over and around adversity. Once upon a time a girl named Bette thought it good to move from Tucson to Phoenix. Bette, you ...You know life is not all you hoped it might be when you find yourself spending time at www.planeturine.com. Pray let me tell you a story of staggering to triumph through, over and around adversity.