Have Your Doc Write Your Grocery List?

Nice little article on wusa.com about a rigid diet you can follow to lower your cholesterol. This research report has a good idea: eat lots of oatmeal and tofu (and some other equally good things) persistently and your cholesterol goes down.

The nice twist in the article is that it recognizes how hard it is to do that. So, its title says to have your doctor write your grocery list. The point: it’s one thing to identify the right things to do to get a healthy lifestyle, but it’s entirely something else when you need to be persistent about it. As researcher David Jenkins says in the article, “we’re asking people to buck the trend.”

Check out the related post “Whose fault is it?” too.

Add comment April 13th, 2006

Obesity and Diabetes, Again

The Boston Globe’s Stephen Smith published an article at boston.com in March summarizing recent research on obesity and diabetes in Massachusetts. No big surprises. We’ve all pretty much got with this program: obesity and diabetes have been increasing rapidly, hand in hand (in Mass, obesity increased 80% since 1990!).

The article says the legislature is fighting back. They’re considering banning soft drinks in schools, and the government is pushing programs to encourage more exercise. That’s good intentions. The lifestyle changes needed are more basic and harder to come by.

Add comment April 13th, 2006