Health Notes

Here is what we are discussing today (with links) at The Tao of Health:

There seems to be a lot of interest in the new diet drug Excalia. Here is a recent article about Excalia and another new diet called Contrave. Excalia contains bupropion and zonisamide. Contrave contains bupropion and naltrexone. And let us not forget Qnexa which contains topiramate and phentermine. You know, if I had a serious weight problem I suppose I would consider taking something like this. So far I’ve been lucky, though. Usually I’ve been able to lose weight by eating less and exercising more.

I guess I’ve known for some time that particulate matter in air pollution can contribute to heart disease. I remember being in New York City one day a few years ago and I didn’t want to get out of my car because it was hot and hazy outside, and I didn’t want to breathe that obviously polluted air. Now there is a new study apparently linking heart disease with small particle air pollution. Shouldn’t somebody do something about this? I mean it’s pretty hard to live the American Dream when you can’t breathe.

How much of what you believe about heart disease is true, and how much of it is false? This article explains the truth about some heart disease myths.

According to this article there are a lot of good reasons to eat sunflower seeds. I’m not a big fan of sunflower seeds. I don’t claim there’s anything wrong with them. I do think you have to watch what the seeds are cooked in or roast them yourself. We already get too much omega-6 fatty acids in our diet, and sunflower seeds contain some I suppose, especially if they are cooked in sunflower oil. Plus, some that I bought awhile ago contain like 18g of fat per serving, so you can’t really eat a lot of them. Rather, I prefer foods like nuts and pumpkin seeds. Pistachios contain a lot of monounsaturated fats. I cook the pumpkin seeds myself in the microwave with some organic soy sauce. I love them.