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Is your “lifestyle” correlated to your health? Although the intuitively obvious answer is a resounding “yes”, very little credence is given in the standard of care to the powerful impact of your day-to-day choices on your wellbeing. It’s not just about living longer, folks. It’s about living longer with energy, grace and satisfaction. Our health care system, unfortunately, is mostly monetized to support illness, not wellness. Therefore, we are largely on our own to promote and maintain good health. Fortunately, there is increasing awareness,...
An estimated 6.5 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s disease today. This is nearly 11% of seniors in the U.S. The cost of caring for patients with Alzheimer’s is approaching $300 billion annually, which is greater than the economy of Finland. All cancer care costs in the U.S. last year approached $25 billion, by comparison. Your Medicare part B premium increased recently to cover the cost of a controversial and expensive new drug (Aduhelm). The drug doesn’t work very well, in part because it attacks amyloid plaqu...
Finding your best food plan and sticking to it will prolong your life and greatly increase your wellbeing. It's hard to be cheerful with a distressed gut. Gut and brain tissue originates from the same embryonic cells in utero. Healthy gut function includes a good appetite with an accurate sense of satiety to prevent over-eating. Healthy digestion features lack of pain or bloating after meals. Eat calmly and chew your food thoroughly. Generally, it takes 18 to 24 hours for food to be fully...
Hello! I have been a primary care provider in Juneau Alaska for nearly 30 years, as well as a health writer, yoga enthusiast and instructor, musician, and lover of the great outdoors. My professional focus is on wellness. I particularly enjoy helping patients achieve good health, with minimal or no medication if possible. “Anything that can be healed by judicious diet and lifestyle should not be treated any other way” is a wise maxim attributed to Hippocrates (460-370 BC, Greek). This new column will serve as an introduction to the principles o...
As a primary care doctor, I believe Alaskans must understand that a critical portion of our Medicare dollars is bleeding away into privately held corporations, which inherently value profits over people. Recently, Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) have been tapping into the Medicare trust. This is money held in trust by the federal government, which in 2020 was valued at $937 billion. During the Trump administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) vowed to pass all Medicare “risk” to “management” plans. “Risk” in this ca...
