GET OUTSIDE, PLAY WITH YOUR DOG, AND EAT DIRT

"Atopic dermatitis (AD)" is the medical term for what is more commonly called "childhood eczema." A new study out of Harvard shows that lower levels of prenatal maternal Vitamin D (25(OH)D) correlates with a higher risk of atopic dermatitis in early childhood. The researchers did not find a correlation between Vitamin D intake and early childhood eczema but did find a slight correlation between intake and mid-childhood atopic dermatitis.

In my own practice, we drew Vitamin D blood levels on approximately 1000 patients. ONLY ONE patient had a normal level. All of the rest were below normal. Granted, this was in a predominately White suburb of Milwaukee but the message is clear: get your Vitamin D on. If you can get outside, do it. Observe the normal precautions against sunburn, of course. If you cannot get outside every day, consider taking Vitamin D as a supplement. As always, discuss this with your health care provider first. Personally, I take a fish oil/Vitamin D combination capsule twice a day. Each capsule contains 2,0000 International Units (I.U.) of Vitamin D3 and 600 mg of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Vitamin D supplementation is also an effective treatment for AD.

Other non-medical treatments (meaning that you don't need a physician's prescription) for AD include probiotics (the greater the variety of bacterial strains the better), moisturizers, and possibly a gluten-free diet. Exposure to ultraviolet light also helps flare-ups.

Prevention entails letting "kids be kids." Those who are raised in a "sanitized" environment develop eczema more often than children who habitually play outside. In the dirt. And children who are exposed to dogs while growing up also have a lower risk of developing AD.

So the moral of the story is this: get outside, play around, and pet your dog. Sounds like a prescription for a good life anyway.

My Worst Thanksgiving Ever

I am taking a break from writing about health issues here to promote my new book My Worst Thanksgiving Ever which is an account of the abduction of my son Benjamin by the U.S. embassy in Nicaragua over the Thanksgiving weekend of 2013. Even worse, I was subsequently blamed for "abandoning" him despite being mugged 5 times in two nights trying to find him. That just confirms one of my sayings: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

So please do me a favor and download the book. It will be available for free for the next three days. You can download a free Kindle Reader here. There are also free versions for your iPhone or Android device.

Download, read, relate, and pass on the news. I really appreciate it.

Wheat Belly

This is a re-post from 2014. The advice is timeless.

Anyone who has followed my dietary advice knows that my first recommendation is to ditch the wheat and all other products that contain gluten. When I talk about "diet" I don't mean losing weight necessarily (although that will follow) but rather your nutritional lifestyle. My revelation about going wheat-free came about with a talk one day at a Starbucks with the author of the book Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health, William Davis, MD. In my own experience, I lost 30 pounds in six weeks when I first started the diet then another 10 after I incorporated a "cheat day" once a week. A cheat day is the one day a week (I chose Friday) when I would eat what I wanted and as much as I wanted. Despite the fact that I never got hungry following Dr. Davis' advice, my metabolism did eventually slow down and I revved it back up by pigging out one meal a week.


But the "diet" part is actually two-fold: avoid gluten AND avoid sugars and simple starches. While "Wheat Belly" measures the effects of carbohydrates on a person's insulin response, I found it easier to stick with the standard Glycemic Index, avoiding "fast carbs" and consuming only "slow carbs." Those phrases were popularized by Timothy Ferriss in his book The 4-Hour Body . Warning: not for the faint-hearted. He also gave me the idea of the cheat day. The thing I like best about Ferris is that he tries his ideas on himself first. This just supports Dr. Mangold's Rules for Good Living No. 2: Never Trust a Fat Dietitian.


Search for "Glycemic Index" and you will find no lack of sites that not only explain what the term means, but also give you lists of foods that are low and high GI. Sugars and simple starches are highest, while more complex veggies are low. Simply put, I did fine with cabbage, asparagus, kale, spinach, nuts, and legumes. Dr. Davis narrows the choices down even more but I still lost weight eating non-recommended foods. He also has a Wheat Belly Cookbook. As I said, I never went hungry nor should you.
Here's to your start of healthy eating!