The Food Revolution is Back!!!

After a brief hiatus during the month of May, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is back.  It's on ABC, Friday nights at 9PM.  Check out the rest of season 2 during the month of June!

Big change for the Telemedicine Project

Kaiser patients - when my Telemedicine/Web Cam project started on April 1st, I could only use Web Cams to follow up on patients that I have seen in the clinic first.  That was because a paper consent form had to be signed.

But Kaiser has now created a website that allows for online consent.  This means that a Web Cam visit can be initiated by phone or email.  So if you want to do a Video Visit with me, you can do 2 things:

#1) You can call the Call Center and book a Telephone Appointment Visit with me.  While we are on the phone, just tell me that you want to do a Video visit and we will activate our Web Cams right then and there.

#2) You can email me thru www.kp.org and we can setup a date and time to do a Video Visit.

For now, we will still use a telephone for the audio portion - it seems to be more reliable.

Check out Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC

I am a big fan of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  It's on ABC Tuesday nights at 8PM.  He just started Season 2 in LA 2 weeks ago, you can see the first two episodes here:
http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution/video

You can see episodes from Season 1 on You Tube as well.

If you are as moved by Jamie's efforts as I have, please consider donating to The Food Revolution, I will be making a donation soon.  You can make that donation by going to this link:
https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=9069

You can learn more about the food revolution in general by either checking out the main site on ABC:
http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution/

Or you can check out The Food Revolution's main page:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/sign-petition

Long live the Revolution!!

Resources on healthy diets

Diet is, as you can imagine, one of the most critical aspects in terms of one's own health.  While it is true that genes play a role in heart attacks and strokes - the bottom line is that most of our great grandparents had the same genes that we do, and they didn't have the same rate of heart attacks and strokes that we do now.  The biggest change over the last 3-4 generations is our diet, not our genes.

Many of you have heard me talk about The China Study, by T. Collin Campbell, and Dr. Neal Barnard.  I wanted to share a few links that have more information.

There's this link for The China Study: http://thechinastudy.com/

For Dr. Neal Barnard - check out his website: http://nealbarnard.org/
He is often on PBS, although I have not seen him lately - if I hear about any upcoming appearances, I will post about it on this blog.

I do know that Dr. Dean Ornish is also a great resource.  I have not had a chance yet to read any of his books, although they are on my to-read list.  His website is: http://www.pmri.org/

Finally, I am also a big fan of Alton Brown, the Food Network celebrity.  Many of the people mentioned above advocate a vegan diet.  Alton does not, but his philosophy does make sense to me and is something for people to consider if they find a vegan diet unappealing.  He did show called "Live and Let Diet" - it appears on You Tube in 2 parts.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2gaQ0IoIfU
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re5Wrbl89YA

Telemedicine Project Starting April 1st, 2011!!!!

At long last - my Telemedicine in Primary Care project is getting ready to start.  As an FYI, in the beginning, I will only be using Video Visits to follow up with a patient after I have seen them in the clinic first.  That is because patients have to sign a consent form before we do a Video Visit, and this is the easiest way to get that done.

At some point in the future, I am hopeful that Kaiser will create a way to do consent online - when that happens, I will work with Kaiser to see how patients might be able to initiate a Video Visit with me without having to see me in clinic first.  But one step at a time.

For now, if you want to participate, there is only one thing that you need to do - make sure you have a webcam and make sure that it works.  If we ever decide to do a Video Visit, I will give you a handout with more details on what you'll need to do on your end to make this technology work.

Website of the Month - www.familydoctor.org

This is a great website for more common medical issues.  It is put on by the American Academy of Family Physicians, or the AAFP, which is a well respected group in the U.S.  If you are looking for information on a more unusual medical diagnosis, like Crohn's disease, this is not the best website for that.  But for things like:
-Wellness
-Quitting smoking
-Breast cancer
-Heart disease
-UTI's
-Prostate cancer
-Arthritis
-Asthma
-Colds

This is a great website.  The initial page is grouped into fairly logical categories:
-Healthy Living
-Women
-Men
-Smart Patient Guide
-Parents and Kids
-Seniors
-Over-the-counter Guide

It's a great site to start looking for information on common conditions.  For what it's worth, it's on my Favorites list in my Internet Explorer.

Vitamin D - Part 2

Many of you may have read the report that was released at the end of November saying that the recommended level of vitamin D may be too high. Currently, the recommended level is 30 or higher, but according to the report released by the Institutes Of Medicine, a level of 20 should be OK.

It is important to note, this report only looked at people who were healthy, it did NOT look at people with osteoporosis.  It also only looked at bone health - it is still not clear what the ideal level is for your immune system, and there is mounting evidence that vitamin D does play an important role in maintaining a healthy immune system.

So if you are healthy and your bones are in good shape (i.e. you do not have osteoporosis) - a level of 20 is probably OK, although there is nothing wrong with a level of 30 or 40.  However, if you do have osteoporosis, then you should still shoot for a level of 40 to 50.  Vitamin D does not become toxic until your level gets over 100.