During my medical rotations, I started writing short stories about patients and experiences where I thought prevention would have made a big difference. The stories were tucked away on my computer, and have now found their way out! Many of the things I saw made me feel puzzled, some made me feel angry. This one made me want to invest in compression sock stock. During my dermatology intership, I learned three things. One, dermatologists are extremely busy people. Two, they don’t just deal with the face, but three – they also deal with the legs. So much so that, to my surprise, I spent most of my dermatology internship staring…
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Two Bizarre Things I Think about Weight Loss
Today I’m using my medical knowledge to tackle a big topic – no pun intended. Medical school takes six years, then add the five for biomedicine and on top of that hours and hours, evenings and weekends spend reading articles related to nutrition, lifestyle and health – and this is what you get: two bizarre ideas, which I think are the actual truth about weight loss. Losing weight is a very complex and difficult issue, and you might need to come back to this blog post and use many others for inspiration on your weight loss journey. But, there is something about the secrets in this post that just might…
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Understanding Scientific Articles: 4 Questions You Need to Ask to Make Science Easy & Keep Your Health
Many a hundred of scientific articles get published in (bio)medical journals each year. Some of them about diseases, some of them about prevention, and some of them about health and nutrition. Only a tiny minuscule proportion of those get portrait correctly in the media, and lots of times you will find yourself being misinformed, while you actually want to know what’s going on. With the following tips, you can decipher any (bio)medical article, find out which ones apply to you and easily know which ones to discard. The four questions you need to ask are: What is the population studied? Has the study been carried out in cells, animals…
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Top 5 Things I Discovered About Food While Travelling India and Thailand
Are you trying to eat healthy but noticing that your eating routine feels plain or is missing rich, exciting flavours? Or you want to eat fresh and raw foods but find it time-consuming to make meals from scratch every day? When trying to eat healthy, even if you do have variety and you do have the time, sometimes it is simply hard to follow a healthy eating plan what with all the organic produce and expensive ingredients you need to keep buying. I felt the same way. Being a foodie in a Western country, I am immensely curious about how different foods contribute to health. I want to eat healthy and…
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Tips for Frugal Shopping at any Organic and Health food store
I am grateful for their existence but, organic foods can be insanely expensive. If you, like me, want to support this branch of business without going into debt, read on for tips on how to shop frugally at organic & health food stores. In my years as health-food-store-wanderer, I have discovered how to shop and how not to shop at any health food store. By making wise choices and leaving a bunch of groceries behind (to be bought at regular stores), buying organic can be easy and cheap! I’ve gone from a 40 euro bill each time I even just entered a health food store (for groceries for 2 people x…
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What’s it Like to Spend 17 Days on a Mediterranean island?
Even back as a medical student, I’ve seen multiple doctors burst out in tears (during office hours) because of how stressed they are. The hospital life is busy, hectic and full of communication problems – all the while you’re trying to give patients the best care you can. While making other people healthier, many doctors ignore their own stress .. making me marvel at the irony. Whether you are a doctor, a cook or a ballerina, your health comes first. No matter what kind of job you do, it’s always a wise decision to take a holiday, go far away or stay at home, as long as you just – relax.…
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How to prevent and treat PCOS?
POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME is a diagnosis more and more (young) women have to face – but a diagnosis that not all doctors know how to explain well. Here is everything you need to know about PCOS. Sit back, relax and read on 😉 . WHAT IS PCOS? IMAGINE A BUNCH OF GREEDY LOOKING EGG FOLLICLES BOXING WITH EACH OTHER IN THE OVARIES. That’s PCOS. IT IS HORMONAL IMBALANCE RESULTING IN MULTIPLE RIPE FOLLICLES IN THE OVARIES. Since there are so many ripe follicles, they compete with each other and it’s difficult for any of them to become the actual egg that will then go on to the womb. These competing…
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The role of vitamin D, diet and exercise in prevention of colon cancer
Harvard Medical School publishes a health letter every year. In 2014, their letter listed five steps that help prevent colorectal cancer. In this post, I will explain three of the five points mentioned. Colon Cancer Prevention 1.Vitamin D Vitamin D is free (it comes from sunshine) and seems to have a protective effect on many diseases. Exposing most of your body to sunshine 10 minutes per day is enough to have good levels of vitamin D. You can have your vitamin D checked by a doctor to discuss possible supplementation. Although it is not clear yet whether vitamin D supplements have the same effect as vitamin D from sunlight, Harvard…
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25 Ways to Develop Type 2 Diabetes!
Welcome to the ‘Sarcastic Post of the Month’. Living a healthy lifestyle helps to achieve good health and happiness but, it cannot guarantee it. Still, leading an unhealthy lifestyle definitely increases the risk of poor health and severe disease. Here are things everyone can do to maximally increase their chances of developing Type 2 Diabetes. 25 Sure Ways to Develop Type 2 Diabetes 1. Never eat a salad for lunch. You’re not a goat. 2. If you do make the mistake of getting a salad, add copious amounts of mayonnaise. Life is short. 3. Binge eat sweets, ice cream or gulp down pure sugar when you’re sad. You deserve it.…
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Lunch Salad You’ll need after the Holidays (Great for the Immune System)
Alright people, it’s time to make 2015 awesome! Here’s a detox salad that helped me & my body fight off the negative effects of all the sugar indulged in over the holidays. There’s just been too much sugar and too little vitamins a bit too often in the holiday meals. This salad is a perfect detox lunch, because it: 1) is easy to prepare, 2) contains fresh (green) veggies, 3) is easy to bring along, 4) gives a feeling of satiety for hours. Spinach is an important source of zinc. Zinc is an important mineral for a healthy immune system. Bell pepper is a good source of vitamin C, equally important…
