Messages from Dr. Stoll
Coffee, Genetics & Your Health
April 29, 2013
People love their morning cup of coffee and many can’t start the day without a dark cup of “morning goodness.” I too once drank dark coffee in the morning and afternoon, dependent on the caffeine and addicted to the taste.
A recent study clarified the previous murky world of studies examining coffee and its potential health benefits or disease promotion (more on that in just a minute). Previous studies on coffee consumption have concluded that coffee is either beneficial, reducing your risk of diseases such as heart disease due to the phytochemicals, or it increases your risk of heart disease. Many coffee connoisseurs confidently pour another cup after reading the latest study that promotes the health benefits and antioxidants. Those concerned about coffee point to caffeine and high blood pressure as primary risk factors. So who is right and how do you know? This conundrum highlights the challenges of interpreting modern research that is laden with bias, incomplete scientific knowledge, and commercialism. Simply reading the news reports about study findings or even the abstract itself can lead to a misinterpretation of the study findings or a failure to understand the weaknesses of the study. One prominent weakness in many nutritional studies is the assumption that everyone is genetically the same and it is the food that is the only variable in the study—assuming also that everyone is honest with their dietary food recall!
As Iron Sharpens Iron
April 15, 2013In 2010 Mary decided to make a lifestyle change and enthusiastically pursued a plant-based diet, losing 30 pounds and feeling great. She was excited about her new life, energy and vitality, and was really beginning to enjoy the taste of vegetables. For the first time she really believed that this was going to be the last diet that she ever started and that she would maintain her ideal body weight for the rest of her life. But her success came to an unexpected and abrupt end. Several of her closest friends began to distance themselves from her because she did not “fit” in with the group and, in fact, in her words was no longer the “fat” friend. She did not eat the same foods, drink alcohol, or laugh at the same “fat” jokes. Within a couple of weeks they ended the friendship and she was left without a core group of friends.
New Article Confirms Again the Dangers of Eating Meat!
March 7, 2013
I am often asked, “There’s too much conflicting information about nutrition; how do I believe what you are saying is true, Dr. Stoll?”
I always go back to what the Bible says about food, because as Christians, ultimate truth is God’s truth. It doesn’t give us a strict diet plan, so we can’t say that there’s a biblical diet plan. But it does give general guidance.
When we look back in Genesis, and we see the Garden, we see that God created us to eat fruit bearing trees, seed bearing plants, and green plants. Now, fast forward to Genesis 9:3. After the flood the world changed monumentally, so God tells Noah right after the flood, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” (NKJV) God made provision for a changed world because He knew there were places and times in history where people did not have access to plants.
Happy NEW Year! (part one)
January 2, 2013
Happy New Year to each of you! We pray that this year will be a year of continued growth mentally, spiritually, and physically, and a closer walk with God. I personally look forward to working with each of you during the coming year, and hopefully meeting you at an upcoming event or on our monthly conference call.
We all love something new, don’t we? New offers hope for a different future and anticipation of something better than the current condition. This time of year we fondly remember the blessings of the past year and with a deep and cleansing sigh are relieved to have the year behind us with its challenges, pain, struggles, failed expectations, and yes failed dietary plans! But with the stroke of midnight everything changes and we welcome in a New Year with the hope that things are going to be better and somehow different this year.
Health Immersion Transformation
December 2012
We – my family and I – just returned from the Total Health Immersion in Florida this week; it was an amazing week that reinforces the remarkable power of vegetables! The immersion is a week-long health intervention with delicious plant strong meals, basic exercise, 4-6 hours each day of lectures and cooking demonstrations, and lots of fun. We had several participants that arrived with uncontrolled blood pressure in the 200/100 range. They were cleared by their physicians to attend and were by their own admission, “not very good patients”.
After four days of eating a plant strong diet and eliminating processed foods, sugars, oils, salt, and animal products, their blood pressures returned to near normal ranges, around 125/80-90, without any medication. The vast majority of diabetics were able to discontinue their medications because their blood sugars normalized in one week, and almost everyone was able to discontinue high blood pressure medication.
Self Care is the Best Health Care
October 2012
and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.”
~A.J. Reb Materi, Our Family
Health Care in the 21st century has become a very expensive and impersonal machine that schedules more patients in an hour than time allows, and more tests and appointments than a Day-Timer can hold. Expenses are rising at an alarming rate: total out of pocket expenses rose by 45% in the last decade and the average family deductible has increased by 30% in the last two years. Tragically, a senior without prescription drug coverage pays on average 34% of their after-tax income on health care. What happened? We now have more tests, more medications, more appointments, more diseases, and less time, money and quality of life. Can you escape the current that carries everyone to the same painful destination?
Yes! You can take back control of your health destiny and reset your destination and future. You don’t need to face the same diseases that afflict millions today. You don’t have to die from a heart attack, suffer the ravages of diabetes, succumb to dementia, and struggle against a sick and tired body. The good news is that these diseases and a host of others are preventable and, in many cases, reversible. How can you avoid these common diseases that afflict friends and family? The answer is simple—Self Care.
Investment in Health
Do you have a health debt or perhaps are suffering a physical bankruptcy? Just like your money, your health will either flourish or disappear based upon your investment of time and energy. Often in my practice I encounter people who have amassed a large health debt visible in their pain and disabling disease. Living on “credit”, they borrow against the future for a few short-lived pleasures today. Little by little, just like credit card debt, they begin to accumulate the disease. At first it is not noticeable; daily life and activities are unhindered by the damaging habits, and the debt seems manageable. You might think that tomorrow or next year you will be able to pay off that debt and make those healthy changes. However, tomorrow never comes, and the debt only grows larger and larger, and soon begins to impact other areas of your life. At first it may seem to be only small changes, a new medication, or an occasional ache. But, if the debt and habits are not addressed, the debt and its impact will only grow until your entire life is altered under its weight and you might ask yourself, how did I get here! Help!But there is hope. Just like our money we must offer up our bodies to the Lord as a living and holy sacrifice to Him. Once we do, He will be faithful to help you begin to make the changes and to regain your health and with it your life.
Diet for a Lifetime
Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his best selling book, Eat to Live, described the concept of a nutrient-dense diet and its remarkable health promoting disease reversing qualities.The simple formula for a health life is summarized in this elegant equation: H=N/C or Health=Nutrients/Calories. Food at its basic level supplies us with nutrients to maintain cell function, the necessary raw materials for maintenance and repair, and energy. The energy from food is supplied in the form of calories from protein, carbohydrates and fats. The majority of people make decisions based on this level of understanding leading to diets that are high protein, low carbohydrate, low fat, and complicated by hours of impossible calorie counting. The micronutrients including the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and anti-oxidants are also supplied by the food we eat, but do not affect the total caloric value. These micronutrients are the key building blocks that are essential for optimal cell function and are critically important to your future health.
Why should I worry about my health?
“Or do you not know that…you are not your own? For you were bought at a price…”I Corinthians 6:19-20
Jamie was missionary working in Jamaica to help spread the gospel. She came to see me for health problems that cut short her mission service. Now, instead of pursuing the Lord’s work in Jamaica, her days were filled with doctor’s visits, physical therapy, and trips to the pharmacy, as her declining health shifted her focus from the Lord and His kingdom to the management of her own diseases. Did you know that as a follower of Christ your body is not your own? This stands in direct contradiction to the current cultural ideal of self. I Corinthians 6:19-20 teaches us that your body is not your own because you have been bought with a price–Jesus. If this is true, do we need to worry about our health and the way we manage our bodies or can we live like most of America? You are a living stone in the Lord’s temple, how do you want to present yourself to Him?
Jamie’s story ends well. She adjusted her lifestyle toward healthy habits and her diseases melted away. A healthy, strong and vibrant body replaced her diseased body, and she was once again ready to do the Lord’s work. She returned to Jamaica where she is working today to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Take some time today to prayerfully consider your body and your health. What is the condition of your temple and is it a place you would be proud to offer to the Lord?
What is the Balance in Your Health Savings Account
Do you regularly save? If you do, why do you save? Personal savings is an investment in the future and a hedge against unforeseen events and even disaster. Importantly, saving is never an end in itself, but is used to accomplish a purpose or goal. It also requires vision, discipline and consistency as you plan for an uncertain future. Just as you should be saving your money for the future, so also you should be investing in your health. Each of us has a “health bank account” where we daily make deposits and withdrawals based upon our lifestyle choices. Nutritional excellence, exercise, and proper hydration are a few important daily deposits. Withdrawals from your account may include a stress filled day started with coffee and a bagel, a hamburger and fries for lunch, and an evening meal of chicken parmesan noodles followed by beer/wine and sitcoms.Why is My Body Falling Apart?
Every day in my office a patient recites these words, “Help, my body is falling apart!” Have you ever wondered why your body begins to fall apart and seems to do so at an alarming pace? Often, one system begins to fail and this can trigger a cascade of disease that begins to wash away both health and quality of life. Here are a few reasons that your body begins to fall apart; more importantly these represent opportunities to begin recapturing your health.Health Minutes from Dr. Scott Stoll
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”Romans 12:1
Today the news is filled with articles about our growing waistlines and health problems. Obesity, and with it disease, is on the rise not only here in America but like a virus is spreading to every other country in the world. Recently, an article in the Wall Street Journal described the growing obesity problem in China. Once a country known for its thin and relatively healthy population, China now faces the mounting healthcare burden of a population that is the currently the fastest growing overweight group in the world. Researchers desperately search for the cause, hoping to find a simple solution to the problem. They have investigated our genetic codes, measured our fat intake, exercise habits, sleep patterns, and even shoe size! But still the answer appears to elude the millions of dollars and countless hours invested in this project. Is there an answer and, if so, is it possible to stop our rapid health decline?
The answer is a resounding, yes! And remarkably, the solution is inexpensive, doesn’t require any medication, program participation, or expensive purchases, and can be started today. The answer is found in our daily habits – what we eat and how we exercise, sleep, and manage stress. Slowly and insidiously we have been sliding away from healthy habits toward a lifestyle that promotes disease. It reminds me of the frog in the pot of boiling water that doesn’t realize the water is slowing being heated until it is too late. In the coming articles we will explore the trends and find the solutions that will help you disease proof your body.
Remember, your body is not your own but the Lord’s.
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