John La Puma, M.D. is cofounder of ChefMD® and a board-certified specialist in internal medicine.

He has pioneered the idea of food-as-medicine that’s tasty, including delicious eating plans for osteoarthritis pain relief, weight loss, cholesterol-lowering , anti-aging and childhood obesity. He hosts the weekly TV segment “What’s Cooking With ChefMD®?” every Sunday morning on the cable network Lifetime Television and Lifetime Real Women in the national TV series “Health Corner.”

Dr. La Puma is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of Creative Studies and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduate of the Baylor College of Medicine. He performed his residency in internal medicine at West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center and UCLA, and completed the first postgraduate fellowship in general internal medicine and clinical medical ethics in the U.S., at the University of Chicago. Dr. La Puma is the author or co-author of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 150 other contributions to the medical literature and 3 medical books, including a CME book.

Dr. La Puma still practices internal medicine, using the ChefMD concept to motivate his patients. Repeatedly named “One of America’s Top Physicians” by the Consumers’ Research Council, and called a “Secret Weapon” by The Wall Street Journal, Dr. La Puma was honored with the National Association of Medical Communicators 2007 “Award of Excellence”. He is based in Santa Barbara, California.

Example of what Dr. La Puma suggests for

Medical Condition: Alzheimer’s

Toasted Oatmeal with Double Mango and Toasted Walnuts

Preparation Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes Servings: 4 Calories: 475 per serving Percent from Fat: 33% Ingredients 3 cups old-fashioned oats, uncooked One-half cup coarsely chopped walnuts 4 cups skim milk or fat-free soy milk One-half cup diced dried mango One-quarter teaspoon salt One-eighth teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 large ripe fresh mango, diced (2 cups)

Preparation Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread oats in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Place nuts on a small baking sheet. Bake oats and nuts 6 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Set nuts and oats aside separately. Combine milk, dried mango, salt, and nutmeg in a medium saucepan; bring just to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to low; add toasted oats. Simmer 5 to 8 minutes or until thickened, stirring only once or twice. Transfer to four serving bowls; top with fresh mango and toasted nuts. Serve with additional milk, if desired. Substitutions Dried strawberries or golden raisins may replace dried mango; 2 cups sliced strawberries may replace fresh mango. Brazil nuts may replace walnuts. One-half teaspoon cinnamon may replace nutmeg. For a lighter, less aggressive flavor, use true cinnamon, sometimes called Ceylonese cinnamon, if you can find it. Culinary Taste Tip Toasting rolled oats is one way to boost flavor without adding calories or unhealthy fats. Over-stirring the oatmeal changes the texture from smooth to too smooth and a little pasty. Just let the simmering milk do its job. Culinary Technique Tip To quickly dice a mango, place the fruit firmly on a cutting board, point side down. Then cut away from you, and slice down until you reach the pit. Then, make quick cross hatches, and scoop out perfect cubes of mango!

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE COPY OF THE RECIPE

SOURCE:  chefmd.com

Click here to read more about his book and philosophy of eating and cooking

This infection is a rare but very severe type of bacterial infection that can destroy the muscles, skin, and underlying tissue. Necrotizing refers to something that causes tissue death.

Many different types of bacteria can cause this type of infection. A very severe and usually deadly form of necrotizing soft tissue infection is due to Streptococcus pyogenes, which is sometimes called “flesh-eating bacteria.”

How do you say It?

The pronunciation is neck-row-tize-ing fash-e-i-tis, it means decaying infection of the fascia.

What Is It?

It is a bacterial infection caused commonly by group A Strep bacteria, which is the same bacteria that causes common Strep throat. Usually easily killed by antibiotics, sometimes a very strong variety of Strep occurs. This is the one that causes the life-threatening cases and is known as the “flesh-eating” bacteria. NF can also be caused by other bacteria, or a mixture of bacteria. The bacteria destroys soft tissue at the subcutaneous level, and often is coupled with toxic shock syndrome, both are deadly alone, together they are even more so. If muscle is destroyed, it is necrotizing myositis.

How do you get it?

Most often the bacteria enter the body through an opening in the skin, quite often a very minor opening, even as small as a paper cut, a staple puncture, or a pin prick. It can also enter through weakened skin, like a bruise, blister, or abrasion. It can also happen following a major trauma or surgery, and in some cases there appears to be no identifiable point of entry.

Click here Quick Fact Sheet for Flesh Eating Bacteria

Click here to Visit the National Necrotizing Fasciitis website

Chef Survives Flesh Eating Bacteria

Chef Matt Murphy has the hands of a culinary artist in his kitchen at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans — but he’s also a rugged man who hasn’t shied from being battered and bloodied  playing his favorite sport, rugby.

So when he felt pain after tripping over one of his daugters’ toys just over a year ago, Murphy’s first instinct was to simply suck it up and move on. Little did he know he was beginning an agonizing medical odyssey that he came through only with first-rate medical care  and a lot of luck.

Master chef Murphy had contracted necrotizing fasciitis (NF), more commonly called flesh-eating disease — an ailment that sounds like it comes from a science-fiction thriller but is an all too real and deadly threat. Its mortality rate is 90 percent, and even those lucky few who survive often have limbs amputated.

Host Dr. Billy Goldberg talked with Dr. Stephen Rennard, M.D. of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who took his wife’s family chicken soup recipe into his lab and discovered that it did slow cold symptoms.

Chicken Soup for a Cold

Grandma’s Chicken Soup Recipe
(Note: Other chicken soup recipes also are effective, including many store-bought soups)
Ingredients:
1 5- to 6-pound stewing hen or baking chicken
1 package of chicken wings
3 large onions
1 large sweet potato
3 parsnips
2 turnips
11 to 12 large carrots
5 to 6 celery stems
1 bunch of parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Clean the chicken, put it in a large pot and cover it with cold water. Bring the water to boil.
2. Add the chicken wings, onions, sweet potato, parsnips, turnips and carrots. Boil about 1 and a half hours.
Remove fat from the surface as it accumulates.
3. Add the parsley and celery. Cook the mixture about 45 min. longer.
4. Remove the chicken. The chicken is not used further for the soup. (The meat makes excellent chicken parmesan.)
5. Put the vegetables in a food processor until they are chopped ne or pass through a strainer. Both were
performed in the present study.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
(Note: This soup freezes well.)
Matzoh balls were prepared according to the recipe on the back of the box of matzoh meal (Manischewitz).
Click here for a printable copy

Source:  sirius.com/doctorradio

Excellent description of baby boomer motivations and vision of aging produced by the Rose Community Foundation (Denver) as part of its Boomers Leading Change initiative

SOURCE:  tla50resource.ning.com