Human Horsepower

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads for those little energy shots you can get in all the drug stores and gas stations. They promise you that you won’t get that “afternoon feeling” and that you’ll get the energy of coffee without the crash …

…except it’s not true.

Those products stimulate you with synthetic caffeine. That makes them worse than, not better than coffee. You are going to get jitters and you’re going to hit rock bottom.

The reason that happens is that caffeine causes you to release an “energy transmitter” in your brain. The problem is that the caffeine causes depletion of this “energy transmitter.” Then, you feel worse than you did to start with.

The Perfect Pre-Workout Energy Boost

Ahhhhh … a giant plate of pasta the night before a big workout, long-distance run or a big game. It’s what all the athletes do, right? They load up on tons of carbs, so they can get the “extra energy” they’ll need.

Except that they don’t. Get the extra energy, I mean.

Conventional fitness trainers and nutritionists will tell you that pasta and carbohydrates are how you get the strength to perform at maximum capacity.

Rare Super Food of the Ancient Incas

Working my way through the thick jungle, I trekked through the highlands of Peru down into the heart of the Amazon. Along the way, I stopped to celebrate ancient rituals with local Indians. And dodged some mean, golf-ball-sized mosquitoes.

Suddenly my companion, Dr. Octavio Zolezzi from Lima University, shouted, “Here it is.”

Do You Know What Doctors Are Reading?

I like to keep up on the latest news in my field.

The other day, I picked up my copy of Family Practice News, and I couldn’t believe what I saw: three articles side by side on the front page – all addressing the same thing: three different drugs … and three different deadly side effects not reported at the time that the FDA approved these drugs. And all three are still on the market.

The first story that caught my eye was about the diabetes drug Avandia. This drug is still on the market, even though it’s been proven to have caused over 83,000 heart attacks and 304 deaths.1,2