Weight loss and Weight Chat Blog

August 28, 2008

Diverticulosis: Nuts, corn, popcorn don’t increase risk

Received wisdom has long held that people with diverticulosis (described below) should not eat nuts, corn or popcorn because these foods would increase the risk of their developing diverticulitis, a serious complication sometimes requiring surgery. In fact, most physicians specifically tell their patients with diverticulosis to avoid these foods even though there was never much evidence to support such a recommendation. But research just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that eating these foods does not increase the risk of either diverticulosis or its potential complications. Moreover, for men with the highest intake of nuts and popcorn, there was actually a reduced risk of developing diverticulitis (20 percent reduction with regard to nuts and 28 percent reduction for popcorn). So much for received wisdom!
So just what is diverticulosis and diverticulitis? Diverticulosis is a very common condition in which there is […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

May 15, 2008

“Mad Pride” movement seeks to destigmatize mental illness

On May 11, in the midst of Mental Health Awareness Month, The New York Times ran a provocative article entitled ‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma, which reported on the burgeoning movement to destigmatize mental illness through proud, if not downright aggressive, acceptance rather than shame-based avoidance. Taking their cue from other previously marginalized groups such as gay-rights activists, some advocates are going public with their mental health stories, using books and online blog and video posts. There are websites such as the Icarus Project and MindFreedom International, with the latter recently forming the International Association for Creative Maladjustment (based on an idea by Martin Luther King!) whose first president, appropriately enough, is Patch Adams, MD, the physician/clown famously portrayed by Robin Williams in the eponymous 1998 movie.
According to MindFreedom International, the Mad Pride movement “…celebrates the right to be nonviolently different, odd, crazy, nuts, strange, weird, or whatever […]

Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com

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