10 Health Questions With A Doctor

Adam:  What do you do (Professionally)?

Chris Hogrefe: I split my time between practicing Emergency Medicine and Primary Care Sports Medicine in an academic, University setting.  I have the privilege of caring for some of the most ill people in our state on one day, and then caring for a wide-variety of athletes ranging from Division I athletes to 70 year-old Ironman participants to middle school kickball extraordinaires.  Sprinkle in a little healthcare information technology and one has loosely described my professional responsibilities.

Adam:   Are health-related New Year’s resolutions a good stepping stone or just Holiday Remorse?

CH: I actually do not think that New Year’s resolutions constitute “Holiday Remorse”.  A large number of people formulate health-related resolutions (specifically weight loss topping the list), which could certainly be construed as a reflex after binging on homemade cookies, turkey, etc. over the holidays.  But, if you focus on the frequently cited weight loss resolution, the fact of the matter is that obesity is a rapidly growing problem in the United States (Please excuse the pun.).  If you polled Americans on July 1^st for a Mid-New Year’s Resolution, contextually withdrawn from the calorie-laden holiday season, I surmise that weight loss or health-related resolutions would still top the list.  The start of a new year is simply a prime opportunity to wipe the slate clean and tackle the biggest issues in our lives that warrant improvement (Again, pardon the pun.).  Perhaps the most difficult issues to fix, and implement on a long-term basis, involve our health.

Biggest Loser Week 3

Week 3 is when things got serious. This is when I started juicing. And upped my total loss to 18 pounds. That puts my total percentage to 6.74%. I have found that juicing seems to be a polarizing activity. There are those that tell me not to do it because it isn't safe. There are those that tell me that it is cheating for the Biggest Loser Competition. And then there are those that commend me for doing something so challenging.

10 Questions From A Fit Person

Adam: What do you do (Professionally)
Rae Kane: Pipefitter

Adam: Are health-related New Year’s resolutions a good stepping stone or just Holiday Remorse?
RK: It's good to have goals but why wait till the new year to make them? I never have.

Adam: What is one thing that you think that everybody should do for their health?
RK: Your body is like a swimming pool, if you've never taken care of one you might not know what that means. But basically you have to balance your acidity with your alkalinity. So if you're too acidic you get sick. Alkaline comes mostly from green vegetables. Sugar and meats make you acidic. A miracle cure for just about everything (including cancer, because cancer is a fungus) is sodium bicarb (baking soda) ironically they use that in swimming pools too.

Biggest Loser Week 2

My weight is now down 3.74%. Leading up to this time, I had been letting myself go. By that, I mean that I was ignoring portioning and eating my favorite meat dishes. I would wake up with headaches, and my body hurt. I felt pretty miserable, and it made it easier to start dieting. As I saw last week as a buffer week, this week came easier than I expected.  There was no point during my first two weeks of dieting that I got tempted to eat meat. I guess that I’ve found my solace in cheese. On Tuesday, we went out to eat. Initially, I felt limited to where I could go, as there had to be an excellent vegetarian option. Then I realized