Living Well

Doc's Note: Dr. Param Dedhia is one of the most interesting people I've met. He's a physician trained at Johns Hopkins who is an integrative doctor – he practices both modern and traditional medicine. He serves as the Weight Loss Program Leader and the Director of Sleep Medicine at Canyon Ranch, a wellness retreat in Tucson, Arizona. He's board-certified in sleep medicine, internal medicine, and obesity medicine, and he also did a fellowship in geriatrics (that's for us old folks).

Today, Param is sharing his secret for the best way to stay hydrated... 

We're no strangers to controversy, but by far one of our most controversial topics is on statins...

Last week, I detailed the basics on statins and explained why you should only take them if you've tried other lifestyle changes first.

Your favorite retirement state is disaster-prone.

Florida ranks as the fifth most natural disaster-prone state in the U.S. It comes in after California, Texas, Oklahoma, and Washington.

221 million prescriptions...

That's the latest number available for the number of prescriptions written in a single year (2012-2013) for statins.

"You want me to buy a snow shovel. I live in South Florida!"

Last week, after our issue on winterizing your house right now (instead of waiting until the end-of-fall rush), Ron M. wrote in about the ludicrous nature of our tip on buying a snow shovel because he lives in South Florida.

Imagine looking at the position of Venus and using that to predict how much snow you'll get for the next decade.

It sounds ludicrous, but that's exactly what the Farmer's Almanac does. In 1792, the publication first used the mathematical formula for weather predictions created by Robert B. Thomas. Thomas looked at variables like sun spots, tidal patterns, and yes, the position of the planets. He even gave tips on counting things like persimmon seeds and colors on a wooly caterpillar.

It's hard to tell which medical studies to follow... especially when they contradict each other.

One day coffee is good for you... the next, someone claims it gives you cancer. The same with eggs, milk, and a number of other things. (For the record, coffee is good for you and protects against liver cancer.)

A 60-year-old man in Massachusetts made headlines last week... for all the worst reasons.

That's because he became the first recorded case of a certain mosquito-borne virus infecting a human in Massachusetts since 2003.

Doc's note: August is National Make a Will Month. So this month, I'm covering a question I often hear...

"Should I pay for someone to write my will or can I do it myself?"

I'm going to lose my voice from shouting this yet again: Big Government doesn't care about you.

No one – not Big Government, not Big Pharma, not Big Banks – will take care of you. You can only take care of yourself. You are the only one with your own best interests at heart.