How can anyone trust their doctor after the covid fiasco. Virtually every doctor pushed covid shots and boosters and most still do. Regarding cholesterol, while statins lower your cholesterol, life expectancy is not increased as a consequence https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-statin-scam. Cholesterol is not a reliable measure of cardiovascular health or heart attack risk or certainly longevity. The failure to consider all cause mortality over time between vaxed and unvaxed is a bury your head in the sand approach used by pharma to ignore the risk benefit tradeoff of vaccines and also for drugs. Your doctor is happy to go along with this arrangement. The exercise and diet recommendations are great but I believe one of the greatest risks to our health is the annual wellness visit to your doctor.
I agree on the Medical part with you but do agree with the writer on getting out and exercising. I think most people and SB lead a pretty active Healthy lifestyle besides their overall diet,another topic but physically they are more active.
Cholesterol meds have been know to cause dementia/Alzhymers.
Cholesterol might be an important part of aging and protecting your body.
I'm not aware of the Calcium issue and the Blood pressure issue is concerning.
Cheese and Fats are not the issue.
What causes most of the problems in the diet is seed oils ,trans Fats,and other additives . Protein and Fat are essential.
Fish are full of mercury these days,and I don't think any are safe except sardines and possibly wild salmon.
JB: Many physicians I know agree with you. No need to see a doctor if you get your blood work done regularly (twice a year), and take action. People over-utilize the system. Our country pushes medical care and pharmaceuticals for economic GDP benefits, for employing many including lobbyists paying politicians, and for votes. Reality is Americans now demand what was unheard of prior to 1965’s The Great Democrat Society with freebies and mass subsidies for all. Once given, only courageous politicians dare take away.
JB - Of posdible interest, to underscore your point, and confirm that Americans waste money on health care. “Estimates of wasteful or low-value spending range from 10-30% of total healthcare expenditures, equating to $760-935 billion annually in recent years (based on 2019-2023 analyses).
• Physicians surveyed in studies estimate that about 20-22% of overall medical care is unnecessary:
• ~25% of tests
• ~22% of prescriptions
• ~11-12% of procedures.
• Specific examples: Up to 30% of certain services (e.g., imaging, lab tests, or surgeries like stents) are considered low-value in Medicare populations.
• Regional studies (e.g., Washington state) found over 45% of examined services wasteful in some years, costing hundreds of millions.”
The Medicare population are the worst over-utilizers. Why not? Afterall, the employed and employers pay for their entitled mentality. Organ transplants need to be deleted from the authorization list, as per one example. Does the public need to pay for a $1.5M youthful heart for an 85 year old? Especially when so many workers can’t even afford routine blood work? Try serving on a national Health Care Ethics Committee, which I did. We must all pay for the “Right to Life” — extended life — it is an impossible variable to overcome post 1965. What’s the answer? Wait for insolvency or a worker revolt against taxation?
Santa Barbaran's have no idea how good their health is there. In Georgia, it's the land of the fried food and very big people. My cholesterol has always been at the bottom of the recommended minimum, must be in the genes or because I rarely eat anything fried. I have stairs to the second floor and to the basement from the main floor ... lots of exercise. I hit the hay sometime between 11 and midnight, or so. My mind is always busy and working on about twenty different things. It's good to have a lot of projects, always something occupying my interest at the moment. I think engineers tend to live longer lives ... many into their mid-90's. My wife likes to socialize, so she'll probably bring a flu home that will kill me. Oh well ...
Really strong write-up here. The calcium score wake-up call is something that dosent get talked about enough even among people who think they're nailing the fitness side. Had something similar happen with a buddy who was runnig marathons and found out his lipid panel was a mess, basically just eating whatever cuz he figured the miles balanced it out. The whole self-disicpline piece is huge though, once you start giving yourself excuses it spirals fast.
Henry, looks like the Trump Administration just this morning, released new guidelines regarding nutrition recommendations. One I certainly will not be following.
Okay. and now I must make a confession. Over the past year I started to enjoy a burger now and then. I couldn't turn down my wife's pork chops, mash potatoes and gravy. We can't entirely deny ourselves of some of the good stuff. :) I think a 75/25 ratio is a good one. Except the holidays.
My wife and I have an occasional Whopper Junior, the "two for $5." You can't find a cheaper meal! No fries. My wife isn't a meat eater, so none is cooked at home. Mash potatoes and gravy I see only on two Holidays. That's it ... eat only the so-called bad stuff in moderation.
Why is medical care so expensive, including medical insurance? Your article is one example. Genetics and developmental disabilities aside, too many Americans do not take personal responsibility for their health via what they eat and how they choose to live. Most are ignorant, having no idea what to eat and not to eat; and that walking daily, climbing a few stairs needs to be part of their day. It’s simple. I never bought health insurance: no need. Easily got a religious exemption number online from the ObamaCare mandate: anyone could under Freedom of Religion including “none”. Then at 65, the Medicare mandate kicked in now taking over $500/mo automatically from my social security check (before any optional supplement premium) that leaves me enough to pay for essential water from mismanaged SBWD. In China, TVs blast “how to” exercise, live healthy , and eat. Food is medicine. In America, TVs push drugs making viewers aware how sick and drug dependent, or drug demanding, our country. The Medical Industrial Complex fuels our GDP. Americans are complicit.
Learn how to take care of yourself. Study iatrogenics. Wash your hands. Get Vitamin D outside.
Get your blood work done every 6-months and sent to your home address. Then take action. Stop expecting taxpayers and employers to pay for bad, or ignorant, life choices . I resent having to bay for the bad life choices or ignorance of others.
Someone needs to shut senile trump up and control him and his minions. He’s not acting alone on this. Miller is like the puppet master. A woman was murdered today because he and Trump don’t like brown people. ICE is nothing but a rogue organization now and could Kristi noem have picked a more ridiculous piece of headgear for her biased announcement, who does she think she is now, a Texas Ranger?
I have said from the beginning, trumps administration are a bunch of ego driven, money hungry, and inexperienced know nothings, which they tend to prove day after day after day, and Republican Congress and the majority of the Supreme Court justices just let him go, wild, they are also the blame. trumps minions need to learn how to speak and when to shut up. They are constantly putting their foot in their mouth.
Also, trump loves renaming places and things, he loves slapping his hideous name on everything and everywhere it shouldn’t be, so when is he going to change USA to USSR? I mean we’re living pretty lawless as it is. We’re murdering people, kidnapping people, fighting against our own citizens, pirating boats, extorting natural resources from countries that have been bullied. I’d say it’s pretty much like his old pal putin.
Yes, Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot in (ICE) cold blood and now leaves behind an orphaned six year old daughter. In normal times this would evoke outrage, but within this amoral regime, led by our thin-skinned, narcissistic, insecure, draft-dodging, pedophilic, spoiled-nepo-baby, and prevaricating grifter-in-chief, the sanctity of human life no longer matters in his insatiable "hungry ghost"-esque quest for power.
Encouraging, Henry. Even El Rushbo said he lost all his weight by diet, not exercise. Your self discipline conclusion resonates as an element for success in all aspects of life.
A good reminder to all of us about health. This reduction in cholesterol from over 250 to 34 in 6 months is remarkable. What DID you do to achieve this (outside of diet)?
Cate, statins helped. But I did something I never liked, I ate vegetables and fruit. I ate hardly any meat. Mostly fish. Though I also found out too much fish raised my mercury level. Always something wrong with everything. No dairy. Lots of salads with avocado, nuts and fruit. I cooked for myself and read every label for cholesterol and salt content. Once you get in the rhythm and find some menu items you like, it was fun messing around with different but healthy choices. It's not really that hard. I found a low carb rice, cooks in 15 minutes, cut up some onions and mushrooms, mixed in a great curry paste and voila, I had a fantastic healthy meal. I would on occasion cook fish with it and after a while chicken. You don't have to do some fad diet and make yourself suffer.
Fruit and Vegetables are Key. I can't imagine in all your life you didn't eat those living in a place so rich in agriculture. You can attend any of the Farmers Markets to taste the rich bounty that this county is blessed with.
Eat the seasonal organic fruit. Those are the minerals and vitamins you need for each season.
HS: congrats! Your Mediterranean diet changes — fresh unprocessed food — remain the best medicine. No need to read labels if you don’t buy processed food or drink. Eat out, treat yourself, in moderation. Statins can contribute to higher blood sugar, liver enzyme elevations, muscle problems. High cholesterol can have a genetic predisposition that has been shown in family studies to not necessarily contribute to heart or cardiovascular complications or decrease longevity as posted by JB. It’s wonderful you took personal responsibility for your health throughout your life, and now with new information, took additional action to improve your life at no cost to Medicare. You lead by example. May others choose personal responsibility for their health.
I like salads, too. Everything I eat for lunch mostly contains chicken. Fish is a favorite. Don't eat a dinner, I stop at lunch and only snack at night ... Cheetos, nuts and chocolate. Breakfast consists of peanut butter and jam on a bagel or cinnamon-raisin toasted bread topped with blueberries along with diet cranberry juice and lots of morning coffee with half-and-half. A mix of eating out and eating in for lunch. No soda after lunchtime ... too acidic. If Trump takes over Cuba, I'll be smoking Cuban cigars.
How can anyone trust their doctor after the covid fiasco. Virtually every doctor pushed covid shots and boosters and most still do. Regarding cholesterol, while statins lower your cholesterol, life expectancy is not increased as a consequence https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-statin-scam. Cholesterol is not a reliable measure of cardiovascular health or heart attack risk or certainly longevity. The failure to consider all cause mortality over time between vaxed and unvaxed is a bury your head in the sand approach used by pharma to ignore the risk benefit tradeoff of vaccines and also for drugs. Your doctor is happy to go along with this arrangement. The exercise and diet recommendations are great but I believe one of the greatest risks to our health is the annual wellness visit to your doctor.
I agree on the Medical part with you but do agree with the writer on getting out and exercising. I think most people and SB lead a pretty active Healthy lifestyle besides their overall diet,another topic but physically they are more active.
Cholesterol meds have been know to cause dementia/Alzhymers.
Cholesterol might be an important part of aging and protecting your body.
I'm not aware of the Calcium issue and the Blood pressure issue is concerning.
Cheese and Fats are not the issue.
What causes most of the problems in the diet is seed oils ,trans Fats,and other additives . Protein and Fat are essential.
Fish are full of mercury these days,and I don't think any are safe except sardines and possibly wild salmon.
JB: Many physicians I know agree with you. No need to see a doctor if you get your blood work done regularly (twice a year), and take action. People over-utilize the system. Our country pushes medical care and pharmaceuticals for economic GDP benefits, for employing many including lobbyists paying politicians, and for votes. Reality is Americans now demand what was unheard of prior to 1965’s The Great Democrat Society with freebies and mass subsidies for all. Once given, only courageous politicians dare take away.
JB - Of posdible interest, to underscore your point, and confirm that Americans waste money on health care. “Estimates of wasteful or low-value spending range from 10-30% of total healthcare expenditures, equating to $760-935 billion annually in recent years (based on 2019-2023 analyses).
• Physicians surveyed in studies estimate that about 20-22% of overall medical care is unnecessary:
• ~25% of tests
• ~22% of prescriptions
• ~11-12% of procedures.
• Specific examples: Up to 30% of certain services (e.g., imaging, lab tests, or surgeries like stents) are considered low-value in Medicare populations.
• Regional studies (e.g., Washington state) found over 45% of examined services wasteful in some years, costing hundreds of millions.”
The Medicare population are the worst over-utilizers. Why not? Afterall, the employed and employers pay for their entitled mentality. Organ transplants need to be deleted from the authorization list, as per one example. Does the public need to pay for a $1.5M youthful heart for an 85 year old? Especially when so many workers can’t even afford routine blood work? Try serving on a national Health Care Ethics Committee, which I did. We must all pay for the “Right to Life” — extended life — it is an impossible variable to overcome post 1965. What’s the answer? Wait for insolvency or a worker revolt against taxation?
Drs love to push meds to create repeat customers.
Santa Barbaran's have no idea how good their health is there. In Georgia, it's the land of the fried food and very big people. My cholesterol has always been at the bottom of the recommended minimum, must be in the genes or because I rarely eat anything fried. I have stairs to the second floor and to the basement from the main floor ... lots of exercise. I hit the hay sometime between 11 and midnight, or so. My mind is always busy and working on about twenty different things. It's good to have a lot of projects, always something occupying my interest at the moment. I think engineers tend to live longer lives ... many into their mid-90's. My wife likes to socialize, so she'll probably bring a flu home that will kill me. Oh well ...
Really strong write-up here. The calcium score wake-up call is something that dosent get talked about enough even among people who think they're nailing the fitness side. Had something similar happen with a buddy who was runnig marathons and found out his lipid panel was a mess, basically just eating whatever cuz he figured the miles balanced it out. The whole self-disicpline piece is huge though, once you start giving yourself excuses it spirals fast.
Great advice, that everybody can benefit from. Thanks for the reminder and sharing.
Henry, looks like the Trump Administration just this morning, released new guidelines regarding nutrition recommendations. One I certainly will not be following.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/well/rfk-jr-food-pyramid-nutrition-guidelines-protein.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Can you please check your statement of cholesterol at 34? Seems very low. Perhaps 134?
Okay. and now I must make a confession. Over the past year I started to enjoy a burger now and then. I couldn't turn down my wife's pork chops, mash potatoes and gravy. We can't entirely deny ourselves of some of the good stuff. :) I think a 75/25 ratio is a good one. Except the holidays.
My wife and I have an occasional Whopper Junior, the "two for $5." You can't find a cheaper meal! No fries. My wife isn't a meat eater, so none is cooked at home. Mash potatoes and gravy I see only on two Holidays. That's it ... eat only the so-called bad stuff in moderation.
https://m3.gab.com/media_attachments/af/31/bd/af31bdac722e1ed9273c07832f79b4c9.mp4
Why is medical care so expensive, including medical insurance? Your article is one example. Genetics and developmental disabilities aside, too many Americans do not take personal responsibility for their health via what they eat and how they choose to live. Most are ignorant, having no idea what to eat and not to eat; and that walking daily, climbing a few stairs needs to be part of their day. It’s simple. I never bought health insurance: no need. Easily got a religious exemption number online from the ObamaCare mandate: anyone could under Freedom of Religion including “none”. Then at 65, the Medicare mandate kicked in now taking over $500/mo automatically from my social security check (before any optional supplement premium) that leaves me enough to pay for essential water from mismanaged SBWD. In China, TVs blast “how to” exercise, live healthy , and eat. Food is medicine. In America, TVs push drugs making viewers aware how sick and drug dependent, or drug demanding, our country. The Medical Industrial Complex fuels our GDP. Americans are complicit.
Learn how to take care of yourself. Study iatrogenics. Wash your hands. Get Vitamin D outside.
Get your blood work done every 6-months and sent to your home address. Then take action. Stop expecting taxpayers and employers to pay for bad, or ignorant, life choices . I resent having to bay for the bad life choices or ignorance of others.
! ! WARNING. ! ! ! PROTEST STATEMENT!
Someone needs to shut senile trump up and control him and his minions. He’s not acting alone on this. Miller is like the puppet master. A woman was murdered today because he and Trump don’t like brown people. ICE is nothing but a rogue organization now and could Kristi noem have picked a more ridiculous piece of headgear for her biased announcement, who does she think she is now, a Texas Ranger?
I have said from the beginning, trumps administration are a bunch of ego driven, money hungry, and inexperienced know nothings, which they tend to prove day after day after day, and Republican Congress and the majority of the Supreme Court justices just let him go, wild, they are also the blame. trumps minions need to learn how to speak and when to shut up. They are constantly putting their foot in their mouth.
Also, trump loves renaming places and things, he loves slapping his hideous name on everything and everywhere it shouldn’t be, so when is he going to change USA to USSR? I mean we’re living pretty lawless as it is. We’re murdering people, kidnapping people, fighting against our own citizens, pirating boats, extorting natural resources from countries that have been bullied. I’d say it’s pretty much like his old pal putin.
Yes, Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot in (ICE) cold blood and now leaves behind an orphaned six year old daughter. In normal times this would evoke outrage, but within this amoral regime, led by our thin-skinned, narcissistic, insecure, draft-dodging, pedophilic, spoiled-nepo-baby, and prevaricating grifter-in-chief, the sanctity of human life no longer matters in his insatiable "hungry ghost"-esque quest for power.
Encouraging, Henry. Even El Rushbo said he lost all his weight by diet, not exercise. Your self discipline conclusion resonates as an element for success in all aspects of life.
Now folks can just give themselves a GLP shot,not good either,and lose weight.
I hear it'll be in pill form pretty soon.
Many side effects of these meds including blindness.
A good reminder to all of us about health. This reduction in cholesterol from over 250 to 34 in 6 months is remarkable. What DID you do to achieve this (outside of diet)?
Cate, statins helped. But I did something I never liked, I ate vegetables and fruit. I ate hardly any meat. Mostly fish. Though I also found out too much fish raised my mercury level. Always something wrong with everything. No dairy. Lots of salads with avocado, nuts and fruit. I cooked for myself and read every label for cholesterol and salt content. Once you get in the rhythm and find some menu items you like, it was fun messing around with different but healthy choices. It's not really that hard. I found a low carb rice, cooks in 15 minutes, cut up some onions and mushrooms, mixed in a great curry paste and voila, I had a fantastic healthy meal. I would on occasion cook fish with it and after a while chicken. You don't have to do some fad diet and make yourself suffer.
Fruit and Vegetables are Key. I can't imagine in all your life you didn't eat those living in a place so rich in agriculture. You can attend any of the Farmers Markets to taste the rich bounty that this county is blessed with.
Eat the seasonal organic fruit. Those are the minerals and vitamins you need for each season.
Do not use flourode in your toothpaste or water.
Do not take any vaccine!!!!
Drink lots of water,no sodas.
Plenty of Vitamin D
HS: congrats! Your Mediterranean diet changes — fresh unprocessed food — remain the best medicine. No need to read labels if you don’t buy processed food or drink. Eat out, treat yourself, in moderation. Statins can contribute to higher blood sugar, liver enzyme elevations, muscle problems. High cholesterol can have a genetic predisposition that has been shown in family studies to not necessarily contribute to heart or cardiovascular complications or decrease longevity as posted by JB. It’s wonderful you took personal responsibility for your health throughout your life, and now with new information, took additional action to improve your life at no cost to Medicare. You lead by example. May others choose personal responsibility for their health.
I like salads, too. Everything I eat for lunch mostly contains chicken. Fish is a favorite. Don't eat a dinner, I stop at lunch and only snack at night ... Cheetos, nuts and chocolate. Breakfast consists of peanut butter and jam on a bagel or cinnamon-raisin toasted bread topped with blueberries along with diet cranberry juice and lots of morning coffee with half-and-half. A mix of eating out and eating in for lunch. No soda after lunchtime ... too acidic. If Trump takes over Cuba, I'll be smoking Cuban cigars.
I read this "Health & Workout" Article titled "It’s New Year’s Resolution Time"
by Mr. Schulte who owned the Gym up at Goleta and I quote>
"RFK Jr. is bringing the topic of health back into the mainstream. He has had his own share of problems, like all of us, but he now leads by example"
"Sixty-two years later I ride my bike 100 miles a week, I still lift weights and watch my diet; I’m in good shape, or least I thought I was."
In the 1980s I was in that Goleta Gym every morning when they opened under manager Jeff M.
and ran with a group of Engineers at 5pm almost every day and on weekends rode the 120
Mile Solvang or Casitas loops and for fun ran 15 miles run afterwards.
Mr. Schulte is correct "What’s my point of bringing all this up? Don’t take your health for granted"
Howard Walther and for L. Angel>>>
Member of a Military Family
I bought the gym from Nick Macaluso somewhere in the 90's. Seems like another lifetime ago. In a way I guess it is.
Yes, it certainty is. Jeff is Nicks son. We had a whole gang that worked out of that
gym and it was nice. At 7:00 pm on TGIF we would all head over to Woodys
get a few Pitchers of Beer with the Woodys-Ribs. Now I am eating cottage cheese
drinking lemon grass tea with vegan cookies. Well not really!!!
What is a resolution?
RESOLUTION
The state or quality of being resolute: firm determination. Washington was resolute in crossing the Delaware at night, in the Winter.
The act of resolving to do something; I must lose all this junk now.
A course of action determined or decided upon. We are sending troops to Vicksburg.
The formal actions of the US Congress, to pass a resolution to take action. The Congress declared war on Germany.
The actions of separating something into its constituent parts. Cream is separated from the milk in the bottle by freezing.
The subsidence or termination of an abnormal condition. My relative decided to go home.
A decision made by a court of law. You are guilty!
Progression of a dissonant tone or cord. From Stravinsky to Mozart.
My New Year resolution. No more resolutions,
Justin Ruhge, Lompoc, 2026
Justin, you stated that with such resolve. Bravo!