Here’s an example: Statin drugs that lower cholesterol are profitable for all involved—pharma companies, drugstores, insurance companies and even the doctors who get free meals from the manufacturers of those drugs. Changing a patient’s diet to one that is high in fiber and low in simple carbohydrates and saturated fats and encouraging regular exercise doesn’t make anyone money. Sure certain food producers and manufacturers will win, and others lose out with a change in diet, but in aggregate there is no significant increase in the total money spent to treat the condition.

Think about it. High cholesterol means money is spent not only on the drug but also on expensive lab tests to measure blood lipids and then, if the system gets really “lucky,” you have some kind of cardiac event anyway, which sends you to the hospital. More tests…more drugs. Cha-Ching!!!

In 2012, the US spent 17.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care [ Source: Worldbank]. Nearly one in every five dollars in the US economy went to health care. That’s up 34% since 1998. According to HealthCareerCenter.org, the 20 fastest-growing professions in America are in the health-care field. In our horrible economy, health care is booming! Keep people sick, and fuel economic growth. Make them healthy, and people are out of work and company sales and profits are down.

I had lunch a few weeks ago with a prominent regional integrated physician who has developed a seemingly thriving integrated health-care practice under the umbrella of a regional suburban hospital. He informed me that the hospital would be cutting his funding since it was not “adequately profitable.” The hospital wants lab tests using high-tech equipment. That’s where it makes money—not through nutritional counseling.

The “powers that be” talk about wanting us all to be healthier, but the sad sick fact is that we can’t afford it. Sickness is good for the economy.

If we want to be healthy, it is up to us. Sadly, those experts who we look to for advice have more to think about than our good health.

My children were born before the chicken pox vaccine was approved in 1995 and then required for admission to their schools in Connecticut some years later.

Thankfully my pediatrician was a skeptic like me when it comes to jumping on the bandwagon of new medical “ breakthroughs.” It is far better to watch for any unforeseen side effects for three to five years after a new drug or treatment is introduced, so we waited as long as possible before giving the girls their vaccines. Had we not vaccinated, it was going to be homeschool for them.

Fast-forward 12 years to 2007, and researchers discovered that the vaccine’s effectiveness dropped over time, so now everyone needs to get boosters. Are they kidding me? Chicken pox wasn’t that bad to start with… and, oh by the way, cases of shingles are on the rise thanks to the obliteration of chicken pox antibodies running around in our lives. But I digress from my original point.

Year after year, my pediatrician diligently told me that the girls “should” get their boosters… and year after year, we discussed the absurdity of the vaccine and that we could “ hide” a while longer without giving the girls’ their boosters. Well, the time was up for my younger daughter this past year. She would not be able to attend school the following year without the booster…or proof that she had adequate antibodies.

After much discussion, the pediatrician offered me a deal—get my daughter a blood test to check on her antibody levels. If her levels were high enough, then no booster would be required. Blood test it was—why inject more manmade antibodies into a body if plenty already existed? And, why, in the wake of the fungal meningitis outbreak, did I want to inject anything into my child’s body unless it was absolutely necessary. And chicken pox is no emergency.

You’ll never guess the outcome—her antibody level needed to be greater than 1.0… and she came in at 1.6. Not even close!!

Doctors are so focused on the rule book… and pharma companies are so focused on making money that no one is checking to be sure that a child (or an adult) really needs the booster. Doctors now are recommending boosters for pertussis (whooping cough), measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and more.

But don’t be caught in the rule book just because your doctor is reading from it—ask for a blood test to see what your body actually needs. Just because the docs are reading from the handbook doesn’t make it right. It just makes it easy to follow. You deserve what is right, not just what is easy.

Don’t get me wrong—my stomach is in knots over the thought of any human suffering that way.

But here’s where my mind went on it. Why on earth would a healthy young male athlete have bones that are so weak that they would snap? Things like this just don’t happen. Stress fracture? Sure. Lots of pounding on the basketball court so maybe he had stress fracture(s) that had been previously undetected as the team doctor, Dr. Frederick Azar, suggests.

But to literally break all the way through? In two places? That’s a whole other story. Here’s what my medical mentor, Dr. Andrew Rubman, had to say. Stress fractures of the tibia in basketball players usually are torsional or twisting. This guy had a full-thickness compound (bone sticks out of the skin) fracture that only happens when the bone has been structurally flawed. So either a genetic defect (no way in a basketball player—this would have happened years ago), a previous full-thickness fracture (which certainly would have known about it) or steroids/disease were the cause.

The most sinister, of course, is the idea of performance-enhancing drugs. Like it or not, rules or no rules, performance-enhancing drugs—including steroids—continue to be used by both high school and colleges athletes.

At top colleges, where the money and stakes are high, the pressure is on for the team to perform and for the individual to potentially turn college success into a seven- or eight-figure professional sports career. I’m not saying…I’m just asking.

Probably far more likely for Kevin—and for millions of other college athletes and weekend warriors—is that he may have been prescribed one of the very common medications that can weaken bones. I don’t know Kevin’s health history, although I did see that he broke his hand in 2010 (Hmmm, two bone fractures in two years). But if he is an average American, there is a good chance that he may have asthma (8.4% of Americans had it in 2010), for which steroids are used regularly. Or he could be one of the millions of Americans who have been treated with antidepressants. Or he may get heartburn, for which he uses acid-suppressing medications (or again, if he has asthma, many sufferers find relief with acid-suppressing medications). All three of these medications are known to weaken bones, especially steroids.

Several year ago, a friendly acquaintance of mine “shattered” her leg with a “nothing fall” while skiing. Same thing—it seemed like a freak accident. When I spoke to her, I learned that she had been on and off steroids for years to treat her severe asthma. Freaky accident? Sure. Surprising break? Not at all. Follow the clues back to the prednisone.

Freaky accident for Kevin? I don’t think so, either. Anyone who uses these drugs regularly should beware.

I have known for years that when I get dressed each day I put on my costume for the day. Do I have a meeting? I’ll wear a formal suit or a styling dress that “commands respect.” No meetings, and it is a jeans day—comfortable and approachable. Out with the kids, and I have to be a sexy, hip mom who won’t embarrass her teens by wearing “mom jeans.”

That same daughter—our dancer—just read The Scarlet Letter in which one of the lead characters shrivels and dies as a result of the untruths he hides behind his pious minister’s shroud. While not everyone hides lies and sins on a par with that minister, we all hide secrets and lies about our true feelings that eat at us from the inside out and then turn into back pain, migraines, GERD, heart disease and more. But rather than deal with the hidden truths, we make them “go away” with painkillers, antidepressants and other drugs.

What would life be like if we stopped worrying about how we should be and instead said what we really believed and acted based on our principles regularly and consistently? I wonder how much sickness we would have then.

In the old days, there may have been the occasional troubled child in the family up the road who went crazy and stole his/her parents’ car or shot up the local junk yard. Today there is a parade of teens who have killed their parents… killed their peers… and make a mockery of every rule imposed by their parents. Take a few minutes one day to stalk teens you know on Facebook and you’ll see what they really think of adults—not much.

Who is to blame? There are violent video games that give players a false sense of empowerment…and television shows that model youth behavior that celebrates a lack of respect for friends, family and even self. And, true, there also are drugs and foods that make kids “go crazy.” But, to me, the root of the problem is the simple fact that behavior starts at home. Discipline starts before a child can speak, requiring firmness and sometimes unpopular decisions. But when parents want to be liked by their kids or are too tired to discipline, then children run wild. And when we have a clan of politically correct people who worry about the self-esteem of a child who may receive a gentle swat or is physically placed in his/her seat, then we have a generation of children who don’t know their place.

Before you all tar and feather me for recommending child abuse, I am NOT condoning excessive use of force. There is definitely a contrary problem in this country with child abuse—but that is a topic for another day. I am suggesting that parents have the ability —and the responsibility—to clearly and definitively let our children know that they are not yet equal. Because they’re not… they are learning and will one day earn the rank of equal to adults when they become one.

In the animal kingdom, the young and weak know their place because they are put there—literally—by the strong. Watch a pack of lions or apes, and I dare you to have any question about who the leaders are and where the young ones fall in the pecking order. If a young lion even attempts to take its share of the food before its turn, it is summarily “reminded” of when it is its turn—and it’s not a gentle reminder. Humans on the other hand plead and rationalize with children, telling them that it’s not nice to cut a line or it is their duty to share appropriately. “Blah blah blah” is what these children hear when instead they potentially need to be physically, though not dangerously, put in their place and to hear a firm and clear direction: No! Let me remind you… humans ARE animals.

We have a six-month-old puppy at home, and we have been taking it to puppy school. The number-one message at class—the dog must know who the alpha is in the house. Definite. Clear. Strong. Someone is in charge and it’s not the puppy.

It is time for parents to take back our place as leaders of our homes and of our children. Because that’s what they need us to be.



When I asked Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, top New York cardiologist and author of Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum’s Heart Book: Every Woman’s Guide to a Heart-Healthy Life, about the biggest mistake women are making with their health, she said they have to stop lying—lying to themselves in particular. And until they change their ways, they will forever be at dire risk for heart problems and more. What do women lie about? Listen and learn…

Also, hear why the Pope’s decision to step down is one that many seniors can learn from.

This week’s guests include:

Beverly Engel, LMFT
Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS
Suzanne Steinbaum, DO

The Internet is a lifeline for millions of ailing people—it allows them to connect with others who are suffering similarly. They share tales of symptoms and frustration as well as learn about treatment options or resources. For many, these connections provide a small glimmer of hope in an otherwise unhappy situation. But here’s the tragedy—these very vulnerable people are also being exploited because their comments, postings and inquiries are being watched by people wanting to capitalize on the situation… or their personal information is sold to marketers and manufacturers. Even anonymous postings can be traced back to an individual’s name and address. If you think you’re safe from voyeurs, you’re not. I spoke to attorney and author Ted Claypoole about what people need to do to protect themselves in an increasingly electronic world.

This week’s guests include:

Ted Claypoole
Neil Shulman, MD
Dr. Robert Rose

We all cry over senseless killings and deaths. There is no arguing the tragedy of school or mall shootings. But what about the 15,000+ overdoses each year from pain killers… many of them given to cure back pain? Are these any more sensible? Not to me. Billions of dollars spent on dangerous and addictive drugs that don’t cure the problem. But the pain experienced by millions of people is very real. The problem is back pain is totally misunderstood not just by patients, but by the medical community who is prescribing these dangerous drugs.

I spoke to fitness therapy expert about the mistakes we are all making in treating back pain. It’s so simple and yet has become such a complicated medical issue. Don’t believe me? Just ask the thousands of people exposed to fungal meningitis from their steroid injections or the families of the patients who are addicted to those painkillers. There is a far simpler and healthier solution.

This week’s guests include:

Dr. Judy Schwarz
Dr. Jonny Bowden
Jill Miller
Nancy Samalin