Heart Health - Statins vs Diet

February is American Heart Month and everybody is going red in support of building healthy hearts. There's fundraisers, walks for the cure, and even activities to teach kids about healthy hearts. While these events are a great way to raise money and awareness for cardiovascular disease, many of them fall far short of spreading the message that truly needs to be heard to rid ourselves of this devastating disease.

The video below is a portion of my lecture on using drugs vs diet for the prevention, treatment, and reversal of cardiovascular disease. I discuss the evidence-based data from clinical trials on both treatment approaches allowing you to see how well (or not) each approach works in tackling the number one killer in the world—cardiovascular disease.

Become a Certified CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) Facilitator

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

If you read Dustin’s “Pursue a Healthy You” on a regular basis, you are one of the thousands of people seeking good scientifically-proven information to educate yourself on what you can do to regain or preserve your good health. If you would like to share your passion for health and wellness with others, now you can.

CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) is a wellness program that teaches people how to make better lifestyle choices to slow down, stop, and reverse many chronic diseases as well as maintain good health.

Published in more than 20 peer-reviewed medical journals, CHIP is a results-based wellness video program facilitated at workplaces and in communities.  With over 50,000 graduates, CHIP has shown people how to have the “best life” through good health.

Type 1 Diabetes - Avoiding Dairy Is Key To Prevention

Diabetes is a very serious and complex disease. It carries with it several other complications during its progression including increased risks of heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, blindness, neuropathy (nerve damage), serious skin infections (i.e. gangrene) leading to lower limb amputations, and even premature death [1]. Needless to say, it’s not something to take lightly.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type, but type 1 diabetes accounts for 5%-10% of all cases worldwide [2]. Type 1 diabetes is most commonly diagnosed during childhood. Hence, the term juvenile-onset diabetes. It is also known as insulin-dependent diabetes because it requires lifelong insulin therapy. Its prevalence has been increasing worldwide, and it also affects many in the United States. It is believed to affect 1 in 300 children by the age of eighteen in America.

The diagnosis of type 1 diabetes typically increases in incidence from birth to early teen years, peaking at ages 10-14. However, it can also develop in adults, specifically for those in their late 30’s and early 40’s.

Loving Your Liver

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

I would guess all of us have read something recently about heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, exercise, type II diabetes, weight loss programs, or the latest superfoods. Anyone read anything about the liver lately? Thought not. Although the liver is a topic not often written about, it is an amazing organ that sadly doesn’t get the publicity it is due.

The Chinese call the liver “the father of all organs” for a very good reason. The responsibilities of the liver are too numerous to mention here - over 500! Just to name a few, at this moment our liver is cleaning our blood, regulating blood clotting, converting fats, proteins, and carbohydrates into energy and nutrients, and helping our body to resist infection. It is regulating many of our body’s functions including that of cholesterol, the supply of essential vitamins and minerals, and the balance of many hormones. It is producing bile that breaks down fats and is eliminating fat-soluble toxins and excess hormones.