Rob Holston Rob is a retired teacher and a resident of Ketchikan, Alaska. He is not a health care professional; however, he has an interest in health and fitness. Contact Rob at holston[at]kpunet.net ©2006

Aspartame Part 2 - The chemical sweetener, Aspartame (google aspartame), is also known as NutraSweet and Equal. It is now consumed by millions of people nation and worldwide. What may surprise you is that it was NOT formulated by dedicated research teams dedicated to seeking a healthy no sugar substitute for the surging numbers of adults and children suffering from diabetes, obesity or blood sugar problems. Aspartame is the result of an accident, a laboratory bungle that hit the big time faster than the Beatles invasion from England. - More...
Monday AM - November 19, 2007

ASPARTAME, FDA Blunder - You should check your cupboards now and get rid of every product that contains Aspartame. Oh, don't forget to have your reading glasses and a magnifying glass handy as this process involves a lot of fine print. The truth about aspartame is scarier than a Stephen King movie. The truth many times is and what I have to tell you is the truth.about ASPARTAME. - More...
Monday AM - November 12, 2007

Pets, Kids & a 50-pound Rock - I recently took my daughter's pet bird to the veterinarian's. As I waited in the vet's office for Tika's appointment, I picked up a Science Diet book and thumbed through. It was then I discovered the stark similarity between they way Americans take care of their pets and the way they take care of their children and themselves. I was also struck by an obvious (to me) contrast. Science Diet is committed to formulating the absolute best possible food for your pet cat or dog throughout the various stages of life that the spectrum of a dog or cat's longevity requires. Human "food" manufacturing companies are primarily interested in profit and offering a huge amount of choices, some of which are healthy and many of which are not. Wisdom is the ability to discern proper choices and make them and this pet food book seemed to display wisdom that should be applied to human lives as well. - More...
Wednesday - March 28, 2007

UNDERDOGS - For the first time in many years I became a viewer of the Super Bowl. I had a low interest in the actual game but I picked Chicago as "my" team because they were "underdogs." As the game progressed beyond the very first play, they proved themselves to be just that, "underdogs." But much of the hoopla concerning the Super Bowl concerned the advertisements that would be aired. At the high cost of air-time, one gets an idea about which products and services have a high profit potential, worthy of shelling out millions for a couple of 30 second spots. - More...
Wednesday AM - February 21, 2007

Health Care vs. Health - President Bush recently presented his State of the Union Address. Besides the state of foreign affairs and the "war on terror" taking center stage, the president addressed the state of this nation's health. NOT! That would have been refreshing but Bush chose to address this nation's "health care" system, rising costs and health insurance. - More...
Friday PM - January 26, 2007

Going Smoke-free - Westin Hotels announces smoke-free lodging and many of us breathed a sigh of relief. Beginning in January of 2007, the Westin Hotel and Resort chain becomes the first major chain to ban smoking in their rooms, restaurants, lobbies and public areas. Westin states that at some locations, over 90% of check-ins are requesting non-smoking rooms. Their response to these requests comes as a welcomed change that will grab the attention of travelers and other lodging chains as well. Please support businesses that take bold steps to provide a healthier environment for you, your family and the general public. - More...
Wednesday PM - January 17, 2007

Kids Grow In Many Ways - Are your school district health and physical education curriculums addressing the major health concerns of your community's students? Because our school district's goals include students demonstrating abilities in mathematics, language arts, reading, social studies and science, we should also expect our students to demonstrate a healthy body, proper eating habits, nutritional awareness and good physical development. Report cards for students traditionally place values for demonstrated performance. "A" means you're doing great, "C" means you're average and "F" means you are failing. - More...
Saturday - December 09, 2006

Vehicular Homicide - The state of Alaska issues drivers licenses to those who qualify to drive on state road systems. The state of Alaska issues licenses for vehicles to be driven upon the road systems of Alaska. Our state has enacted laws to protect people from each other in the form of traffic laws, of course, but also in "click-it-or-ticket" laws and child restraint laws. It is now time for our state to enact a law to protect all children within vehicles upon public and private properties within the borders of our state from the toxins of second hand smoke. It is time to enact a law that prohibits smoking in any vehicle where there are children present and recognizing such practice as a form of child abuse. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 21, 2006

Sugar Frosted Flakes, You're OOOOOOOOOUT! - enjoyed several games from the Little League World Series recently. One of the corporate sponsors of this entertaining series on TV was Kellogg's Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger himself. Along with Tony, always a kid's favorite, the ads features Major League player, Derrek Lee. It had been a while since I had eaten a bowl of Kellogg's "SUGAR" Frosted Flakes, so I purchased a box. Is it just my imagination or was this product at one time called SUGAR Frosted Flakes. I suspect "sugar", the word was removed to increase sales and "sugar", the additive was kept, to increase addiction. - More...
Tuesday - September 05, 2006

10-Year-Old Microcosm - I feel compelled to write about a little girl I met recently. I met her at work and we visited for parts of the two hours that she was with me in the wheelhouse during our excursion. I'll call her Chayleene. She was bright and talkative for a girl of 10 years of age. She's going into fifth grade and seemed in many respects to be a typical American girl for her age. It didn't take long for me to notice that Chayleene suffered from the abnormality of a deformed extremity at birth. But it didn't seem to slow her down at all as she handled her binoculars well when she used them to spot eagles or harbor seals along the way. Her outgoing personality soon had me looking well beyond what most people would consider a life changing "handicap". Chayleene had adjusted well to the hand she had been dealt, so to speak but in the time we spent together I learned she had problems far greater than her birth defect to deal with. - More...
Monday PM - August 21, 2006

Kashi - Kashi GOLEAN Crunch is about as good as it gets as a way to start your day with a truly nutritious breakfast cereal. For America, this simple fact could save the nation billions of dollars. How can a breakfast cereal do that? Simple, one decision at a time. If you're like me, you have been disappointed with many breakfast cereals that you've tried. This one's too sweet, or worse yet, this one's got aspartame (artificial sweetener) yuck! This one is too grainy, too mushy too? I'm not against mush; the Montana colloquialism for oatmeal is "mush". Natural oat meal is very high on my list of great breakfasts, but when it comes to a cereal that goes "crunch" and is good for America, Kashi GOLEAN Crunch is about as good as it gets. Here's why. - More...
Sunday - July 23, 2006

Levitra! - You've seen the advertisement on TV; you can see it on the Internet. The facts are alarming. In the United States, 8 million men have Diabetes, 29 million have high blood pressure and 50 million have high cholesterol. What do all of these men share in common? Why it's ED, of course! Erectile Dysfunction is lurking in the bedrooms of millions of men but thanks to Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation being unhealthy doesn't need to be a downer, so to speak. Just take this little pill and your love life will be elevated to new levels. You may be overweight, out of breath and near heart failure, but thanks to Levitra your penise will be "healthy?" What is wrong with this picture? - More...
Monday - July 17, 2006

Psyllium - Since I started using psyllium in my regular diet, I have dropped 18% of my body fat. I'm sure there are other factors that contributed to this improvement in my health and potential longevity, but psyllium played it's role. I'm recommending it to my family and friends and I thought I would do a little research on the internet to see what was known about this product. I found two web sites giving abundant information on psyllium, but what I learned was shocking! - More...
Sunday - June 11, 2006

Pink Bats - The spring of 2006 was marked by an historic baseball event. I am not speaking of Barry Bonds eclipsing Babe Ruth's 714 home run career count. I'm speaking of major league baseball breaking out the "pink bats" to fight breast cancer. - More...
Friday - May 19, 2006

Insuring Good Health vs. Health Insurance - Lately I've written about how you can insure having good health. There is nothing too controversial about improving your diet and getting some exercise to lower your body fat percentage, balance your blood sugars, lower your blood pressure, increase the quality of your life and extend your longevity. Many of the lifestyle changes I've recommended in past articles are not controversial, but a challenge nonetheless. Insuring improved health by following the guidelines I've recommended is a guarantee. Health insurance, on the other hand lends itself to some criticism seldom discussed. Caution, this may be controversial. - More...
Thursday - April 20, 2006

Side Effects are killing me! - Do you suffer from muscle weakness or pain? How about nausea, vomiting or stomach pain? Is your urine brown or dark-colored? Do you have unexplained muscle weakness, fever or fatigue? Does your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow? Do you have a headache, a rash, diarrhea or joint pain? Not to worry, you don't have a disease, you are simply experiencing the side effects of the popular medication, Lipitor. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Childhood Obesity - Childhood obesity will almost double in the next four years! That is the chilling report recently published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. Their prediction is that by 2010, nearly 50% of all children in the U.S. will be overweight. Their study sates that "only significant changes in diet and lifestyle can change this prediction." The report goes on to state that the results of childhood obesity will be heart disease, diabetes, liver disorder & high cholesterol (for starters). In my opinion this is a Katrina sized national crisis in terms of medical costs, lost production and lost potential and we simply must avoid this catastrophe. Dr. Philip James of the IJPO describes the situation as "epidemic" and blames Western worlds food industry as the cause. This author primarily blames parents. - More...
March 17, 2006

Predisposition to Obesity - Predisposition to obesity is often a misunderstood or misused phrase when it comes to healthcare. Because obesity is a growing (no pun intended) health concern in America over the past 20+ years, it demands discussion and understanding. Family traits can offer us some great insight into health conditions that we might be confronted with in our future. Many times, however, it seems folks use a "diagnosed" predisposition as an excuse instead of an incentive. "My mom was fat and my dad was too, so how can I help it. It's just the way I am." Instead of seeing predisposition as a sentence being imposed upon us, we should see it as a friendly warning sign that inspires us to adopt a lifestyle of right choices that will provide the best possible health and life expectancy. - More...
March 08, 2006

TRANSIT TIME??? - "Hey Karl, what's your transit time?" If you ask this question of a hundred friends who live in or near a big city you will probably get an answer like "Oh, if I leave a half hour early to avoid the rush, I can get to work in 55 minutes, but it takes me an hour and a half to get home." - More...
February 27, 2006

Prevention or Detection - My grandmother used to say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." & ten pounds of detection, I'll add, so make sure you know the difference. I can still picture a billboard along side Interstate 90 on the outskirts of Spokane, Washington. The year was about 1998, as I recall, and the eye-catching graphic, a partially exposed female human breaston a billboard? Yes! But what really caught my attention was the message in huge letters, I now paraphrase, "PREVENT BREAST CANCER WITH REGULAR BREAST EXAMS". - More...
February 22, 2006

FORMULARY OR FORMULA - A few days ago I came across a booklet that I had acquired six years previously. It is my Member's U.S. Healthcare Medication Formulary Guide, dated January, 1999. This is a list of all the medications that my insurance provider would provide. I thumbed through the pages just to see what I had been missing. Please bear with me as I itemize what I found. - More...
February 13, 2006

Fiber - If most of us are honest and a good friend is willing to listen, then we might divulge a long list of health concerns. If we are among those few who are 100% healthy, we undoubtedly know others who are suffering. Nationwide, health is a major concern. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, all acerbated by the American life style that creates obesity, alcohol and drug addictions, lack of exercise, poor diets, environmental concerns and stress. I've had concerns over America's health for years and now, at my age I'm beginning to focus on what I can do to live a longer and healthier life. - More...
February 01, 2006

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Ketchikan, Alaska