Chicken for breakfast?

It seems Time magazine is jumping on the healthy-eating bandwagon, which is a staple of editors looking for easy summer stories that allow them to take vacations. In the current issue, Joel Stein waxes philosophically about chicken for breakfast and why we eat the things we do each morning (which, by the way, are predominantly not good for you -- donuts, bacon, sugar-heavy cereals, three-egg omelets, etc.). Then, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's Fit Nation column delves into the primary reason people fall off the dietary wagon: bad food tastes good. No kidding. A solution? "When it's time for a diet, the first thing you want to do is hit the spice rack," he writes. Great idea, but honestly, how many of us know how to cook well with the abundance of spices available at the local market? To eat well, both for good health and good flavor, takes real effort. Every day. Every week. Yikes. It's like having a part-time job.

Illustration by Jack Gallagher for Time

Real advice on summer fruits and veggies

Real Simple magazine has a cool online story featuring their top-12 summer fruits and vegetables, and what to do with them. What makes this credible is that tomatoes -- only the greatest and most perfect food on Earth -- are included. Arugula? Eh ... I can live without it. But any info on what to do with eggplant is appreciated. OK, since we're nitpicking, the list doesn't feature the noble avocado. What's with that? At least, though, it doesn't offer up sprouts. I hate sprouts. They taste like dirt.

Canary in a coal mine

The CDC announced that 24 milllion Americans, roughly 8 percent of the population, has diabetes. A majority of these cases are type 2 diabetes, which is caused by lifestyle factors such as diet and activity. This staggering data should be seen as the canary in the coal mine. The evolution of the human body can not keep pace with modern life. We eat too much, exercise too little, and this diabetes news is the result. The epidemic of diabetes, especially with children (where the data is just numbing), is direct evidence that we are a sick society, and the message is clear -- we need to take better care of our bodies, because what we're doing now isn't working. Here's what the CDC has to say about diabetes.

How you can lose weight!

It's easy! Just burn more calories than you take in. And then you lose weight!

High cholesterol: the new cancer fighter?

The development of pharmaceutical drugs can lead down some interesting paths. What they're originally designed for isn't always what they end up doing, as the makers of Botox and Viagra can tell you. And now the National Cancer Institute is backing researching seeing if statins, the leading type of cholesterol-reduction drug, can prevent cancer. Specifically, studies are revealing that statins block the surface lipids of enzymes that can trigger melanomas and colon cancers (Disclaimer: a UC Irvine skin cancer specialist I'm working with is leading a clincal trial using lovastatins for melanoma prevention). Will statins work for cancer prevention? Hard to tell right now, but the failed angina drug that became Viagra certainly shows that drugs can have more than one utility. Here's what the NCI has to say on statins:

Pictured: the Super Colon!

Welcome

Hi, I'm Tom Vasich, and welcome to my Healther Shelter blog. By trade, I handle communications and PR for UC Irvine Health Sciences, but I've had a life-long interest with health issues. I want to use this blog to share a rational view of human health, which, when considering all the conflicting and sensational information we see daily, can sometimes get lost in a barrange of data. Hence the title "Healther Shelter" -- this blog is an edifice under which you will be protected from the rain, sleet and snow of the multi-billion-dollar industry.

However, I must provide this disclaimer: I'm in the PR trade for a major university medical school, so you have every right to question my views. But I promise this: the perspectives I will present will be my own, and if I present any information from the University of California, I will provide a proper disclaimer.

Now, let's go.