Dr. Ben Kim's blog

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 and 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted, organic butter (omit if dairy-free)
1 garlic clove, minced
Sea salt and ground black pepper (optional)

Directions:

Boil sweet potatoes for approximately 15 minutes or until quite tender. Drain sweet potatoes and put them in a big bowl. Read more

Ingredients:

1 cup bulgur wheat
Handful of choped flat leaf parsley, fresh
1 bunch of green onions (about 4-6 rods), sliced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 large lemon
Sea salt and ground black pepper (optional)
4 wheat tortillas Read more

I learned something interesting about probiotics this past week from a column in Alive magazine, a Canadian publication that can be found in most health food stores throughout Canada.

Francine Mondou, a microbiologist who specializes in manufacturing probiotics, suggests that it is optimal to take probiotics on a full stomach.

Her reasoning is based on the fact that an empty stomach has a very acidic environment - a pH of about 1.5 to 2.5. Right after a meal, the environment in the stomach becomes less acidic, rising to a pH of about 4.0 to 6.0. Read more

The other day, it occurred to my wife and I that ithad been taking a lot longer than usual for our dryer to get our laundry dry.

We pulled the dryer away from the wall and opened up the exhaust tube to find that it was completely filled up with lint, almost about two feet deep! After getting down and dirty emptying that tube, we went to the garage where the other end of the tube comes out to release the moisture that dryers produce. There, we found another build-up of lint, this time about a foot deep. Read more

Earlier this year, I wrote an article that included several steps that you can take to reduce your risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

I just read a study in the September 2005 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention which suggests that eating at least five portions of certain vegetables and fruits each day can reduce your risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 50 percent. Read more

Ingredients: 

4 zucchini, halved
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 (8 ounce) package button mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
1 (15.5 ounce) can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Sea salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Read more

An interesting study in the September, 2005 edition of the journal Heart provides useful guidance on how to use music to decrease stress and promote good health. Read more

Just read a great piece on this topic in today's Washington Post. Here is summary of the main points that I took from it:

1. According to an analysis by a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency, women living in coastal areas have twice as much mercury in their blood as women who live inland. Read more

A study in the September issue of Biophysical Journal provides an excellent explanation for why high doses of aspirin can cause ulcers and temporary deafness.

Researchers from Rice University in Texas report that salicylate (the active metabolite of aspirin) weakens thin, fatty membranes, including those that make up the lining of your stomach and those that are critical for proper inner ear functioning. Read more

A recent study in the journal Child Development (September 14, 2005) reports that even the mildest hints of anger or hostility in their environment significantly raises the stress level of physically abused children for a prolonged period of time, even if the conflict has nothing to do with them.

The investigators of this study suggest that this heightened response system in physically abused children may explain why many of them are so often distracted at school. Read more