Host: Dearest
Guest: "Dr. Bob" Arnot
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Online Host: Dr. Bob Arnot has entered the room. Dearest: It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to my esteemed guest tonight . . . "D R. B O B" A R N O T Dearest: "Dr. Bob," as he has affectionately come to be known, is the Chief Health and Medical Correspondent for CBS-TV News. His exemplary commentaries and health reports can be seen nightly on CBS-TV's "Evening News With Dan Rather. " Dr. Bob has also contributed to the "CBS This Morning" show since 1987, and has appeared on "48 Hours." "Dr. Bob" was medical director of the National Emergency Service, overseeing 2500 doctors in 116 hospitals across the country. Dr. Bob practiced emergency room medicine, and was the physician for the U.S. Ski Team in '77/'80 AND for the XXIII Winter Olympic Games in 1980 in Lake Placid, NY. Dr. Bob, an avid and competitive sportsman, founded the Lake Placid Sports Medical Center in 1978. The author of "Sports Medicine," "The Best Medicine," and "Dr. Bob Arnot's Guide To Turning Back The Clock," Dr. Bob has a new diet book, "Revolutionary Weight Control," due out in May '97. (Since his visit to Power Surge, Dr. Arnot has published his new, "Dr. Bob Arnot's Revolutionary Weight Control Program Although his reports have covered a myriad of medical topics, his name has become synonymous with fitness, nutrition and keeping in good health/shape. Let's use this terrific opportunity to ask questions about diet, exercise and nutrition - how we might treat some of the complaints associated with the "pause" and the aging process :( Dearest: Dr. Bob, welcome to Power Surge. Would you care to say a few words first, or shall we get right on with the Q & A session? :) Dr. Bob Arnot: Thanks for a great introduction. Dearest: Aww.. all true :) Dr. Bob Arnot: I've long believed that the next big step in American Medicine is what we can do for ourselves. Nowhere is that step more powerful than the aging process. Much of what we see as is really misuse, disuse and abuse. By turning back the clock you can actually bring your biological age back in time. Thanks for letting me be part of your forum. Dearest: Oh, and thank *you*. May we call you Dr. Bob? Dr. Bob Arnot: Absolutely! Dearest: HGold, go ahead. HGoldb2922: What vitamins should a 50 year female be taking? Especially for PVC"s. Dr. Bob Arnot: I'm a big believer in the anti oxidants even given the bad press. You may have read that they failed to protect heavy smokers from cancer. However, antioxidants play a very strong role in preventing cancer and heart disease as demonstrated by other first rate studies. I like to get them from "super" vegies. The best example is a sweet potato which is known as the king of the vegetable kingdom for its terrific store of anti oxidants, minerals and vitamins. Otherwise, I take a protein formulation such as Twilab's optifuel II or MetRX which contains a full dose of the most important vitamins. Around the menopause you'll want to consider taking calcium for it's ability hold onto and, with proper exercise, even build new bone. Dearest: RoMa, you can ask your question now. RoMaGraves: What changes do you see this group of menopausal baby-boomers making in health care? Dr. Bob Arnot: The biggest changes will be in how consumers reshape HMOs. We have entered an era of bottom line medicine in which cost is king. Chief executives of some of these enterprises have taken home checks of $15 million in a year. Others have outright stolen from them. Clearly they're not all bad, but you need to realize that YOUR health may not be their top priority. For instance in Vermont yesterday I ran into a 28 year old woman who was supposed to have a hysterectomy. I discovered that the operation was scheduled for the convenience of the HMO simply to prevent her from running up too many other charges. Active and vigilant consumerism will reshape managed care so that it can work. An example is the 48 hour required stay after childbirth or a mastectomy. Both of these were 24 hour stays until consumers intervened. Dearest: Amazing story, Dr. Bob. Ofra, your turn. Ofra 1: I don't eat meat/smoke/drink/do drugs/use chemicals, nor medications/ is this LIFE? Dr. Bob Arnot: Neither do I! Congratulations! The real name of the game is having a great brain day. Ofra 1: A little humor is healthy!!! Dr. Bob Arnot: That is your brain has to feel good all day long. You can do that temporarily with drugs and alcohol, but you pay with a terrible downside and lots of brain feeling bad downtime. My new food book. PERFECT WEIGHT CONTROL, shows how you can have a great brain day everyday with the right kinds of foods. Curiously, it's the bean grain combinations that so much of the third world eats that will help you feel the best and be your leanest. Dearest: Maybe you shudda named it, "Who's Who Among Great Brains In America" Dr. Bob :) Dr. Bob Arnot: That's a great line! But look at Mother Theresa. Here she is on death's door and she's still having a great brain day everyday. Dearest: Absolutely! WRasmus, go ahead. WRasmus306: Dr bob, my wife has muscular dystrophy, and is therefore unable to exercise from a wheelchair how can she exercise and lose about 50 lbs. Dr. Bob Arnot: You'd be surprised the degree to which an individual can still exercise even if they do not have the use of major muscle groups. As an example, wheel chair athletes are some of the fittest on earth. They can finish a marathon a full hour faster than the world's best runners. One machine I like is a Cybex upper body ergometer which is a cycling machine for the arms. A really good Physical therapist can take your wife through highly effective exercises for the muscle groups she still has use of. Dearest: Fluffy, go ahead. IMFluffy: Dr. Bob, what do you think of the manipulation of seratonin to control obesity? Dr. Bob Arnot: As my father, a Harvard trained psychiatrist said in 1959, Serotonin is the heart of weight control. If you ave low brain Serotonin stores, you will have to fight your brain in a painful war to keep lean. Here's why. Nerve fibers from the hypothalamus deep in the brain release an incredibly powerful substance into the forebrain which stimulates you to eat. Serotonin helps you resist that urge. No serotonin, no resistance. As my new book discusses, you may boost Serotonin stores with the right kinds of carbohydrates (low GI), light boxes, negative ion generators, anti depressants or Serotonin based antiobestity drugs. We're just in the infancy of understanding how to control Serotonin with lots more to learn on the horizon. Dearest: The book isn't out yet, though, is it Dr. Bob? Dr. Bob Arnot: The book isn't out until April, unfortunately. Dearest: Well, we're keep our eyes open. Let me ask you, what with so much advertising about HERBS, what are your feelings about the purity, safety and efficacy of all these herbs we're taking? Dr. Bob Arnot: We did a major piece on the CBS evening news last year about herb safety. We carried out our own investigation. Sad to say, few of the products we tested even had the herbs in them that they were supposed to. We ran into one poor lady whose entire vena cava clotted (thrombosed) due to herbs she was taking. She survived after emergency surgery, but in other parts of the world dozens have died. Dearest: My word.. Dr. Bob Arnot: In the US we have seen deaths due to herbal supplements that are the equivalent of an amphetamine like drug used for weight loss -- even in young individuals. The good news is that herbs are powerful and highly effective drugs. The bad news is that the consumer is rarely aware of how to use these herbs correctly and what the safety issues are. Dearest: While we're on the subject, but any herbs in particular we should be particularly cautious about? DHEA? Melatonin? Dr. Bob Arnot: I'd be especially careful of drugs that speed your heart rate since they can cause death. As for melatonin, the SYNTHETIC version should be safe from impurities but the long term risks are only now being discovered. As for DHEA, this is REALLY interesting for this group. The reason that post menopausal women may have found some success with DHEA is that it releases a small amount of testosterone which increase libido, energy, muscle mass and decreases fat stores. Frankly, I'd advise talking to your doctor about taking testosterone itself rather that DHEA. Since estrogen replacement therapy can DECREASE testosterone production in post menopausal women, supplementation may work wonders. Dearest: Thank you for the excellent answer, Dr. Bob. Johnnie, go ahead. JohnnieV10: Why do my hands hurt and get stiff at night? What is going on, I am very active with my hands? Dr. Bob Arnot: Those are common symptoms that could be due to slight fluid overload or to early arthritis. I'd have to examine your hands to be certain. The important take home point is this one. Should any of you develop early signs or symptoms or RHEUMATOID arthritis, be certain to see a specialist called a rheumatologist. Here's why. This disease can be far more aggressive left without proper treatment. Dearest: Very interesting . . . Mrkt, your turn. MrktBattle: I feel worse after exercising. I am very health conscious - juice every day, eat right, etc. - what could be wrong? Dr. Bob Arnot: Here's the most prominent reason why. Millions of health conscious Americans eat foods or drink juices that raise blood sugar levels. If you begin exercising with a falling blood sugar level you will feel terrible. You should have a solid meal with protein and SLOW BURNING carobs like beans four hours before exercise...then nothing until you do exercise. I was interested in your comment about juice. Any fructose drink can make you quite sick to your stomach while you exercise, so avoid them in the hours before exercise. MrktBattle: I only juice Green veggies Dr. Bob Arnot: Juicing strips out the most valuable parts of vegies, the phytochemicals -- better off using a vitamixer which holds onto all the fiber. Dearest: Z J, go ahead. Z J Gragg: How do you feel about ERT? Dr. Bob Arnot: Thanks for the ERT question. Here's my feeling.... First, until 2005 the final answer will not be in. I believe that any woman entering the time of her life when menopause begins to occur should have a full evaluation of her bone density, her risks of heart disease, breast cancer and, in the future, Altzhiemer's disease. Then, based on those risks, she should look at the best ways to combat them. For instance a bone density problem might be better addressed with exercise and calcium...a high cholesterol with diet and medication and exercise. The possible medical indication for HRT would only be for multiple risk factors that otherwise couldn't be treated as well with other medications. HRT has become too much of a shotgun approach. One therapy fits all. I'd like to see a much more customized approach for the individual woman looking at ALL available therapies for the problems at hand. This same woman should get retested several years after the menopause as well to see if bone density has fallen or blood fats have risen. Dearest: Geeze, Dr. Bob.. could you visit with us every week? You're SO knowledgeable... ;) Dr. Bob Arnot: Thanks! Dearest: MarRil, go ahead. MarRil: What do you think of the new diet pill REDUX discuss side effects too please. Dr. Bob Arnot: On the drawing board it is a GREAT drug! REDUX effects serotonin in three different ways to make you feel great and help you lose weight. That's the good news. The bad news is that it may cause pulmonary hypertension. This condition may not be detected until it's to late...that is you'd have to have a TRANSPLANT to survive! So be careful with REDUX until more is known about the frequency of this side effect! Dearest: SMW, go ahead. SMWREW: What do you suggest for 10 lbs weight loss? Dr. Bob Arnot: For 10 pounds of weight loss I'd suggest dropping ALL high glucose foods from your diet....rice, pasta, bread, cereal etc You'll find that five pounds falls off in the first week, IF you've been eating these foods. Dearest: Thank you, Dr. Bob. BBJ, go ahead. BBJHOUSE: Do you have info on Prempro? How safe is it? Dr. Bob Arnot: What's your concern about it's safety? Which component? BBJHOUSE: The level of progesterone Dr. Bob Arnot: Good issue! Doctors are getting pretty good at fiddling with the amount of progesterone that a woman needs to reduce side effects AND any risk of cancer. I'm a big believer in leaving this calculation up to the woman and her doctor. Dearest: RCH, your turn now. RCHCTH: Is 1200-1400 calories enough for a small frame 5' 3" women to stay healthy? Dr. Bob Arnot: That's really the minimum amount. Women have a very much tougher job than men staying healthy on a limited number of calories which is why everyone MUST count. That's why I like to see women on a really terrific bean, grain and veggie package. If you waste calories on bread, pasta, etc., you're missing out on nutrients and risking weight gain. Dearest: HMira, go ahead. HMiraglia: I'm 35. Had a hysterectomy at 33. On Estrogen. Any problems to watch being so young? Progesterone need?? What would adverse side effects be besides my water weight gain? Dr. Bob Arnot: You may need progesterone to counteract any adverse symptoms you may have with the estrogen. Properly managed, I hope you don't have any problems, but this is a very young age. Watch very carefully to be certain that you are not losing calcium from you bones and that your blood fats are not rising. Consult with an endocrinologist who specializes in this area for the best, customized therapy. HMiraglia: What are blood fats. I mean Hypoglycemia? Dr. Bob Arnot: Blood fats are cholesterol, triyglycerides, fatty acids. When you have your "cholesterol" measured, you'll want to have the entire package evaluated. HMiraglia: My cholesterol is 280 !! Dearest: Dr. Bob, I must stop to tell you that your answers are incredibly excellent and comprehensive. Thank you for so much wonderful information!!!! Okay... will go on now.. am aghast here :) Dr. Bob Arnot: You're very welcome. The answers are only as good as the questions which are excellent! Dearest: SMW, go ahead. SMWREW: Will you gain weight taking hormones? Dr. Bob Arnot: You could gain weight taking hormones, but the new school has women taking far lower doses and in a much more even dose. A recent paper, however, showed that women did NOT gain weight taking HRT! Dearest: HMira, go ahead. HMiraglia: Thanks. Patches have helped to even out doses. Hope I wont age too soon. Dr. Bob Arnot: Patches are THE best way of evening out the doses. Dr. Bob Arnot: My eight year old is anxiously awaiting my presence. I've got to go be a good parent. Dearest: Sure, Dr. Bob. Dearest: Dr. Bob, thank you for allowing us to steal you away to Power Surge tonight, and for so excellently fielding all our questions about health and fitness. We all hope you'll return to Power Surge again one day soon. Everyone associated with Power Surge joins me in wishing you and yours Happy Holidays and a Healthy New Year. Dearest: Thank you SO much for your excellent answers, Dr. Bob :) Dr. Bob Arnot: Thank you all! What a great group! End Of Log Of Dr. Bob Arnot's Guest Visit To Power Surge Dearest aka Alice Stamm Power Surge Founder, Host, Facilitator Power Surge E-mail Dearest Copyright©1994-1998 by Power Surge. All Rights Reserved.