DrCarney.com Blog

Red is a Heart-Healthy Color Red foods like tomatoes, watermelon, sweet red peppers, red grapefruit, and papaya all contain a powerful, heart-healthy carotenoid called lycopene. According to an article by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, You Say Tomato--We Say Lycopene, a Protective Carotenoid, 85% of lycopene in the American diet comes from tomatoes. While fresh tomatoes are...

Pomegranate season is here! This beautiful fruit provides numerous health benefits and can be used to embellish many holiday dishes. According to two of Dr. Joel Fuhrman's articles, the time spent seeding this fruit is well worth it. The phytochemical compounds in pomegranates are the most "powerful anti-oxidant of all fruits" and supports a healthy...

Every year as October approaches, many parents are concerned whether or not their children should participate in trick-or-treating. As their children contemplate which costume they wish to wear, mothers struggle with how to guide their children through this gruesome "junk-food binging holiday." Dr. Joel Fuhrman's wife, Lisa, offers several ways parents can promote healthier choices...

Dr. Joel Fuhrman's article, New Information to Sleep on, reminds us that "in order to work optimally in our daily activities...sleep is a crucial component of excellent health." Rarely do we ever get a solid night's sleep - we toss and turn worrying about our lives, then fall to sleep just before the alarm clock goes...

How many boxes of Kleenex do you go through during periods of high pollen counts? You will be encouraged by reading our new Topic Article "Diet May Reduce Severity of Seasonal Allergies>."  According to the plant-based nutritional experts, asthma and allergies have been linked to several nutritional factors. Although there isn't much literature published on...

According to The National Institutes of Health–AARP Diet and Health Study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers concluded a positive correlation between pancreatic cancer and saturated fat, especially from animal products such as red meat and dairy. Researchers examined the association between fat from different food sources on over 500,000 individuals,...

Chances are, several of your friends or family members have heart disease. Sadly, heart disease is our nation's leading cause of death for both men and women. Eighty-one million Americans suffer from cardiovascular disease, with 831,000 deaths each year, resulting in a heart attack every 34 seconds. You may have heart disease as well and...

High-protein, low-carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins diet, have become very popular, but is it possible to safely lose weight on such a diet without damaging our health? Dr. Joel Fuhrman addresses this concern in his article, The Atkins Cancer Revolution, and convincingly argues: "You can lose some weight on the Atkins diet plan, but...

Raw plant food supplies many disease-fighting nutrients which also promote longevity, but are raw food diets more nutritious?  According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, consuming a raw diet is not more nutritious.  He responds by saying, "Eating an exclusively raw-food diet is a disadvantage."  He believes that, "Excluding all steamed vegetables and vegetable soups from your...

Holidays come and go, yet the effects from eating poorly, even temporarily, have adverse consequences on our health. We may rationalize that "It's just a few meals, how harmful could they be?" You may be surprised to learn that the majority of heart attacks occur during the holiday season, covering the weeks of Christmas through...

Stroke is no longer considered a disease of old age. Strokes are now occurring in younger people as well. Dr. Joel Fuhrman says that, "These diseases come about due to the accumulated effects of years of poor diet and lifestyle habits. As the standard American diet has deteriorated, these damaging effects are amplified and have...

If someone were to offer you a plain baked potato or a bag of potato chips, which would you choose? If you chose the plain baked potato, hooray for you! Most people however, would gobble down the entire bag of potato chips, lick their fingers, and look for more. The popular 1960's potato chip advertising slogan, "Betcha can't eat just one" was right; we can't eat just one. Many of us have probably tried, but failed. What compels us to gulp down the entire bag of chips, instead of the baked potato? Dr. Joel Fuhrman has the answer:

"The science on food addiction has now established that highly palatable foods (low-nutrient, high-calorie, intensely sweet, salty, and/or fatty foods - those that make up the majority of the Standard American Diet) produces the exact biochemical effects in the brain that are characteristic of substance abuse."
According to Dr. Fuhrman, "Junk food is ubiquitously available, legal, cheap, and socially accepted; therefore, it becomes the drug of choice for many of us."