Check It Out: A wise prescription for a long and healthy life

By Joan Janzen

We’re in the Christmas season when Santa letters are being sent off to the North Pole. Here’s a sample: “Dear Santa. All I want is a fat bank account and a skinny body. Please don’t mix it up again like last year!”

Most of us want a skinny body along with a long and healthy life. My family recently celebrated my father-in-law’s 90th birthday. Just five years ago, we came to visit him and found him high up in a tree cutting off dead branches. Five years later, he’s no longer climbing trees but remains in pretty good health.

Dr. Suneel Dhand and two of his friends spoke on a podcast about the supplements they personally use to maintain good health. Dr. Peter, a cardiologist, said magnesium is really good for your cardiac health. “Most people who have arrhythmias are often magnesium deficient,” he noted.

Magnesium also helps reduce muscle spasms, along with performing a simple daily exercise of stretching the muscles in your calves.

The three doctors agreed on the importance of sufficient sleep. Dr. Ben said a lot of medications used for sleep result in groggy after-effects. Instead, he recommended melatonin, a natural chemical that’s made in your body. By taking a melatonin supplement, you’re giving your body more of what it already produces. “It helps you fall asleep faster and helps you fall back to sleep when you wake up during the night,” he advised.

Dr. Dhand chimed in, saying, “Turmeric is my number one supplement. You will never see the research published about its very potent anti-inflammation and antioxidant effects. Turmeric in food is good, but there’s evidence when you heat these compounds up, the effects are lessened,” which is why he takes a couple of capsules every day.

Dr. Ben said, “People frown upon these supplements but at the same time hand out Advil and Tylenol like candy, which, if taken in larger amounts, can cause harm. Tylenol can cause damage to your liver. Advil, taken in larger amounts, can cause stomach ulcers, gastritis, and bleeding.”

While seeing patients, Dr. Dhand said he regularly sees people who were very healthy for a long time, then come in with a condition and admit they are under a great deal of stress. “Stress does devastating things to the body, and it suppresses immunity,” he observed.

It’s easier said than done, but he recommends going for a walk, watching a comedy show, exercising, taking time to meditate and pray, or spending time with family and friends. Whatever works for you to help reduce stress quickly and regularly is vitally important.

When it comes to weight loss, someone recently told me they’ve talked to a number of acquaintances who lost a noticeable amount of weight. He asked how they did it, and was told they started taking a drug called Ozempic. Coincidentally, on a recent podcast, Dr. Suneel Dhand said he was seeing the same thing.

He asked his patients what they were doing to lose weight, and they answered, “My doctor mentioned Ozempic. I’ve been on the shot for a few months.”

As a doctor who focuses on natural health and wellness, he said he shakes his head at how upside down the world has become. The modern-day mindset has been fooled into thinking a quick fix is best, but it comes at a high cost. The price is paid by the human body.

Although the drug will cause people to lose weight, they’ll also lose muscle mass because muscle tissue vanishes faster than fat, the doctor observed. He said, on the outside, people’s physical appearance will begin looking weak, frail, and faces looking deflated.

Meanwhile, on the inside, their metabolism slows, nutrient absorption fails, and side effects begin to manifest. He said new risks keep emerging: digestive issues, rebound weight gain, mood changes, pancreatic and thyroid issues. “You can’t manipulate biology without consequence,” he said. “It’s an injection that effectively paralyzes the stomach.”

Instead, Dr. Dhand suggested downloading the app MyFitnessPal, which tracks the calories of everything you drink and have eaten. “Most people are dramatically undercounting the calories they consume,” he advised.

Next, he asks people to find out how many calories they are burning daily. “You need a 500-calorie deficit every single day,” he said. “It’s impossible to consistently run at a calorie deficit and not lose weight.”

“Society is selling the illusion of effort-free health, and millions are buying it,” he said, adding his frustration with pharmaceutical solutions for lifestyle diseases that never address the root cause.

Generations before us have proven you can’t cheat your way to success in health, education, or relationships. Real, lasting change requires discipline, consistency, and effort, Dr. Dhand said.

“The goal isn’t to reject all medicine. It’s to practice wise medicine: thoughtful, individualized, and rooted in both science and humanity,” he concluded. It’s a wise prescription for a long and healthy life.