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Dr. John Hong
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Vitamin D Deficiency - No bones about it

“I’m walking on sunshine, Wooah, And don’t it feel good!” Remember Katrina and The Waves? Oh, you don’t? So many one-hit wonders. I don’t know if it would be worse to never have a big song or to think you have it “made in the shade” and then never walk on sunshine again. […]

Just the Facts, Maam - Why are medical studies so conflicting?

Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) … an oxymoron? You know how people joke that military intelligence, children’s literature, and jumbo shrimp are oxymorons? My whole medical training was based on EBM. I’ve replaced reading People Magazine with peer-reviewed medical journals. In EBM, doctors look to medical studies to guide them in making medical decisions. We […]

Bad Breath…of Fresh Air

Garlic is food for the gods! Should I also include goddesses? (In Hollywood they no longer say actors and actresses; everyone is an actor. So to be more equal opportunity, shouldn’t I just say gods?)
Back to garlic, I love garlic– overall. I cook with it a lot! But like some women retain water during […]

Mickey Mouse is Sinking!

Mickey Mouse-has he become obese? Minnie Mouse too? According to the New York Times, Disneyland is fixing up the “It’s a Small World” ride to accommodate obese riders.
Hmm, ironic it’s a small world. The ride was built in 1963, and back then people weren’t as heavy as we are now. In fact, when […]

Year of the Pig 2007

Weight sucks! This is how I would sum up 2007. Yes, it’s true that patients fondly refer to me as “The Weight Nazi” (”No soup for you! Or donuts!”), but weight sucks because we get psychotic messages about weight.
Look at Kirstie Alley. She walked in a bikini on Oprah because she’d lost some weight. […]

Trans Fats - Yummy but don’t be a dumby with your heart

DuPont used to advertise “better living through chemistry.” Couples usually talk about the “chemistry” that brought them together. (In Britney Spears and K-Fed’s case, I think their chemistry involved ethanol, among other things.) Bad chemistry between Moonlighting’s Cybil Sheppard and Bruce Willis made the show a smash.
When I was taking organic chemistry, our […]

Exercise? In Central Virginia?

Weird Al Yankovic sang, “Eat it/ Open up your mouth and feed it.” That pretty much sums up Central Virginia, because let me tell you, girl, mmm, there’s enough delicious food here to make Liz Taylor become a Virginia senator’s wife again.
Based on my own observations, Central Virginia seems to be on the […]

Diet Pills - sorry charlie but you have to exercise

Coffee is hot… well, as long as it isn’t iced coffee. We all know that. I recently picked up a cup of coffee at the coffee house, and it felt like a sizzling curling iron on Project Runway. So why would anyone put coffee between her legs-while driving-and sue the restaurant for her […]

Find The Right Doctor: Something Tom Cruise Wouldn’t Like

Finding a new primary care physician (PCP) can be quite an undertaking. For example, pretend you’re the beautiful Brooke Shields. You just had a baby and you’re not feeling so hot, so you Google to find a new PCP. There are a ton of doctors’ names, and you click on a few hoping to find […]

Water intoxication: you can drink yourself to death–with water

“Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”
Gulp! I read the Rime of the Ancient Mariner in ninth grade, and I still remember parts of it. Ms. Patrick-Brown was my quirky and incredible English teacher who said, “You will hear this over and over for […]