I just read an article by breast imaging specialist, Dr. Stacey Vitiello, in The Atlantic called “The Negative Mammogram Myth.” In it, she reminds us that mammography is an imperfect science and that a normal mammogram doesn’t necessarily mean a woman is breast cancer-free. In fact, researchers report that combining mammogram and sonogram (also called an ultrasound) can find 29% more cancers and 34% more invasive cancers.

Sometime last summer, a couple of my friends were talking about raw foods and green smoothies. I decided to invest in a powerful but inexpensive blender and experiment with shakes and smoothies. The one thing that happens to me is that I get bored easily with the same snacks every day, so I developed some tricks to keep things interesting on my taste buds and healthy for my body.

I took my mother to her primary care doctor a few years ago and was happy I’d tagged along. Not only was the doctor talking mostly to his computer screen - he barely looked at us and my mother doesn’t hear well so it’s important that she sees your lips moving-but I had to ask for him to listen to her lungs. After all, she was there for a heart problem and it doesn’t take a medical student (or breast surgeon as the case may be!) to know that the lungs, as our oxygenators, are highly connected to heart function.

I just read a recent study published in the United Kingdom claiming that the results of the Million Woman study (also published in the UK) may have overestimated the risk of breast cancer related to Hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This news has been picked up by papers in England and is creating a lot of buzz, but I’m not so sure this “news” is all it’s hyped up to be.

It’s a new year again! And with each new year we all have a fresh opportunity to enhance our lives and our health. This year, I recommend learning something new. As we get older, we become experts at the things we like to do and take less time to learn new things.

This is the perfect time of year to warm up your house and your body with a delicious soup. A friend and former patient of mine, Meg Wolff, has written several incredible books on surviving cancer and on the connection between food and health. For her, changing the way she ate is what she believes saved her life. She has now been cancer-free for 13 years and is spreading the word about what a difference eating a plant-based diet can make in our bodies.

The holiday season is here, though sometimes what begins as genuine good cheer can turn to anxiety and stress without us even realizing it. Here’s a simple tip to keep you sane through it all: hug a tree.

I was thinking about the belly laughter children have — even children who grow up in difficult settings can still be silly — and wondering why we laugh less in adulthood. Stress and responsibility surely play a role and the silly expectation that adults are just more serious. But what if we made an effort to let go and laugh more? If you can do one good thing for your health today, find something funny and laugh.

We’re coming up on Thanksgiving and for many of us, food becomes the centerpiece of our lives. With parties, family traditions, and extra goodies available at work, it can be a recipe for feeling guilty about food. But what would happen if you did the opposite? If you decided to feel good about what you ate, instead of feeling bad?

You may or may not know that today is World Diabetes Day. And on this day at 2 PM (local time) thousands of people — whether they have diabetes or not — will test their blood sugar, exercise for 14 minutes, test again, and then share their results on the TuDiabetes website in an event called The Big Blue Test.