The Dr. and Dad Healthcast

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…”    Pete Seeger The song became a hit in late 1965 when it was adapted by the American folk group, the Byrds  The lyrics are taken almost verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes in the King James Bible.  What does this have to do with health?  Well - maybe we can use the concept of alignin...

In both Western and Eastern philosophy, craving has been considered a source of suffering and unhappiness. While craving is an important feature of substance use disorders, eating disorders, and other psychiatric conditions, it is also a general aspect of human experience. Identifying the neurobiological basis of this driver of human behavior is thus an important step in mapping brain circuits to...

In 2011 Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape and the A16Z VC firm, famously wrote “software is eating the world”.  Meaning, software companies would significantly disrupt traditional industries.  And, we’ve seen that happen – almost every company needs an IT person or department.  Now, we’re hearing AI will eat the world.  And, there are some incredible things happening in...

We’re taking a look back at the major health stories of the past year.  Yes, COVID is still a big issue but the flu and RSV are on the rise too.  The Dr is annoyed and frustrated about a number of things having to to with vaccines, new weight loss drugs, abortion rights and more. 

There are three “macro” nutrients – Carbohydrate, Fat and Protein.  We generally consume fats and carbs for energy to fuel our bodies.  Protein is different.  While it can be converted to fuel if needed, or if consumed in greater quantities than is required by the body, our protein consumption drives the processes that build lean mass and the creation of a host of protein dependent...

Should we get another COVID booster shoot? Can I get the flu shot at the same time?  What’s this miracle weight loss drug all about?  The Dr answers these and several more questions on another AMA.

It’s been a recurring theme of ours - To maximize your healthspan you need to include some resistance training, aka strength training.  While aerobic exercise (everything from brisk walking to jogging, biking, etc.) is also important, both are needed to get the best results – according to a study published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine this August.

Recent headlines include: Direct primary care provider Everside Health scores $164M Hint Health Announces $45 Million In New Funding To Fuel Growth Of Direct Primary Care Direct primary care: A path to achieving the Quadruple Aim of health care - Lower cost, better health, improved patient AND provider experience Why all the buzz?  

While the absolute number of people suffering from A/D in the developed countries of the world is growing, that is due to the general aging of the population.  The age-specific incidence of dementia has fallen in many countries and the reasons for this decline point to some of the ways we may be able to control our risk for developing A/D.  This is particularly useful info because effort...

There have been a number of studies that indicate coffee drinkers live longer than non-drinkers.  Previous research has linked coffee consumption with a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, liver and prostate cancers and other health issues.  Of course, all of these studies are observational epidemiological studies that cannot prove causality – that coffee d...

We humans evolved in a very challenging and uncomfortable environment.  Threats of all types prevailed – predation, rival attacks, hunger, cold/heat, and significant physical exertion was required to survive.  The fact that we’ve not only survived but thrived is testament to our ability to adapt.  That adaptation includes genetic predispositions such as our affinity for calorically...

Since we ran out of time in the last ATDA, as promised, we focus on activity and exercise in this episode.  It’s a good thing we saved a whole episode for this subject because it went longer than we’d expected.  Lots of great info on things like - Is all activity actually exercise? What’s the minimum effective dose of exercise? Should I focus on Zone 2 cardio exercises or high intensity?...

Another ATDA with Dr Ascanio covering topics from the pandemic and what we may expect this Spring to the epidemic of mental health issues we seem to be experiencing and finishing up with answer to a variety of nutrition questions - “Is peanut butter a health food?”

Today most of us know that fast and processed foods are generally unhealthy.  For example, it’s not like people are confused about whether a carrot or a cookie is a healthier food choice. So, why do we eat so much crap?  It appears the reason many of us crave and consume fast and processed foods is that we are addictively drawn to these foods.  Furthermore, the food industry underst...

The Dr & Dad podcast debuted on February 1, 2019 with the goal of bringing new, interesting, evidence based methods for extending our healthspan to our listeners.  While that still remains our mission, we’re shifting our emphasis a bit and focusing on how we can better help people adopt healthy habits and live longer, better lives. 

It was a pretty shitty year – We lost Nonno and Anthony, Covid wasn’t conquered by vaccines, political divisiveness reached new highs and our nations capital (and our democracy) was attacked.  Inflation is high, supply chains are broken, climate catastrophes are becoming commonplace and I (the Dad) have to have more surgery… Despite all of this, there were some good things that occurred this...

We recorded our first COVID-19 podcast on 2/21/20 and our last one in early September of this year when we updated listeners on the Delta variant.  We speculated about whether it’d be the last time we talked about COVID and also if a new problematic variant would arise. Well…

It’s almost impossible to consistently eat healthy if you don’t regularly prepare your own food.  This is a special holiday season episode and it also may be one of the most useful podcasts we’ve done because proper nutrition (eating healthy food) is one of the most important things we can do to support a longer healthspan.  In this episode we share our go to ingredients, equipment, tech...

The American Cancer Society estimates 600,000 Americans will die from cancer this year making it the second leading cause of death behind CVD.  Finding cancer early, before it has metastasized and spread, is still the best way to fight this disease.  Today, effective screenings are available for only five types of cancer – breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate, and over seven o...

We’ve released several podcasts recently that focused on metabolic health including maintaining a healthy weight level.  And, we’ve discussed that nutrition is a more potent lever than exercise if you’re looking to lose fat. In fact, lots of previous studies have documented the relative futility of relying on exercise for weight loss. However, instead of looking at the exercise/weight loss co...

The US, and the world in general, is experiencing yet another surge in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.  It was expected that the distribution of vaccines would protect us from this surge, but the variant of the virus spreading now (named Delta) is much more infectious and probably also causes more severe disease.  So, we have some questions for the Dr…

A cardiac calcium scan (CCS) lets us know the extent of calcium within our cardiac artery walls.  This Is important because this calcium forms over plaques which are the hallmark of cardiovascular damage.  We have many tests that provide insight on our risk of developing cardiovascular disease (such as blood cholesterol levels, blood pressure, etc.) but a CCS lets us see how much damage...

We’ve discussed metabolic health and the benefits of carbohydrate restriction on a number of our past podcasts so listeners may wonder why we’re going back to this subject.  Well, there are a number of new studies that have recently been published that have really put an exclamation point on the efficacy of carbohydrate restriction in treating things like diabetes and obesity and we just felt...

Dr. Julie Foucher is a board-certified family physician. She completed her medical school and residency training at the Cleveland Clinic, holds a Master’s in Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University, and has completed the Integrative Medicine in Residency curriculum through the University of Arizona. Julie competed in the CrossFit Games from 2010-2015 where she consistently finished among th...

At the beginning of 2021 The Dr left the large hospital system’s family medicine clinic where she’d worked for several years to open her own direct primary care practice. So, how has it gone? Does she have patients? Does she love it? These and other scintillating questions are answered!