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During the week of October 10-14, North Dakota WIC (Women, Infants and Children) is celebrating WIC National Enrollment Week! WIC aims to reach families by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets and referrals to health and other social services. We are celebrating with other WIC agencies throughout the country to show our communities why WI...

Dear Dr. Toshi, Could you please explain the difference between unsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, omega-3, and omega-6? Wow, there are so many words related to the subject of fat, even after discussing "trans-fat" last week. And I haven't even talked about cholesterol or the "Lipid Panel" blood test yet! Ther...

Dear Dr. Toshi, Should I be on a low-fat diet? Now the experts say that the type of fat that you eat is far more important than the portion of calories you get from fat. We need good kinds of fat for proper body functions, after all. It's necessary for the absorption of certain vitamins, our energy, hormone production, health of our cells, and many...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I noticed blood in my stool. Does that mean I have a hemorrhoid? Maybe. Maybe not. You may think that blood in stool is from hemorrhoids because you often hear about them, but that's not the only reason you may have blood in your stool. Until you're evaluated by your doctor or provider, no one can say for sure what's causing the blo...

Dear Dr. Toshi, What is the GI tract and what's the difference between the GI tract and the digestive system? You may have heard your doctor or other medical provider use the term "the GI tract," and may have wondered what that exactly means. So, today, we'll talk about your GI tract and also how it's related to your digestive system. "GI" is short...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I heard that the skin renews itself. If that's the case, then why do we get scars when we get an injury or acne? There are two big reasons for scarring. One reason is damage to the deeper layers of the skin and another reason is related to the healing process. The upper layers of the skin that are renewed are called the epidermis, a...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I've had a cough for over three weeks. Could I have pneumonia? Coughing is one of the most common reasons why patients go see their healthcare provider. A cough can be categorized as acute (new) or chronic (going on for a while), and there are many different causes of coughing. So, today, I will discuss some of the most common cause...

Dear Dr. Toshi, Does eating too much sugar cause diabetes? We talked about diabetes last week and I'd like to continue a little bit more on that topic today. Many people think that if you eat too much sugar, you'll get diabetes, but does eating sugar really cause diabetes? Before getting into details, I'd like to introduce a very important concept ...

Dear Dr. Toshi, What is diabetes? Have you ever wondered what diabetes really is, what insulin is and what glucose is? Today, I'd like to talk a bit about those things. Last week, I talked about the organs in your abdomen. Do you remember that one of the organs is the pancreas and it's located a little below and behind your stomach? It is where you...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I recently noticed that I'm losing more hair when I brush my hair. Is it normal to lose hair as we get older? Hair loss is common. We often see classic male pattern hair loss and women with thinning hair as they get older. It's possible that it's a simple "hair loss" (though the symptoms are not so simple emotionally), but there are...

Dear Dr. Toshi, Recently, I heard of something called "Health Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE)." What is that? HALE stands for Health Adjusted Life Expectancy, which I'll call health expectancy. But before going into that topic, I'd like to ask you a question. Why do you go see your doctor? And why do you think doctors and providers ask you to be se...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I heard that it's important to eat fiber. Can you explain what fiber is and how we get it? One of the things that I've been really impressed with in this area is the fact that many people are avid gardeners and they're growing a great variety of wonderful vegetables! It turns out that this is a truly wonderful thing for our health! ...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I'm often constipated. Can you tell us about constipation and some home remedies I can try? You may have chronic constipation if you have two or more of these characteristics for more than three months: if you have less than three bowel movements (BMs) a week, if you have hard or pebble-like stools, if you have to strain when you ha...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I'm taking a medication called furosemide (also called Lasix), which is known as a "pee pill." What does it do for the heart? My doctor says it's good for the heart, but it sure makes me go to the bathroom often. Many people take medications called "diuretics," which you may know as a "water pill" or "pee pill." One of the things it...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I get uncontrollable morning sneezing. Can you talk about that? It's impossible for me to diagnose a specific condition without seeing and examining the person, but we can talk in general about sneezing and possible causes of "morning sneezing." Sneezing can be annoying, as we all know. Sneezing is an upper airway reflex. Upper airw...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I'm taking a number of medications, and I don't really know what they're all for or whether I need to be taking all of them. What should I do? Last week I talked about how to optimize your visit to the clinic, and mentioned a few things about your medications. With the advancement of medical science and pharmaceutical research and d...

Dear Dr. Toshi, I just heard of a condition called "Metabolic Syndrome." What's that? "Metabolic syndrome" is a problem related to abdominal fat, blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipids (cholesterol and fats) that affects our health in significant ways. I talked about hypertension and cholesterol in previous articles, and also discussed BMI and w...

Dear Dr. Toshi, People talk a lot about Vitamin D. I'm outside a lot in the sun, so I shouldn't need any vitamin D supplement, right? You might already know that vitamin D is important in our body for the health of our bones. Vitamin D helps us absorb calcium and maintain strong bones. Without it, bones can become thin, brittle, or malformed (like ...

Dear Dr. Toshi, What's a heart attack and how does it happen? What's commonly known as heart attack is also called a "myocardial infarction" (MI). The heart is a muscular organ, and its muscle is called myocardium. Infarction is the death of the myocardium, and it's caused by coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease is a disease of arteries...