On Health with Houston Methodist

There’s a lot to consider when deciding what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Food choices often come down to personal and cultural tastes, our dietary needs and other factors such as time, money and access. And then there’s always the big, looming question: Is this food healthy for me? There’s only one way to find out: reading the food labels, including the Nutrition Facts. We discuss what you should (and shouldn’t) focus on as you debate whether that box of crackers goes into your shopping cart. 

Experts: Mag Ayyad, Clinical Exercise Dietitian

Interviewer: Kim Rivera Huston-Weber

Notable topics covered:

• Why you should turn that food packaging around
• The top five things to look for when reading the Nutrition Facts
• How to use serving size effectively
• Macronutrients:  What you should eat more of and what you should limit
• Is the “Percent Daily Value” metric helpful or hurtful when evaluating a food?
• How to tell how natural a product is (or isn’t) and other lessons from the ingredients list
• Yes, front-of-packaging label claims are regulated, but that's not the whole story ...
• Which grocery aisles are the most deceptive in portraying themselves as healthy?
• Buying organic: Are the supposed benefits worth the higher cost?
• Are expiration or best-by dates canon, or just mere suggestions?
• What to do if you need extra help with your diet

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Achy knees that creep up on you with age. Lower back pain from overdoing it in the gym. Joint pain doesn’t just disrupt your day to day, it can be tricky to course correct. Should you stop exercising for a few days? Modify your workouts until the pain resolves? Could extra stretching and foam rolling do the trick? And when is it time to see a physical therapist? In this episode, we discuss all things joint pain, including effective strategies for relieving and preventing it. 

Experts: 

• Dr. Scott Rand, Sports Medicine Physician 
• Corbin Hedt, Physical Therapist 

Interviewer: Katie McCallum

Notable topics covered: 

• Muscle soreness vs. joint pain vs. injury: How to tell the difference 
• The most common reasons we develop joint pain 
• Could the cause of your knee pain be hiding in your hips? 
• More examples of how joint pain often isn’t as simple as the area in question 
• Can you be genetically predisposed to joint pain? 
• Everything you need to know about physical therapy 
• “Your muscles aren’t tight, they’re weak.” 
• Are foam rollers and massage guns worthwhile? 
• The surprising percentage of people who have back pain 
• Workout rule No. 1: Don’t neglect the basics 

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

It’s Halloween, which caps a month of people watching their favorite scary movies, braving haunted houses and generally celebrating all things spooky. Is it normal to seek out things that frighten us? Aren’t we wired to avoid them instead? The mix of chemicals the brain releases is no different whether the fear is real or fictitious so what accounts for the difference between getting a rush and feeling terrorized? In this episode, we talk to a neuroscientist and Halloween enthusiast about what happens in the brain when we’re scared, the many distinct types of fear and why people either love or loathe the horror genre.  

Expert: Dr. Philip Horner, Neuroscientist 

Interviewer: Todd Ackerman 

Notable topics covered: 

• The appeal of a holiday dedicated to curdling blood and tingling spines 
• Horror’s function: distraction, adrenaline release, overcoming fears 
• Safety in numbers: Why we like watching a scary movie in a crowded theater 
• Why humans, uniquely among species, are afraid of the dark 
• Common phobias: From heights to public speaking to spiders to needles 
• Children’s literature: Why many classic fairy tales are so dark 
• Fear’s physical manifestations: Is it unhealthy to be terrified? 
• What fight or flight situations and existential anxiety have in common   
• Some classic scientific studies of fear 
• Is that seemingly universal fear innate or learned? 
• The woman whose brain condition has made her fearless. Literally. 
• Nightmares: Why things that didn’t scare us in life do in our dreams  

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

An estimated 80% of moms experience “mom brain,” the forgetfulness and concentration difficulties that come with pregnancy and motherhood. Ask a mom to describe the condition and she might mention anything from having a hard time finding words and engaging in conversation to lapses in judgment, missed appointments and emotional breakdowns. Science hasn’t quite caught up with how impactful mom brain can be on a woman’s work-life balance … yet. To understand what we know and what we’re still learning about mom brain, we talk to a clinical psychologist who is also a mom to two young girls. 

 Expert: Dr. Jessica Rohr, Clinical Psychologist, Director of Women’s Mental Health 

Interviewer: Melissa Schafer  

Notable topics covered: 

• Mom brain isn’t just a colloquialism: How the brain changes during pregnancy 
• Why objective research findings don’t always match the subjective experiences of moms 
• Why mom brain research is in its infancy: A deep dive into the historical exclusion of women in medical studies 
• Whether “dad brain” also exists 
• Neuroplasticity: One of the benefits that comes with the cognitive changes in motherhood 
• Does mom brain ever go away? 
• Navigating the shift from seeking perfection to simply being a good person and mother 
• What spouses, loved ones and friends can do to support a new mother 
• How to reframe conversations like, “I want you to want to do the dishes.” 
• Tips, tools and workarounds for overcoming the challenges of mom brain 

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There's a reason headache is considered slang for "nuisance" or "annoyance." Simply put, they can wreak havoc on your day — or life, if you get them often. We're all bound to experience a headache at some point, but some people — 1 in 7 globally — suffer from migraine, the usually recurrent, particularly throbbing version. Migraine is considered the third most common condition in the world, but it remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. So how do you know if that nagging headache is actually a migraine — and what you can do about it? In this episode, we learn when it's time to get help as we talk all things migraine with a neurologist.

Expert: Dr. Julia Jones, Neurologist

Interviewer: Kim Rivera Huston-Weber

Notable topics covered:

• What is a headache, what is a migraine, and where is there overlap? 
• Which headache types are most often confused with migraine 
• Migraine causes compared to other headache types 
• The most common (and not-so-common) migraine triggers 
• Do other conditions make people think they have migraines when they don't? 
• When to seek care for headache or migraine 
• What home remedies work for managing a migraine 
• Migraine treatments — both for active migraines and preventive treatments 
• What can people do to prevent migraines? 
• Can someone be "cured" of migraines? 

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

Almost half of adults have high blood pressure — the “silent killer” — so you’re not alone if you’re concerned yours isn’t in a healthy range. Medication might seem the obvious course of action, but it’s not the only way to lower your numbers, whether they’re already in the dangerous zone or just starting to creep up. In fact, there’s a lot you can do to prevent and lower high blood pressure — and even get off medication if that’s your goal. In this episode, a preventive cardiologist explains how the choices you make every day affect your blood pressure and offers strategies for maintaining healthy numbers.

Expert: Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, Preventive Cardiologist

Interviewer: Katie McCallum

Notable topics covered: 

• How high blood pressure’s effect on arteries resembles pipe corrosion in the oil industry 
• It’s not just stroke and heart disease – high blood pressure can also affect the kidneys and brain 
• The lifestyle factors that help prevent and lower high blood pressure 
• It’s never too late to reverse high blood pressure 
• The single best thing you can do to lower your blood pressure 
• Whether behavior changes are enough to help avoid or get off blood pressure medication 
• Is vaping as bad for blood pressure as smoking? 
• You may not think you’re getting that much salt, but are you reading food labels? 
• How much you can expect your blood pressure to drop if you get down to a healthy weight 
• Actionable ways to achieve the lifestyle needed to maintain a healthy blood pressure 

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

Most everyone knows acute inflammation, that short-lived redness and swelling that characterizes the healing process in response to injury or infection. But you may not be so familiar with chronic inflammation, a low-grade, insidious condition linked to the biggest killers of Western world, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. A constant state of immune system overactivity, chronic inflammation is all but invisible, meaning people typically don't know they have it until disease has developed. Are there telltale signs? And what can you do to prevent it? In this episode, we learn about the condition the World Health Organization ranks as the greatest threat to human health.

Expert: Dr. Joshua Septimus, Primary Care Physician

Interviewer: Todd Ackerman

Notable topics covered:

• What we know about how chronic inflammation causes disease 
• Why it took so long for low-grade inflammation to come into the chronic disease spotlight 
• Do the "-itises" (sinusitis, colitis, tendonitis) have anything to do with chronic inflammation? 
• The link between processed food and the risk of low-grade inflammation 
• The best test to determine if you have chronic inflammation 
• Are there pharmaceutical treatments targeted at chronic inflammation? 
• It's not just what you eat — the other factors that can promote low-grade inflammation 
• Does being significantly overweight always predispose a person to chronic inflammation? 
• The best dietary approach to prevent chronic inflammation

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

Hosts Zach Moore, Katie McCallum, Todd Ackerman and Kim Rivera Huston-Weber kick off the new season of On Health with Houston Methodist. Each week, we'll be joined by a Houston Methodist expert to explore an everyday wellness trend or significant health topic. Stay tuned for episodes on everything from whether it's better to walk fast or walk far to how to tell a headache from a migraine to what to do when your joints start aching. Also on the schedule: tips for reading food labels and a Halloween special on the science of fear. Episodes drop every Tuesday morning for the next 10 weeks.

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog. 

Christen Press, Catarina Macario, Vivianne Miedema, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Janine Beckie — some of the biggest names in soccer will be missing the 2023 Women’s World Cup due to ACL injuries alone. The frequency of the injury in women’s soccer has been talked about for decades, but are ACL tears on the rise? And why is this devastating injury so prevalent in the women’s game specifically? In this episode, we ask a physical therapist and former women’s professional soccer player for her perspective on the issue and path moving forward. 

Hosts: Katie McCallum (interviewer), John Dabkowski

Expert: Jordan Jackson, Physical Therapist and Former Professional Soccer Player

Notable topics covered: 

• From youth to club to pro soccer, Jordan weighs in on how she's seen injury shape careers 
• Jordan never tore her ACL, but she also had a unique training experience growing up 
• Are ACL tears in women’s soccer on the rise, or are we just hearing about them more now? 
• Women are more likely to tear (and re-tear) their ACLs, but why? 
• Moving beyond the conversation about women’s wider hips, knee valgus and quad/hamstring ratio 
• Is wider adoption of movement training the key to reducing injuries? 
• What the research says about menstrual cycles and injuries 
• Why prevention and rehab strategies will need to be personalized 
• Studying the benefit of movement training in girls’ youth sports 
• The research says it all — now it’s time for meaningful change 

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Heat, exercise, anxiety. There are a few things that make people sweat — more than we likely want, given how uncomfortable and embarrassing sweat can sometimes be. But what do you actually know about it? In this episode, we discuss everything from the important role sweating plays in your body to whether someone can sweat "too much" and everything in between.

Hosts: Katie McCallum, John Dabkowski (interviewer)

Expert: Mag Ayyad, Exercise Dietitian

Notable topics covered: 

• Why we sweat when we’re hot — and when we’re not 
• Genetics, geography, activity level: What determines how much you sweat? 
• The actual composition of sweat might surprise you 
• Once you start sweating, how do you stop? 
• Sweat and body odor: It’s not your sweat — per se — that smells 
• How hygiene products can affect your sweat 
• Everyone sweats. Or do they? 
• Mag’s tips for heavy sweaters 
• John and Katie do sweat tests (and share their results) 

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog.