Many readers may be following the story in the U.S. about an epidemic of stomach infections from eggs contaminated with salmonella bacteria. This bacteria can live both inside and outside eggs, which otherwise may look perfectly normal. The main way to prevent such outbreaks is for the chicken farms to prevent rodents and other animals from …

This week I had the pleasure of an interview with the national newspaper the Global Times; here is the online version of the interview which published on August 24th. Those of you more familiar with China Daily should definitely check out this paper, which I find to be very readable and topical.

Our neighbor to the south is lucky enough to be the first Chinese city (as far as I know) to publish hourly updates of air quality, freely available to all on their website. This practice is now standard in most countries, and I hope that Beijingers can soon also get such valuable information. Right now, we …

I often lecture people on exercise, and I frequently mention how 150 minutes a week of “moderate” exercise can be just as healthy as 90 minutes of heavier exercise. But what’s the difference between light, moderate and heavy? The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) defines exercise intensity in three ways: percentage of maximum heart …

Honestly, I’ve tried. I’ve really tried to dabble with Chinese medicines, but after almost four years of practicing medicine here in Beijing, I must admit that I am comfortable prescribing only a few. That could mean a couple things: I’m too lazy to research I’m too busy to research I’ve tried to research but can’t …

Boy, was this summer a scorcher. Even as I write this, hundreds of people in Russia are still dying from heat stroke and the peat-fire pollution. Here in China, with the temperatures raging a couple weeks ago, most newspapers were filled with health advice stories. Discussing how to avoid heat stroke, of course? Uh, not …

This week I had the honor of a radio interview on Radio Beijing’s AM774. The program, My Life in Beijing, is hosted by the fun duo of Chris and Jinjing. We chatted for a surprisingly quick hour about my life here and back at home, as well as interesting discussions about Chinese medicine and Beijing …

It all turned out a bit anticlimatic, but that’s fine with me: the World Health Organization has officially announced that the phase 6 pandemic stage is over. (WHO | H1N1 in post-pandemic period). That doesn’t mean the virus still isn’t out there, or isn’t a threat, it only means that the worldwide spread and containment …

Blueberries are one of nature’s superfoods. They are packed with vitamin C and have tons of antioxidants, and there is increasing data that blueberries can help improve (or keep) our memory as we age. A brand-new study also shows that it lowers blood pressure and LDL, the bad cholesterol. Plus, they taste great! The problem …

Ah, summer breaks — laze away the summer days, gorge on watermelon, lose your reading ability… Huh? Lose reading ability? Unfortunately, yes — there’s even more evidence than before that schoolkids who don’t read at all during the long summer break do worse in tests, and the effect is cumulative over the summers — which …

Emperors and kings used to have food tasters screen their foods for poisons; I have my own tester — my skin. Whenever I eat unfresh foods that have toxins or chemicals in them, my skin will quickly break out with little itchy spots. The culprit is almost always seafood, especially shellfish, which I love to …

I started this wellness blog one year ago, and I wanted to thank all of my readers for its success! It’s been far more of a hit than I ever thought it would be, considering how small our expat community really is. Here are some interesting stats: 23,861 visits came from 139 countries More than …