To lose weight, eat less, right?

Not always. New research shows that eating more of certain foods can stave off hunger pangs and control calories.

The foods, which include cayenne pepper and puréed vegetables, are natural appetite suppressants. As diet pills are pulled off the market due to side effects, a greater interest in a natural and safe approach makes sense.

Scientists at Purdue studied the effect of just half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper on a group of 25 diners.

While hot red pepper has been studied before as an appetite suppressant, this study was notable in that it compared people who liked spicy food with those who did not. At various times, diners were given a bowl of tomato soup laced with a half teaspoon of pepper, plain tomato soup, or plain tomato soup with a supplement of red pepper in pill form.

The effect was greater among diners who didn’t regularly consume spicy meals. Among that group, adding red pepper to the soup was associated with eating an average of 60 fewer calories at the next meal compared with when they ate plain soup. For both groups who ate red pepper in food, the spice also appeared to increase the metabolism and cause the body to burn an extra 10 calories on its own.

The researchers were careful not to make too much of their findings. The effects of the cayenne pepper were real but modest, and dieters may become desensitized to the effect of red pepper as they grow accustomed to eating spicy foods.

In another study, researchers from Penn State gave 20 men and 21 women casseroles made with varying amounts of purée — a strategy popularized by the cookbook author Jessica Seinfeld, who has encouraged parents to sneak vegetables into foods like spaghetti.

In a macaroni and cheese recipe from the researchers, for instance, the cheese sauce is made with skim milk, reduced-fat cheese and one cup each of puréed cauliflower and puréed summer squash.

The diners were fed the casseroles during different visits. They ate pretty much the same amount of food during each visit and reported no differences in flavor or enjoyment. But when they were served the casseroles made with puréed vegetables, they ate 200 to 350 fewer calories a meal.

Another researcher has shown that eating soup or salads before a meal can also curb the appetite and result in eating fewer calories over all.

A Tex-Mex casserole could get away with adding vegetables easily . Once the spicy flavors are added, they mask other changes in density and vegetable content. Diners typically are totally unaware lots and lots of veggies were added.

According to the New York Times, the number of people treated in hospitals in the United States for problems related to medication errors has surged more than 50 percent in recent years.

In 2008, 1.9 million people became ill or injured from medication side effects or because they took or were given the wrong type or dose of medication, compared with 1.2 million injured in 2004, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The cost of these errors today is estimated at $4.5 billion for lost wages, productivity, and additional healthcare expenses

The A.H.R.Q. data showed that among patients who were admitted to the hospital after taking the wrong type or dose of a drug, the most common medications to cause side effects or injuries were corticosteroids. The drugs typically are used to treat asthma, ulcerative colitis or arthritis.

Other drugs that resulted in the highest number of patients admitted to the hospital were pain relievers, blood thinners, cancer drugs and heart and blood pressure medicines.

People older than 65 were most likely to be hospitalized for side effects or medication-related injuries. However, young people were also at risk. One in five emergency cases related to medication problems were children or teenagers.

That is the main reason behind the push for electronic health records. Policy makers are hoping software will flag interactions or inappropriate age or condition related drug use.

But here is another idea: how about each of us spend some time and effort to live healthy every day. No secrets here: eat right, exercise, get good sleep, have faith, have a job that you like, manage stress. Reward yourself. You can't deny yourself every pleasure.

And when your body tells you something is wrong, consider a chiropractor. Try to keep a small problem small. It is usually quicker and easier to fix,.

Medicare announce last week that it would pay for a prostrate cancer drug that costs $93,000 and leads to an average increased life span of four months for end stage cancer patients.

This announcement points out one of the short comings of federal policy. Medicare typically pays for FDA cleared drugs without regard to expense.

Some health care experts argue that our society cannot afford to continue to pay for drugs that extend life a few days, weeks, or months. Others say the denial of expensive treatment is the beginning of “health care rationing”.

I can tell you we have insurance companies that routinely deny a service we provide ...laser therapy for example.... that we bill at $60 ...not $60,000 ...and say that there is no proof that it changes “clincal outcome”. I invite you to go to Google Scholar and type in low level laser. What you will find is hundreds of research papers from all over the world which find that light speeds healing.

I also know that the “clinical outcome” of life is eventual death, with prostrate cancer or without and that paying $93,000 for four months of extra life is nothing more than a transfer of wealth from each and every family in America to the medical complex..... big pharma, hospitals, doctors, etc. Look around in this Great Recession and you will see one area of continued building and that is in the pharmacies and hospitals...built on the wealth transfer of each of our insurance premiums.

One of the most frequent questions we get day in and day out is the heat or ice question. At time it is not 100% certain which will work the best, but I'm going to do my best to simplify the decision making process in a way which you can remember.

The two words with “i” go together: ice and injury.

The words with “r” go together: sore and warm.

Both should be used in the same way. Apply for 20 or 30 minutes and then remove for about an hour.  Then repeat.

When not sure use ice. Ice can never do any harm and usually is helpful because cold will slow pain impulses. Sometimes cold will make a tight muscle feel even tighter and if that happens switch to heat.