Patrika Tsai
Patient ExpertFollow Us:
Patrika wrote for HealthCentral as a patient expert for Fitness & Exercise and Food & Nutrition.
Latest by Patrika Tsai
Achieving Healthy Weight Gain
While most Americans struggle to lose weight, there are some who are underweight and unable to gain enough weight to stay in the healthy range. While certain individuals may inherently have a high metabolism, others may have an illness or chronic con...
The Health Benefits of Ginger
When I was a child, my mother’s cure-all for any ailment was ginger. Ginger tea, chicken and rice soup with ginger, ginger candy, and ginger flavored dessert. While I had always considered ginger to be a bit of an old wives’ remedy, there is evidence ...
14 Tips to Buy Healthy Groceries on a Budget
As food and gas prices continue to rise, grocery bills are taking a bigger bite out of the household budget. When consumers have to worry about food costs, they may also struggle to maintain a healthy diet. However, it is still possible to have nutri...
Q&A: Lactose intolerance
Question: I have been told that I may have lactose intolerance. Does that mean I have to give up milk? Answer: Lactose intolerance means that the body does not produce enough enzymes to digest lactose which is a sugar found in dairy products. People ...
Should I Do a Different Workout Each Day?
Question: Is it bad to do the same workout every day? Dr. Tsai: First of all, you are to be commended if you are doing a workout every day. It is not necessarily bad to do the same thing daily. However, varying your exercise regimen has several advan...
Which Exercises Will Make Me Lose Weight?
Question: I lost weight by running and have recently switched to swimming. Now I can’t keep the weight on Are there certain exercises that are more effective at weight loss than others? Dr. Tsai: Some exercises may be more effective in helping you lo...
Put Down the Fork
As a kid, I remember hearing that you should chew each bite 20 times. Aside from ensuring that you do not swallow too big a bite that could get stuck or cause choking, it definitely makes you eat more slowly. In today’s world of eating "on the r...
10,000 Steps a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day. That is over 2.5 billion beats in a lifetime One of the best things that you can do to keep your heart healthy is to be physically active. It really does not matter what type of activity you do as long as y...
The Real Deal on the Master Cleanse Diet
The Master Cleanse Diet, also known as the Lemonade Diet, is a liquid diet of water, lemon or lime juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. In other words, you are only allowed to drink lemonade about 6-12 times a day, a glass of salt water, and an he...
Finding a Balance
1) I eat right and exercise. How come I’m not losing weight? Weight is dependent on how many calories we eat compared to how many calories we burn. If you are eating a healthy diet and exercising with no change in weight, then you are in energy balan...