Preventing Colon Cancer & The Better Bagel

road out of town for the past few weeks. I was in a I was on a safari, a photographic safari in Tanzania, so you had to listen to some of the past episodes of your Health First the past

few Sundays. But we're here back in person on American soil this Sunday, and again this is the Memorial Day weekend, and I do think that we all need to take a pause, be thankful for the country we live in, be thankful for the freedoms, be thankful for our way of life, and realize that this was something that we had to defend and fight for and people lost their lives, and this is the weekend that we remember those even though we should remember them every single day of the week.

We have to remember those men and women over the years that have protected all of us through various conflicts, and the conflicts are real. We are, you know, every single day, exposed to threats to our freedom and our way of life. And many parts of the world may not necessarily like the way we are free here, but keep in mind that we cannot take this freedom for granted.

And people lost their lives. And it's a day to fly the flag or a weekend to fly the flag and be mindful of everybody that fought to save our country. So to get some basic business out of the way, our website doctor Joegalotti dot com, d R J O E G A L A t I dot com and when you go there that is basically the main portal to communicate with me. There is a tab there to reach out, send me a message. You could sign up for a newsletter that goes out every Saturday morning across

the country to thousands of people. And again the newsletter is a mechanism. It's a tool to share health and wellness, nutrition, food, exercise, latest things in the news which we will be talking about a little later, and a way to have a dialogue and for those that are interested in their own

health and wellness. You may be fifty years old and you've been recently diagnosed with high blood pressure or pre diabetes, or problems with arthritis or chronic lung disease, or you're overweight, and you need to make some personal choices, personal decisions. Our newsletter every week tries to share with you some of the latest information tips resources for you. So make

sure you go to the doctor Joeglotti dot com. Signer for the newsletter's right there, and of course all of our social media Facebook, Instagram, the YouTube page has a lot of information and our practice website Liver Specialists of Texas, so when we're out on the radio, as many of you know, we take care of patients with liver disease digestive disorders. That website is Texas Liver dot com. But again you don't have to remember all this, it's all

on the doctor Joe Galotti web page. All right. So this is one of those weeks where it's a little laid back, just getting back into the groove with regular programming for the rest of the summer. But I do want to tell you, as many of you know, photography has been a passion of mine and interest of mine since I was a young child, and I tell people that it was second grade. I was in second grade and I actually won a camera, and that really got

me started in being interested in photography. And it helped an awful lot that my uncle, one of my uncles, Uncle Larry, was a professional photographer in New York City, and so I was always around photographic equipment, flash bulbs, all of the batteries and the chords and all of the gadgets, as we say. And when when I was a kid growing up, if we had a birthday party, it was fourth of July, it was a Memorial Day weekend, Uncle Larry would be over the house with one of

his cameras. Maybe it was a rolla flex, maybe it was a the Press, one of his press cameras, those big things that you'd see in the old movies, and he would be taking pictures. Right, everybody takes pictures at a barbecue, birthday party, whatever it may be. But the difference was the next day or two days later, we'd have twenty five eight by ten black and white glossies on our kitchen table of your birthday party, or of fourth of July, or of Labor Day, whatever it was.

And so at an early age, I was really fascinated more I would say enthralled by these beautiful black and white eight by ten glosses that were on our kitchen table and looking at the detail, the expressions, and so I just became really hooked on photography. But anyway, the opportunity to go on a safari, now, I would not say I have done a lot of photography work in the wildlife space. I've done a lot of landscape and travel photography in portrait work, but wildlife is a whole

different can of can of worms. And so in Tanzania, we were being guided by a professional, very well known wildlife photographer's name was Greg Dutoit, and it was a real honor to be with him, for him to really show how to move around these animals, to get the right light, right time of the day, the right setting on the camera was really marvelous. So in the weeks to come, I will be sharing with you some of

the wildlife photography. But really traveling to Tanzania, it was the first time I was really on the African continent. And first of all, it's beautiful. That part of the world is just amazing. The wildlife we spent probably more time in the Serengetti, which is just open grasslands and plains and just marvelous. And the amount of animals, millions of wilderbeast on the famous migration that takes place this

time of the year. To witness that is absolutely unbelievable, very humbling to look back and say, where do I fit in in the grand scheme of the world of humanity? Uh, and you realize that we are all quite small in that regard. But it was absolutely beautiful. The people in Tanzania were absolutely marvelous. They are kind, very much service oriented to want to in those that were serving food or helping us out. They wanted to go above and beyond. If you wanted more food, they would get it for you.

They wanted to please you, and so it made for an absolutely marvelous experience. The natural wonders absolutely mind blowing, the people terrific. The camaraderie working with everybody was just really fantastic. And so I wrote this in the newsletter that came out yesterday on Saturday, that getting away off the grid. And I'll tell you I was off the grid. I was five hours from nowhere, in the middle of

the Serengeti. But you have to get away. So for all of you tonight, you may be planning summer vacations, make sure in your time away, whether you're going down the road, you're staying at home in your backyard with your pool and your kids, you're going to grandma's house, or you're taking a trip somewhere interstate or out of the country, make sure you find a little bit of time carved out to relax and recharge the batteries. You

have to. We are bombarded by social media, phones, ringing, beeping, buzzing, which will eventually drive us crazy, and we just need to get in your own head and relax. The health

implication is something that you cannot dispute. There has been research over the past fifty years about the mind body connection and the negative impact of stress, and so do take that time, even if it's just one week or a few days off, depending on your schedule and lifestyle and your cans and cannots, make sure you try really to get away and relax. All right, We're going to take a quick break. Doctor Joeglotti dot com is our website.

I am doctor Joe Golotti. Every Sunday between seven and APM. This is your health first. Stay tuned. We're actually what I have on tap here. We're going to be talking about colon cancer, some new testing for colon cancer. It might be good, it might be bad. Stay tuned, but I'll be right back. Yes, indeed, we are family. You are my Sunday Night Radio family doctor Joe Galotti. We're here Sunday evening between seven and a PM bringing you what I'd like to think is the best health and

wellness information. It is properly filtered. There is no slick sales talk here. We're not giving away anything. We're not selling anything other than unadulterated good health and wellness information. That is what you get from your health first. We want you to put your health first so many times, and I say this, and I would believe if you walk away with anything anything from this program, whether you're

listening for two minutes or ten years. By the way, we've been on the air for twenty one years, it is that the majority we're talking better than eighty percent, eighty five percent of all the chronic disease. And so look around at yourself, look around at your friends, your family, your parents, coworkers, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, cirrhosis, kidney disease, depression, arthritis,

mental health. These are all chronic diseases that we have control over and can be prevented with a lifestyle midification. You're drinking too much alcohol, you're eating too much drive through, You're not getting enough sleep, you're not exercising, you're eating processed foods, you're eating too many carbs, you're not eating fruits and vegetables. Okay, so these are the things that you have to take personal inventory on, and really, at

the end of the day, it is personal responsibility. This is nobody is going to jump through the radio or the TV and tell you how to do it, or or make you prisoner. You have to do it yourself. And really the alternative is you have to look at this and say, misery is optional. Do I want to be on a fistful of medications? Do I want to spend the majority of my time on the phone with doctors, going to doctor's office visits, going for lab work, going

for scans. The answer is no, you don't want to do this, But unfortunately we fall victim to all this. All right, So in that regard, what I want to do in the last few minutes here before we take a break from the news, traffic, and weather, is colon cancer. Now, colon cancer is one of the leading cancers. It is the leading cause of cancer. A lot of people don't realize it. And so with that in fact, keep in mind that colon cancer is one of the true preventable cancers,

preventable cancers that we all face. The average risk person should start getting screened for colon cancer at age forty five years old. Even if you feel well, you have normal bowel movements, you don't have any pain, you don't see blood in your stool, you need to get screened at age forty five, typically with a colonoscopy. Now, there is a new blood test that has hit the news. It's made by Guardan Health and it is a blood test.

Now for them those of you that don't want to deal with a colonoscopy, taking the ballot prep and all that other stuff, this may be an option for you because a third of American adults are not getting screened in any which way. So we somehow have to address this. The Guardant blood test can screen for colon cancer. Now you may say, well, that's a good thing. Well, it is good, and some of the people that were on the FDA board said it's better than nothing, and I

would agree with it. But it is not going to identify polyps. Polyps are non cancerous, but they have the potential to turn to cancer. This blood test is geared to identify somebody that has early stage cancer. So you're getting screening is to prevent a disease. Here we're using the term screening to identify the early stages of cancer. Again, not doing anything. This is better than nothing, but keep in mind that this blood test is going to identify

those that have early stage cancer already. Well, that doesn't sound too too darn good, so it is something. I want you to be aware that this is not a replacement for colonoscopy. This is not a replacement for taking care of yourself, but it will pick up early stage colon cancer and people that already have it. So again, I'll post information on this on our Facebook page, but you have to go to doctor Joegalotti dot com to

get it. And so that's it. Forty five years old, you need to talk to your doctor about getting screened for colon cancer with a colonoscopy. All right, We're going to take a quick break, doctor Joe Galotti. Don't forget go to doctor Joegalotti dot com. Stay tuned. We'll be back in a minute. Welcome back, everybody. Final segment for this Memorial Day weekend edition of Your Health. First, I'm doctor Joe Galotti. Our website doctor Joegalotti dot com, Doctor

Joeglotti dot com. Sign up for our newsletter, send me a message, take a look at all of our social media information there, including YouTube, Instagram, follow us along and don't miss a beat. And of course, if you have any liver or digestive issues, our practice website Liver Specialist of Texas, you can connect with us there through the website,

there's a link for Texasliver dot com. So we've been talking about bagels, and actually during the break, I received a text message from somebody saying, do you think you're being a little rude talking about New Yorkers versus the rest of the world. Well, first of all, I am a native New Yorker. At number two, it is all done in tongue and cheek. Please please understand that that I'm not disrespectful to anybody, but just a bit of good old fashioned tongue in cheek conversation here regarding the

almighty bagel. All right, so what we started off with was the better bagel. It's a frozen bagel, I would say, a manufactured frozen bagel that you could get in the frozen section of your local grocery store. I happen to get mine at Whole Food. And what they're saying is that this is a better bagel, this is a better food to eat. Now, the small print is it still has forty grams of carbohydrate. But the way that they

make it look better is by adding fiber. And when you calculate the net carbohydrate, it is the total carbs minus fiber. And that's what they do here, So they add in a lot of fiber to the product. Now I have in front of me the nutritional assessment of the Manhattan Bagel Company in New York City. And just to compare a few things here, Number one, our better bagel, the frozen bagel is one hundred and sixty calories per bagel. The Manhattan bagel is three hundred calories. Now what I

would say, I researched this out. Most typical plane New York City bagels are anywhere between three hundred to three hundred and twenty calories, So right off the bat, you're getting less calories, all right, So maybe this is a better bagel if you're just looking at calories. Now, as far as sodium goes, I'm going to jump around sodium. This better bagel. The frozen bagel is six hundred and fifty milligrams of sodium. The classic New York Manhattan bagel has six hundred and ten, so it is in the

same ballpark. And I would say most bagels are going to be on the higher side. A lot of bread products to get you any sort of taste, because you figure plain white flowers pretty tasteless. The only way it's going to taste good is by adding salt. Okay, So keep in mind that you're the bagel in general is going to be on the higher side of sodium. So six point fifty in the frozen bagel versus about six ten on the plain real New York bagel is pretty close.

Now on the carbohydrates, okay, because that's that's one of the selling points here. The frozen bagel has forty grams

of total carbohydrate. The New York bagel has sixty, So it's it's starting off with more carbohydrates, and the different varieties of New York Manhattan bagels range in carbohydrates from a low of forty and in this particular diagram, it is the thin bagel, so it's probably just a smaller bagel has about forty grams of carbs, but your typical New York bagel has anywhere from sixty five to sixty grams of carbs, so it is the New York bagel

is a little bit higher in carbohydrates. The fiber there is essentially no fiber in a bagel, two grams of fiber, where the better bagel is giving you thirty five grams of fiber, but it is being added in by adding a gave fiber, which is probably giving you a little bit of taste as well. So all in all, just on the surface, this is a better bagel. Does it taste better than a New York bagel? Probably not. I could tell you it doesn't. I mean, I've eaten. My

wife thought it was pretty bland and tasteless. But you know, you have an oral craving to eat something and toast it now, and you know it's funny. I remember, as a young resident in New York City that I met a dietitian really really early on in my career, and she was talking to the residents about foods for our patients and whatnot, and she had said the one food, and again this is coming from New York City, one food never to eat or the worst food to eat

is a bagel. You could certainly make an argument about that that there are things worse than a bagel to have in the morning, but keep in mind that you're going to be getting a lot of carbs, a lot of sodium. Calorie wise, about three hundred not the worst thing. Now, if you decide that you want to add some sour cream cheese to this, so Philadelphia cream cheese, which is really pretty much the standard cream cheese you're going to

get in New York one serving. According to Philadelphia cream Cheese, one serving is one ounce. I would say that if you go anywhere in New York and you get one ounce of cream cheese, you're going to send it back and say you're skimping on me. So let's just say two ounces of cream cheese. Okay, this is full fat, full fair cream cheese. With two ounces, you're going to get an additional two hundred calories. You're only going to

get another four grams of protein. You're going to get twenty grams of fat and just a miniscule amount of sugar. So by adding the cream cheese, you're going to get a lot of fat, two hundred more calories. So maybe you're already up to If the bagel is three, you're looking at at least five to six hundred calories for your breakfast. Okay, now let's put this all in perspective. I don't think that we should banish the bagel to food purgatory food. Hell. I would think, like anything in life,

it is moderation. If you are having a cream cheese bagel every single day, slathered up with cream cheese, butter cheese, put two or three eggs on top of it, you're looking for trouble unless you're a marathon runner or you swim a mile a day. So I think if on Sunday morning you want a bagel and indulge in a little sour cream cheese, I think it's okay to do as long as you are getting enough dietary fiber in

your diet. You're not eating hamburgers all day long. You are not eating two slices of apple pie for dessert every evening. You're not eating pop tarts for breakfast. I think you're okay. So yes, Indeed, the better bagel, the frozen bagel that is claiming a lot of health benefits here, I think they're legit. You are getting added protein, but

getting it through way protein addit is agave fiber. It may not be as good as eating an apple, fruit, nuts, beans, etc. But if you're trying to be a good player in the nutritional game here, it's probably not bad. Again, a steady diet of the better bagel, you know, if you have one on a Saturday or a Sunday morning and you indulge, you're reading the newspaper, you're watching the news

shows on Sunday, go ahead and do it. But I think you have to put this all in perspective that you're not going to get healthier, You're not going to not have a heart attack, you are not going to not develop diabetes because this is the only thing you're doing. It has to be part of a more comprehensive health and well in the nutrition exercise plan. All right, So that is it for this installment of your health First I'm doctor Joe Galotti. Always always a pleasure being here

sharing part of the weekend with you. And don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot com is our website, soner for the newsletter and all that we have to offer. Be well, God bless America and will see you next Sunday evening