About Dr. Gourmet

My name is Timothy Harlan and I am both a physician and a chef. This blog is a general collection of information and random ideas on eating great food and eating healthy.

You can find out more at the Dr. Gourmet web site. Eat well, eat healthy, enjoy life!

Categories

Can Red Meat be Part of a Cholesterol-Lowering Diet?

Red meat consumption has been linked with poor cholesterol scores, breast, colon and rectal cancers, increased risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases. For a long time when I talked to my patients about eating healthier they would immediately tell me that they would stop [...]

Plaque, Tomatoes, Weight : Ask Dr. Gourmet Newsletter

Dear Dr. Gourmet,

Q: My niece is a strict vegetarian – no animal products. She just had a miscarriage. When they were drawing her blood, they saw large white chunks floating in the blood. Do you know what this could be? Her doctor thinks it’s plaque, [...]

Nuts Still the Best Snacks : Dr. Gourmet's Health and Nutrition Bites

When I’m giving a lecture about eating healthy, someone invariably asks about snacking. As you may already know, I’m not a big fan of snacking between meals when you’re trying to lose weight. All too often that snacking simply adds calories that you don’t need. [...]

Ask Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for September 13, 2011

Dear Dr. Gourmet,

Q: I presume from your comments on Pradaxa that all the dietary restrictions for those taking Coumadin would also apply to someone using Pradaxa. Is that correct?

A: No, it doesn’t appear that there are [...]

Ask Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for September 6, 2011

Dear Dr. Gourmet,

Q: I’m undergoing chemotherapy for B cell lymphoma. Are there any tasty recipes you can recommend that are high in calories to help stop the weight loss?

A: Two fantastic books deal with this [...]

Ask Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for August 30, 2011

Dear Dr. Gourmet,

Q: I just read CNN’s latest article highlighting Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr.’s plant-based diet to prevent heart attacks and reverse heart disease.

His diet recommendations counter many items in the Mediterranean Diet. See this excerpt from [...]

Ask Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for August 16, 2011

Dear Dr. Gourmet,

Q: I’ve been diagnosed with hemachromatosis. Can you recommend a diet that is low in iron and iron retaining content?

A: Hemochromatosis (for those readers who [...]

Ask Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for August 9, 2011

Dear Dr. Gourmet,

Q: Every time I go to your site to look for menus for lowering cholesterol, I end up back at the Mediterranean Diet for low sodium. I do not have a blood pressure problem or salt/sodium problem, just high cholesterol. When can I [...]

Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for July 11, 2011

Dr. Tim Says….

In lectures I will almost always have someone ask about cholesterol. This is the one area where people are very confused and here’s an example of a question we get from our readers:

“When [...]

Dr. Gourmet Newsletter for June 20, 2011

Dr. Tim Says….

Recently I saw an article about a chef who has created a low-fat Mediterranean diet. Until now, I really did think that I had heard it all, but this is just so utterly bizarre that I sat stunned, staring at my computer screen [...]