Unfiltered water contains dirt, rust, lead, chlorine, fluoride, dioxins, parasites and other contaminants than can be hazardous to your health.

Cows milk, some see it is a wonderful calcium containing super-food. Others say it is a fattening, mucous stimulating, allergy causing disaster. Let's break this issue down by looking at the pros, misconceptions and cons of milk.

Pro: Milk is easily available.

Pro: It contains protein.

Pro: It is a food based calcium source.

Pro: It contains some Vitamin A, B6, Biotin, and Potassium.

Pro: May benefit teeth.

Misconception: Milk’s protein is easily accessible, and healthy? Milk proteins such as a hydrolyzed whey, or whey isolate have to be separated out of the milk, and than sold separately. So the muscle building, immune supporting milk properties are not necessarily available in the glass of milk you drink, but rather in the protein powder sold at the health food store.

Listen to Harvey Diamond as he spills the secrets of healthy eating and teaches you how you can look and feel your best without starving yourself.

Have you ever tried eating raw, live food? Find out why it might just be better for absorption in your body.

Our two powerhouse nutritionists cover the latest health and wellness headlines in order to help YOU live better.

Does the way your trainer looks affect your impression of them? Or vice versa? Find out the best criteria for YOU.

It is pivotal to understand your options and the specifics you need to be aware of when choosing a private health insurance plan.

Are you confused by health care reform? Get a break down on the basic information to help you understand the new laws.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Here are the four relaxation techniques I spoke of on a recent show. Welcome Decker’s “stress countermeasures”.

Imagery (or visualization)

Imagery involves using your imagination to create a sensory experience of sights, sounds, feelings or taste that is relaxing. Imagery can help relieve stress, pain and depression; decrease side effects of chemotherapy like nausea; decrease blood pressure; improve sleep; boost immune function; shorten hospital stays; and speed healing. Guided imagery is when you use an outside person to help guide the images in your mind. It is sort of like telling you a story, but coaching you to “see” it in your mind.

Hypnotherapy (hypnosis therapy)

Hypnotherapy uses guided relaxation to arrive at a state of deep, attentive, focused concentration, sometimes called a trance, that can make it easier for you to relax and to control your body and mind. Hypnotherapy can enable you to block an awareness of sensations like pain, discomfort, nausea and fatigue; reduce fear and anxiety; create a sense of calm; speed recovery; and promote healing.

Things to Put on Your Do-Not-Buy Checklist...

Bring this list to the store with you, or pull it up on your smart phone. Lets de-mystify the big chemical names and labels to know what to stay away from to protect you and your family’s health.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

The top of my do not consume list! Fructose can affect your brain and body by making you feel less hungry, and encourage over-eating. It is in almost everything sweet like soda, cookies, ice cream and more for one simple reason, it’s cheap. But this low cost to the pocketbook, may be destructive to your health. There is a reason why Mexico and Europe use cane sugar instead of high fructose corn sugar (HFCS) because of safety concerns.

Opt-Out: For non-obese and non-diabetics consider raw sugar, sucanant, or honey. For weight loss and diabetes consider using stevia. Avoid artificial sweeteners. (Read on, they made the list also)

Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite

This food preservative helps retain red coloring in processed meat products. Research demonstrates it contains carcinogens, which can accumulate in the body. Conditions and diseases they have been linked to include stomach, prostate, and breast cancers. Possible issues may include fetal deaths, miscarriages, and birth defects.

Opt-Out: Seek for nitrate or nitrite-free meat products.

But even Ohio, like you, gets a do-over.

Let’s see if Governor Kasich really cares about jobs for Ohio, and tax reduction for its citizens and businesses.

The largest cost increase that is causing the largest need for increased taxes in Ohio, is the removal by prior Governor Strickland of the 40 million for tobacco prevention in Ohio. I live in Ohio and work at the Cleveland Clinic, so I really care about Ohio. 

Since this move, Ohio spends less for tobacco prevention than any other state.

The Result? We have gone from 20.2 % smoking rate for adults in our state in 2009 (similar to the national average) to 25.4% now, while the rest of the USA has fallen to 19.2%  (CDC data from every two year surveys). 

Each smoker costs about $2000 more per year in direct medical costs.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Discover the hidden scientific factors responsible for triumphs and failures.

Use science to discover the hidden factors responsible for triumphs and failures.

The best way to ensure you're in control of your food is to cook it at home, but depriving yourself of dining out is sure to lead to splurging later.

It's Friday night and you have dinner plans to dine out with friends and family - what do you eat?

Our two powerhouse nutritionists cover the latest health and wellness headlines, to help you live better.

We’ve talked frequently on YOU The Owner's Manual Radio Show about the feminization of male tadpoles when exposed to ponds with plastic bottles made with BPA.  

BPA is a plasticizer common in baby bottles in the plastic baby bottle era of 1970 to 2008, and is common in thermal receipts.  

It acts to disrupt testosterone function and maybe to mimic estrogen. Those changes are thought to be very powerful: it appears male infants function with certain brain structures more like females - more of the FOX2 protein, which leads to more chatter (I kid you not) when the mom has a high blood level of BPA during pregnancy.  And more asthma in such children too.

Now something even more serious.

Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and it’s cousin BPS in the womb or as an infant increases the risk of childhood learning disorders, by changing the function of a gene important to learning in kids (and even us adults.)

These genes produce a protein that gets chloride out of cells. Not enough chloride out, poor development of connections, which means poor learning.

Small amounts of BPA and BPS seem to interfere with brain development by blocking these genes.

Even worse, maybe this endocrine disruptor is responsible for some of the substantial increase in autism in the last two decades.

Communication is key in any relationship, but are you too tired and wired to talk to your partner?

Tips to speed up and keep your metabolism humming!

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Your judgments and perceptions reflect what's happening on two levels of your mind: conscious and unconscious.

Understand the hidden workings of your mind: the conscious and unconscious.

Medical apps are popping up everywhere, but can they save a life?

Do you separate parts of yourself for the benefit of others? Do you hide bits of yourself from the world?

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

The latest research on food's mind-saving powers.

It’s a scene I know all to well. A patient or hospital calls me up, and I spend the next several minutes to hours on the phone, working to resolve the issue.

My whole life in the cell phone era I have been “available” by phone. Each ring I put that phone up to my head, and a little part of me wonders, like a smoker with a cigarette...."is this the one that kills me?"

As a physician I am the first one to admit that I am not a scientist or a researcher. I have no more insight into this issue than the average person, but I honestly can say that cell phones spook me.

So, lets look at what we do know.

Throughout my career, I have heard the snickers of my medical doctor colleagues as they lay claim to practicing the only legitimate type of medicine.

I would ask a medical doctor why they would not recommend CoQ 10 or magnesium oratate for cardiovascular issues, and they would answer, "where is the research?" So, I would show them the research, and their answer would usually be that the research was not good enough to meet their standard.

Mark Twain said that there are three types of lies: a lie, a damn lie, and a statistic. The truth is that research is in the eye of the beholder.

Last year I received a letter from the head of McGuff, a medical supply company, saying that they where stopping the production of Vitamin C in an injectable form, due to the FDA’s claim that there was a lack of research for any medical application.

The background on vitamin C is that sailors who lacked it developed a disease called scurvy, which upon taking in vitamin C would be reversed. The FDA says that the use of vitamin C for scurvy was not proven, even though it had been used successfully in various forms for scurvy for over 100 years.

It's their right, but I disagree with it.

Staying active may curb your pain and speed up recovery time.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Do you have trouble making fresh, healthy meals for your family. No time? We have some great ideas on quick and easy meals from Kirstie Alley's Organic Liaison.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Our two powerhouse nutritionists cover the latest health and wellness headlines, to help you live better.

It's impossible to avoid the thousands of man-made chemicals we are exposed to.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Odorless and deadly, learn which clues you can look for to detect it, and how its presence puts your family at risk.

Get back to the basics of your food. This Valentine's Day, fall in love with micronutrients and their wonderful health benefits.

The rows of shelves can be overwhelming, especially when it reads: low-fat, low-calorie, and sugar-free. We're here to help you navigate the grocery aisles.

Our two powerhouse nutritionists cover the latest health and wellness headlines, to help you live better.

Life. Seriously, what would we do without it?

From the moment it begins to the moment it stops, life itself is supported by one of the most fascinating structures in the human body, the heart.

Based on an average lifespan of 75 years and an average heartbeat of 72 beats per minute, the average heart, that big muscle in the middle of the chest, beats around 2,838,240,000 without ever taking a rest. Tirelessly pumping the energy we need to sustain life.

What an amazing organ!

That is why the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States shakes me to the core as a practitioner. Why is this the case?

After all, we are one of the most scientifically advanced, educated and economically savvy countries in the world. We have Rhodes scholars and Noble Prize winning scientists and researchers conducting studies and drafting pieces of literature about health, disease, medicine, you name it.

But we continue to have a staggering number of individuals affected by a diseased heart. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) in 2008, 631,636 people died of heart disease - that is 26% of all deaths; more than one in every four. Every year about 785,000 Americans have a first heart attack. Another 470,000 who have already had one or more heart attacks, have another.

This isn't just a tragedy of life and loss, this burden we bear as a nation also carries an extremely steep financial price. It is predicted that for 2010, heart disease will have cost the United States $316.4 billion. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications and lost productivity.

Being a Naturopathic Doctor, I am fueled to think about troubling situations like this in a very comprehensive manner.

Meditation can be a stress-management and personal empowerement tool.

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.

Is this a shameless gun analogy, or am I trying to make a point?

Actually, it is a little of both.

Mort, Matt, and Seth.

Mort is a 78-year-old male who was brought in by his son Matt who was 58, and Matt's son Seth who was 35 years old.

Two years ago Mort had his fifth stent implanted into his coronary arteries to help repair the two bypass surgeries, which had failed over time to keep blood pumping into the heart muscle. Mort was told by his previous cardiologist that he was lucky to have a technology, which could "buy him a few more years", because he just had bad genetics.

Matt, Mort's son, had already had a heart attack at 45 with a nice little Mort starter kit of three stents. He felt that bypass was inevitable in the next few years. Seth joked with me that he was looking at his future, but uneasily.

Combined, Mort and Matt where on 14 medications. The cardiologist wanted to start Seth on cholesterol lowering medications even though he was without symptoms and still a young man.

Many people are unaware that drinking alcohol before bedtime can exacerbate sleep problems.

Can you outsmart Mother Nature and prevent aging and disease with supplements?

Get the latest health headlines from Dr. Roizen and cohosts, Dr. Arthur Perry and Dr. Deb Lonzer.