OK, take the advice I am about to give you and I guarantee the odds are that you will live longer, look better, and be healthier. As a matter of fact, if all Americans dropped this from their diets, I bet the life expectancy in this country would increase dramatically. What am I talking about? Soda. Not just one type. All of it. Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Seven-Up, Mountain Dew, regular, diet, you name it. It's making American's fatter than we have ever been in history.

Mostly everyone drinks soda in one form or another. Everytime you drink a can of soda you are pumping 9.5 teaspoons of sugar into your body. Think of how much work your pancreas must do to try to take care of that sugar. Most of it ends up getting converted to fat and that's why we see all of these obese people walking around in malls today. During the past decade, the number of kids who are overweight has more than doubled in this country.

A few weeks ago I was in beautiful Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I saw one of the scariest sights ever. There was a little boy, probably no more than eleven years old. This poor kid was so fat it was unbelievable. He had on only bathing suit shorts and no shirt. His gut was so big it literally folded over and went down the entire front of his bathing suit. His brilliant mother was constantly telling him to raise his shorts to his waist so they would help mask the unsightly gut. Now here's the worst part. At one point, I looked up only to notice in one of his hands was a can of Coke and in the other was some sort of lemonade or something like that. You don't know how badly I wanted to say something to this poor kid's mother. But I didn't. Maybe I could have prevented an early death. Who knows?

Now admittedly, this was an extreme case, but look at the following statistic:

Today the average teenage boy drinks about 548 12-ounce cans annually, getting about 5,200 teaspoons of sugar. The average teenage girl drinks about 365 cans, getting 3,500 teaspoons of sugar during the year.

Think artificially sweetened soda is OK? Think again! The sweet taste tricks the pancreas into secreting as much or more insulin than if you had had a regular soda. And in fact, it'll cause worse sugar cravings because your blood sugar will be low as a result of the insulin boost (without the rise in glucose you get from "real" soda).

There is not a single benefit you will ever get from drinking soda. Not one.

I believe obesity is the most serious health problem facing this country today. If you are overweight, you are much more likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, back pain... you name it, the list goes on and on.

If there is one and only one thing you do to improve your health I would suggest that you never have another soda. Your body will thank you a million times.

I think I have pretty good genes in my family. My maternal grandfather, Dr. Paul Schenker, just turned 101 a couple of months ago and my grandmother Marion (his loving wife of 70 years) just celebrated her 93rd birthday. They live in a nice apartment (no assisted living for them), and go about their daily activities like they were at least twenty years younger than they are. Of course they don't drive anymore, so they must rely on others for transportation. But that really doesn't slow them down. They have a pretty full calendar. Between my grandfather's poker games, his lunches and errands with his daughters, I need to reserve time well in advance if we are to get together!

So a few years back we were having lunch and I said "Pop-Pop (that's what I've called him since I could talk), I'd like to ask you a question." He said "Sure, ask me anything."

"It's obvious that you have lived a very long healthy life and if you could tell me the one thing you attribute it to, I'd love to hear it. In other words, what is your number secret to living so long?"

Without hardly thinking, here is what he told me. "I never eat dessert."

Now I had to take a step back for a second. Here is a man who has really not spent a lot of his life at the health food store or the gym. He has had his fair share of red meat, butter, whiskey, and all of the other things that the experts swear "shorten your life." I've never seen him doing yoga or drinking bottled water. Never heard him talk about dieting.

So he has lived to be 101 and the only advice I can get out of him is not to eat dessert?

Well, I wasn't going to let this one go. After all, I'd love to be as healthy as he is when I reach 101. So I decided to do a little home "study" on my own. What has my grandfather done during his life to allow him to reach such an age in good health? Here's what I've noticed he has:

1. An incredible amount of love for his wife and family.
2. Inner peace.
3. A great sense of humor.
4. Very little sugar in his diet.
5. Very very very good genes.

Although the most important factor may be #5, I honestly think staying away from dessert/sugar has played a big role in his long life. Most Americans consume way too much sugar and it is no doubt a killer. Incidentally, my grandfather still has most of his natural teeth and a fairly solid periodontium given his age.

Anyway, much of my adult life has been spent studying what I can do to stay young and live a long, happy, productive life. At this point, I think I have a lot of it figured out. There are things I have been doing for the past twenty-five years that absolutely work and I think you would be interested in hearing about. I will be revealing them to you very soon right here in Dave's Weekly Feed! Stick around and I guarantee you'll enjoy the ride.

But listen, it's getting a little late now and I've gotta go, so please be sure to check back next week.

Incidentally, Rich and I are trying to get our grandfather, Dr. Schenker, to come to the TBSE Ten Year Anniversary Extravaganza this year. He is a retired surgeon (not a dentist!), and we know he would love it. I don't think he's up for the trip to Vegas, but we're still working on it!

I know I was finished my writing for this week, but I thought of something someone once told me and damn if it isn't true. It is... "Follow your heart. Because if you don't follow your heart, no matter how much success you achieve, your soul will always be aching." Please always remember this. Also, please feel free to comment below or email me privately. Talk to you soon!

Welcome to the first official edition of Dave’s Weekly Feed. Every week (more or less) I’ll be bringing you all types of information ranging from stuff for your practice and life to vignettes and stories that I think would be of interest to you.

Please keep in mind, the things I’ll be teaching you are just between me and you. I have no editors breathing down my neck telling me my column is overdue or that my grammar sucks. My words will come directly to you from the left side of my brain. Or maybe sometimes the right. But either way, I know you’ll probably be interested in what I have to say.

So with all of that being said, I’ve got to tell you what’s on my mind this morning. As I started writing, some thoughts came to mind. Actually pretty important thoughts as far as I’m concerned. It’s about happiness. Let me explain.

As I go through my daily activities, I see too many people that are just downright unhappy. How do I know? It’s written all over their faces. Some are in bad relationships. Some hate their jobs. Others hate the way they look.

It’s real sad. You know, you only live once and it sure goes by fast. If you’re unhappy about something, don’t ignore it. Take care of it. Figure out how to make it better.

I would estimate that more than 85% of Americans do not love what they do for a living. Most people spend close to half of their waking hours at their job (including the commute). That is pretty depressing.

Let me tell you a story that may hit home. A friend of mine is a very successful doc. He makes a nice living, has a nice house, wonderful family and all of the right toys. A few years ago he confided in me that he doesn’t enjoy what he’s doing but he has no idea what else he could possibly do. He lives for his weekends and vacations. When Sunday evening comes around, he starts feeling the blues, knowing he’s got to start another week at the office. Same thing happens with his vacations.

Now I don’t know about you, but it’s very sad that people have to live this way. It’s kind of a choice they make. How about you? Are you happy practicing dentistry? Do you look forward to going to work every day or do you get out of bed and drag yourself into the office. I certainly hope it’s the first. But you know the answer in your heart. Even if you won’t admit it to me here, you know the answer.

If you are happy, congratulations! If you are not, please make it your business to do something about it so you don’t lay on your deathbed one day and realize you lived a lie. I am not saying get out of dentistry if you are not happy. There are many reasons why one may not be happy in a profession or a job, but the good news is if you figure out why you’re not happy, there may be a solution.

Here’s a simple example. Let’s just say you hate the daily grind of “drilling, filling and billing.” It’s boring. Well, maybe the idea of limiting your treatment to smile makeovers would be more satisfying. So you do whatever it takes to become an “expert” in cosmetic dentistry. Maybe it would take a few years. But you set a goal and you don’t stop until you achieve it. You then become passionate and you develop a reputation as the best smile makeover artist in your town. This is a simple example, but don’t you think this would be a heck of a lot better than doing patchwork dentistry and dreading every minute of it?

Sorry to get so philosophical in this first edition of Dave’s Weekly Feed, but I have spoken to too many people that hate what they do and have no idea where to turn. It just makes me sad.

I will close by recommending two books that definitely helped me make some life decisions. The first one is “Awaken The Giant Within” by Anthony Robbins. Yeah, maybe he is a bit of a hype artist, but I really think this is a great book. The second book is “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, M.D. If you are questioning anything in your life, I think you should check these books out.

Anyway, I’ve gotta go for now, but please check back soon. There will be more. I promise!

posted by Dave  # 10:54 AM