DrCareyStrom

Real. Absolutely real. There are conditions - there's a condition called Celiac which is true gluten insensitivity. There are other conditions where people may be sensitive but not have full-blown Celiac. But yes, gluten sensitivity is real.

My favorite snacks are grapes and almonds. Very healthy, good source of energy, and doesn't give you a lot of carbohydrates, easy to metabolize, easy to burn off the simple sugars - that's what I like. I don't like ice creams or cakes - those carbs are going to be too hard to burn off. And your weight is all about what you eat. You can exercise all day long, but if you're eating wrong, you're never going to take it off. When it comes to the holidays - Thanksgiving, most people eat around 2500 calories on the day.

A couple of tips:

• Don't come hungry to thanksgiving - eat a breakfast, fruit, yogurt, even a snack before you show up, so you feel a little bit full.
• Exercise during the day so you can decrease your appetite
• Eat slowly, and think about it - your stomach will tell you when you're full. A lot of people don't pay attention to their satiety and keep going.
• Sometimes thirst is associated with hunger. If you drink a big glass of water, that can help.

Stop if you feel stuffed. People want to eat casseroles, specials for Thanksgiving - practice mindful eating. Our problem of obesity is caused by lack of mindful eating. If you are mindful of what you eat, you won't eat as much.

And always - one other thing to mention - eat your vegetables and salads first. Use a smaller plate. And those vegetables and salad will fill you up with fiber. Turkey is good - white meat is better than dark meat - white meat has less calories. For instance, if some people like to associate size of food to how many calories - a serving of turkey should be the size of a box of playing cards - light meat is much better.

People like mashed potatoes, but they shovel them on the plate. A serving of mashed potatoes is half of the size of a baseball....

Gravy is terrible - fat free turkey broth might be better. Nobody would ever know the difference.

Casseroles are terrible - they have tons of sodium which causes water retention and bloating, not healthy at all. If you need something with sugar in it, use a substitute. Decrease oil and butter. Use fat free yogurt for dishes that traditionally use creams. Alcohol has an enormous amount of calories!

Pumpkin pie is healthier than Apple Pie. And traditionally using whipped cream is way healthier than ice cream! So these are just a few tips for Thanksgiving. Mindful eating and portion control are key.

Did you know 2500 calories are eaten on an average thanksgiving meal? That's more than most people have in a day! Don't overeat. You gotta eat breakfast or a snack before you go!

Well, it's hard to diagnose gluten sensitivity without a firm test. There could be a lot of speculation you can't prove or disprove. Symptoms can be subjective, depending on who is reporting them. I do believe in gluten sensitivity, without the diagnoses of Celiac, and I would suspect that if people feel better off-gluten - that's terrific.

Probiotics are great, and they are probably hyped up a bit too much, but I prescribe a lot to patients in my practice. The one I like is called Culturelle, it has more of the live bacterium, there's another one called VSL Number 3, and the other one is called Align, I like that one too.

Yes, I have my colonoscopies without sedation, and I offer them without sedation. I did one on another doctor today without sedation.