My Doctor's Opinion on National Hot Dog Month 2012

I am having hernia surgery tomorrow. Tuesday, I visited my Doctor for a check up and asked him to weigh in on eating a hot dog a day to celebrate National Hot Dog Month 2012.

Last year, some folks had a lot to say about this being an unhealthy practice.

See what the Doctor has to say....

I am In Snappy Good Health

A lot of folks commented about my health while on my month long quest to eat a hot dog a day in honor of National Hot Dog Month. Hot dogs, while very tasty, don't have the reputation of being "healthy food." Tuesday, August 2nd, I had some blood tests done; I had my check-up today to go over the results. My last check up was in January of 2011.

After my Doctor finished asking me questions about different hot dog joints, he shared the lab results with me.

My HDL cholesterol levels (that's the "good cholesterol") went up from 41 mg/dl to 48 mg/dl; anything over 40 mg/dl is considered a good measurement. My LDL cholesterol went from 128 mg/dl to 114 mg/dl; anything less than 130 mg/dl is considered a good measurement. My total cholesterol went from a 224 mg/dl to 194 mg/dl; this number needs to be under 200 mg/dl to be considered healthy or not at risk.

My Doctor and I were both amazed. He stopped short of endorsing my hot dog eating ways, rather he credited exercise and eating sensibly overall over the course of the past six months as reasons for my weight loss and improved cholesterol levels.

So how does one celebrate such a good, clean bill of health? By visiting Snappy Dogs in Hopkinton, Massachusetts of course!

Friday is my favorite day to go to Snappy Dogs, it's the day of their Special Dog of the week. Today's special was a "Jersey Shore" dog. That's a quarter pound Pearl Frank grilled up and nestled on top of a bed of Eggplant Parmesan, then topped with a Balsamic reduction, onion rings, and fresh basil. Lisa and Theresa always cook up something fun on Fridays and this was no exception. The contrasting flavors and textures, combined with the hot, grilled dog and my favorite side- onion rings- on a freshly baked roll made it a real treat.  They do things to a hot dog nobody else does at Snappy Dogs. Just look at that hot dog!

Snappy Dogs is a real treat too. Go there on a Friday and tell the gals "the Hotdogman sent me."

You can check out the video of my visit on Hot Dog Stories, the website that has the most information about hot dogs in Massachusetts, New England, the USA and the world.

After lunch, I drove to Newton to appear on Broadside's weekly news IQ quiz show on NECN. I faced off against NECN meteorologist Nelly Carreno in a news trivia challenge! I will have the video up when it airs so you can see how it turned out.

A Dog a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

******DISCLAIMER******
I'm not a doctor, but I've watched them on T.V.
******DISCLAIMER******

The Hot Dog is a much loved food item. When prepared properly, they are a uniquely delicious delicacy. To experience the truely authentic hot dog, you can't get them any old place. Don't ever buy a hot dog at a gas station-the kind you'll find there have most likely been sitting in the little "roll-o-matic" for weeks. Hot Dogs at Baseball Parks are also over-rated; I've been to Fenway (duh), Yankee Stadium, Jacob's Field, Riverfront (old Cincinnati Reds Park), and Camden Yards and I have yet to find a good hot dog at a ball game. Youth sport venues also have some pretty crappy hot dogs, but at least you know you're helping some youth sport league while you poison yourself with some lame skinless frank. To get a truly great hot dog, you need to seek out the local hot dog "joint." The Hot Dog Truck falls into this category, so when in the area.....

But I digress-

Yes, hot dogs are yummy. They also get a bad rap as (gasp) "junk food." Obviously, the folks who label hot dogs as "junk" haven't read THIS. While I do eat a dog or two on most work days, I rarely take my work home with me. Maybe I should....

So I say-eat up those hot dogs and live healthy! Two dogs a day keeps the doctor (and the hungries) away!

Medicscan - Your Medical Card Scanner

Everyone knows it can be a real pain in the ass to go see a doctor. The amount of hoops insurance companies make you jump through is ridiculous. First you need a referral from your primary care doctor. Then there's the paperwork. Every time you see a new doctor, you have to fill out reams of forms and you'd better have that medical card with you.

I don't blame the doctors, they're forced into the bureaucratic paper shuffling by the insurance companies. Anything they can do to reduce paperwork is a good thing for them and their patients. That's why every doctor's office needs a Medicscan medical card scanner.

The Medicscan + ScanShell 800N is a small desktop device that plugs into any PC. It scans both sides of a patient's medical card and store's it in the doctor's office computer. The scanned image can be emailed or exported to third party applications. It can even be used to scan a new card.

This may not seem revolutionary, but it WILL cut down on paperwork. A referring doctor can email your info to the next doctor and eliminate some of the paperwork. You'll still need to fill out forms, but it will cut down on the number of forms thus saving the patient and the office staff valuable time. It should also reduce the stacks of paper in the files.

My Site has a head cold!

Nurse Betty over at Flatline Web Design checked out the Hot Dog Truck for functionality of the design. Unfortunatly she was checking me out when I was revamping my page design :o( That's like being asked to cough right after a vasectomy!

Thanks Nurse Betty!