How do you decide what’s for dinner?

Ideally, folks would shop for fresh meats, chicken, fish and veggies and prepare healthy meals without anything that comes in a box, can or freezer bag.

And ideally, we’d eat at home most nights, or at least restaurants that prepare good, healthy meals from fresh ingredients.

But the truth is, most of us don’t.

Not only do we resort to those easy-to-make processed meals, but we tend to eat at whatever happens to be nearby. And whether you live in a city, a small town or the suburbs, chances are those nearby “restaurants” are fast-food joints, and the most handy stores for your shopping are convenience stores.

New research out of Canada shows that when people live close to those, they tend to use them a little too much. These researchers looked at the ratio of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores in an area to supermarkets and specialty food stores, and then looked at the obesity rates in those areas.

They found that when people have more fast food and convenience stores than places that sell fresh food within a half mile of their homes, they were more likely to be heavier.

The results of their study were published in June in the journal BMC Public Health.

The reality is that no one is going to move simply to get away from these unhealthy options. And for many folks, where can you go? These places are practically everywhere.

Instead, you need to be more aware of your surroundings and how you make your food choices. The biggest problem is not how close you live to fast food and convenience stores, but how that proximity turns them into choices you make without thinking.

Start to put more thought into what you eat and why, and you can avoid this trap. I’d suggest creating a “blind spot” for yourself where fast food is concerned. No matter how close they are, no matter how convenient they may be, simply don’t acknowledge them.

You’ll also do better if you plan your meals ahead – because, let’s face it, fast food isn’t really delicious. It’s convenient. No one will stop at the drive-thru after work when they know there’s a fresh, juicy steak and delicious organic veggies waiting at home.

The alternative is a convenient path to obesity, heart disease and overall ill health.

I always raise an eyebrow when I see stories in the mainstream media about metabolic syndrome.

Part of me hopes that one of these days the mainstream will start to acknowledge the real cause of this condition – and its cure.

But it hasn’t happened yet. Instead, we get the same tired advice about watching your blood pressure, blood-sugar levels and cholesterol, and sticking to a low-fat, low-calorie diet.

No wonder so many people never get cured, and end up fighting metabolic syndrome their entire lives. We’re all being given bad advice!

There’s a reason for that, of course. There are a lot of people who want you to treat the individual symptoms of metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, elevated insulin need and cholesterol levels and weight gain) as separate conditions.

Big Pharma likes it that way, because they sell drugs for each of those conditions. For them, the only thing better than someone taking one of these meds is someone taking all of them at the same time.

Winning the fight against metabolic syndrome is not about how many meds you take or how well you diet. What your own doctor won’t tell you – what he probably doesn’t even know – is that metabolic syndrome is most often caused by a single set of rogue glands in your body.

When your adrenal glands malfunction, your body thinks it’s under attack, leading to a deadly chain reaction that leaves you overweight and fighting conditions like high blood pressure. And the supposedly healthy low-fat diet your doctor will tell you about won’t help you one bit. In fact, it’ll just make it worse.

I began writing about my plan to restore your adrenal glands in Health Revelations in June, and have even more information for you in the July issue. If you subscribe now,  you’ll get access to both in our online archives.

Metabolic syndrome doesn’t have to be a lifelong sentence of failed diets and pricey drugs. You just need to get your adrenal glands working with your body again, instead of against it.

Once that happens, it’s almost as if a switch has been turned off. You’ll lose weight, see your blood pressure returns to normal levels and feel better than you have in years.

And you can do it all without a single drug.

Here’s another one you can file under “drugs you don’t need.”

Researchers have been looking at a possible new use for a powerful and often dangerous med, one I’ve warned you about in the past.

This drug, known generically as metoclopramide, it is typically used to treat nausea and vomiting. Since those happen to be the main symptoms of morning sickness, some folks think it might be a good idea to give it to pregnant women.

Now, it’s perfectly reasonable that pregnant women would want some relief from the pain and discomfort of morning sickness. What’s not reasonable is the notion that this drug is a safe and effective way to do that.

Yet that’s exactly what some would have you believe.

In fact, these drugs are already used for morning sickness in Europe. Researchers behind an Israeli study published in June in the New England Journal of Medicine say they believe that babies born to mothers who take this med are generally as healthy as those born to mothers who don’t.

Personally, I still don’t believe there’s enough data to be certain, and this is not an area where there’s room for doubt. But there’s a lot more at stake than the baby’s health. I’m worried about the soon-to-be mom, too.

Not long ago, I told you about how the FDA slapped this very same med with a black-box warning label – the most serious kind of warning. They found that some folks who use this stuff can develop involuntary limb movements and facial tics, and that these symptoms don’t go away even after you stop taking the drug.

The researchers argue that these side effects only occur with long-term use, but they seem to have a different definition of long-term than the rest of us. That’s because these side effects can take place after as little as 12 weeks.

As many mothers will tell you, morning sickness usually sticks around for roughly 12 weeks.

Isn’t that cutting it a little close? Is it really worth the risk?

There are ways to help deal with morning sickness that don’t involve drugs. For example, ginger root tea made from a fresh root often works well. In addition, many women have found relief by eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day instead of the usual three big meals. It also helps if you don’t spring out of bed each morning and rush through your day. Try getting a slower start, sitting up or relaxing in bed before getting out.

Be sure to stay hydrated, get some fresh air and avoid strong smells. Many women are especially sensitive to smells during pregnancy, and odors can trigger that nausea.

Unless you have no other choice, avoid drugs. Many of them are harmful to you as well as your baby.

Asthma meds are often times some of the least necessary drugs on the planet.

That may sound a little backwards, especially to our friends who can’t go anywhere without an inhaler, but it’s true. Not only can asthma be treated naturally, but the alternative – prescription meds – can do some pretty nasty things to you.

Recently, the FDA ordered new warnings on some common asthma drugs because these meds have been linked to a long list of neuropsychiatric problems, including agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities, hallucinations, depression, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, suicidal thinking and behavior, and tremors.

Earlier this year, the agency said there was no evidence of a link to suicidal thoughts among users of certain asthma drugs.

Looks like they were wrong.

The problem is that the FDA initially relied on data from the drug companies — studies that didn’t look at the possibility of these side effects.

Now, there is at least enough evidence to warrant a label change.

The thing to keep in mind here is how conservative the FDA is when it comes to drug warnings. The FDA almost always favors Big Pharma and usually resorts to warning labels only after enough foot-dragging to trace a path across the Great Plains.

So when the FDA ultimately does order one of these labels, you can bet the ranch that it’s something worth being concerned about.

If you’re on one of these meds, this is a great time to spend a few moments with your doc and go over your alternatives. Despite what Big Pharma wants you to believe, you have options.

Remember, asthma meds don’t actually heal you. They only help suppress the symptoms while putting you at risk for nasty side effects. While the drugs might give you some short-term relief, the underlying condition sits untreated, even getting worse, secondary to rebound when the meds wear off.

That means any relief you feel won’t last long. In the end, you’ll still experience your asthma symptoms, possibly even worsening symptoms – and a lighter wallet because of the money you’re spending on those drugs.

The real way to treat asthma is to identify what’s triggering your symptoms. In most cases, it’s an allergy to something in you are eating. But most people never learn what it is, because most allergy testing is limited and cursory.

You see Dr. Mainstreet is taught that the allergen is out in the environment, so you need to take your medications in order to be able to go outside. But after over twenty years of practice, it finally occurred to me that if you eat something that you are allergic to, it would be at least a trillion times the dose of any environmentally contacted allergen. Sure enough, this proved to be true. But proper testing is required. Unfortunately, Dr. Mainstreet does not understand how to test in this manner.

I won’t let my patients settle for that, and you shouldn’t settle, either. Thorough testing almost always reveals that the true cause of your asthma is a food allergen. And that lets you to set your own terms for fighting asthma.