Dear Julia

In London, I had a roommate whom I’d call an extreme budget eater. Dining in a restaurant was a rare event. He never drank coffee out of the house. He rarely ate meat. He’d make quarterly trips to bulk shops to stock up on frozen, canned, and other nonperishable goods like rice and lentils. But his food wasn’t at all bland. He constantly experimented with new recipes, based on cookbooks borrowed from the library. Chicken biryani, French onion soup, saag paneer, Vietnamese noodles — he turned our tiny blue kitchen into a culinary lab.

Looking back, I realize we can learn a lot from Stephen. It’s no secret that income and time can be barriers to buying and preparing healthy foods. But if you can find the time, far and away the most effective way to eat healthier on a budget is to simply cook at home.

Just about every influential public health figure urges people to get their flu shots each fall as a necessary precaution during influenza season.

So over dinner, I asked a couple of respected evidence-based medicine researchers what they thought of the vaccine. I was taken aback by their response. They basically laughed at the idea that the flu shot was particularly effective.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a weekly column where readers can submit everyday health questions on anything from the science of hangovers to the mysteries of back pain. Julia Belluz will sift through the research and consult with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Have a question? Use our submission form or ask @juliaoftoronto on Twitter.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a weekly column where readers can submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? How much harm does frequent flying do to your body? Julia Belluz will sift through the research and consult with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Have a question? Use our submission form or ask @juliaoftoronto on Twitter.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? Why do the parents of young kids get sick more often? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Dehydration is in the news this week, after Hillary Clinton lost her balance at a 9/11 event — a bout of wobbliness her campaign said was caused, in part, by dehydration. In a forensic analysis of the Democratic presidential candidate’s sick day, Politico reported that Clinton doesn’t actually like to drink water, “a source of tension with her staff.”

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? Do fasting diets really work? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

My dear friend Adriana loves her two little boys very, very much. She also fondly refers to them as “walking, talking bacteria spreaders.”

Welcome to Dear Julia, a weekly column where readers can submit everyday health questions on anything from the science of hangovers to the mysteries of back pain. Julia Belluz will sift through the research and consult with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Have a question? Use our submission form or ask @juliaoftoronto on Twitter.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Let me be clear: I’m not a fan of supplements. After writing about them for the past several years, I have come think they should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

No, probably not.

Many aspiring yogis have been worried about this question ever since the New York Times ran a feature in 2012 suggesting that yoga can ruin your back or (in rare situations) even kill you.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Will intermittent fasting help you lose weight? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Along with sugar, salt has become a major dietary villain of late. Health officials in at least one city (New York) are trying to put sodium warning labels on menus to inform citizens about high levels in food. (The measure was passed in December but has yet to be implemented.) Meanwhile, the US Department of Agriculture has told schools with national school lunch and school breakfast programs that they have to cut back on the salt in the meals they prepare for kids.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a weekly column where readers can submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? How much harm does frequent flying do to your body? Julia Belluz will sift through the research and consult with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Have a question? Use our submission form or ask @juliaoftoronto on Twitter.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Will intermittent fasting help you lose weight? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

There’s no doubt public bathrooms can be scary places, and there’s no shortage of studies that seem to stoke our worst toilet fears. There’s science that shows flushing a toilet can spray a mist of poo into the air, that public bathroom surfaces — door handles and soap dispensers — are covered in bacteria from our urine and feces, and that certain types of hand dryers are particularly effective at dispersing all these germs.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Will intermittent fasting help you lose weight? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

WebMD is the most popular source of health information in the US, and is likely to ​dominate your Google search results for almost any medical question you have. According to its editorial policy, WebMD promises to empower patients and health professionals with “objective, trustworthy, and accurate health information.”

Welcome to Dear Julia, a column where readers submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? Julia Belluz sifts through the research and consults with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

If your friends are anything like young people anywhere, there’s a good chance that after a night out they stop for a snack on the way home. In Toronto, street kebabs or hot dogs were popular. New Yorkers seem to prefer pizza slices, while I noticed that Romans often opt for freshly baked cornetti (the Italian answer to croissants) and people in Tokyo like fried cutlets with rice and curry sauce.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a weekly column where readers can submit everyday health questions. Which over-the-counter painkillers work best? Is it better to run or walk for exercise? Julia Belluz will sift through the research and consult with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

This question comes up surprisingly often. There seems to be a widespread belief out there that drinking soy milk or eating tofu will lead to gynecomastia, the medical term for “man boobs.”

This one is tricky. Anyone who has been on the receiving end of comments like, “Are you really going to have that piece of birthday cake?” knows there are really, really bad ways to raise concerns about a loved one’s weight gain.

There’s also evidence that these negative remarks can backfire. The literature is quite consistent on the link between stigmatizing comments about weight and poor mental and physical health outcomes. The last thing you want to do is make your family member feel worse, even if you did have the best intentions in broaching the subject.

The idea behind hypnotherapy is fairly simple: A trained hypnotist puts a patient in a trancelike state that makes her ultra-responsive to suggestion. Proponents of this mysterious treatment claim that it can work wonders, helping people permanently change their behavior to lose weight or quit smoking.

But you’re right to be skeptical. The actual evidence on hypnotherapy suggests it has a very modest impact, at best, in helping people shed pounds. One comprehensive review in the International Journal of Obesity examined the evidence on hypnotherapy programs designed to help people lose weight. That review found that the participants typically only lost a couple of pounds, which is a very small effect size considering the time and money invested.

Every day, I walk by a cold-pressed juice shop. It serves $12 bottles like the ones you describe out of backlit refrigerators that look like they belong in outer space. I’m always tempted to buy one, but have also wondered whether this “healthy convenience in a bottle” is really all that special.

First, let’s clear up why cold-pressing advocates say these juices are better. If you’ve ever made fresh juice at home, you’ve probably used a centrifugal blender of some kind, squeezing the produce through fast-spinning blades, shredding out the juice, removing pulp, and generating some heat in the process.

Welcome to Dear Julia, a weekly column where readers can submit everyday health questions on anything from the science of hangovers to the mysteries of back pain. Julia Belluz will sift through the research and consult with experts in the field to figure out how science can help us live happier and healthier lives.

Ever since I started reporting on health issues, I’ve gotten emails from friends and family asking things like: “Is gluten really bad for you?” “How much fat should I eat?” “Should I bother with juicing?” “Is it safe for my son to use e-cigarettes?” “Can dead people who donate organs feel anything?” (Yes, that last one was a real question.)