Author: Dr. Kirk Munsayac

A patient once asked me, “Dr. Kirk, why am I so hairy?”  To which I naturally screamed, “Zookeeper!  The escaped gorilla is in here!” and ran out of the exam room.  We laughed heartily as I threw a banana at him on the way out.  But aside from the savage roasting, Dr. Kirk also provided loving education.  The simple response is, “How hairy are the monkeys hanging in your family tree?” Yes, the number one answer is and always will be “genetics.” Understand, we are all mammals. We all have body hair.  Some just have finer, thicker, darker, lighter, curlier,…

Back in the early 2000s, a survey was taken from Georgia’s centenarians (no, not half-man/half-horse creatures.  Centenarians are folks who live to be 100).  An informal/non-scientific survey, but it was used to gather information and perhaps find a common lifestyle attribute to explain their long lives.  From this diverse group of Georgia folks, they could only find ONE thing in common.  All claimed to eat a significant amount of sweet potatoes! Here’s where we should discuss “correlational data.”  A correlation is when things occur at the same time, but HAVE NO BEARING ON THE OTHER.  It’s coincidence.  One doesn’t have…

This is a germ’s world, y’all.  (I sang that in my best James Brown voice to the tune of “It’s a Man’s World,” mind you.) I had a college microbiology lab that once sent us out as researchers on campus, armed with “germ swabs” (Q-tips and test tubes to swipe over surfaces) to swab whatever we wanted and take it back to the lab to see what grew.  The goal was to find “the germiest thing in public.”  As you can imagine, we all had a field day, swabbing toilet seats, door handles, stair rails, etc.  Anything we imagined was…

I once asked a 4-year-old, “What vegetables do you eat?”  And predictably, they started with “Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese…” to which I turned as I rolled my eyes.  Out of curiosity, I also asked the PARENT (early 30s) the same question.  And, like a parrot, they started “Well…mashed potatoes, corn…” Y’all.  Where did our education go wrong?  Well, a couple of ways.  First, the good old southern diner with the “meat and 3” deal led us to believe that the options for the 3 sides must all be vegetables.  So, fries, dumplings and corn are vegetables, right?  Wrong.  So,…

I don’t use straws.  No, I’m not being “green” or following California law here on the other side of the map; I was actually scared into not using them when I was young.  Teenage Dr. Kirk was largely a social creature, if you can imagine.  (Note: back then “DOCTOR Kirk” was only what I called myself on the basketball court, mind you.)  And like most teenagers, I did my best to avoid embarrassing myself in the judgmental teenage world.  On some FM radio show that would give you some interesting factoids in between Boyz II Men songs, I heard that…

We’ve all seen the commercials.  “Wanna lose that gut?”  Or “Ready to shape up those buns?”  And this is usually followed by some new video, or diet pill, or perhaps some gadget with a zany name like “The Ab Blaster 4000!” or “The Muffin Top Mangler.”  (Which would be a great pro wrestling name.) And these products may actually work.  But they all are still sorta lying to you.  Let me explain:  The thing we are all yearning for is the same.  We want our trouble spots to go away.  Maybe it’s your belly.  Maybe it’s your thighs.  Maybe it’s…

Does this scene sound familiar to you?  My sons are greedily eating Oreos and milk (something I now regret teaching them, as there are NEVER any Oreos left now) and one of them drops one onto the floor.  “Quick, 5-SECOND RULE!” and scoops it up and shovels it into his mouth. If you’re like me, I don’t recall ever teaching my kids that, nor do I recall ever being taught that, but isn’t it strange we ALL know the 5-Second Rule?  The thought is that if you pick it up quickly, the germs didn’t have time to get on the…

 I usually stay out of these matters, but as we draw closer to November, I feel the need to take a stand.  I cannot sit idly by whilst our society shows utter disdain and disrespect for something that was held in such high esteem when I was growing up.  How or why something so revered became villainized to the point that folks openly express their disgust is appalling and I won’t stand for it.  As you’ve probably guessed, I am of course talking about carbohydrates.  With Thanksgiving just a few months off, join my peaceful Pro-cobbler protest against “carb shaming.”…

Filling out forms at a doctor’s office is about as fun as sand in your swimsuit.  I get it.  Sadly, amongst that pile of boring questions, many very very important pieces of information get the volume turned down on them.  Like, life-or-death things.  “Are you up to date on tetanus?” is a prime example.  As you read that, you probably thought “Meh, who cares?  I ain’t stepped on any rusty nails.” Because that’s what we taught you.  But tetanus is much more than that.  It lives literally everywhere and it’s deadly. A couple of things you should know about Clostridium…