Every week, the GoldCare HealthDesk receives questions from readers looking for answers about their health. Our team selects two from the many submissions for Dr. Simone Gold to answer, offering clear medical insight, practical guidance, and the straight talk she’s known for.

Question:

My husband is retired USN and has Parkinsons. Had it for 8 years.  He is losing weight. He’s 165 lbs. and 6’2”.  Doctors don’t seem to be concerned.  What can I give him to put some weight on? Thanks, Patty Horne

Dr. Gold:

First, please thank your husband for his service to our country. We want to help him stay as strong and healthy as possible.

Weight loss is common in Parkinson’s disease, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it. At 6’2″ and 165 pounds, your husband is still within the healthy weight range, with a BMI of about 21.2. But what concerns me is whether he keeps losing weight. Over time, that can lead to muscle loss, weakness, and frailty.

So why does Parkinson’s make it difficult to maintain weight?

Tremors, muscle stiffness, and involuntary movements can make the body burn more calories, even at rest. At the same time, a reduced sense of smell or taste, depression, and nausea from medications can make eating less appealing.

Parkinson’s can also slow digestion, causing constipation, bloating, and feeling full after eating very little. Some patients develop swallowing difficulties. 

In other words, your husband may be burning more calories while eating less.

First, ask his doctors to investigate other possible causes of weight loss, including thyroid problems, digestive disorders, depression, and medication side effects. Parkinson’s may not be the only factor. 

A thorough medication review is essential as many drugs can adversely affect the appetite.

If he coughs during meals, has difficulty swallowing, or feels food getting stuck, ask for a swallowing assessment. A speech-language pathologist can recommend safer food textures if necessary.

Your goal is to increase his calorie intake, but we want foods that also help preserve muscle, support energy production, and provide the nutrients his body needs.

What can help him gain weight?

• Add more healthy fats. Fat provides more than twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbohydrates, making it ideal when appetite is poor. Try avocado, extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, and nut butters such as almond, peanut, or macadamia. Coconut oil, butter, full-fat yogurt, and cheese can also add calories if tolerated. Just one avocado or a couple of tablespoons of oil or nut butter can provide 200 calories or more. Favor olive oil, avocados, nuts, and fatty fish for their additional heart-health benefits.
• Choose nutrient-rich whole foods. Focus on foods that provide vitamins, minerals, protein, and healthy fats along with calories. Limit ultra-processed foods and excess added sugar. You can use extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, beef tallow,  or avocado oil instead of seed oils. Note that most grocery store olive oil is likely to be adulterated with seed oils, and the same holds for avocado oil. 
• Make protein a priority, but watch the timing. Eggs, salmon, grass-fed or pasture-raised meats, full-fat Greek yogurt, and cheese can help preserve muscle. 
• Try high-calorie smoothies. Blend full-fat milk or coconut milk with avocado, nut butter, berries, and unflavored protein powder if needed. This provides plenty of calories without requiring a large meal. Collagen can also add protein, but it shouldn’t replace complete protein sources needed for muscle maintenance. Add full-fat ice cream or Greek yogurt, and throw in a raw (pastured) egg for complete protein and vitamins A, D, E, and K. Carbohydrates stimulate insulin release, which is necessary for weight gain. 
• Offer smaller, more frequent meals. Instead of three large meals, try smaller portions or snacks every two or three hours. This can help when slow digestion causes early fullness. Keep nuts, cheese, yogurt, and other favorite foods readily available. Adding olive oil to vegetables or meat is another easy way to increase calories.
• Make food more appealing. Parkinson’s can dull the senses of smell and taste. Herbs, spices, and flavorful seasonings may help encourage him to eat more.  Salt food liberally. 
• Address constipation. Slow digestion can cause bloating and reduce appetite. Fiber from tolerated fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods, along with adequate hydration, can help. Certain forms of magnesium may also relieve constipation when appropriate. Improving digestion can make eating more comfortable.
• Resistance training is important to stimulate muscle and bone.

Could a ketogenic diet help?

Researchers are increasingly interested in how Parkinson’s affects the brain’s ability to produce energy.

Much of that energy comes from mitochondria, the tiny structures that act as power plants inside our cells. Problems with mitochondrial function, inflammation, and oxidative stress may contribute to Parkinson’s. Ketogenic diets cause the body to produce ketones, an alternative fuel the brain can use instead of glucose.

Some studies have shown improvements in some Parkinson’s symptoms, including fatigue, mood, thinking difficulties, and certain movement problems. But strict ketogenic diets often suppress appetite and cause weight loss. That’s the opposite of what your husband needs right now. Ketone supplements may be beneficial. 

At this point, I’d focus on increasing calories through nutritious whole foods and healthy fats before anything else.

What should you do next?

I’d recommend working with a registered dietitian experienced in neurological conditions. You can find one through GoldCare. A dietitian can help him increase calories and protein while accounting for his medications and digestive symptoms.

Weigh him once a week under similar conditions to see whether he’s making progress.  Next generation bathroom scales are available that use bioimpedance to assess lean body mass (muscle) and fat mass. This is important information. 

With the right nutrition, meal timing, and medical support, there’s a good chance we can help him maintain his weight and preserve his strength.

Question:

Is there anything new for the diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus?

Dr. Gold:

Tinnitus can be incredibly frustrating. That constant ringing, buzzing, or humming in your ears can make it difficult to concentrate, relax, or get a good night’s sleep. 

The good news is that we’re learning more about what causes tinnitus, and there are some promising treatments that weren’t available just a few years ago.

What’s actually causing the ringing?

Tinnitus isn’t a disease in itself. It’s a symptom, and quite a few things can cause it, including hearing loss, exposure to loud noise, certain medications, and problems involving the ears, nerves, or blood vessels.

Tinnitus is one of the most common side effects of the COVID-19 shot, according to VAERS. And people living near data centers have reported suffering from tinnitus, possibly caused by the constant low-frequency noise and infrasound produced by cooling systems, fans, and generators.

Your doctor is unlikely to consider any recent injections or your proximity to a data center in the diagnosis.  But it’s worth mentioning.

Researchers are looking into whether a simple blood test might someday help identify certain types of tinnitus. There’s a protein called prestin, which is found in the tiny sensory cells inside your inner ear. Some studies have found higher levels of prestin in the blood of people with tinnitus. That could be a sign that these delicate cells have been damaged or are under stress.

Prestin testing is still experimental, but it’s an encouraging direction for future research.

So what can you actually do about it?

One of the most exciting developments is an at-home treatment called Lenire, which received FDA authorization in 2023.

Lenire works by giving your brain two different kinds of stimulation at the same time. You listen to specially designed sounds through headphones while a small device placed on your tongue delivers gentle electrical pulses.

It sounds unusual, but the idea is to help retrain how your brain responds to sound signals so the tinnitus becomes less bothersome. Treatment typically lasts about 12 weeks, and some patients continue to experience benefits afterward.

There are also several other approaches worth considering:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): This helps you change how you react to the ringing. It may not make the sound disappear, but it can reduce the stress, anxiety, and constant attention that make tinnitus so exhausting. It’s one of the best-supported treatments available.
• Hearing aids: If you have hearing loss, even mild hearing loss, hearing aids may help. By restoring some of the sounds your brain has been missing, they can make the ringing less noticeable.
• Background sound: Something as simple as a fan, gentle music, or nature sounds can help, particularly at bedtime. When the room is completely silent, tinnitus often seems louder. Adding a little background sound can make it easier to ignore.

Researchers have also experimented with a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called rTMS, though results are mixed.

Could your blood sugar or diet be involved?

It’s also possible that tinnitus may be connected to insulin resistance and problems with how nerve cells produce energy.

Insulin resistance happens when your cells stop responding properly to insulin, the hormone that helps move sugar from your blood into your cells. This could interfere with circulation through the tiny blood vessels supplying your inner ear and nerves, somewhat like the nerve damage that can develop in people with diabetes.

The inner ear needs a remarkable amount of energy to function properly. Nutrients such as vitamin B1, or thiamine, help cells produce that energy.

Another chemical worth understanding is GABA, which helps calm nerve activity in the brain. If the brain isn’t receiving normal sound signals, it may become overly sensitive. Changes in the systems that regulate nerve activity, including GABA, may contribute to that problem.

Are there natural approaches worth trying?

There are a few things you can consider.

• Cut back on sugar and refined carbohydrates. This can help stabilize blood sugar, lower insulin levels, and improve insulin sensitivity, especially if you have metabolic problems. 
• Consider your overall eating pattern. Low-carbohydrate or healthy ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting may improve metabolic health. 
• Pay attention to caffeine and alcohol. Some people find that coffee or alcohol makes their ringing worse. 
• Consider vitamin deficiencies. B vitamins, particularly B1 and B12, are important for healthy nerve function. 
• Ask about alpha-lipoic acid. This antioxidant helps support cellular energy processes and has been studied for certain nerve problems. It can also lower blood sugar and interact with medications, so check with your clinician first.

Dr. Eric Berg recommends an unusual technique called occiput tapping.

You place your index fingers over your middle fingers, position them at the base of your skull, and snap them downward to create a gentle tapping sensation. He suggests about 20 taps per round, repeated roughly eight times.

Some report temporary relief. If you decide to try it, be gentle and stop if it causes discomfort.

My advice is to start by finding out what’s causing your tinnitus rather than simply trying to drown out the noise. A thorough hearing evaluation can uncover problems that may be treatable, while newer options like Lenire offer hope when the cause isn’t so clear. And don’t overlook your overall health. Better sleep, good nutrition, and addressing metabolic problems may help, even if they don’t eliminate the ringing.

GoldCare membership gives you the opportunity to schedule appointments with clinicians who specialize in caring for patients with long COVID and vaccine-related injuries.

Have a question you’d like Dr. Gold to address in a future article? Please submit it here.

The post Ask Dr. Gold: Parkinson’s Weight Loss, Tinnitus, and What Actually Works appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Alaska voters just watched a classic red-state disaster unfold in slow motion.

Democrat Jonathan “JKT” Kreiss-Tomkins has been projected as the winner of the 2026 gubernatorial race, becoming the first Democrat elected governor of the Last Frontier since Tony Knowles in 1998.

The 37-year-old former state representative from Sitka will be sworn in on December 7 as the youngest governor in Alaska history after clearing 50% of first-choice votes and avoiding a full ranked-choice runoff.

With roughly 50.2% of first-choice ballots counted (around 126,000+ votes in mid-November tallies), Kreiss-Tomkins finished well ahead of the three Republicans on the ballot: Trump-endorsed Bernadette Wilson at about 28.7%, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson at roughly 13.7%, and former Attorney General Treg Taylor at about 7.3%, AP reported.

The split GOP field was exactly what critics of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system warned about. Republicans collectively drew the majority of the primary vote, but failed to consolidate, allowing the lone Democrat to claim an outright majority on the first round.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Senator Lisa Murkowski crossed party lines in October to endorse Kreiss-Tomkins.

Murkowski publicly supported the Democratic candidate despite President Trump’s endorsement of Republican Bernadette Wilson.

The Alaska senator argued that voters wanted new leadership in Juneau and praised Kreiss-Tomkins as someone capable of delivering change.

Her endorsement gave the Democrat an extraordinary boost from one of Alaska’s most prominent Republican officeholders.

Meanwhile, Trump had endorsed Wilson and urged the other Republican contenders to withdraw from the race.

They stayed in.

The result? Three Republicans appeared on the general election ballot against a single Democrat.

The GOP entered the contest divided, while Democrats consolidated their support behind Kreiss-Tomkins.

Kreiss-Tomkins, a Yale attendee who represented Southeast Alaska’s island communities in the state House for a decade, campaigned on affordability, healthcare expansion, and fisheries protection while collecting endorsements from Murkowski, former Gov. Frank Murkowski, independent former Gov. Bill Walker, and other cross-aisle figures.

His running mate is independent Zac Johnson. Outgoing Republican Dunleavy was term-limited after two terms; he had won re-election comfortably in 2022. Alaska has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968, yet the state’s unique voting rules produced this result.

Opponents of ranked-choice voting have long argued the system confuses voters, suppresses full ranking by skeptical conservatives, and systematically advantages Democrats and establishment moderates in red-leaning states.

Alaska voters rejected a repeal measure in 2024 and again kept the system in 2026, but the governor’s race supplies fresh evidence for critics who say the rules undermine majority preference. Wilson, Bronson, and Taylor ultimately conceded the outcome once Kreiss-Tomkins crossed the 50% threshold.

The post Democrat Wins Governor’s Race in Alaska for First Time Since 1998 — RINO Lisa Murkowski Endorsed Him Over Trump-Backed Republican appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A French judge indicted writer Michel Houellebecq Tuesday for comments he made about Muslim immigrants during an interview in 2022.

Houellebecq is charged with “complicity in incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a group of people on account of their origin or their belonging or not belonging to a particular ethnicity, nation, race or religion,” according to Le Monde.

In November 2022, the famous novelist told the right-wing magazine Front Populaire, “The wish of the population with French roots, as the phrase goes, is not for Muslims to assimilate, but for them to stop stealing from and assaulting them, in short, for the violence to decrease, for them to respect the law and people. Or, another good solution, for them to leave.”

He continued, further observing regarding the “great replacement” theory of white Europeans being replaced by non-European Muslims, “I was very shocked that it was called a theory. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact.

“Renaud Camus is a good writer [who promoted the theory], that’s beyond doubt. So, he observed a great replacement or – to be more precise – the changing ethnic and religious composition of the European population. It’s a statistical evidence,” Houellebecq said.

The percentage of immigrants in France has increased from 8.1 percent of the population in 2006 to 11.3 percent as of 2024 (or over 9 million people). Muslims now make up about 10 percent of the population, versus 6 percent in 2006.

The top two countries of origin for immigrants to France are the Muslim-dominated Algeria and Morocco, with Tunisia and Turkey also in the top 10, according to the most recent statistics from WorldAtlas.

Houellebecq’s most controversial statement during his 2022 interview was, “When entire territories come under Islamist control, I think acts of resistance will take place…There will be attacks and shootings in mosques, in cafés frequented by Muslims, in short, Bataclan in reverse.”

Radical Islamist terrorists attacked the Bataclan theatre in Paris in November 2015, killing 130 people and injuring approximately 360 others.

Houellebecq’s lawyer, Louis Cailliez, told Le Monde, that his client published a book in 2023, titled “Quelques mois dans ma vie” (“A Few Months in My Life”), to clarify his views on Muslim immigrants. The writer described “the hell I went through” after the Front Populaire interview.

“[H]e corrected certain incriminated statements, considering them clumsy, to clarify his exact thinking so that the passages in question would be better understood,” Cailliez said.

The “mea culpa” followed an exchange with Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grande Mosquée de Paris, who had initially filed a criminal complaint before dropping legal proceedings, Le Monde noted.

However, the Movement against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples (MRAP) and the Union of Mosques of France remained plaintiffs in the case against Houellebecq.

“Michel Houellebecq disputes the criminal charge brought against him. The incriminated remarks have no dimension of incitement, not even implicitly, and therefore fall within the bounds of freedom of opinion and expression. A prophet of doom does not wish for disaster, quite the contrary. His place is not in a courtroom,” responded the author’s lawyers.

“Michel Houellebecq can only regret the increasing judicialization of intellectual debate and that this controversy did not find its conclusion after the calm meeting with Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grande Mosquée de Paris,” they added.

The New York Post reported that in 2015 Houellebecq published a novel called “Submission,” which the outlet described “as a fictional account of France electing a Muslim president who slowly unleashes radical political and social transformation on the nation.”

The Post pointed out, “The book coincidentally came out just a day after the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, where 12 employees of a satirical magazine which had caricatured Muhammad were massacred in their office, including one of Houellebecq’s friends.”

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that Muslims were not responsible for the recent widespread protests and destruction seen in his country and implied that President Donald Trump is pushing that narrative for political purposes.

Far left scum arrested for setting fire to the 19th century Limoges city hall during French riots.

Yet all you hear from legacy media and politicians is the imaginary far right.
https://t.co/fhNsbaLH71

— Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra) October 20, 2026

Trump exhorted in a Truth Social post, “France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered a once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!”

Asra Nomani, Fox News’s senior investigations editor, reported at the time that Muslims were definitely among the over 550,000 rioters/protesters in France.

She said that her team has identified 54 groups involved in the protests, “and they are specific to the communists, socialists, far-left network that is in Europe and in the world.”

“They work with the Islamist groups that are very anti-Israel, and that’s why you’re going to see the Palestinian flag, along with these images of the hammer and sickle in all of these protests,” Nomani added. The marriage of socialists/communists with Muslims has been called the Red-Green Alliance.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post French Judge Indicts Famous Author Over Comments About Islam He Made Four Years Ago appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Marco Rubio has given another great speech in which he rejected globalism and reasserted the right of the United States to act in its own best interests. This happened at the Federalist Society this week.

Sometimes it seems like he was born for the role of Secretary of State. His understanding of geopolitics is so intelligent and seemingly natural.

You can tell the speech was a success by the way the liberal media is sneering at it.

This is from Reuters:

Rubio assails international court in speech to conservative legal group

Rubio, who has at times sought to provide an intellectual justification ​for President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, has firmly denied reports he will soon embark on a ⁠presidential campaign, but the Federalist Society is an occasional stop for Republican hopefuls.

He has dismissed criticisms that the Trump administration has ​broken international law by such actions as seizing Venezuelan then-President Nicolas Maduro and striking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that ​it says were carrying drugs.

In his speech, Rubio said the goal of the US-Israeli war against Iran was to prevent Tehran from ever developing a nuclear weapon, which he said was particularly urgent because the Islamic Republic’s “radical Shia clerics” had an “expansionist mentality.”

He contrasted this with the government of North Korea’s ​Kim Jong Un, whom Trump has met three times. “I’m not excusing the terrible things that have happened there,” Rubio said of ​North Korea. “I’m just saying he (Kim) is not expansionist. He’s not trying to invade Japan or, you know, China or whatever.”

This was one of the best parts of the speech, transcript via Benny Johnson:

“They tell us that we are compelled by a sacred legal obligation to give up our power, to surrender our sovereignty, to submit to the whims of our enemies, to allow our cities to descend into violent anarchy, to welcome in any foreigner from anywhere in the world who arrives at our doorstep without permission, to transform our towns into refugee camps for the entire planet.”

“And beyond our borders, too, they would have us believe that we must allow our rivals to act against us with impunity, that those who flood our country with drugs and crime and death should be met with little more than the occasional and polite complaint.”

“There is nothing, there is nothing in our history or the history of any other great nation that requires us to recognize the authority or legitimacy of any of these ridiculous ideas.”

See the clip below:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio just delivered the most brutal indictment of Third World Mass Immigration and Open Borders I’ve ever heard.

“They tell us that we are compelled by a sacred legal obligation to give up our power, to surrender our sovereignty, to submit to the whims… pic.twitter.com/p8ZrgAjefs

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 13, 2026

This is the full speech:

You can tell that Rubio gets it. Every time he speaks, he shows it.

The post Marco Rubio Offers Another Nearly Perfect Rebuke of Globalism in EPIC Speech (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito raised a red flag about the incoming Democrat majority during a speech at the Federalist Society this week, saying that Congress could shut off the lights at SCOTUS if they want to.

Democrats have been threatening the Supreme Court for years now, calling it illegitimate, saying they are going to impeach certain justices, and promising to pack the court with left wing judges.

There is every reason to be concerned and Alito is clearly worried about it himself.

Breitbart News reports:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito reportedly issued a warning Thursday after the Democrat Party swept the midterms, taking the U.S. House and Senate.

“Congress can turn off the lights at the Supreme Court and stop everything from happening if they want to defund their activities. And there are many, many, many other things that they can do, or at least try to do,” he said while speaking to the Federalist Society during the Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner, according to the Hill.

Alito also said “So, it is important to preserve the independence of the judiciary. If that is eliminated, then the Constitution as adopted in 1789 will no longer be the same.”

The news came after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) suggested this week that Democrats were willing to impeach U.S. Supreme Court justices she claimed “legalized” President Donald Trump’s alleged “criminality,” Breitbart News reported.

Indeed, Democrats have long wanted to target the Supreme Court.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) in June said Democrat lawmakers were discussing expanding the Supreme Court and implementing term limits, per Breitbart News.

More from The Hill:

Alito told the crowd of more than 1,000 conservative lawyers on Thursday that the judiciary is the least powerful branch and it is “vulnerable” to Congress and the executive. Still, the justice warned that judges can overstep.

“If you think about a hand grenade, a 500-pound bomb and a nuclear weapon,” he began, “the hand grenade is the least dangerous. But that is not to say that it is not dangerous.”

The justice chastised lower judges at one point for sometimes issuing “unjustified” orders blocking presidents’ policies in recent years.

“They are dedicated and they are skillful, but they’re not perfect and they make mistakes,” Alito said. “And in some instances, I think they have gone far astray in abuse of their powers.”

Of course, Democrats didn’t campaign for the midterms on blowing up the Supreme Court, but they will probably try.

They can’t get over the fact that Trump was able to name three justices during his first term.

The post Justice Alito Sounds the Alarm About Incoming Democrats: ‘Congress Can Turn Off the Lights at the Supreme Court’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.