Dr. Zorba Paster: For safety, keep guns locked up, and educate children as early as possible

Dear Doc: I’m upset. My 12-year-old went to a friend’s house, where he played with a gun. It was unloaded, but, geez, it’s not safe.

I did call the parents to tell them they should lock it up. Others should do that, too. I want my child safe at other kids’ homes. – J.C., from Jacksonville

Dear J.C.: That is more common than you think. Research out of the University of Washington, from nearly 3,000 people who filled out one-page surveys, showed that nearly 40% of them who had guns had them in unlocked places.

In the last 10 years, approximately 7,000 people died from accidental shootings, and 2,500 of them were kids and adolescents. If you look at kids younger than 12, deaths from accidental shootings are about 100 a year – more than snake bites, more than bat bites, too many.

The bottom line is simple: Focus on gun safety. If you have a gun, don’t be lax about it. Keep it safe. Keep your kids safe. And if you’re a hunter and want your children to follow in that tradition, it means hunter safety for your kids as soon as they are eligible.

Dear Doc: I always enjoy your show. My ears perked up when you mentioned lentils recently. I’d never eaten lentils until then.

The ultimate compliment came from my sister-in-law – she loved the lentil soup I made, and she’s difficult to please. The great thing about lentils vs. other beans is that you don’t need to soak them overnight, and this soup only needs to simmer for half an hour to be ready to eat. Keep up the good work. – J.W., from northern Wisconsin

Dear J.W.: Lentils are amazing. A cup of lentils has 18 grams of protein; a cup of rice has 4 grams. Obviously, lentils are a wonder food, easy to prepare and cheap to buy. They are a traditional food in the Indian subcontinent where nearly every meal includes dal, a wonderfully delicious lentil dish.

Lentils are part of a group of plants called pulses, which also include beans and peas. They are often used to thicken. We don’t eat enough lentils and other beans in our diet. They can slow digestion and reduce insulin surges that come with refined sugars. In fact, a study I reported on last year showed mixing lentils with potatoes or rice did just that.

I think part of the problem in our country is that beans have sometimes been associated with poverty. When you don’t have much money, all you can afford to eat are beans. Lentils might not be sexy, but they are a healthy super food.

Dear Doc: You talk about ear wax on your show all the time and how your colleague keeps his under control by flushing them out. Otherwise, his hearing aids get plugged up.

I just got hearing aids and had the same problem with wax. I flushed until last week, when I started having ear pain. I went to my doctor, and she said I had an ear canal infection from overflushing, and tap water was wrong because the pH wasn’t right.

I had to buy very expensive ear drops to cure this. I don’t want to do that again. What do you think? – J.C., from Illinois

Dear J.C.: Keep flushing – but gently with a bulb syringe. Use distilled water as it doesn’t have the bacteria that might be in your tap water.

If this happens again, you need to dry your ear canals after you flush by using swimmer’s ear prevention drops. They contain hydrogen peroxide and glycerin, which will dry out your ears and soothe the canal. As an alternative, you can dry your canals by using a hair dryer.

Now as for pH, the pH of water is neutral, so it should be just fine. Stay well.