Dr. Kushner blog

To Lose Weight & Get Healthier, First Talk to Your PCP

By Dr. Kushner / February 7, 2021 /

If you’re looking to lose weight and boost your health, I highly recommend you start this journey by meeting with your primary care provider (PCP). This is a topic I’m passionate about as I have spent a bulk of my career training PCPs on how to take on a bigger role in helping their patients…

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Better Self Care, Better Health

By Dr. Kushner / February 2, 2021 /

You’re already probably used to taking care of others – your children, an ailing parent, a friend or even your pet. Now it’s time to start treating yourself better too. In my 40 + years treating patients, I’ve found that those who make time for self-care, do better managing weight and boosting health than those…

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Pick Low Hanging Fruit for a Healthier Life

By Dr. Kushner / January 21, 2021 /

If you’re trying to boost your health but don’t have the motivation, time or interest to completely overhaul your lifestyle, a helpful strategy is to pick simpler lifestyle tweaks that require less effort. I refer to this as ‘picking the low hanging fruit’ or simpler strategies that are easier to implement. Here are some examples:…

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What’s for Dinner?

By Dr. Kushner / January 3, 2021 /

Being able to whip up quick, healthy dinner meals in minutes is a skill that will serve you well in your quest to eat healthier. In our household, my wife and Six Factors to Fit co-author, Nancy, prides herself in doing just that for our family. For this blog, I asked Nancy to share her…

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Weight Loss that Fits Your Life & Lifestyle

By Dr. Kushner / December 21, 2020 /

While helping people get control of their weight for almost 4 decades, one thing I know for sure is that ‘one size does not fit all.’ I spend a lot of time talking to my patients to help them figure out the best mix of weight management strategies that fit their life and lifestyle habits.…

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Healthy Living Gift Ideas

By Dr. Kushner / December 12, 2020 /

I like to think of healthy living as a 3-legged stool that incorporates diet, physical activity and mindset. If one of these legs is ignored or not attended to on a regular basis, you won’t feel steady and your health may suffer. For this holiday season, I asked staff from our Northwestern Center for Lifestyle…

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Use Exercise ‘Snacks’ to Feel Better, Improve Health

By Dr. Kushner / December 6, 2020 /

It’s no secret that we all sit too much – working at our desks, driving in our cars and relaxing on the couch. A small study published online in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, looked at the effects that stair climbing exercise ‘snacks’…

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Improve Energy Level and Mood to Help you through the Holidays

By Dr. Kushner / November 21, 2020 /

Holiday times are usually a time when you need high energy for all the family get-togethers, gift buying and cooking that are piled onto your day-to-day routine. But this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing, family gatherings will be smaller, big meal festivities will be downsized and gift buying…

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Fight Weight Loss Boredom, Boost Motivation Now

By Dr. Kushner / November 16, 2020 /

No matter where you are in your weight loss journey, it’s not uncommon to find your motivation waning over time. Because weight management is typically a lifelong endeavor, boredom can easily set in or life can get in the way of your best intentions. Either way, there are strategies that can work across the board…

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Set Up Your Home for Weight Loss Success

By Dr. Kushner / November 9, 2020 /

It seems eating temptations to ‘eat now’ or ‘eat more’ are everywhere – in the office, at social gatherings, near store cash registers or when driving by billboards and restaurants. But what about inside your home? Your home is the one environment you have control over and as I tell all of my patients, you…

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