Dr. Kushner blog
If you struggle with excess weight, most likely your health care visits include measurements of your weight, height, and blood pressure, as well as a calculation of your BMI (body mass index). But what about your waist circumference? As an obesity medicine physician specialist, I’ve been measuring waist circumference on my patients for over 25…
Consensus is hard. As a member of the Lancet Commission on Definition and Diagnostic Criteria of Clinical Obesity among 58 experts from around the world, our just released report aims to define clinical obesity and aid in clinical decision making and therapeutic interventions. With over 1 billion people living with obesity worldwide, this report begins…
Seeking perfection in your diet plan is a set-up for failure. A common misperception my patients struggle with is thinking they have to strive for perfection in order to eat more healthfully. Whether it’s banning all carbs, sugar or fat from one’s diet, extreme food restrictions are hard to maintain for the long run. They…
We are a weight-focused society but when it comes to managing weight long term, having a weight-only narrow focus can be detrimental. Throughout my 4-decade career I have stressed the importance of lifestyle modification being foundational for losing weight and achieving better health. Now with an average 15-20% weight loss with the new injectable obesity…
One of my yearly medical student classes I teach at Northwestern University is helping our future physicians learn behavior change strategies to improve their own health. Examples of targeted health behaviors may include not exercising regularly, not eating enough fruits and vegetables, eating too many sweets or fast food, not getting enough hours of sleep…
We all struggle with eating temptations over the holidays. The key to healthy holiday eating is to plan ahead so you feel in control to enjoy the foods you love in moderate portions. Here are some tips that have worked for my patients and can work for you too: 1-Don’t Go to the Party Hungry…
Your Saturday night outings may be the one day of the week when you let your guard down and don’t pay much attention to what or how much you eat. Though weekends are a time to unwind and have fun – they don’t have to derail all the progress you’ve made during the week. Dinners…
I am passionate about educating both current and future health care professionals on the care of patients living with the disease of obesity. If you’re a patient struggling with overweight or obesity, you need health care providers who are knowledgeable and skilled in giving you the most effective treatments. Here, I’d like to share some…
Healthy eating requires planning ahead. Though this does take some time, it doesn‘t have to be so time intensive. In this blog, I share some time-saving tips that help my family eat better and healthier. 1 – Try Convenient Apps for Shopping No time to go to the grocery store? Check out your neighborhood for…
Your daily routine directly impacts your health behaviors. But what happens when you daily routine gets so busy, you have trouble maintaining your healthy lifestyle? As your daily routines change, so can your health behaviors. Eating healthfully and exercising may be challenging with a stressful work or school deadline or new family obligations. Much of…
