healthy lifestyle
This is an exciting time for heart health as a recent landmark study called SELECT has shown that taking the anti-obesity medication semaglutide can lower your risk for having a second cardiac event by 20%, while losing an average of over 9% body weight. And a new American Heart Association (AHA) Presidential Advisory highlights the…
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Sustainable health habits aren’t typically developed as a complete overhaul of one’s lifestyle. Instead, it’s more realistic and doable if they’re created as one small ‘snack’ step at a time, whether it’s related to healthy eating, getting in more physical activity, or dealing with daily stressors. You can create your own SNACKING TOOLBOX for when…
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Before I help patients develop a personalized weight loss plan, I want to better understand each person’s weight journey – and how they got to where they are today. I have a technique I’ve used where I ask patients to plot their weight at different times of their life. For most patients, they are able…
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Many life transitions are anticipated – a new home, moving to a new city, starting college or grad school, getting married or starting a family. As your daily routines change, so can your health behaviors. Eating healthfully and exercising may be challenging if you have a longer commute, different work hours, new school deadlines, more…
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When I see patients who are doing well following their new healthy lifestyle behaviors but complain that the scale isn’t budging fast enough, I ask them to make a list. On one side are all the positives they’ve been experiencing with their newfound healthier lifestyle such as being more active, easier to sit in an…
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For the past 35 years, my wife and Six Factors to Fit co-author Nancy and I, have had a Fun Club. Basically, we formed a social group of 6 couples – that expanded to 13 – who get together on a few Saturday nights per year for fun-filled group activities. Though our group took a…
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Surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy recently warned that loneliness and a lack of social connections are having negative effects on both the mental and physical health of Americans. And surprisingly, this seems to be affecting young adults at almost twice the rate of those over age 65. According to Dr. Vivek’s advisory poor social relationships…
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Many people know that to manage weight better, you also need to manage your time so you can take better care of yourself; this may involve making time to stay active, eat regular, nutritious meals, get enough hours of restful sleep and practice de-stressing activities. But this isn’t always easy to do when low energy…
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One of my yearly medical student classes I teach is helping our future physicians practice improving their own health, one self-care behavior at a time. You may be surprised to know that health care professionals can also struggle to fit in time for exercise, plan healthier meals into a busy day, take time to de-stress…
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As I mentor medical students who are learning how to help patients manage their weight, I often ask them what the patient can do at home to help boost their success. Helping patients be more accountable to themselves with self-monitoring is one of the tools I teach medical students to use in counseling as it…
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