Most of my clients know the healthy eating drill pretty well – keep your fats down, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, make most of your whole grains and focus on low fat protein. But many of them have adopted some eating habits that they truly believe are healthy – and I have to spend some time trying to convince them otherwise. These eating habits sound like they’re healthy – but they really end up being less so when they’re put into practice. Are your eating habits as healthy as you think they are? Read more »

One of my long-standing patients has lost 150 pounds. Now, before you start thinking, “Wow – that’s a lot of weight” or “Gee – I wonder how she did that?”, let me just say that she didn’t lose it all at once. In fact, she’s lost the same 30 pounds five times now. She’s a classic “yo-yo dieter” – her weight goes up and down, but rarely stays in one place for long. It’s long been recognized that people are more likely to yo-yo when they adopt weight loss regimens that are too strict to stick with over the long haul. Once a dietary slip turns into a fall, old habits resume, weight goes back up and the cycle starts all over again. Read more »

If you’ve read any reports about how a struggling economy can affect your health, most of them are pretty negative.  What’s usually mentioned is that when money is tight, people spend less on pricier foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, they cancel gym memberships, or they may turn to high calorie comfort foods or drink more alcohol. And if they dine out at all, it’s more likely to be less expensive – and usually less healthy – fast food.  So it got me to thinking, are there some lessons we can learn about how to save money and still be healthy? Read more »

You can always tell when it’s the start of a New Year.  Everywhere you turn – newspapers, magazines, radio, television or the internet – there’s another article about how to shape up.

I’ve already had visits from several patients who are ready to ‘turn over a new leaf’ for the New Year, but what I often find is this – with this flood of diet and fitness information coming at them, many of my patients have more questions than solutions.  Should they go vegetarian? Stay away from fruit?  Not eat after 5 pm?  Throw away the salt shaker?  The list goes on and on.  So today, I’m turning to you – what nutrition questions are on your mind?  Let me know what you’re wondering about …and check back here in the upcoming weeks to find the answers.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted my top 10 resolutions for a healthier 2012 (read post).   Maybe you’re already doing many of the things on the list – in which case your list of resolutions will look a little different from mine.  But as you’re thinking about your own health and fitness goals for the upcoming year, I’d like to add a few words of encouragement – with some thoughts on how you can make promises to yourself that you can actually keep. Read more »

I would bet that for most of us, the last few weeks have been pretty busy – we’ve been running around like crazy, taking care of last minute errands and finishing up our holiday shopping. While I was out running my errands this past week, I noticed something that hadn’t really struck me before. It seemed to me that no matter where I went, there was food. It was everywhere. So I started taking notes. I wrote down every place I’d been and what food had been there. Because it got me to thinking – if I had actually eaten everything I’d seen, how much damage would I have done? Read more »

There’s something about a new year that drives us to wipe the slate clean, put our bad habits behind us, and start fresh.  We look back at the resolutions we managed to keep and those that eluded us, and we make promises to take better care of ourselves in the upcoming year.  I’m a big fan of resolutions – as long as they’re reasonable.  Resolutions don’t do you much good if they’re abandoned before Valentine’s Day.  You want to focus on the changes you can practice every day – since they’re more likely to stick with you –  and also on the ones that give you the most bang for your buck.  So here is my list of the top 10 best resolutions for a healthier 2012. Read more »

Some of the most challenging clients I have are the ones who have a lot of weight to lose, who need a complete diet and lifestyle overhaul…and who take me to task on every suggestion I make. Pack a lunch instead of going to the drive through once a week? “Can’t – no time in the morning”. Get up a half hour earlier to take a walk? “Nope – too tired”. Get rid of the ice cream in the freezer? “No can do – I keep it there for the kids”. Mind you, I’m not asking them to make all these changes all at once, but some people really resist even the smallest change. Sometimes they’re afraid to fail, or they feel the sacrifice is too much. Sometimes, the rewards aren’t readily apparent. So when someone has a lot of bad habits that need to be broken, the best thing I can do is to try to help them prioritize – and work on the easiest things first. Read more »

When I was a child, I loved to spend summer days swimming in the pool. And I used to get really annoyed at my mom, who always insisted that I wait an hour after lunch before diving back in – so I wouldn’t “get a belly ache”. At the time, I thought she was being unreasonable, but it turns out her advice was scientifically sound. When you’re doing strenuous exercise, paying attention to what you eat – and when – can have a big impact on your performance.

Athletes are usually on a constant quest to craft the perfect diet to give them the winning edge. And while many athletes go through a bit of trial-and-error with their diet until they come up with a plan that works for them, there are a few key points that all athletes should keep in mind when trying to match their meals and snacks to their activity. Read more »

The way diet trends go back and forth, trying to follow them is like watching a game of ping pong. By their nature, trends aren’t meant to be long-lasting – and most people who jump onto the latest dietary bandwagon are usually looking for super-fast results. And if you ask those who have managed to lose weight how they did it, their answers are all over the map. Some swear by a low carb plan, while others give credit to a vegetarian regimen or a strict accounting of fat grams.  With so many possible ways to lose weight, it sort of begs the question:  is one diet better than another? Read more »