Goals

We complicate our thoughts way too often. If we could follow some basic rules, and over time refine them, then we wouldn’t become so easily discouraged. From a health perspective, the first rule is to avoid simple sugars. Anything with fructose in it is especially harmful. Cakes, cookies, chips, candies - yes, all those things that taste so good. However, they are directly inflammatory to just about every system in our body and are probably the main mechanism leading to inflammation of our arteries, which results in build-up of plaque. Processed food. Most food in a box is highly processed [...]

I'm not sure I believe in waiting for January 1st to set new goals and make new resolutions. When it comes to making goals and changing lifestyle habits, it's important to aim for daily re-assessment of what we want to change. (Or at least, the attempt should occur on a daily basis). Personally, I'm not always successful at this, but at least it keeps my awareness of what I want to accomplish front and center. Recently, as I came off a long journey of training and competition, my desire to exercise waned as did my vigilance of food. Weight has [...]

Movement is lacking for most of us. We are told to exercise, but we feel compromised by time. Worse, we limit our movement because of ‘fatigue’. Doing something is much much better than nothing! 1. Buy an exercise ball on Amazon and sit on it for one TV program (it will force you to stabilize your core as it works on your balance). 2. During commercials stand up and do 10 or 15 simple squats (not deep-don’t hurt your knees). 3. In the kitchen, place your hands on the counter (while waiting for something to boil or cook), put your [...]

As I continue with my own attempts at improving percent body fat (this is health related, not appearance), I am frustrated with my own lack of progress. Having said that, I am aware of what I am doing wrong, but I admit I have been unwilling to change. I was eating very little most of the day (pseudo fasting) but allowing myself inappropriate foods (excess carbohydrates) in the evening. I was allowing permission thoughts to enter; meaning, I felt because I had fasted all day long, it was ok to have extra snacks in the evening. Well, nothing happened of [...]

“Don’t eat for winter” is the title of a book by Cian Foley, that I came upon while listening to a ‘Fat Emperor’ podcast with Ivor Cummins. My interest grew the more I listened, a disclaimer - I haven’t yet read the book, but I will. The reason I became so fascinated, is that each year at this time of year, I see many patients struggling with their eating habits and choice of food. I have blamed it on the weather and lack of sunlight, and even gave a nod to possible shifting of our metabolisms for winter (this is [...]

Now, I'm about to begin writing about a topic I don't (yet) practice myself; but I plan to start. We are bombarded daily with stress and demands. This stress not only raises cortisol and decreases our ability to lose fat, but it increases our desire for soothing (carbohydrate) foods and snacks. Of all the things we face in the office that sabotage people's efforts to lose weight, stress, fatigue and pain are top of the list. I've always looked at ways to reduce stress and for myself, I've always used exercise. However, as you know, I'm a regular listener of [...]

Many of our patients have days that feel chaotic. I often feel the same way. Unpredictable and unanticipated work, family issues, meetings; things or people or situations we seem to have no control over take over our time and attention. Much like clutter around the house, this leads to erratic and mindless eating. One way to cope with this is to have a morning routine. Below is a link to a podcast by Tim Ferriss who I’ve talked about before. He has written 4 books and is an accomplished athlete and entrepreneur. He, and so many of the accomplished people [...]

1. Lower your expectations on how quickly weight loss will occur. We are all different metabolically, socially, medically. It will be slow for some, faster for others. Be patient. 2. Motivation. None of us wake up motivated to eat better or exercise more. It’s an effort. Realize the effort is worth it. Start some sort of exercise. Don’t expect yourself to “want to do it”. Just do it, and you will feel better afterwards. 3. Be willing to change. No one ‘diet’ is necessarily going to work for everyone. You need to find out what works for you. Be willing [...]

Two things struck me this week; one was a picture posted on Facebook of a crowded beach in the early 1970’s. There were no, and I mean not one, overweight people on the beach. What has changed? Many things of course, from activity levels going down, to more stress and reduced quality of sleep, but the main thing is food availability. I remember beaches in the 70’s. There were no food stands and no fast food franchises close by. If we went to the beach we might take a small cooler with juice and fruit, but never considered taking much [...]

I was meeting with a patient a couple of days ago and I wanted to know her perspective on how she was eating, and the stresses in her life that were keeping her from paying attention to food quality and quantity. She remarked that I didn’t even look at her chart which showed her weight loss. I told her I was less interested in the number than learning about her behaviours and ability to continue to choose proper quantities and less processed food, despite the stress in her life. The important part here is, that we keep looking at the [...]