Many good studies have proved that an optimistic outlook has significant long-term health benefits. According to an article in Family Medicine, a journal for primary care doctors, some holistically oriented family physicians are recommending daily exercises in optimism to reduce the risk of developing all sorts of illnesses, both physical and emotional.
Category: Healthy Lifestyle
Achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can include visits with a lifestyle medicine provider, nutrition counseling, meal planning, stress management and exercise and sleep plans.
A Useful Book I Hope You Never Need
I just finished reading AfterShock: What to do When Your Doctor Gives You–or Someone You Love–A Devastating Diagnosis and am so glad someone has written this much-needed book.
Tips for Better Sleep
Studies have shown that people who sleep efficiently not only feel better than everyone else but actually live longer. If you struggle with sleep, start today taking some of these suggestions seriously. In just a few days, you’ll be amazed at the surge in your energy, mood, performance, and mental clarity.
Better Sleep
When the clock strikes midnight, are you usually burrowed into a blanket, deep in a dream, or are you tossing and turning, unable to put aside the stresses of the day and just go to sleep?
More Better Memory Tricks
Today I’m bringing you a handful more of my favorite tricks for improving your memory (you do remember we’ve been talking about memory improvement, don’t you?)…
Better Memory Tricks, Part 1
Do you have trouble remembering the names of people you’ve just been introduced to? Do you stand in the center of a room you’ve just entered, muttering aloud, “Why did I come in here?” When you ask your family why they look bored, do they respond “Because you’ve told this story before”?
Q&A: Low Blood Sugar
Q: You mentioned in one of your tips that low blood sugar was a controversial diagnosis. Would you explain why?
A: To my thinking, the controversy over low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) got started when the book Sugar Blues came out 30 years ago and doctors couldn’t cope with patients asking questions about a condition they knew little about.
Benefits of a Whole Food Diet
In my last health tip we discussed the damaging effects of all the sugar we’re eating. I urged you to boost your intake of whole foods–real fruits and vegetables that are so readily available now in the farmers markets of our northern hemisphere.
Sugar
Okay, I am going to start in on sugar. And by sugar, I mean not only granulated cane sugar but also high fructose corn syrup, which seems to be added to just about everything except anchovies these days.
Keeping Your Smarts, Part 2
So it’s been a few days since you read part one of this topic. Tucked in your bag next to your New York Times is the adult education course schedule at your local community college. You’ve finally decided, once and for all, that you’ll learn French.
Keeping Your Smarts as You Age
Click here for the original post. Nobody likes to spend too much time thinking about what doctors call age-related decline in brain function. You can get really worried about the future of your brain until you meet someone like Chicago icon Studs Terkel. Studs is now 95, and although he readily acknowledges he’s as deaf […]
Eight Ways to Eat the Triple Whammy Way
This list is adapted from my book, The Triple Whammy Cure:
Where You Live Matters
Regular readers know that I’m fond of studies that confirm what seems to be obvious, intellectually or intuitively. Here’s one to get you walking.
Researchers writing in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that people who live in the most pedestrian-friendly sections of New York City have less body fat, as reflected in a lower body mass index.
Preventive Tests You Need
My women patients are endlessly caring for others: children, partners, parents, and other family members. Right now, think about taking care of yourself.
Cancer Prevention Clip ‘n Save
This month’s issue of the International Journal of Cancer published a report from the Leicester Royal Infirmary in which researchers actually tracked the cancer prevention benefits of certain foods. They were interested in a specific group I’ve mentioned in these Health Tips several times: polyphenols, like those found in green tea.
Gratitude
We received the following note from one of our readers. Thanks to all of you who write with comments and suggestions. If you have a friend who might enjoy the Health Tips, click here.
Longer Life for the Man in Your Life
Former TV host Art Linkletter, now 94, still travels 150,000 miles a year delivering more than 75 lectures on healthful longevity, and moves around like someone in his thirties. I met him when he’d just turned 80 and he looked terrific.
Yogurt 101: Become a Label-Reader
When I talk to my patients about nutrition, yogurt comes up as a popular food choice, and overall an excellent one…if you know what’s in your yogurt.
Are You Drinking Enough Water?
My patients ask me all the time how much water they should be drinking each day. It’s a good question. Generally speaking, you’ll feel and look better when you’re well hydrated. Your kidneys will more easily be able to flush out waste products and environmental toxins, and your skin will have a healthy glow.
Modify Risk Factors
Doctors use the term “modifiable risk factors” to describe those aspects of a person’s life that are potentially dangerous but which can be reversed, or modified. Conversely, some risk factors are less modifiable. If you have a family history of a certain cancer, you can’t order a new set of genes, but you can have regular check-ups and avoid substances known to trigger your particular cancer risk.