Scientifically Proven Weight Loss Method: Eat Less

Few things captivate the public more than a new diet.  From Atkins to Ornish to the Mediterranean diet, each new theory attracts attention and true-believer adherents and generates lots of book sales and interviews on daytime TV.  People passionately argue about whether a diet low in carbohydrates or low in fat is best for weight loss.  But until now no large trial has ever been done to answer the question. This week’s New England Journal of Medicine published the largest study that di...
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Resolutions for a Healthy 2009

Many people use the occasion of the New Year to reflect on the last year and make specific goals for the next.  Resolutions can be very helpful motivators if they are specific, realistic and written down.  Just as people make goals for their careers and their relationships, resolutions for your health are a smart way to work for achievable targets in the health-related struggles you face. So I encourage you this week to write down your health resolutions for 2009.  Obviously, what progress is a...
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Osteoporosis Screening: Not Just for Women Anymore

Osteoporosis, which means very low bone density, is a major risk factor for fractures.  Fractures can be catastrophic for older people, and effective medicines exist to treat osteoporosis and prevent fractures, so detecting osteoporosis before a fracture happens is very important in older patients.  Since osteoporosis is very common in postmenopausal women, screening them for osteoporosis is a well-established part of preventive care. Though men are less likely then women to have osteoporosis, ...
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Shocking Study: Pedometers Motivate People to Walk More

Last week's post generated many comments from you, and I appreciated them very much. With Thanksgiving approaching and New Year's resolutions around the corner many of us are reviewing our commitment to our exercise program (or realizing that for the last few months we've had no commitment and therefore no exercise program).  With this perfect timing, this issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published a More

Women on Atkins Diet Lost More Weight than on Other Diets

Losing weight is the second hardest thing I ask my patients to do.  (Quitting smoking is the hardest.)  Typically, physicians have generally recommended a low-fat diet which is still the diet recommended by national guidelines.  Despite this, several different kinds of diets have become popular recently with varying amounts of carbohydrates, most notably the Atkins diet which is very low in carbohydrates and very high in fat. This week's Journal of the American Medical Association cont...
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Studies You Should Ignore

The media constantly bombards us with studies purporting to show new evidence about medicines we should avoid, or foods we should eat, or behaviors that either protect us or harm us. Many of these studies, because of their design, actually tell us absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, the media is not in the business of downplaying the news, so the studies are inevitably announced in the mainstream press with much fanfare and little scientific scrutiny. So that leaves us, the consumers of the news ...
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The Pedometer Project: Steps that Make a Difference

With the end of 2006 a few days away many of us turn our thoughts to the New Year and seize the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to healthier habits. I personally know all too well how easy it is to stop exercising and how hard it is to start again. I also know how insidious inactivity can be. In the last month alone, I've had to tell three of my patients that they were in the earliest stages of developing diabetes. For them, the need to exercise and to pay compulsive attention to their diet ...
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