Educating my patients about healthy lifestyle changes is the foundation of my medical practice.
As an internist I am an expert in disease, diagnosis and medication management, but most issues of primary care are caused not by rare medical problems, but by relatively simple issues such as poor diet, stress, and inactivity. My goal is to simplify the constant stream of data about these topics and focus on the individual needs of my patients.
I use the following sources to stay up to date. I want to encourage you to explore these sites, ask me questions, and incorporate what works best for you into your life. Make the data work for you, and not the other way around. To be clear, I have no financial relationship with any of these companies, I just happen to think they are really good!
1. The New York Times Health Section:
If you follow us on Facebook you will know I am an avid reader of the New York Times. I particularly like the Health Section which has wonderful articles on the newest research in diet and fitness, recipes, and disease diagnosis, management and therapies. I love this gem from writer Aaron E. Carroll, “https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/21/upshot/simple-rules-for-healthy-eatin….”
2. I would be remiss if I did not mention one of my go to sources for recipes:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/. You can set up an account and file all of the recipes you like which are easy to sort by meal type and cuisine. On a special occasion look for Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Guinness Cake which is sinfully spectacular and not hard to make.
3. As a busy mom, I like the recipes from King Arthur Flour
‘which can be found at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/. If you are gluten free they have a wealth of recipes to choose from, and you can read the ratings and tips before you try them out.
4. To find food with the highest amount of nutrients
check out World’s Healthiest Foods: http://www.whfoods.com/index.php. If you want a list of foods which contain calcium you simply search “calcium,” and scroll down to “nutrients.” It produces a list of 10-20 foods with name, calories and percent of DRI (daily recommended intake.) This is terrific in tailoring your needs and getting nutrients through food rather than through vitamins.
5. Dr. Weil. If you don’t know who this bearded wonder is, then it is time for you to get acquainted.
Dr. Weil is an MD and the guru of holistic health and integrative medicine. Find out more with his website: https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/. I don’t subscribe to all of his practices but I like how he re-imagines the food pyramid placing the most “inflammatory” foods at the top and the least at the bottom.
6. The Nutrition site for the Harvard School of Public Health
offers another another good source for evidence based diet and nutrition information: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/. They also have their own version of the food pyramid called the “Healthy Eating Plate.” This site is filled with expert articles, tips and solid basic principles of diet and nutrition which are up to date and patient friendly.
I go back to these sources over and over again. Check them out. If you find a great recipe or something sparks your interest, let us know! We love to get your feedback!