The Road to Better Health
Making the Most of Your Life by Eating Right & Exercising When you ask someone what’s bothering them the most, you hear one response all too often: they’d like to be thinner. And it’s not just a matter of appearance. If you’re like most people, you aren’t going to feel your best until you get down close to your ideal body weight. Very few people are there. But there’s a lot you can do to reach and maintain a healthy weight — and to reap the health benefits that follow.
As a BodyLogicMD physician who specializes in hormones, fitness and nutrition, I can provide guidance on how many calories you actually need and how to modify your eating habits to cut out those unnecessary calories. I can also help you determine what kinds of foods best fit your health needs. In some cases, we may recommend an elimination diet. This is especially important if you are having trouble with food allergies or are overeating. The first things I generally recommend avoiding are gluten, dairy and certain other foods that have a tendency to make people feel poorly. And then, slowly, over time, you may be able to add some of those foods back.
Watch Your Calories — Count, Type & Frequency
If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, you have to pay attention to Bob Ghelfi, MD what you’re eating, how much you’re Avoiding Those Guilty Pleasures eating and how frequently you’re eating. Cravings are often the crutches that keep I generally emphasize smaller, more people from following a healthy diet. frequent meals with protein in every Some people have very strong cravings meal and fewer overall calories. for foods that they shouldn’t be eating. Many people don’t realize how many Often, when that’s happening, the craving calories they’re taking in or how few is actually at the root of your health they actually need. Most people need problems. It may even be something fewer calories than they realize — and you’re allergic to. certainly fewer than they’re actually I have found that, in these situations, you eating. So, for many people, the first step have to cut these foods from your diet to adopting a healthy life-long diet is to entirely. You can’t just have them once reduce calorie intake. It’s important to in a while. In most cases, once these take your activity level into consideration. problem foods have been removed for If you’re exercising frequently, you will at least a month, you’ll feel quite a bit need more calories than if you’re primarily better. And, frequently, if you can stay off sedentary. of these foods for a while, there’s a good But it’s not just how much you eat. What chance that your cravings will go away you eat is important, as well. Many people and you can avoid the food forever. aren’t getting enough calories from Changing Habits protein. About a third of all the calories from Bad to Good you take in should be from protein. That doesn’t mean you should over-indulge In many cases, unhealthy eating is a in red meats or fatty meats. Try to focus, result of bad habits, but you can often instead, on healthy proteins, such as lean meats, fish and nuts. exchange your bad habits for something that’s better for your health. What I’ve found is that many people are addicted to It’s also important to pay attention to how you’re eating. food. But once you start exercising, you can often get your Instead of focusing on just two or three big meals each day, mind off of food. Exercise can become your new habit. spread out your meals so you’re eating every three hours or so. This often means three smaller meals per day — The TV can also result in bad habits. Many people like to sit at breakfast, lunch and dinner — with small, healthy snacks in home and watch TV. The problem isn’t that they’re watching TV between your meals. — it’s how they watch it. They sit in front of it and eat, without
“When you think about it, all we really have is time. We either use it or we don’t. Being overweight or unhealthy makes it much harder to get the most out of whatever years you have left.”
5 Steps to a Healthy Diet Having a healthy diet can be as simple as following five simple steps:
1 Eat three small meals and two healthy
snacks every day 2 Focus on meals that consist of 1/3 protein and 2/3 colored vegetables 3 Avoid sugar and processed or refined foods 4 Focus on fruits or vegetables that crunch when you eat them
5 Make sure to drink plenty of water every day doing anything else. And they’re usually not eating healthy foods — they’re eating junk that’s likely to add on pounds and result in health problems. There is a way you can make TV watching good for you. Simply bring a treadmill into your TV room and get on it while you’re watching TV. Challenge yourself: the only way your TV is on is if you’re working out on your treadmill. It can be difficult for many people to move away from simply relaxing with the TV and food, but if you make this commitment, it can have a tremendous impact on your overall health.
Breaking in to Working Out If you want to lose weight and be healthy, you have to exercise. There’s no way to be thin without exercising— you can’t solely eat yourself into health. But exercise doesn’t have to be a chore. Start small and work your way up to a healthy fitness regimen. You may find that, over time, you’ll actually come to enjoy working out — and you’ll definitely feel better afterwards. If you’ve been sedentary for all your life, start out by simply walking every day, even if it’s just a half hour each day. Outside is preferable, but if you can’t, then spend a little time at a gym or on a treadmill or elliptical trainer. Perhaps every day is too much for you. For a lot of people who have never worked out before, it is. If that’s the case, then just commit to something — whatever it is. Even if it’s three or four days a week, half an hour a day — just do some sort of brisk walking. But you need to be accountable for whatever you say you’re going to do and actually accomplish it. Don’t make excuses with your health.
Finding the Discipline What most people I’ve encountered in my practice have lacked is discipline. Many people know what they need to do to lose weight and stay healthy, but they’ve never had the discipline to go out and do it. They may not realize how good it feels to actually do what you say you’re going to do. In many cases, you may not realize that you really can accomplish your goals. If you set the bar too high, then you probably will have problems getting where you’re trying to go. So start out slow, with things you know you can do. Once you get used to the smaller steps, you can push yourself a little bit more. You may go from walking a quarter-mile to a half-mile, and then continue on from there. Just make the commitment to do it. Eventually, exercise can be habit-forming. You may realize that you really like how you feel when you exercise. Over time, if you maintain a healthy diet, you’ll lose weight and you’ll be healthier and stronger.
Living the Best Life You Can Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is a crucial step toward your optimal overall health. Even if you’re middle-aged or older, you likely have a long life ahead of you. You can either take the opportunity to launch into a healthy future or continue to slide into one that isn’t very fulfilling. When you think about it, all we really have is time. We either use it or we don’t. Being overweight or unhealthy makes it much harder to get the most out of whatever years you have left. Most of the time, exercising and eating right makes you feel much better. Once you get started in that direction, you’ll probably feel so much better that you won’t want to go back.
One Step at a Time You can’t become an athlete overnight. If you set your goals too high, you won’t be able to reach them, and that failure can derail your fitness plans. Set goals that you know you can reach and take them one step at a time. As you get used to your workout, step it up a little. Eventually, you’ll be feeling the burn and loving it!
To learn more about maintaining optimal health through proper fitness, nutrition and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, visit www.bodylogicmd.com or call my office at (866) 972-5302.