Summer is - hands down - my favorite season. So, I’ve been lamenting the end of summer for weeks. In the Northeast, the summer break is often extended until after the Labor Day holiday. That just allows me to be in denial about the start of school for a little bit longer.

But, in late August, I had to face the music. I had uniforms and folders and water bottles to buy. And I had schedules to plan and calendars to synchronize.  The flurry of back-to-school activity made it pretty hard to ignore that September was coming. Well, that and that pumpkin spice latte that just won’t go away. And now September is here! 

If you’ve been hanging out with me for a while, you may have realized that I really embrace new seasons. In January, my blog post focused on making your New Year’s resolution a habit. You can find that post here.  On July 1st, I offered The Real Summer Reset in celebration of doing a mid-year follow-up for your 2019 goals. And now September presents us with yet another opportu...

Do you wish you could just press the “easy” button on having a healthy lifestyle? Yeah, you’re not the only one. And I don’t want to burst your bubble, but ... you can’t. Whether you made a decision to be the healthiest version of yourself one decade ago or one day ago, you should know that your goal will require daily effort from you. It’s going to take some work.

So, now that you know that your new lifestyle won’t be easy, I have good news for you! It can be simple. So, please let it be simple. Simple, not easy. And, because I’m a nerd, let’s look at the definitions of easy and simple, as according to Merriam-Webster.

Definition of easy:

1. causing or involving little difficulty or discomfort

2. requiring or indicating little effort, thought, or reflection

Definition of simple:

1. free from ostentation or display

2. sheer, unmixed

3. free from elaboration or figuration

4. readily understood or performed

As the old adage says, nothing worth having comes easy....

Nutrition science is fascinating but also frustrating. Like anything in science, the facts of nutrition science can be proven. But if you wait long enough, these facts can also be disproven. That’s just the nature of science. The worldwide community of physicians, nutritionists, biologists, chemists and the like is constantly searching for answers and gaining knowledge. So, what we know is always changing.

And what we now know about nutrition science now is so far removed from what we used to believe, say, in the 90s. That means if you’re eating according to 1990s knowledge, you might not be serving yourself well. And who knows what truths we’ll uncover in the next 20 years! But it’s likely that some of today’s nutrition recommendations will become moot. That’s just the nature of the science game.

But hang onto your hats. Because keeping up with the facts is hard enough, but it’s even more difficult to separate fact from fiction. There are an infinite number of opinions about what yo...

I coach because helping you get from where you are to where you want to be lights me up!

It’s an honor for me to be by your side as you dream big and knock down your goals, one by one. 

With every goal that you set and meet, you get closer to your dream. I think of your goals as the roadmap to your dream. So, if you want to make your dream come true, you need goals. And you have to make reaching your goals inevitable. 

But how do you do it? How do you reach your goals? 

To be successful, you need a system. And an essential part of that system is your habits. But not just any habits - healthy ones.

For this to really work, you need to understand it. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of meaningless steps. With that said, here are some key ideas about habits:

• What is a habit?
• What makes a habit healthy?
• How do you make a healthy habit anyway?
• And how long will it take to make this healthy habit?

What is a habit?

First of all, without your knowledge, there’s a lot going on inside...

It’s July 1st!

July 1st has a special meaning for physicians and surgeons. Traditionally, it’s the first day of the training year. What does that mean? 

It means that brand new doctors start their first day of work, internship, on July 1st. With the flip of a calendar page, they go from medical student to doctor. On June 30th, they couldn’t possibly order a medication or a test for a patient, but on July 1st … Bam! They’re instantly capable!

It’s an incredibly exciting, albeit chaotic, day in teaching hospitals all across the country. I’ll be honest - it’s a chaotic month. Ok, really the first three months of the year can feel kinda wild. Oh, the memories!

The inside joke is don’t go to the hospital in July! I kid. I kid! You’ll get great care. Just know that July 1st is a big switch day. All of the young doctors are getting acclimated in new roles. It’s a time of transition and transitions can be slow. Or messy. Even confusing. 

But there’s an exciting, new world on the other sid...

“We’re not who we say we are. We’re not who we want to be. We are the sum of the influence and impact that we have in our lives on others.” - Carl Sagan

“My job is to somehow make them curious enough, or persuade them, by hook or crook, to get more aware of themselves and where they came from and what they are into and what is already there … just to bring it out. This is what compels me to compel them, and i will do it by whatever means necessary.” - Nina Simone

When Beyoncé was announced as the headliner for Coachella 2017, I had a brief delusion that I would trek to the desert for her show. But I was pregnant. My daughter was actually born in April when Coachella is held.

Turns out Beyoncé was pregnant too - with twins - so she didn’t make it to Coachella 2017 either! So, when she rescheduled for Coachella 2018, I renewed my delusion of going to Indio, California, for a year. I imagined that I would even take my baby to simplify the weekend at home without me for my husband and...

“Most doctors don’t want to be doctors anymore … because it sucks.” - Pedram Shojai

I heard Pedram Shojai, a doctor of Chinese medicine, say this on an episode of “The Model Health Show” podcast. And I’ve got to admit - it kinda hurt.

I’m an ‘80 baby and I decided that I wanted to be a doctor as soon as I realized I couldn’t be Jem (you’re my people if you know who that is!). I think the human body is a fascinating miracle and I think becoming a medical doctor is the best way to learn all about it.

Doctoring is powerful!

And I’m so honored that so many people have chosen me to doctor them. And you know what? I’m pretty proud of myself for becoming a doctor! It took a lot of effort (not only mine but my family’s too) for me to become a physician … a surgeon. So, I continue to give my best effort to my work every day.

But here’s some real talk - sometimes there are really miserable moments. Some days I wish I could telepathically remove myself from an exam room or the operating room...

There is a big connection between sleep and fat. Simply put, if you’re staying awake until the wee hours of the morning, your body starts storing fat. But sleep isn’t just about a number of hours. So, if you’re frequently waking up throughout the night, your body is storing more fat. In my blog post, “Sleeplessness is not a badge of honor,” I briefly mentioned how sleep deprivation negatively affects your thought processes and emotions. But unhealthy sleeping habits can also bring unwanted changes to your body … like weight gain. More specifically, it’s fat gain.

When you’re not sleeping well, your metabolism suffers. Below I describe 7 important metabolic changes that take place during sleep deprivation, and the 7 hormones at the center of it all.

Melatonin for Sleep

60 million people in the United States take meds to help them sleep. 60 million! And you might’ve heard of one holistic option - melatonin. So ... melatonin is not really a medication. It’s a naturally derived hormone....

May I share a fun, nerdy game that my family likes to play? It’s called “Vegetable or Fruit?” It goes like this:

Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?

It’s a fruit!

Ok, you might’ve know that one. Then, tell me, is a squash a vegetable or a fruit?

A squash is a fruit too!

A fruit is defined as a seed-containing structure that blossoms from a flowering plant. So, by this definition, a cucumber is a fruit too!

It’s a little silly that fruits and vegetables are confused so often. In general, we correlate the taste of fruit with sweetness! So, I think many fruits are misnamed as vegetables because they’re not sweet. It seems just wrong to call a cucumber a fruit, right?

To be honest - we get fruits and veggies a little confused when it comes to nutrition too! Fruits are often (inappropriately) equated to vegetables in discussions about healthy eating, meal plans and diets. Both fruits and veggies are healthy carbs, but there is one very important distinction between them. Do ...

HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. During a HIIT workout, you give your maximum effort (100%) for short bursts of time (20-60 seconds). This is followed by brief periods of active recovery or minimal effort. The maximum effort to minimum effort is often in a 2:1 ratio.

Here’s an example of a HIIT circuit. Let’s consider sprinting. After warming up, start with an all-out 20-second sprint. The sprint is then followed by a 10-second recovery (walk). You complete this at least 8 times. A total of 3 to 5 different movements will give you a 12- to 20-minute HIIT workout. Simple, right?

Why does HIIT work?

Popular teaching tells us that a workout should last an hour. At least half an hour, right? So, is a 20-minute HIIT workout really effective? To be honest, the original research showed results with just a 4-minute workout! HIIT is not just a trend or a fad. It’s here to stay. Here’s a quick review of the science:

In 1996, Izumi Tabata, PhD, published a ground-breaking stu...