Intermittent Fasting – Is there any scientific basis for it?
Intermittent fasting has become popular both for weight loss and health improvement. People have adapted this to be anything from alternate day fasts, drastically restricting calories for 2 days each week(a 5:2 plan), or restricting eating to a certain number of hours per day, usually 8-12 hours. Is there any scientific reason to believe it…
BULLETIN: It’s NOT Too Late – Get Your Flu Shot NOW!
As you can see by the map, the flu season is up and running all across the United States. It’s an unusual season, in that influenza B, which is usually more common later in the season, is starting up strong. It is usually more common in children, but that’s the only one I’ve seen so…
Challenging Family Scripts and Setting Healthy Boundaries During the Holidays
As a marriage and family therapist, I was asked to speak at a recent Lady Docs gathering about family interactions that play a prominent role during this holiday season. Feel free to journal as the group did last week as we explore family relationships. As therapists, we treat people as part of a family system…
Diabetes, fiber and the micro biome
One of the talks at the conference was “Beyond Carb Counting: Why Plant-Based Nutrition is Sweet Medicine for Insulin Resistance”. It was delivered by Dr. Michelle McMacken, a board-certified internal medicine physician and an assistant professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine. She is vegan and is deeply involved with encouraging her patients to…
Food as Medicine
I had the pleasure of returning to my alma mater in the Bronx – Montefiore Hospital – where I did some of my clerkships in medical school, and the majority of the clinical work during my pulmonary fellowship. It’s been renovated so much in the 31 years since I’ve been there that the only building…
2019 National Race to End Women’s Cancer
This morning, my husband and I and several friends met at Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C. for our third 5K run/walk for National Race to End Women’s Cancer, to support the Foundation for Women’s Cancer. Gynecologic cancers include Ovarian, Cervical, Endometrial/Uterine, Vulva and Vaginal Cancer. According to the American Cancer Society statistics, there were 110,070…
Weight Bias
If you are living with overweight or obesity, then you may have already experienced a host of weight-related consequences. No, I am not referring to the standard medical warnings you’ve heard over the years, like monitoring your blood pressure or being tested for diabetes. Instead, I am referring to the pervasive weight-related bias that affects…
Cataract Surgery: Laser vs. Traditional
Do you need cataract surgery and are wondering if laser cataract surgery is right for you? Cataract surgery is one of the most commonly performed and successful surgeries performed in medicine. Of course, as with any surgery, there are risks involved. In some cases, laser-assisted cataract surgery may reduce those risks and improve your outcome. …
Helping Others – Tips Related to Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
It seems that every cause has a day, week or month to bring awareness and that we can be inundated with these messages. With that in mind, this post is about an issue that most people don’t talk much about or know how to respond to: pregnancy and infant loss. October signifies the awareness of…
What do heart attacks, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma have in common?
I had the pleasure of going to the 2019 International Conference of Nutrition in Medicine sponsored by George Washington University and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. This year’s speakers included researchers from Harvard, Yale and Brown, as well as Dr. Ostfeld from my alma mater, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The…