I’m usually quite proud of my Irish ancestry, but one unfortunate vestige of that heritage is pasty white skin that sunburns quite easily. When my mother was pregnant with me and my twin brother, the doctors discovered a large melanoma on her leg which required immediate surgery.… Read the rest
Category Archives: Wellness
4 Reasons I Love GLP-1 Meds For Weight Loss
You’ve all heard by now about a new class of weight loss medications: GLP-1 receptor agonists. These injectable medications are gaining attention for their potential to help people lose weight. But are they really as good as they sound? As a family doctor with over 24 years of experience treating patients with obesity, I’m excited to share what I’ve learned about these medications and why I believe they’re truly remarkable—not just for weight loss but for overall health improvement.… Read the rest
What Really Works To Lose Weight?
In my sixteen years of family medicine, I think the most frustrating disease I treat is obesity. It’s frustrating because as a doctor I feel great compassion for these patients, trying so hard to lose weight, and yet I feel almost shameful that as a primary care physician I can’t offer much in terms of medicines to help.… Read the rest
Diabetes: Healthy Lifestyle Choices Are Key
I’ve been a family doctor for fifteen years, and one of the more dramatic changes I’ve noticed is a big spike in the incidence of prediabetes and diabetes, in all age groups. I had worked in China for ten years until last summer, and all us family doctors at my Beijing clinic weren’t surprised at all with the 2013 paper published in JAMA confirming the frightening reality in China: more than half of all adults in China now are prediabetic.… Read the rest
Not Sleeping Well? Here’s My Advice.
This week, March 6 – 13, is National Sleep Awareness Week, so it’s a good time to review healthy sleep habits. I see a lot of adults and teens in my clinic who are chronically tired and have troubles sleeping — both falling asleep and staying asleep.… Read the rest
Don’t Skip Breakfast! Here’s Why.
Did you know that the U.S. Center for Disease Control predicts that one third of all Americans will have diabetes by the year 2050? This scary statistic is not just an American phenomenon; many Western countries’ modernized diets have led to a diabetes epidemic.… Read the rest