In my last post, I reviewed a study that highlighted the beneficial effects of eating more protein. Today I want to review another study that highlights the benefits of limiting processed food in the diet.
In today’s blog post, I will briefly review a fascinating study that was first published in 2005, and that should inform our approach to losing weight and improving our fitness and metabolic health.
In my last post, I introduced our new body composition scanner, Styku. Today, I’m proud to announce that our second big piece of “bio-hacking” equipment is now fully functional here in the office: our Soleil-Well Red Light Device.
What is a red light device? It is, as its name implies, a device that shines very bright and powerful red (and near infrared) light onto the body. Truly it’s no more complicated than that – one simply stands in front of the device for a few minutes and allows the light to soak into their body. It’s completely painless, completely non-invasive, and virtually risk free, as it does not emit any radiation or ultraviolet light.
I’ve written a lot about the benefits of direct primary care to my patients. But here’s another one – unlike in my prior corporate job, I can actually take some time out of the office to recharge. Doctors are only human, and we actually perform our jobs with more intelligence, creativity, and compassion when we’re well rested and get to spend adequate time with our family and friends. Accordingly, I’m doing something this week that I’ve rarely done in my career as a physician before: closing shop in order to hang out with my kids, who have the week off from school for spring break.
We’ll be back in the office next Monday. Until then, my patients should feel absolutely free to text or call me for anything important. But otherwise I’ll be off, meaning no further posts to this blog nor uploads to our social media channels for the next seven days.
I am proud to announce that, several months after ordering it, our Styku body composition scanner arrived last week and is now operational. Starting immediately, my patients can regularly have painless, non-invasive, radiation free body scans here in the office that will provide them with key information about their metabolic health and their risk for developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, as well as feedback about weight loss and fitness efforts.
A few years ago, back when I was still an employee at a large corporate practice, a middle aged woman who I knew well came to see me complaining of abdominal pain. I took a history from her, examined her carefully, and reviewed her recent labs. After doing so, I was reassured that she had nothing serious going on and needed no further workup for the moment.
So I did exactly the sort of “irrational” thing that makes no sense to an insurance company but all the sense in the world to a doctor: I ordered an abdominal ultrasound.
