Health recommendations can be daunting. For one thing, they often mean not-so-easy habit changes. For example, if you are told a certain food is not good for you, it’s not so easy to cut back or stop eating it: It’s likely a food you have enjoyed eating for a very…
As reported by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, the American Cancer Society estimates that more than 40 percent of cancers are associated with modifiable lifestyle factors, such as: • Smoking • Alcohol • Chronic inflammation • Obesity • Lack of exercise • Cumulative lifetime exposure to radiation • Cumulative lifetime exposure to…
As I have written and spoken about many times, including earlier this year here, if you are looking for a new healthy eating habit, eliminating soda from your diet is a great place to start. To be clear: this means all kinds of soda, including diet soda, and there is…
I recently happened upon this Mark Twain quote: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” I like to take it back a step. The first step to…
Dr. Gabe Mirkin, whose newsletter I have been reading for years, and highly recommend, reported on a study published last summer: you can reduce your risk of dementia by up to 70 percent when you follow the same healthful habits that help to prevent heart attacks. The study found that…
If you are looking for your first new habit for 2019, try eliminating soda (diet and regular) from your diet. Every time I give a speech, I use “giving up soda” as an example of a health habit to adopt. I talk about the incredibly huge amount of sugar in…
Happy New Year! Dr. Gabe Mirkin, whose health newsletter I have been reading for years, and highly recommend, reported on a study published last summer with wonderfully positive news: lifestyle factors can have a positive impact on the way your body responds to your genes. Researchers looked at identical twins…
I am an advocate of adopting new habits all year long, and not waiting for New Year’s Day. That said, calendar events (birthdays, the start of a month, and the start of a year) can inspire people to focus on personal development. And with a new year on the horizon,…
The way I approach the sixth of my Six Simple Rules, “Be Healthy,” is closely connected to the fifth, “Be a Lifelong Learner”. I regularly read health-related articles to keep up on the latest science around eating well and exercise, and work on new habits according to what I learn.…
This year, my wife and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Around the same time, I read a blog post called “8 Traits of a Happy Marriage, According to a Couples Therapist.” I agree with all eight of the defining characteristics of long-lasting, happy marriages. I am particularly drawn to these…
With dementia (and specifically Alzheimer’s disease) a part of my family history, an article in The Atlantic, “The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer's,” caught my attention. Its sub-title, “A high-carb diet, and the attendant high blood sugar, are associated with cognitive decline,” reinforced my commitment to the way I…
I’ve written before about things I learned from Daniel Kahneman’s wonderfully interesting book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow". In a section on availability bias, Kahneman shared useful information for couples. Availability bias is the way we judge situations by relying on immediate examples that come mind. For example, as Kahneman points…