Dec 18, 2019
In this bonus episode, Clyde Yancy, MD, and Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, offer tips for people to consider in the new year, that can improve their health.
Lloyd-Jones suggests experimenting with different tactics to lose or maintain weight, such as intermittent fasting.
"The important thing, if you need to lose weight, is to find out what works for you. It doesn't really matter how you do it, as long as you do it," Lloyd-Jones says. "75 percent of Americans are overweight or obese; we are the fattest nation there has ever been. It is not anyone's fault, but it is something we have to do something about."
If losing weight feels like an overwhelming goal, Lloyd-Jones suggests people concentrate on not gaining any additional weight instead.
Yancy often quotes to his patients a phrase coined by Northwestern physician Neil Stone, MD: "eat less, do more and know your numbers (such as blood pressure)." But Yancy says he would add one more idea to that phrase: maintain a healthy social life.
"Remain engaged with people who matter to you and people for whom you matter, because it looks like it can add years to your life expectancy and cognitive function," he says.