Lean Doc Diaries, a great start to 2013

By Dr. Karl NadolskyIt has been a very successful year thus far for many of my patients in their quests to lose that belly fat and significantly improve their health. I picked out just two of the many stories to give an example of what working with your physician and other health providers along with a motivated approach to changing your lifestyle towards a Leaner Living lifestyle can do! Post-meal walks have worked wonders! The first is a heart-warming

A Lean Mediterranean-style Diet Can Prevent Diabetes & Heart Disease

It should be definitively clear that our clinical focus is helping patients prevent or treat cardiometabolic disease including diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and subsequently atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. So when we see patients in clinic, we focus on lifestyle changes like diet, exercise, sleep, and other miscellaneous components of non-pharmacologic treatment because these are most imperative and work the best[1] for diabetes prevention,

The Essential Exercise for High Blood Sugar

by Dr. Spencer Nadolsky All of our patients who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes find out immediately that in order to lower their blood sugar, exercise must be a part of their lifestyle. While we go over this in the clinic, the reality is that starting an exercise program, when one wasn’t in place beforehand,  is a VERY daunting task. We find that most newly diagnosed (and past) diabetics and pre-diabetics are very scared

Buff Brownies

Reflecting back on Super Bowls past, I remember when my Colts played (and beat!) the Bears a few years ago during my college years.  I got to thinking about what food my roommates and I served at our party.  It was pretty much chips and dip and one of those giant cookies from the grocery store with tons of icing, as well as my favorite- cupcakes (also with icing)!  Since that time, I have make a conscious effort to eat better.  Here is a healthy

Lean Docs Talk: Cholesterol and Statins

by Dr. Spencer Nadolsky and Dr. Karl Nadolsky A common question we get asked by patients and friends is whether or not they need to lower their cholesterol and/or take a statin. It is quite a complex topic since there is a massive amount of research that has been done … and it just keeps coming! As clinicians we have to dive into the data and interpret it to treat our patients to the best of our ability. We decided to make a little video to

Ask the Lean Doc: Should I get a flu shot?

by Dr. Spencer Nadolsky  I decided to make videos regarding controversial topics in healthcare that we get asked about on a daily basis. We will present the evidence and arguments and give our recommendations. Each will have a short video followed by a blog post that will list studies and information not mentioned in the video.In summary:As a family physician I am supposed to recommend YEARLY vaccines to anyone over the age of 6 months The

Santa’s Leaner Cookies

We don’t really know Santa’s medical problems but due to his known visceral obesity (large waist circumference) we wanted to share some cookies that might be less fattening but still yummy. We also won’t take all of the fun out of the holidays as we will share another recipe that is more sinful yet metabolically better than other cookie recipes out there.   Calories (per cookie): 120 Protein: 8 g Total Carbs: 14 g (10 g net) Fiber: 4

Chicken Leaner Soup

Chicken noodle soup was always comfort food for us growing up (as was for most people). We decided to make it a little leaner by omitting the noodles and replacing them with more veggies. The beauty in this recipe is its simplicity as well as its ability to be made in large quantities for repeated ingestion. We make enough to last a few dinners! Calories (per bowl): 156 Protein: 22 g Total Carbs: 6 g (4 g net) Fiber: 2 g Fat: 5 g Prep Time: 5

Lean Doc Diaries: “Love Thy Neighbor”

The latest brief inspirational story I would like to share is not even from my patient population, but is from my friend and neighbor, Bruce. Bruce has waived his HIPAA rights to share his story in hopes to help others. Bruce is a 72 year old male who didn’t previously have any known medical problems of significance, and has felt healthy without any problems his whole life. He has always been very active, but not necessarily physically fit,

How to Test your Insulin Resistance

by Dr. Spencer Nadolsky   If you have read a lot of our articles, we focus a lot on what is called - insulin resistance. If you want a quick review of what it is you can check out my video – How Diabetes and Berberine Work – Part 1. The quick definition is just, a condition where cells fail to respond to normal levels of insulin. Increased insulin resistance means your pancreas needs to make more insulin to get glucose into your