Refuse To Regain

Pills Are Not Magic. You Are.

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Greetings from the land of semi-retirement. It has been just over a year since I left my primary practice--fully intending to continue patient care in another setting. But fate intervened in the form of a local dance contest and shifted my focus to pursuit of a lifelong dream of becoming a dancer. If not now...when??? Since that fateful moment, I have trained endless hours and have competed in three world salsa competitions (not very successfully!). I... Read more →

Do It!

by Barbara Berkeley, MD It has been a long time since I blogged here. I hope you are still out there working on staying healthy and finding your own way to reach your goals. I know how frustrating it can be and I know you sometimes wonder if it's all worth it. Let me assure you that it is. Things in my life have changed. In November, I became a grandmother for the first time and in December I decided... Read more →

Simplify Your Life: A philosophy that should be applied to weight loss

by Barbara Berkeley, MD (Originally posted on RTR as "Simple Life, Simple Body", 2015) I was intrigued by David Brooks’ column in the New York Times recently. It speaks to a renewed interest in an old idea: simplifying life. Living in a less complicated way is not a new concept (think Walden Pond), but it has gained a greater magnetism in the setting of the hugely complex and acquisitive world in which we now find ourselves. I personally have enjoyed... Read more →

Our Healthcare Industry: NOT

by Barbara Berkeley, MD It's in the headlines. It's on your mind. It's health care. As of December, 2016 the United States was spending 17.8% of its gross domestic product on health care. That's 3.2 trillion dollars or about $9,990 per person each year. The imbroglio over Obamacare is the direct consequence of our enormous health care problem. Proper coverage is too expensive for many of us and beyond any reach for truly sick people unless there is a contribution... Read more →

Dr. B's Diet Tips for the New Year

by Barbara Berkeley As you know, I generally prefer to write about issues of weight maintenance. But it would be foolish to ignore the fact that on January 1st, most Americans thoughts turn to dieting. It's well known that our country's top New Year's resolution is weight loss. Diet programs, gyms, personal trainers, and fitness equipment companies all bank on it. But they also know that the boom is short lived. The vast majority of those who toast the New... Read more →

Mr. Warburg Surfaces Again. The Link Between Diet and Cancer

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Because of my interest in the potentially toxic effects of too much sugar on the body, I became fascinated with the work of one Otto Warburg back in 2010. At that time, I published this blog about him. Warburg believed that cancer cells were unable to live by normal cellular processes and that they relied on sugar...and large amounts of it---to live. The thought was that cancer cells might be able to be starved to death... Read more →

The Body Mysterious: Time to Lift the Veil

by Barbara Berkeley, MD We physicians live in the shadow of rising health care costs. Hospitals want us to cut length of stays and somehow become more efficient. Insurance companies ask us to accept less money for patient visits, forcing us to see more people in fewer hours. The government wants us to check a slew of electronic boxes to prove that we’ve performed what they deem to be “best practices”…. even though there is little evidence that any of... Read more →

End of the Year Thoughts, 2015

by Barbara Berkeley, MD At the end of the year I like to look back at what has changed in my field and how I have changed in my practice and beliefs. Has new information about weight and weight loss come to the fore? Am I using different techniques than I used to? And most importantly, what have I learned from my patients this year? My interactions with patients are always the most powerful teachers. This fact reflects what is... Read more →

Weight Loss in America: The Definition of Insanity

by Barbara Berkeley, MD What is the definition of insanity? Albert Einstein put it this way: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Who are we to disagree with the greatest of mind of the 20th century? This week we were treated to the latest data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States. We sure talk a lot about obesity and we sure claim that we... Read more →

What LeBron Can Teach Us About Weight Control

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Whether or not my beloved Cleveland Cavaliers are able to prevail as champions this year, there is no question that they have delivered a gutsy performance in this year's NBA finals. When LeBron was in Cleveland during his first stint, I frequently wrote about him in this blog. I thought, and still think, that there was a lot to be learned from someone who pursued his goals with such single-minded intensity. In my own "sports career"... Read more →