Refuse To Regain

Exercise A lot

by Barbara Berkeley, MD This post is not for everyone. It is for those of you who are fully capable of exercising or of regaining your ability exercise strenuously. If you fit this description or think you might, read on. There is as much confusing information about how much to exercise as there is about how many grams of sugar, fat and protein one should consume every day. Let me make it simple: where exercise is concerned there is just... 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 →

Look Too Closely And Maybe You Can't Listen Anymore

by Barbara Berkeley, MD We hear a lot these days about listening to our bodies. The body is presumed to speak the truth. The problem, we are told, is not that the body speaks falsely but that we don't heed its messages. As I've discussed in previous posts, the underlying assumption of bodily wisdom is not always correct. If the body is putting out signals that are distorted or simply wrong-headed, following that particular body's direction is not going to... Read more →

Obesity and the Brain: Let's Talk

by Barbara Berkeley MD An email from a friend of mine started me thinking about this topic again and it's a fascinating one. I am interested in the fact that we spend so little time thinking about the territory above our shoulders. Why is that? Maybe because we can't see our brain so we are continually looking out from it, perusing other parts of our bodies, but largely ignoring the place where we truly exist: in the neural net that... Read more →

Traveling Outside of Your Head and Into the Rest of Your World

by Barbara Berkeley, MD It's my contention that most of us spend the majority of our time living in the small space above our neck. It's easy to do, since our brain and 4 of our 5 senses (sight,smell, hearing and taste) reside there. But living in our heads is kind of like living in the capital of a huge country with beautiful and varied terrain...and never venturing out of the city. It's easy to govern badly, and if those... Read more →

The Menopause Myth: Why It Can Be EASIER to Lose Weight Later

by Barbara Berkeley, MD It's always healthy to be skeptical, particularly where dietary pronouncements are concerned. In the past year, I've been asked dozens of times about HCG. Everyone is talking. It's all over the media. Does it work? The answer should be obvious to anyone. If HCG was any kind of obesity cure, 3 out of 4 people you know would be taking it already. The first pill or treatment that comes along and can really zap obesity will... Read more →

Novak Djokovic: The Diet That Conquered Tennis

Welcome tennis fans, tennis players (like me!) and those with an interest in optimum diet! This page tends to get alot of hits when Djokovic is playing in a major. It was written in 2011 and I confess I do not know what his diet looks like currently. I do know that my own athletic performance and health is enhanced by eating a 90% primal diet. Regardless, if you are interested in weight loss, athletic performance, optimal diet, or primal... Read more →

Exercise and Weight Loss: The Conversation Goes On

By Barbara Berkeley For native New Yorkers there is a certain imperative that comes along with the weekend: that would be reading the Sunday “New York Times.” When Don and I moved to Cleveland in 1987, my first question was whether I could get the “Times” delivered. Fool that I was, it seemed to me at the time that I was relocating to a vast wasteland where contact with civilization (read Manhattan) was not guaranteed. Although we’ve become inveterate Clevelanders... Read more →

All Or Nothing…Or Something In Between

By Lynn Haraldson-Bering Here’s how I wake up most days: Sit up, move the neck in a circle (crack, crunch), twist the lower back side to side (crack, crunch), stretch my feet (cramp!), stretch my arms over my head (oh THAT’S where that rotator cuff tear is!), and ask, “How do I feel today?” My workout clothes are usually laid out on the dresser – optimistic leftovers from the night before. I gather them and my Blackberry – which laid... Read more →

The Wind Beneath My Bike Pedals and Hiking Boots

By Lynn Haraldson-Bering As you know – and why Barbara and I write this blog – it’s not easy finding people who can relate to weight maintenance. Like many of you, I’m more than familiar with reaching goal. I’ve done that dozens of times in my life! But I’ve always been a big rubber ball, bouncing back up the scale the minute I hit that magic number. “I can eat again!” was always my mantra. Why this time at goal... Read more →