Episode 45: Will it stick? - How to make lifestyle changes that last

Health talk given by Dr George Cho, ND as part of the Blue Health program, a community lifestyle medicine program that helps participants and patients adopt the lifestyle principles of people living in the Blue Zones. This talk discusses how we can make long-lasting sustainable lifestyle changes.

Learn more about Blue Health at www.pathwaystowholeness.ca/bluehealth

Links

Blue Health program

Blue Zones

Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast Blue Zones episode

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a group of clinics in Toronto that prevents, treats and reverses disease using evidence-based lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Music credits:
Positive
Akashic Records

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Episode 44: Moai - Connected to Longevity

Health talk given by Dr George Cho, ND as part of the Blue Health program, a community lifestyle medicine program that helps participants and patients adopt the lifestyle principles of people living in the Blue Zones. This talk discusses the importance of strong social relationships for good health and longevity.

Learn more about Blue Health at www.pathwaystowholeness.ca/bluehealth

Links

Blue Health program

Blue Zones

Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast Blue Zones episode

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a group of clinics in Toronto that prevents, treats and reverses disease using evidence-based lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Music credits:
Positive
Akashic Records

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 43: Feeding the bugs in your gut

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Pekka Maatanen to discuss some of the most important questions about one of the hottest areas in medicine: the gut microbiome.

What is the gut microbiome?
Is a keto diet actually good for our gut?
Should I take a probiotic after taking antibiotics?
What’s the best diet to promote good gut health?

Dr. Pekka Maatanen is a scientist and assistant professor at Burman University. He obtained a PhD at McGill University and was a post-doctoral fellow at the International Vaccine Centre and a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Links

Dr. Pekka Maatanen

The impact of vegan diets on gut microbiota: An update on the clinical implications

Gut bacteria 101 (The Exam Room podcast)

The best foods for healthy gut bacteria

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 42: The Heart of the Matter (Part 3) - Why our mouth matters for our heart

In the final episode of our 3-part series on lifestyle medicine for the heart, Dr Shanny Chang, dentist at Junction Family Dental Care, shares why our oral health matters for our heart. Our gums are an extension of our skin and damage to our gums can lead to the spread of bacterial infection and inflammation in other parts of our bodies, including the heart.

This series was presented at a Lunch with the Doctor event in partnership with the Downsview Seventh-day Adventist Church in Toronto, Canada. Lunch with the Doctor is a free community event featuring delicious plant-based food and engaging health talks by doctors on lifestyle medicine.

Links

Junction Family Dental Care

Gum disease and the connection to the heart (Harvard Health)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 41: The Heart of the Matter (Part 2) - Is alcohol really good for your heart?

You’ve probably heard it said that alcohol’s good for the heart. However, new studies published in the Lancet are questioning this popular notion. In fact, the safest amount of alcohol might actually be zero. In this episode, Pathways’ Dr George Cho shares why abstinence from alcohol might be the best choice for heart health. You’ll also learn why its critical to start kids on a healthy lifestyle for optimal heart health. We end with the inspiring story of Adam Sud, who through plant-based nutrition and the other principles of lifestyle medicine, was able to reverse addiction, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Tune in!

This is part two of a health talk given by Pathways medical director Dr George Cho and Dr Shanny Chang, dentist at Junction Family Dental Care, presented at Lunch with the Doctor event in partnership with the Downsview Seventh-day Adventist Church in Toronto, Canada. Lunch with the Doctor is a free community event featuring delicious plant-based food and engaging health talks by doctors on lifestyle medicine.

Links

No level of alcohol consumption improves health (Lancet)

Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990 - 2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 (Lancet)

Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies (Lancet)

Thresholds for safe alcohol use might need lowering (Lancet)

No alcohol level safe to drink, global study confirms (BBC)

There is no safe level of alcohol, global study confirms (CTV)

Alcohol is a global killer, study finds (NBC News)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 40: The Heart of the Matter (Part 1) - Why heart disease shouldn't be a leading killer

Heart disease is the number one killer in America. But this need not be the case. Heart disease is preventable and if we have it already, it can be reversed by applying key lifestyle principles.

This is part one of a health talk given by Pathways medical director Dr George Cho and Dr Shanny Chang, dentist at Junction Family Dental Care, presented at Lunch with the Doctor event in partnership with the Downsview Seventh-day Adventist Church in Toronto, Canada. Lunch with the Doctor is a free community event featuring delicious plant-based food and engaging health talks by doctors on lifestyle medicine. This episode focuses on the importance of aerobic exercise and whole foods plant-based nutrition for preventing and reversing heart disease.

Links

Plant-based diets lower risk of hypertension (DrGeorgecho.com)

Dr Caldwell Esselstyn Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Program

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 39: Four other reasons to go plant-based (#4 Power your mental health with Dr. Linda Plowright)

Plant-based eating isn’t just good for our physical health. It’s also better for our mental health. In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Linda Plowright, plant-based psychiatrist from London, Canada who shares with us why plant foods are so good for our mental health, why animal foods are not, and some tips on transitioning to plant-based eating.

Links

www.nutritionfacts.org

Power foods for the brain (Dr Neal Barnard)

Food and bad moods (The Exam Room podcast)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 38: Four other reasons to go plant-based (#3 Feed the hungry)

Here’s another reason why we should go plant-based: it can help reduce hunger for the millions of people - including many children - who still cannot get enough to eat.

We produce enough food - grains, soy, corn etc - to feed every single human in the world. Yet, we divert so much of these plentiful crops and resources to feed animals just to satisfy our seemingly insatiable appetite for meat. This is an inefficient and wasteful use of the food we produce. If more of us chose to eat a more plant-based diet, we could free up more food to feed those less fortunate than ourselves.

Links

The EAT Lancet Commission on Food, Planet and Health

What if the whole world went vegan? (The Exam Room podcast)

Choose compassion through plants (DrGeorgeCho.com)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 37: Four other reasons to go plant-based (#2 Save the planet!)

Want to save the planet and fight climate change? Don't just switch to an electric car - go plant-based!

This is part 2 in our series on 4 other reasons why we should choose plant-based eating as recommended in lifestyle medicine. In our last episode we learned how plant-based eating is the compassionate choice for the animals we share this earth with and to reduce animal cruelty.

But it's not just animals who are suffering from the consequences of our meat-loving diets - it's the entire planet. The livestock industry is one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse emissions and environmental degradation. If we're serious about saving our planet, we need to get serious about what we put on our plates.

Links

The EAT Lancet Commission on Food, Planet and Health

What if the whole world went vegan? (The Exam Room podcast)

Choose compassion through plants (DrGeorgeCho.com)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 36: Four other reasons to go plant-based diet (#1 Choose compassion and reduce suffering)

In lifestyle medicine we know that plant-based eating is great for our health. When you go plant-based, you significantly increase your chances of avoiding today’s leading chronic diseases and experiencing a long vibrant life. But good physical health is only one of the many reasons why you should go plant-based. There are at least 4 other benefits which we explore in the next 4 episodes. The first is that it’s the most compassionate way of eating towards the animals we share this earth with. In this episode we discuss the animal agriculture industry and the immense suffering that animals often endure in order for us to enjoy our steak and burgers. By choosing plant-based eating, we are making the choice to reduce suffering and promote a more compassionate world.

Links

Bacon in Reverse (PETA)

The modern day slave trade? (DrGeorgeCho.com)

Choose compassion through plants (DrGeorgeCho.com)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 35: Being a plant-based MD: Interview with Dr Zahra Kassam

Dr Zahra Kassam is a radiation oncologist in Newmarket, Canada, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and a leader for plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine in Canada. In this episode we have a wide-ranging conversation on her journey to becoming a plant-based doctor and where the medical community currently stands on plant-based eating. We touch on Canada’s new food guide, how we can navigate the confusing world of nutrition to make the best healthy eating choices and hear about the first-ever Canadian conference dedicated specifically to plant-based nutrition in medicine.

Links

Canadian Academy of Lifestyle Medicine

Canadian Plant-based Nutrition Conference

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 34: Genetics loads the gun, Lifestyle pulls the trigger

If your father, uncle and grandparents all had diabetes, are you doomed to get diabetes as well? Are today’s leading chronic diseases mostly due to genetics or our lifestyle?

Lifestyle medicine recognizes what science is revealing about the role of our genes and lifestyle in chronic disease: while we may have genetic predispositions, its lifestyle that really determines whether you get the disease or not. Knowing this can make all the difference in the world: you have the power in your own hands - in the way you live - to largely determine your health destiny.

Links

Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention (PNAS)

Your genes are not your fate (TED Talk)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 33: Give kids lifestyle medicine

Have you ever tried to tell a kid not to do something unhealthy - like eat that extra piece of cake or candy - just to be rebuked by a well-meaning adult who tells you, "it's ok! They're just kids!" Is that true? Is it ok for kids to do unhealthy things just because they're kids. In this episode, we explore startling research that shows that many of the diseases we thought only adults get - such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease - are popping up in teenagers and even young children! Chronic disease starts at a young age and here's what we can do to prevent that.

Links

Give kids lifestyle medicine (DrGeorgeCho.com)

Prevalence of prediabetes and its association with clustering cardiometabolic risk factors and hyperinsulinemia among U.S. adolescents: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005 – 2006 (Diabetes Care)

Prevalence of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes among children and adolescents from 2001 to 2009 (JAMA)

Prevalence and extent of atherosclerosis in adolescents and young adults (JAMA)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 32: Exercise is Medicine (Part 3)

In this final episode of our series on Exercise Is Medicine, we explore how exercise can help reverse disease. That’s right - not just prevent and treat disease, but also reverse the course of disease processes. This is part 3 of a 3-part series by Pathways medical director Dr George Cho of a talk he delivered in Toronto.

Links

Exercise is medicine essays (DrGeorgeCho.com)
The 6 focus areas of lifestyle medicine (podcast)
Exercise is Medicine.org (American College of Sports Medicine)
Exercise is the pill (podcast)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 31: Exercise is Medicine (Part 2)

In this episode we continue our series on Exercise Is Medicine. In Part 1, we explored how exercise can help prevent disease. In this episode, we take it a step further and look at how exercise can help in the treatment of disease. This is part 2 of a 3-part series by Pathways medical director Dr George Cho of a talk he delivered in Toronto.

Links

Exercise is medicine essays (DrGeorgeCho.com)
The 6 focus areas of lifestyle medicine (podcast)
Exercise is Medicine.org (American College of Sports Medicine)
Exercise is the pill (podcast)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 30: Exercise is Medicine (Part 1)

We all know exercise is good for you. We exercise to be healthy, have fun and look good. But did you know exercise is actually medicine? Exercise doesn’t just prevent disease; it can help treat and reverse disease as well.

This is the first of a 3-part series by Pathways medical director Dr George Cho on exercise as medicine. This segment explores how exercise is important for prevention of disease.

Links

Exercise is medicine essays (DrGeorgeCho.com)
The 6 focus areas of lifestyle medicine (podcast)
Exercise is Medicine.org (American College of Sports Medicine)
Exercise is the pill (podcast)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 29: Hormesis - What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

We’ve all heard the phrase “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” This may be an apt description of how healthy lifestyles actually work to promote health. Healthy plant-based diets, eating less and exercise actually put stress on the body - not too much and not too little - which trigger an adaptive response that makes us stronger and healthier. Scientists and doctors give this process an odd-sounding name: hormesis. Listen in to learn how this all works.

Links

Hormesis defined
Hormesis: Its impact on medicine and health

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 28: Vegaphobia

In lifestyle medicine, we promote a whole foods, plant-based diet. But going plant-based isn’t always easy. There can be a stigma attached to being vegan and unsympathetic friends and family may make life difficult.

But vegans can also make life difficult for others and there are negative perceptions of vegans as arrogant, judgmental and over-zealous.

If you’re transitioning to a plant-based diet, how can you deal with the negative perceptions and pushback while still being a winsome example? And are all vegans obnoxious zealots?

Links

Vegaphobia?

If I became a vegan, my family and friends would hate me

Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 27: What we can control about obesity (The Abstract #4)

There are many things about us and around us that may increase our risk for obesity: the genes we were dealt at birth, the number of fast food restaurants in our neighbourhood and the unhealthy foods sold at grocery stores. A recently published paper in JAMA suggest that even having a cesarean birth may possibly increase our risk for obesity later in life. Many of these we can’t control. But there is something we can: our lifestyle! We may not be able to control how we were born but we can choose to eat, move, love, work and sleep in a healthier way that will help us stay at a healthier weight.

Links

Mode of delivery and childhood obesity: is there a cause for concern?

The Abstract is a special edition of the Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast where we explore a recently published peer-reviewed scientific paper so you can stay up-to-date on the latest research on how our lifestyle is medicine.

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!

Episode 26: The western lifestyle that actually works (Part 2, Dinner with the Doctor, January 2019)

In our previous episode, we learned about the Okinawan health advantage and how the influx of western food and lifestyle patterns have virtually erased it. But there is a western lifestyle that parallels the health benefits of the traditional Okinawan one. That's right: a way of living among North Americans that promotes tremendous longevity right here in the land of fast food, sedentariness and social isolation. We find it among the Seventh-day Adventists. Who are these people and what are they doing that the rest of us are not? Listen in to find out.

This is Part 2 of a health talk presented at a Dinner with the Doctor event hosted by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto. Dinner with the Doctor is a community event featuring delicious plant-based food and a health talk by doctors on lifestyle medicine.

Links

Dinner with the Doctor

The Okinawan health advantage and how they lost it (Part 1, Dinner with the Doctor, January 2019)

Blue Zones: longevity secrets from the world’s longest living people Part 1 (podcast)

Blue Zones: meet the longest living people in North America Part 2 (podcast)

The Lifestyle Is Medicine podcast is produced by Pathways to Wholeness Lifestyle Medicine in Toronto, Canada. Pathways is a medical centre that promotes wholistic health through lifestyle medicine. Pathways provides compassionate, evidence-based medical care at two clinics in Toronto: the North York Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and Junction Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. Learn more at: www.pathwaystowholeness.ca

Listen and subscribe on your favourite platforms!