All of us are role models, whether we see ourselves that way or not. Of course I love to imagine myself as a positive role model, but my eleven-year-old daughter has already informed me that things will be way different at her house when she’s a mama. However, we’re not going to focus on how uncool I am, instead, I’m going to share the stories of a couple of people ...
Melanie Lane, MD
Make the most of the time spent with a doctor to minimize patient frustration
A lot of people express frustration when visiting their doctor’s office. They don’t feel they are listened to, cared about, or have their issues adequately addressed. If this sounds familiar, it could be that your doctor is evil, or what’s more likely, he’s trying to practice medicine within a difficult system.Due to decreasing reimbursement and increasing expenses, many doctors are forced to see more patients just to keep their ...
A confident, independent, empowered woman is a force to be reckoned with
I am infinitely blessed by The Girl Effect. As I look back through the generations of my family, I see it rolling toward me, through me like a wave.I am sure it started even before my grandmother stole her parents’ car with intent to drive by herself from Austin to Chicago to see the World’s Fair in 1924; I just don’t have much history to work with prior ...
Integrity, discipline, respect: Using kung fu to control your eating
About seven months ago, I began training kung fu with my family. Our classes are intense and require the students to really pull out our personal best. Periodically our instructor will remind us by shouting out, "Train like a black belt!" when she catches us being sloppy or less than enthusiastic. Her exclamation inspires me to squat a little lower in my horse stance, amps up my intensity, and focuses ...
A community of healthy seniors inspires this physician
I have been genuinely blessed by my career in medicine.When I started medical school, I was living through a very rocky time, dealing with severe, at times suicidal depression. I was working through an outpatient alcohol and drug rehabilitation program, and I was about 40 pounds overweight. I had grown up with a very negative and fatalistic attitude toward life which resulted in chronic misery and a number of personal ...
Deal with your triggers when trying to lose weight
One of the most common complaints that I hear from people attempting to lose weight is, “I don’t know how to deal with my triggers.” Most of us have had the experience of eating just one bite of something and suddenly wanting to devour the entire thing. Sometimes we do, even though we know we won’t be happy with ourselves when we finish.I am familiar with the experience of insisting ...
Most doctors don’t like prescribing pills
I am a medical doctor. I am also called an allopath, someone who practices “Western medicine.”We allopaths like data, proof, science, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. We want to know the “mechanism of action.” We want someone to prove that yoga or medication or some procedure actually helps your depression or blood pressure or back pain and that these treatments are safe before we prescribe them. We feel more confident about ...
