Welcome Dr. Philip

I practiced family medicine with Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, with a special interest in the field of preventive medicine.  Being the first family physician to work for “the Clinic” in the field of family medicine, has been interesting and valuable over the past thirteen years.

Prior to working for the Clinic, I taught in the field of medicine for six years at various universities, was in private practice and have published in the field.  On December 2, 2008, I began a new adventure as a Lieutenant Colonel and educator at Fort Hood, Texas, involved in the education of residents in the field of Family Medicine.  Being a Lieutenant Colonel, will give me other opportunities as well, to help our men and women in uniform.

On a regular basis, I will submit various topics pertaining to preventive medicine, that if practiced regularly, will improve your lives and allow for a longer and a more comfortable life as well.

Preventive medicine is the key to great health and will benefit all that follow the precepts I will present.  Some of these will be new to you, some will have a different slant, while others may be just plain boring.  I hope few of my comments fall into the latter category and I will look forward to any and all suggestions you may have to improve on what I present on this blog.

The practice of medicine over the years has been intellectually stimulating for me, but more importantly, it has provided many of my patients with a good attitude towards a healthy and wonderful life style.  I look forward to your comments and questions.  Lisa, who invited me to participate on her blog, will provide wonderful in-site into her own struggle and will also offer many very constructive ideas on how to win.  We can all do better at following sound health principles.  The trick is to begin each day with a new way of improving your body, your mind, and your spirit, and I am here to help you.  Let’s get started!

My friend Emily Minor

Emily and I became friends while I was working at the Palm Beach Post in the early 1990’s. We were drawn to each other because of our Midwest roots. We are and will always be Ohio gals at heart. Her family became my home away from home when I lived in South Florida for seven years. Her husband Marty even went to Ohio University just like I did. There was always something to talk about when I would spend hours and sometimes days at their lovely home.

She is a longtime South Florida journalist who for many years worked as a columnist for The Palm Beach Post. Always honest and aimed for the gut, her Real Life columns examined the triumphs and struggles of everyday people. In the summer of 2008, she took a buyout from the newspaper and began freelance writing and working on her cottage industry business - funky and fabulous custom aprons found at alltherageaprons.com

Emily has lived with Type I insulin-dependent diabetes since 1989 and wears an insulin pump. In January of 2007, she began a weight-loss program and spent the next 12 months losing 50 pounds. Now happily slender, she works every day - every day! - At keeping that weight off. She lives in West Palm Beach, Fl., with her husband and son and enjoys armchair politics, napping and Jazzercise. She does not enjoy yelling at her kid about his messy room, although she does this nearly every day.

When the winter weather gets to me I call her and let her know that I am on my way to spend sometime by their pool. They live near the Intercoastal waterway. My tennis shoes are the first thing in my suitcase because I can’t wait to take a long walk along the water and listen to the tunes that her husband just loaded on my ipod.

I am sure that you will come to love my friend as much as I do. She is my weight loss hero. Living with Type 1 diabetes has been hard for her but she was able to loss her extra pounds safely even during a time when she lost both of her parents and left her beloved job.

Our conversations will always be honest and filled with humor. Emily never holds back on what she thinks and that is why I love her so much. I am sure you will adore her as much as I do.

The small blessings of good eating habits

I changed the way I ate earlier this year not to lose weight but to get pregnant.

My husband and I had been trying for more than a year to conceive. With my 40th birthday quickly approaching, I was getting desperate. I didn’t want to undergo invasive and costly fertility treatment, so I went to see an acupuncturist instead. A friend who had recently gotten pregnant recommended her.

The acupuncturist stressed healthy eating along with treatments. She asked for a meal diary. She picked it apart and made suggestions. Soon, I stopped eating refined sugars—no soda pop, no cookies, cake, etc.—white breads and most meats. I eliminated caffeine and cut way back on my dairy (cheese, milk, etc.). I piled up on vegetables, especially broccoli and cauliflower. I never felt better.

I lost about 6 pounds. But best of all, three weeks later I was pregnant.

The Better Choice

What started simply as calorie counting has turned into a lifestyle for Elisabeth. She shed 100 pounds of unwanted fat through eating small meals every few hours and burning as many calories as possible (six days at the gym a week). Currently, she’s helping her boyfriend – a self-proclaimed meat & potatoes man – to adapt some healthier eating habits from her “flexitarian lifestyle” (mostly vegetarian with the occasional free-range chicken breast). Here is the first look into her life and how her transformation has changed her life.

On Sunday night, I did a little Christmas shopping at Tower City with my boyfriend on his way to the airport for his return flight to Harrisburg. (Ah, the joys of a long-distance relationship! He lives about 5 1⁄2 hours by car from Cleveland and – for a quick weekend visit – the $200 direct flight is a no-brainer). While we were there, we decided to grab a bite at Houlihan’s. I should mention that I don’t usually frequent many chain restaurants – but dating Andy, I’ve found myself in more of them – something that we’re both planning on changing in the New Year.

As Andy and I looked at the menu, I automatically started my regular scan for anything healthy and vegetarian. Nope, nada, nothing. There usually isn’t, but I always look anyway. So it’s my job to make the menu work for me – and with these types of menus, I always scope out the burger section first. Oftentimes you can substitute a veggie patty for the standard beef. And since chain places rarely make their own veggie burgers, their typical frozen patty-version makes calorie counting pretty easy. And by choosing the steamed veggie, holding the bun and adding a salad, you can cobble together a pretty good meal. But no such luck here – no veggie burgers. Which sent me into salad territory to scope out an option with the least amount of tortilla strips and bacon with a maximum of actual veggies. I’m not at all shy about asking the waiter to hold those types of items, but if I’m spending $11 on a salad, I’d like to have more than just lettuce in my salad!

As I was figuring out my order, my boyfriend was narrowing down his finalists: grilled chicken breast with mashed potatoes and asparagus vs. baby back ribs with fries. I probably should have suggested that the grilled chicken was the better choice, but I didn’t say anything. After all, this relationship is pretty new and I don’t want to start pushing my healthy choices onto him (aka, “trying to change him”). So I stayed quiet.

A few minutes later, as a half rack of ribs and towering pile of fries got placed in front of him, I had a revelation. All these healthy ordering habits that have become so second nature to me were slowly born over the past seven years by many, many individual decisions. “No, I would not like fries with that.” “Can I get those veggies steamed, please?” “Instead of the potato and garlic bread, can I have a side salad? And yes, it is okay if there is an up-charge.”

It’s not like I became this super-careful orderer overnight…it just kinda happened…as, one time after another after another, I found a healthier option. The trick is pretty simple — whenever someone asks you, simply pick “the better choice.” It doesn’t have to be a perfect choice – but pick the better one.
Next time Andy is wrestling between ribs/fries vs. grilled chicken/veggies, I will definitely encourage him to make the better choice…and keep reminding myself to do the same!