Joy and Full: Healthier with Sarah Wells, MD

If you listened to Part 1 on cortisol you know that having chronically high levels of cortisol can really work against our health. But what can we do to lower those levels naturally? There are a number of strategies we can glean if we look at the studies on cortisol levels and what reduced them in subject of these studies. In this episode I'll review what some of those approaches can be.

What really works when you have a house containing candy when it comes to sticking with the health and eating plans you'd like to maintain? This question might be closer to the front of your mind as Halloween night approaches. In this episode, I'll talk about ways to engineer your environment so you aren't maxing out your willpower, obstacles you can put in place to make it less lik...

What is cortisol and what does it do? This episode details how cortisol is designed to work, what it does in the body, and what happens when it gets out of whack. How does stress impact it? What does it have to do with achieving a healthy weight? And is 'adrenal fatigue' even really a thing? 

This week we'll revisit one of the most popular episodes last year! This episode I explain the importance of playing the long game in terms of achieving health results. Nimbleness, or the ability to be flexible and shift approaches in terms of specific tools and strategies used, is KEY. But how do you know when it's time to shift strategies? How do you know what kind of tool to try next,...

We know there are so many benefits to exercise in general, but what kind of benefits are specific to focusing on building strength and lean body mass? Is it really worth my time to focus on building muscle? In this episode I walk through an overview of some of the major benefits to strength training across so many body systems. I'll talk about what benefit surprised me as I've added it i...

Once you've established a baseline exercise routine, and you are getting consistent movement into your day that is building your overall health, how can you "level up"? There are a number of ways to tailor what you are doing in movement to what your goals are, and for many people, there are benefits to adding a few sessions a week of brief high-intensity interval sessions. Are these...

Have you ever noticed something like a 'brain fog' after eating too much sugar or processed food? What is behind that? And you just don't seem to feel satisfied by what you are eating...And why is it that you sometimes completely forget the eating goals you set in the morning by the time 5 o'clock arrives? It turns out, not only is processed sugary food hijacking our reward cen...

Is meditation really beneficial for our health? And if so, what does it accomplish? How is secular meditation different that Christian meditation? And how does someone go about Christian meditation? In this episode I'll give a brief overview of the scientific literature about the benefits of meditations, I'll discuss different approaches to what meditation is, and look at a Christian per...

When healthy sleep happens, a cascade of events is occurring. Each stage of sleep seems to have a number of things happening that are vital for your long term health. This episode details what is happening in each stage, and what happens when you are deprived of sleep in the short or long term. The DNA in your brain cells gets signals that turn on and turn off various genes, and those impact so ma...

This episode touches on just a little of what has been revealed about how exercise can be a helpful tool in the toolbox to fight addictive behaviors. Many studies have been completed surrounding substance abuse recovery and exercise...can they be extrapolated to help explain why exercise also seems to be a key part of maintaining weight loss in those who have achieved it? The evidence seems to sup...

This episode dives into what happens in the Dopamine receptor levels in people carrying extra weight. And why is it that sometimes the amount of anticipation you have for certain foods is completely out of sync with how much you actually enjoy it when you actually eat them? What does that mismatch have to do with dopamine?

Does it seem hard to get back on track after you've relapsed for a period of time to old eating and health habits? If so, you are not alone! Getting off track is a normal part of the process, and getting back on track is something that you have to practice over and over again. In fact, learning to get back on track, and practicing it over and over, is what moves you forward toward a long term...

Is it really true that 'pear-shaped' bodies are healthier than 'apple-shaped' bodies? What can be done about a larger waistline than is healthy?  This episode dives in to 3 things that impact the measurement of your waist, why they matter for health, and what to do about them! www.joyfullweightloss.com

Its summer which means fresh sources of fiber from the tastiest fruits and fresh from the vine veggies abound. But what exactly is fiber and why is it good for you? How does it work to improve your health? And what does it mean when companies add it to their products--does that processed kind benefit our health as much as plants? Remember to sign up for The Extra Helping, my email newsletter!

What benefits can you expect to see when you "only" lose 10 pounds? Or even 5 pounds? Sometimes, like many, you might find yourself questioning whether your efforts are worthwhile if you lose 5% of your starting weight, when you've aspired to more. Instead of quitting in discouragement, this episode is the one to pick when you are looking for some stats from the research that reveal...

This episode is all about expectations. We will talk about what sort of expectations we have in regards to weight loss, and what the studies currently find MOST people have when they start a weight loss plan. We’ll also discuss what typical weight loss happens when addressing behavioral changes in studies. Is it going to hamper your success if you are dreaming big in regards to weight loss? Or wil...

When there is a 'failure' or a 'misstep' in your progress towards your goals, how do you handle it? This episode walks through ways to glean the growth these opportunities can offer. If we breeze past the mistakes without sitting down to pull out the opportunities for growth they offer us, we will have trouble moving forward. We need to learn to consistently step back and take...

What if you actually loved the foods that are good for you, the ones you "ought" to eat? And what if you truly DIDN'T like the foods that are not-so-good for your health? What if you actually WANTED the good stuff and DIDN'T want the bad stuff? Wouldn't this make eating healthier SO MUCH SIMPLER? You wouldn't have to use nearly as much willpower on a day to day basis,...

Let's think outside the box about what we can do with our food choices when we are on the go. From nice restaurants to quick gas station stops, we actually DO have options and choices we can make to nourish ourselves well and support our health, even when we are away from home.

Listen in to discover what one study discovered in people's kitchens that made a 20 - 30 pound difference in their weight! I'll talk about ways to apply what they discovered in our own kitchens to help decrease the amount of willpower we need to expend on a daily basis.

Today's episode is a little dive into the science of fat storage. What happens to fat cells when we lose weight? How many fat cells are there in the body? Are there some types of fat cells that are healthier than others? What do fat cells actually DO besides just store fat for energy? And how can we access the fat in them to burn it off? All this and more covered in today's episode

What sorts of things have we learned from medical and scientific studies about how our bodies respond to caffeine and coffee? Is it true they are actually GOOD for us, or is there more to the story? And what sort of things should we think though as we decide how much WE ingest on a regular basis? This is part 1. www.joyfullweightloss.com Subscribe to my newsletter: The Extra Helping

What sorts of things have we learned from medical and scientific studies about how our bodies respond to caffeine and coffee? Is it true they are actually GOOD for us, or is there more to the story? And what sort of things should we think though as we decide how much WE ingest on a regular basis? This is part 1. www.joyfullweightloss.com Subscribe to my newsletter: The Extra Helping

Memorial Day is coming up and with it the summer season is almost here. Whether you plan to get away or not, it can be helpful to figure out what you really want to get out of your vacation! There are ways to approach vacation that can help you arrive back having truly achieved rest and enjoyed yourself, while still cultivating improvements in health. Listen in as we get into the details.

There are ways to approach goal setting that can really make a difference in how motivated and engaged you stay with them throughout the year. Over the years, I've found incredible benefit to dividing my year into smaller "chucks" of time, call them quarters or seasons, where I revisit and reset goals for each of these periods of time. This episode I'll detail how my time divis...