Joy and Full: Healthier with Sarah Wells, MD

The last day of January doesn't need to be the day you quit the goals you had when you started out. Instead, I've got 5 questions to run through each of your goals and habits you were setting to figure out what you can learn from this past month with them. This can inspire you as you move forward into a new month with freshly revised goals and plans.

I've spoken about being willing to try new strategies as needed, and different skillsets needed for different obstacles. In this episode, I give examples from my experience in what has looked like.

There a a number of benefits to winter exercise outdoors, especially when it's cold.

When you hear about the rise in obesity acrose the last 40 or 50 years, you may often hear talk about about how it's driven by an energy mismatch, where we just eat more than we should and don't move as much as we used to. Or maybe you hear about how we eat too many carbs these days, and that causes us to store too much fat. These are two of the common theories as to why human population...

 This episode , I focus on the benefits of exercise in terms of your BRAIN HEALTH , and highlight some recent studies that tell us how much it benefits us. Exercise impacts our memory, learning, creativity, and function through increasing the brain's neuroplasticity. There is also evidence that new brain cells can be born and that our brain size increases! Benefits of exercise extend to impac...

I keep running across more and more impacts that chronic inflammation has on our bodies. In this episode I share what I've learned about what it is, what drives it, and what diseases are impacted by it. The good news is there are things we can do to combat it and lower our inflammatory state! I'll talk about those too.

In this final part of the episodes about the new class of anti-obesity medications, I talk about  factors to consider in the decision to take medications or have surgery for Obesity. What about those who call it "cheating"? Is obesity a disease or is just driven by a set of lifestyle choices? Shouldn't we just "move more and eat less"? Is it that simple? This episode is Pa...

This episode we’ll revisit an approach to Christmas feasting where we get to strategically enter in to celebrations while learning to exercise restraint. Let's find ways to extract the wonderful feeling of the season in new ways that we haven’t been able to appreciate before, because we were SO focused on the food and the struggle of food decisions. I'll talk about tactical physical/food...

This is something that bears repeating! Science has revealed in recent decades that the brain is trainable and physically changes in response to training. This is called neuroplasticity.  This episode will cover what it is and how understanding how the brain functions in this way can help us improve our health building habits. I'll also give three specific tactics or strategies you can begin...

I’m revisiting these tips myself as we go full swing into these season of celebrations! Here I'll give you 12 tips--things that have worked for me--in enjoying healthier Christmas seasons.

The evidence has been mounting for the benefits of exercise in reducing the risk of cancer. How much risk reduction has been found to occur? And how much exercise do we need to see that? And why would exercise even do any good for preventing cancer?  Today I talk about all that and discuss the immune surveillance system we have in place that can be strengthened by exercise. Sometimes we need to kn...

This holiday weekend I've got a brief episode touching on the benefits of gratitude on our health all year long. 

What are these new anti-obesity medications that have been in the news lately? Do they really work? Or is this just another gimmick or fad? Here, I discuss what they are, how they work, and more. This episode is Part 2 of 3

What are these new anti-obesity medications that have been in the news lately? Do they really work? Or is this just another gimmick or fad? Here, I discuss what they are, how they work, and more. This episode is Part 1 of 3

Be it a new habit surrounding food, a new exercise regimen, or simply eating more vegetables, we want to find the perfect day to start working towards our goals. But the reality is, there is always SOMETHING around the corner than can convince us this is not the ideal time to start. So how do we work around that feeling, and what steps can we take to make progress towards health goals not matter w...

Failure is part of the path toward reaching our goals. The question is, will we use it as a sign we should quit? Or an opportunity for growth. In this episode I talk about how failure means we GET to learn something. And I break down 5 steps to take to foster growth through failure. 

It's now estimated that up to 25%-30% of the US population is suffering from liver disease related to abnormal levels of fat in the liver, driven by metabolic dysfunction. This used to be known as NAFLD, but the name has recently been changed. What causes it and how can you prevent it? Is it treatable? And why the name change? This episode I dive a discussion of this increasingly common condi...

I'm still waiting for the day to arrive when making healthy choices is easy all the time. That day hasn't arrived! I still struggle with the desire to overeat or eat the sort food that don't serve me best. So as a Christian, I ask myself: Why hasn't God taken those desires away? Why can't I just move on in freedom from them? In this episode I detail some purposes He may ha...

Today I do a big picture review of some of the Keys to Consistency that have made a massive difference for me. Staying consistent when I feel motivated is one thing. But figuring out how to stay consistent in healthy habit when I absolutely don't want to? That's what makes the difference. And that's what I cover in this episode.

Returning from Summer Break, I share what I learned over the summer, as well as about the plans for the upcoming season on the podcast. I describe why I've made the name change and how you can become a subscriber!

I'm taking a break from producing new episodes over the summer, but I hope this is the start to a wonderful season for all of you!

Understanding how our brain responds to inflammation triggered by certain foods can help us strategize how best to stick with our goals. Bringing this episode from last year back for an encore.

In this episode I discuss another key to maintaining consistency...by setting up an environment that supports not quitting.

Sometimes we get in our own way by overcomplicating things. What is helpful in staying consistent is to take a minute and consider where we can simplify.  Usually there is something we can find to change to make it easier. Looking at our schedule, our kitchen set up, how we shop, and the steps we are taking to prepare to exercise each day can help us find things to cut back and streamline. We also...

What if you could time travel to the future you image where you are enjoying the health you've worked for? And then, what if you could "borrow" some things from that future to bring back to the present that would help you stay consistent in the health changes you've been working on? You'd have more motivation, and a vision for what steps to take next, as well as good reaso...