Joy and Full: Healthier with Sarah Wells, MD

So much of our energy can be needlessly expended on exercising willpower. But when you set up the right systems in your life, willpower isn't as necessary in your work to have healthy habits. This episodes talks about the systems to consider as you plan meal, gather and store food, and prep meals. We can also set up systems that help us as we move through our environments outside of the home....

There are a few lessons I learned while training and running marathons.  Several of those have been incredibly helpful when it comes to making healthy lifestyle choices last. I'll tell you about a few of those in this episode.  www.joyfullweightloss.com

What would happen to your motivation if you thought a little bit more about the long term. What is it that you are working toward, in your 70's, 80's, even 90's? Granted, we don't know how long we have on this earth, but how would you want to make the best of those years? Deciding now how to invest for then, in terms of health habits, could pay off in decreased chronic disease...

What if one simple action you undertook every day could make a HUGE impact on your overall health, in a way that compounds results day after day? There is one daily practice you can take that can be a huge "bang for your buck" so to speak in terms of benefits. This is a stack of habits that can be completed all in one fell swoop! http://www.joyfullweightloss.com

The process of dealing with many chronic diseases of our times involves going to the root of what patterns of behavior are driving the damage to our metabolism. But what is the root of those behaviors? Why do we chose them again and again? And is there an even deeper driver? Let dig back to the deepest level of change to see what is behind the way we live our lives, and ultimately determines the o...

If you are heading to the tops of mountains, and there is no topography on your map, you may make the mistake of thinking the whole path will be flat! Perhaps easy and through meadows and fields, meandering beside streams. But when the destination involves uphill climbs, you need the expectations that challenges in climbing a mountain are a NORMAL part of this process. You will have to use various...

An assumed constraint is something that you think prevents you from moving forward with change, but in reality it's actually the belief itself in that constraint holding you back, when the constraint itself may not even be real . What do I mean by this? First I'll describe this using a metaphor that involves a circus elephant. Then, I'll talk about how to uncover these tricky assume...

There are definite rabbit holes we may find ourselves going down in our attempts to lose weight and improve our health that waste our time, energy, and money. And not only that, they don't even move us forward. There are also distractions that appeal to us because they are made to look easy and quick and promise SO MUCH, but in reality don't deliver what they promise. These are all the p...

It is so very easy to get waylaid in our work to improve our health by focusing on the wrong things! There are distractions everywhere and rabbit holes we fall in as we navigate all the information that is promoted surrounding how to lose the weight and improve our health. So it makes sense to revisit those core areas we MUST focus on if we really want to achieve lasting improvements in our health...

Did you know that there is a connection between allergic disease and obesity? And that there is also evidence that specific over the counter treatments for seasonal allergies can promote weight gain!?  In this episode I'll discuss the link that appears to exists between obesity and allergic disease, as well as some thing to consider as you chose how to treat the season allergies you may be de...

There are SO many claims out there on the front of packaged foods. "Natural" "Organic" "Keto" "plant-based" How can you tell which of these things is ACTUALLY worth your money and actually building your health? There are a number of products that might appear to be "health foods", but upon closer inspections, are actually taking you further from yo...

I know, I know, it seems super trendy. But this amazing versatile vegetable is a GIFT to healthy eaters and cooks everywhere. In this episode, I'll talk about all the health benefits it carries, the ways to include it, some of my favorite recipes, as well as how to grow it! I'm planning on starting my seeds this week. www.joyfullweightloss.com https://www.joyfullweightloss.com/the-30-day...

There are a lot of ways that working toward long term health habits and losing extra weight can feel like you are climbing a big mountain! We can cultivate a love for the path and the climb and enjoy the process. Or we can cultivate a hate for the processes and make it a lot harder than it needs to be. In this episode I tell a story about a mountain I know well, and what it taught me. https://www....

We all have days when motivation wanes. We can remind ourselves of all the benefits we'll get to our personal health when we don't throw in the towel. But we could also consider all the ways that our persistence may actually be doing something loving for the people we care about too. In this episode, I'll review several ways that our consistency in cultivating healthier habits even...

Is a moderate approach to certain foods really best for everyone? Or are there some people who would do better if they avoided trouble foods completely? Should anyone abstain from whole food groups completely? Or is that just too....extreme?? In this episode, I'll discuss what questions to ask yourself to help you determine if you might benefit from a period of time in which you gave up certa...

Confirmation Bias is a powerful thing. We look around the world and don't even realize a part of our brain is always working to confirm what it already believes. So we unknowingly skew our view of reality. How is this working against us in our attempts to change our health habits?  It keep us living on repeat and making the same mistakes over and over! There is good news...there IS a way to a...

What if you approached your weight loss with the mind of a scientist? You'd analyze past attempts and take key observations of what worked and what didn't. You'd extract the data you need and create a hypothesis about what habits would work best for you next. You'd carefully design your experiment and then collect the data while the experiment runs. You'd view data objecti...

Maybe you've found your groove with some healthier systems and go-to foods. That being said, you might be asking, how much variety do I need to keep in what I eat, in order to be successful in the long term? Is it bad to be repetitive for a while?  When we are starting out with healthier eating, should we eat the same foods over and over again? Or will monotony become a problem? In this episo...

It's January, which means there are so many of us who have habits they want to change, things we want to do differently. Let's take the approach that can make us actually ENJOY it! We need to find a way to view habit change in terms of all the good things we are adding to our life and our time. If we focus on adding in the "Good Stuff" we run out of room for the things we wante...

It's here! My favorite week of the year may be this week between Christmas and the New Year. It usually involved lots of family time as well as time to reflect on the year that has past, as well as cast a vision as to what we hope to do well with our time in the year to come. Today I talk about considerations to make as you look at your daily routines and how to approach an edit for them for...

Today I talk a little about one of my favorites spices. It's used a LOT this time of year, but I love to use it all times of year.  Cinnamon comes with several known benefits, and we know it carries a high amount of antioxidants. I'll get into the details in this episode.

Confession: I have been a food pusher myself! As a Southern Hostess, I am wired feel better the more you eat when you are in my house! So if I have learned to accept it when someone turns down my food, so can your loved one. Today I talk about how to show love and gratitude to those offering us food that we don't want! It doesn't have to be complicated. I have 4 steps to help you be hone...

Let's face it. When you are heading into a Christmas party that you know will be loaded with buffets...you gotta have a plan, at least if you want to leave feeling good. In this episode, I offer two different strategies you could use to help navigate the options. It is totally possible to leave feeling satisfied and also feel you didn't do damage to your health!

In this episode I share my TOP seven strategies to help you achieve a healthier Holiday Season magnificently full of Joy.

Thanksgiving week is here, so lets talk about how to feast more fully... So often, we think only of the sense of taste when we anticipate feasting. But we have other senses we can feast with too! One way to amplify and truly relish occasions when we gather with loved ones to celebrate holidays is to cultivate appreciation using all those other senses. When we do that, we have another tool to help...