Happy New Years from AlphaMD. Here's some tips for helping with your health related goals from our provider Garrett Soames.

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Garrett Soames:  All right. Hey, happy New Year's everybody. It's Garrett from Alpha MD. I just wanted to log in and kind of have a brief discussion with, with you guys about New Year's resolution. So, you know, it's that time of year, you know, we're all want to start fresh and we might as well do it in 2023 these last few years of kind of sucked. So really, you know, we in, in healthcare field, get a lot of questions about, you know, how can I live a healthier life, you know, How can I, you know, lose weight this year, things like that. So I just wanted to go over some of the more, you know, commonly discussed New Year's resolutions. What we hear the most often is that number one, they they want to eat healthier.

Garrett Soames:  And people just want to eat healthier, feel better, you know, put better, you know, food in their face and that's great. Um, you know our recommendation in general is the more leafy greens. You eat the better if it came from the ground it's probably pretty healthy. So you know if you can add more fruits and more vegetables to your diet and oftentimes, the easiest way to do that is to take what you normally might be snacking on and then just exchange that for an easily available fruit. The, the fruit that has the longest season typically is either oranges or apples. So that obviously is healthier than eating, you know, a bunch of chips or something like that. So that's an easy substitution to make and you'll find even if you just make that change, you know, exchange a fruit for a regular snack, like, like chips, you're gonna live a lot healthier life.

Garrett Soames:  Um, the number two thing we we hear about for New Year's resolution is Hey Dot Cal, can I exercise more? So that one actually can be hard, right? Because we're all busy, you know? It's, it's life is hard. There's it's hard to find that time in 24 hours to get in your workout. So the easiest thing to do is again, it seems insurmountable when you look at it, but when you actually just break it down, all you really need to improve your health. If you're not already exercising, if you can add just 15 minutes a day you guaranteed you're gonna feel better you know? And and without them d we obviously do a lot of

Garrett Soames:  Trt, you know, testosterone replacement therapy. So we want people to get the best out of that new therapy and get the most they can. And exercise is always a part of that, right? Because testosterone primes the muscles. So our goal is that you do some exercise and when you choose to do an exercise you're gonna want to be typically focus. The majority of that. On resistance training. So, typically again, if you're looking like, I can't find the time, the easiest thing to do is do your workouts at home Right. There's no commute, there's no travel, you know, have to find parking, you don't, you know, go through inclement weather. You just set aside a space in your home, doesn't have to be big and all you need is some adjustable weights, typically, you know, adjustable dumbbells.

Garrett Soames:  You need a, like, a foam mat for floor work, and then calisthenics were great. The reality is what we know for Fact is, it's time under tension, so that's what matters for muscle growth. You don't have to lift heavy, heavy weights, you just need to keep constant tension on your muscles for, you know, extended period. So, what I'm trying to say is exercise is a lot easier to do and you don't need a gym membership. You really just need to move your body and place those muscles under stress and you will grow muscle. So, um, the third thing we heard about is it, which is related to the second is, you know, wanting to lose weight. So this kind of ties back to X diet and exercise. The the simplest thing I can tell you to lose weight which I have. I guarantee you

Garrett Soames:  Always works is if you can find a way to cut out sugar, all forms of sugar, that one thing, that one, New Year's resolution of getting rid of sugar, I guarantee you, you will lose weight. If you're, if you're already eating, just a regular diet. If you can cut out, sugar in all its forms, I can guarantee you. You will lose weight. Obviously try to stay away from simple carbs as well, you know, generally, you know breads Rice's, you know, cornmeals things like that. If you can cut down on those as well, I can guarantee you, you're just gonna start to melt off weight and then one other things to, to I tell people is about the average American gets about 50% or so their calories from drinking something.

Garrett Soames:  You know, sugary coffee in the morning or whatever. If you can only drink water I you will lose weight. Just drink water or tea, you know, no additional sweeteners. I, I found that that helps a lot. You'll just feel better too. Once you get over, you know, you're, you're addiction to sugar which happens unfortunately, to all of us. And then another common one we hear is quitting smoking that. Unfortunately, a lot of people still smoke. So

Garrett Soames:  And we all know the risk to that so I don't get into that but one of the best things you can do to quit smoking is again it exchange one of your activities, these newer activities like exercise for your smoking time so that time you would be up smoking. Maybe, you know, go out and if you're at work and that's normally your smoke break, you just go for a quick walk. Outside you go up and down stairs you know something like that. It gets your, your blood moving. You just feel better and typically as long as there's a little exercise involved you actually release the same endorphins that you might release with a cigarette. So And then lastly the thing, you know we hear about is mental health, you know people wanting to take more time for themselves and you know again that's I think the best resolution someone can have especially how stressful things have been the last few years you need to take time for yourself.

Garrett Soames:  Again that whatever you choose to do, whatever you're you're hobbies are or whatever, just make sure that you're making time for that. Go fishing. Go on hikes. Read a book. I don't care what it is for you, but your mental health should come first. No matter. What? And again, if you're not making that time for yourself, then you definitely aren't gonna be noticing that the changes, the positive changes that are coming into your life. So you can't receive something if you're not aware of it, because you're too stuck in your own head.

Garrett Soames:  But yeah, again, I don't want to ramble on, you know, I just again, we here at FMD want everyone to succeed. We want people to feel better. Again, we focus primarily on TRT and men's health but again there's more to that than just medicine and we wanted to, you know, remind you that again we see patients, you know, holistically and that includes diet that includes exercise and mental health along with, you know, any, you know, prescriptions from me, find necessary. So have a great 2023 and we hope to chat with you again soon.