Healthy Hacks for Busy Professionals: A Recap For Our Patients
Thank you to everyone who joined our recent webinar hosted by Personal Physicians HealthCare in partnership with Newbury Street Nutrition. Whether you attended live or are catching up now, we wanted to share a short recap of what our team covered, so you can put these ideas to work in your own day.
Dr. David Shein led the clinical discussion, and our partners Skylar Griggs, MS, RDN and Julie Hersey, MS, RDN from Newbury Street Nutrition walked through the nutrition and lifestyle strategies we use with our patients every day.
Why Metabolic Health Matters
Metabolism is simply how your body uses the food you eat — as fuel and as building blocks. When that process is out of balance, we see it show up on your labs as elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, or A1C. Left unaddressed, these numbers raise your long-term risk for heart disease, stroke, and kidney and liver issues.
The encouraging news: the factors that most strongly influence your metabolic health — what you eat, how you move, and how you sleep — are largely within your control. A few clinical reminders from Dr. Shein:
- Muscle Matters: Maintaining lean body mass supports balance, independence, and long-term health as you age.
- Good Fats Are Still Calories: Olive oil, nuts, and avocado belong in a healthy diet, but portion still matters.
- Saturated Fats Drive the Damage: They raise LDL cholesterol, lower HDL, and fuel the inflammation that leads to plaque in your arteries.
- Short Walks: Contrary to popular belief, even short walks can meaningfully improve how your body handles blood sugar.
Building a Healthier Plate
Our dietitians at Newbury Street Nutrition start nearly every new patient with the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate as a simple visual framework:
- Half of Your Plate: Non-starchy vegetables and fruit
- Quarter of Your Plate: High-fiber whole grains
- Quarter of Your Plate: Lean protein - fish, poultry, beans, tofu or nuts
- Plus: Healthy oils in moderation and 64-72 oz of water a day
A few of Skylar's rules of thumb we'd love you to carry with you:
- Never Eat a Carb Alone: Pair it iwth protein or healthy fat to keep your blood sugar steady.
- Eat Every 3-5 Hours: Don't arrive at dinner overly hungry.
- Snack With A Purpise: A good snack is around 250 carlories, combines protein with fiber, and is planned - not grabbed out of stress or habit.
- Stop Eating 2-3 Hours Before Bed: A favorite trick of Julie's for late-night snackers: brush your teeth right after dinner.
- Rethink Liquid Calories: Research continues to show less is more (e.g., alcohol).
Small Hacks, Big Impact
Dr. Shein closed the webinar with a handful of behavioral strategies we encourage our patients to try:
- The Package Rule: The more packaging a food needs, the less it probably belongs in your cart.
- The Snack Swap: Replace one daily snack with something healthy, and within about a week, your cravings will follow.
- Exercise "Snacks": A lap around the block, the stairs instead of the elevator, a post-dinner walk - small movement adds up. Put them on your calendar like any other meeting.
- Tie Workouts To Rewards: Sav a favorite show or podcast for treadmill or elliptical time.
- Protect Your Sleep: Keep consistent sleep and wake times, cut afternoon caffeine, and build a screen-free cool-down routine before bed.
The Bottom Line
You can't overhaul your life in a weekend, and we'd never ask you to. As Dr. Shein put it, you can't gut renovate your diet - but one better breakfast, one planned snack, one 10-minute walk, and one earlier bedtime, repeated consistently, is how lasting change actually happens.
If you'd like to go deeper on any of these topics, please reach out. Your care team at Personal Physicians HealthCare is here to help you build a plan that fits your life.
