The Dr. Hyman Show

Having weak social ties is as harmful to our health as being an alcoholic and twice as harmful as obesity. Lack of support is one of the number one things my patients complain about. I’ve seen, firsthand, how social isolation can manifest into illness. Studies show that isolation can set off a cellular chain reaction that increases inflammation and suppresses the body’s immune response to disease.Without community, we cannot survive and we cannot thrive. Finding our tribe is the topic of this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy with guest Radha Agrawal. Radha is the Co-founder, CEO, and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker, the early morning dance and wellness move-ment. Daybreaker currently holds events in 25 cities and more than a dozen college campuses around the world and has a community of almost half a million people. She is also the author of a new book called Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life. In this episode, Radha makes a case for community.I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

So often doctors tell their patients, just eat less and exercise more. The patient who is overweight is often blamed and called a lazy glutton who doesn’t have enough willpower. Well, willpower is not enough. Patients aren’t simply lacking in self-discipline. They are not weak and lazy. Most of them are biologically addicted to sugar, and it’s no wonder! Willpower is not enough to stand up to easy, cheap, convenient food. We need more than willpower. We need solutions. My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is Dr. Sean Lucan, a practicing family physician in the Bronx treating children and adults. He is an award-winning NIH-funded investigator who has published numerous articles on food-related issues. Dr. Lucan and I talk about food environments—essentially how our surroundings dictate our food choices, and how OSBs (other storefront businesses, places like gyms, laundromats, the barbershop, etc…) are becoming a huge source of providing junk to both children and adults. It all comes down to this: grazing vs. grocery environments. We also talk about food and beverage marketing to youth, and Dr. Lucan’s campaign to protect youth from dangerous marketing which led to a ban on alcohol advertising. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Food should taste good, smell good, look good, and it should be good for you. That’s what this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is all about.As a chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, Marco Canora promotes delicious, simple, and healthful food. His restaurant Hearth is one of my favorites in NYC and has earned positive reviews from The New York Times as well as a prestigious “Outstanding Restaurant” nomination from the James Beard Foundation. In 2017, Marco won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef NYC.

We need to transform our food system and address one of the biggest threats to our well-being: our lack of a coordinated and comprehensive food policy. Our nation’s and the world’s health crises are not driven by medical issues, but rather by social, economic, and political issues that conspire to drive disease. There is clear evidence that taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages results in reduced consumption and provides a funding source for public health measures to fight obesity and chronic disease and improve the health of communities.My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and one of America’s leading economists. In addition to serving as 71st Secretary of  the Treasury in the Clinton Administration, Dr. Summers served as Director of the White House National Economic Council in the Obama Administration, as President of Harvard University, and as the Chief Economist of the World Bank. Currently, Summers is the President Emeritus and the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, where he became a full professor at age 28, one of the youngest in Harvard’s recent history. Along with Michael Bloomberg, Dr. Summers recently launched a Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health.  He chairs the board of the Center for Global Development and chaired the Commission on Global Health, lauded by the UN Secretary General who noted that it “will bring more than health–it will bring equity, and contribute to a life of dignity for all.”In this episode, Larry and I discuss the benefits of taxing junk foods. How would this affect the economy and the epidemic of chronic disease? Find out in this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy.

We can’t be perfect parents. There is always going to be some form of miscommunication, some misunderstanding, something that causes pain. The key to successful parenting is to make the time to address these challenges, and to listen with an open heart and mind. My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, Dr. Shefali Tsabary, is a clinical psychologist, an international speaker and wisdom teacher, and she’s written two bestselling books, The Conscious Parent and The Awakened Family. In this episode, we dive into parenting and family dynamics. I personally have seen a lot of trauma from family dynamics manifest into physical illness, especially the relationship between child and parent. Dr. Shefali challenges traditional family roles, and encourages us to rethink the way we raise our kids. How can we let go of the toxic expectations that stand in the way of real, authentic, and loving relationships?

Cholesterol has become so confusing. The reality is, most of us have little understanding about the cholesterol levels in our blood and the whole topic is much more complicated than we previously thought. Many people still believe that eating cholesterol and fat, especially saturated fat, causes heart attacks and that taking statin drugs provides a powerful way to reduce your risk of heart attacks. But is this really true? My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is here to bust the cholesterol myth, and he is a cardiologist! Described as an inspiration by Jamie Oliver, internationally renowned Consultant Cardiologist and best-selling author of The Pioppi Diet, Dr. Aseem Malhotra has become one of the most influential and well-known health campaigners, and a pioneer of the lifestyle medicine movement in the UK. Today we talk about myths around heart health, and what it truly means to be heart healthy.

Dr. Alessio Fasano discusses the effects of gluten and other gut aggravators. Learn about healing the gut and preventing leaky gut. Explore the rise and controversy of gluten-free diets, changes in environmental factors and food sensitivity, gut restoration, inflammation, gut permeability and chronic inflammatory diseases, and the need for healthcare reform.

Our guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea and I discuss her many initiatives, including radical solutions to our health care challenges.Chelsea Clinton works to drive the vision and programmatic objectives of the Clinton Foundation. As vice chair, Chelsea works alongside the Foundation’s leadership and partners to help create greater opportunities for people to build better futures for themselves, their families, and their communities. Chelsea is a tireless advocate for expanding access to early childhood education, improving the health and well-being of Americans across the country, providing the next generation of young leaders with the resources they need to turn their ideas into action, and ensuring the empowerment of girls and women is a cross-cutting priority across all of the Foundation’s programs and initiatives.You won’t want to miss our conversation with this thought leader.

Creating a movement often means meeting resistance, and it also means persisting. My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, Dr. Oz, has changed the way that we approach our health, and he’s made wellness more accessible than ever.Currently in its tenth season, the ten-time Daytime Emmy award-winning syndicated daily series The Dr. Oz Show is hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, accredited health expert, best-selling author, and world renowned cardiac surgeon. The Dr. Oz Show is an informative hour that offers audiences the opportunity to learn about a wide range of health and wellness topics. Tackling the balance of mind, body and spirit, Dr. Oz calls on specialists from a variety of disciplines for expert advice on how viewers can be their best selves. Dr. Oz served as health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 to 2009. Sharing advice with viewers to help them live their best life from the inside out. Dr. Oz has co-authored eight New York Times Best Sellers including “Food Can Fix It” “YOU: The Owner's Manual” as well as the award winning “Healing from the Heart”. He has a regular column in O, The Oprah Magazine.  Dr. Oz is an Attending Physician at NY Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center. He still performs dozens of heart operations annually. His research interests include heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive surgery, alternative medicine and health care policy. He has authored over 400 original publications, book chapters, and medical books, has received numerous patents, and still performs heart surgery. He also authors a newspaper column syndicated by Hearst in 175 markets internationally.You won’t want to miss this intimate conversation with America’s teacher.

Dr. Sarah Hallberg is a diabetes expert, who is here to change the way we treat diabetes. Her number one weapon for reversing type 2 diabetes: a ketogenic diet.Dr. Hallberg is a Medical Director at Virta Health and a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovator Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is also the Medical Director and founder of the Medically Supervised Weight Loss Program at Indiana University Health Arnett and an adjunct Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Hallberg is serving as Chair of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council for The Nutrition Coalition. Dr. Hallberg is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Obesity Medicine, and The American Board of Clinical Lipidology and is a Registered Exercise Physiologist by the ACSM. She is also a Fellow of the Obesity Medicine Association and The National Lipid Association.In this episode, Dr. Hallberg shares the benefits of a high fat, or ketogenic, diet. You may have heard that a ketogenic diet can be beneficial for your health—that it promotes weight loss, longevity, and enhanced cognitive function—and wondered if the hype is true. Tune into this week’s episode to find out.