Healthy Living: A Chat on Food and Fitness

A recent gathering at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital brought together local business folks for a chat about healthy living. The main topic? How food and fitness can make a big difference in our health. The talk started with a surprising fact: most kids in the U. S. show early signs of heart problems by age 10. Dr. Regina Ragasa, an expert in family and obesity medicine, explained that this can begin even before birth. If a mom has high cholesterol, her baby might develop fatty streaks in their arteries. But there was good news too! Both Ragasa and Dr. James Lee, a heart specialist from UCLA, shared that changing what we eat can be more effective than taking medicine. Ragasa shared stories of patients who switched to a plant-based diet. They saw big improvements in weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and even diabetes. Simple changes, like swapping processed snacks for beans and rice, made a huge difference. Russell Gage, who runs the hospital's fitness center, also spoke. He agreed that food choices are more important than exercise for weight loss. The panelists all stressed that small, sustainable changes work better than drastic ones. They also pointed out that exercise alone isn't enough for significant weight loss. Dr. Lee talked about the challenges of promoting lifestyle medicine. He said medical training doesn't leave much time for discussing diet. But after seeing a patient lose a lot of weight and improve health through diet, he became a believer. He noted that the health industry doesn't always support this approach, but he's motivated by his patients' success.