Dr. Jeffrey Sterling is a national leader in community-based medicine and health care. He serves as President & CEO of SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, a national public health initiative providing personal and immediate healthcare information and advice to consumers.
Dr. Sterling also is President and CEO of Sterling Initiatives (SI), a healthcare consulting and implementation firm assisting entities with clinical, operational and financial best practices. SI has assisted health systems, health plans, state governments and medical practices in three-dozen states and countries.
SI has gained particular notoriety for its work in creating ‘Centers of Excellence’ among hospitals and other healthcare entities. Dr. Sterling is also author of the healthcare blog, ‘Straight, No Chaser’ at www.jeffreysterlingmd.com.
Dr. Sterling has degrees from Northwestern University, Harvard University School of Public Health (Health Policy Management), Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business and the Univ. of Illinois College Of Medicine, and he completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
The Intersection of Health and Happiness: Weighing the Health Concerns of Every Decision You Make so Be Smart Now and Stay Smart
People always ask how healthcare has changed over the years, but it’s mostly in part about how we choose to live our lives. One concern is how we make choices as in what we’re already inclined to do. My book is all about good and bad choices that I’ve seen for 20+ years in the ER.
Our choices relate to physical health, mental health, perception of body shape, sexual partnerships and relationships overall. For example some of us would rather take a blood pressure pill rather than stop using a salt shaker.
Healthiness where body shape is concerned is oftentimes misunderstood. When physicians talk to patients about being overweight and obese, it’s related to the patient’s heart and what it can handle for that patient’s body frame and other factors. It’s not because of how you appear to a physician. It’s completely about the work we make our hearts do. We make judgments to pursue a certain look. You have so much health capital – we choose to spend our health capital, make choices not the healthiest habits, because we decide ourselves on what we’re willing to risk.
It’s all about choices and consequences – some people cash in their health capital to benefit to them now, not thinking about down the road. Some even make the consideration to cash it in as thrill seeker and they’ve decided to put their lives at risk. Again, it’s all about choices.
Part of the problem in our society today is a pill or a procedure can make everyone believe that they can live as they choose because there’s a solution for the consequences.
When it comes to diet, everything that is put in your mouth either helps or hurts you. It’s the same as the activities you choose to do.
The payoffs or the end of the story is what you did decades before that comes back to you in the last decades of your life.
Don’t be oblivious! Make wise choices throughout life and be careful about the choices by which you “cash in your health capital.”
Read my book and you’ll see how some choices get you one place you don’t want to be, in my ER, or they could have easily been avoided to keep you out of the ER.
-Dr. Jeffrey Sterling
Dr. Sterling answers your health questions once you click over.
I am a newly diagnosed diabetic put on insulin and an oral, my hba1c was 15.6 and my sugars were in the 300s. I am overwhelmed. What should be my first steps?
You’re going to have to lose weight! Start with these simple tips. 1. No more sodas – period – and drink water. It’s a great appetite suppressant as well as being the healthiest of options. 2. Learn to pace when you walk and talk. Click here for more details.
How dose sugar affect stress? My doctor says the sugar substitutes are very bad for weight loss.
Your doc’s right, but that’s not the entire story. Sugar substitutes are in fact better than sugar, but too much of those can cause problems as well. The relationship to stress involves the downstream development of diabetes and hypertension. Accept the challenge – get your sugar naturally through grapes instead of cakes! Good luck!
Is it possible to get off blood pressure medicine?
Yes! That’s actually the goal for many. If you engage in sufficient exercise and changes to your diet, you can forego medication. Good luck!
Good morning, Dr. Sterling, my question has to deal with fried foods – I fry everything! How can I train myself to like baked foods?
Let me challenge you to become a better cook. You can make your food just as tasty grilling or baking and by using herbs and spices instead of so much salt. Your taste buds become used to any food if you eat it often enough!
Are those BMI charts really accurate? I feel like they should be updated, especially for African Americans.
The BMI serves a purpose and are very effective as guidelines. Your doctor will interpret them in the context of your personal traits, including race. It’s certainly better than not knowing! Thanks for the question, and good luck!
Dr. Sterling, what is the most amazing story in your book that shows a fool-hearted action? What is the strangest thing you have seen in the ER?
I treat, not judge! I wouldn’t call things fool-hearted, but the chapter “Now That’s Some Bull” does speak to some rather odd choices people make. Furthermore “When the Sex Lasts for More than Four Hours” follows that same theme. Thanks for the question!
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