On Health with Houston Methodist

Ultra-processed foods are ever-present in the American diet: they make up about 60% of what adults eat and nearly 70% of what children eat. These foods (and beverages!) are delicious and affordable by design, and they’re everywhere — gas stations, grocery stores, big-box retailers. And while they’re easy on the palate and pocketbook, they’re linked to more than 30 health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. In t...

Losing weight is hard work, and hitting a plateau can feel frustrating, gut-wrenching and demotivating. You’re doing everything right — eating well, exercising, staying committed — but, suddenly, the scale won’t budge. Is it time to switch things up? Or should you just be patient? In this episode, we break down what’s really happening when weight loss stalls and provide tips for pushing past it. 

Expert: Dr. Garth Davis, Weight Loss...

Is your preferred sleep position hazardous to your health? You may not realize it, but how you sleep — on your back, your side, your stomach — not only can determine whether you get a good night’s rest, it can make you more likely to snore, exacerbate back pain and acid reflux disease or cause heart issues. So is there a best sleeping position? What are the benefits and downsides of each one? And just how detrimental can the wrong ...

Nearly half of all people in the U.S. have some type of heart disease, according to the American Heart Association, including coronary heart disease (CAD), heart failure, stroke, and high blood pressure. Heart disease has also been the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. for over 100 years. So it’s safe to say that at some point, many of us will require care from a cardiologist. In this episode, we break down when you may want to cons...

Whether it’s stabbing, burning, aching or throbbing, back pain is one of mankind’s great curses. Afflicting 90% of people at some point in their lives, it’s one of the top medical problems for which people see doctors and the leading cause of job-related disability. So what should you know when the inevitable occurs? When can you self-treat back pain and when should you see a doctor? Is surgery the answer for chronic back pain? In ...

Plenty of supplements and wellness products claim to help boost immunity. But given that the immune system is one of the body’s most complex processes, is keeping it strong as simple as taking a mix of vitamins and minerals in a pill or powder? In this episode, we explore how immunity works and the things you can do to help give your immune system what it needs to function optimally.

Expert: Dr. Cesar Arias, Infectious Di...

Aging is something we all do if we’re lucky. As we add years in the rearview mirror, we can collect ailments over time, whether due to injuries or chronic conditions. Conventional wisdom says we get wiser as we age, but can we become or stay active? In this episode, we explore how we can adapt our exercise routines as we get older, including the key exercise recommendations to help you age well (but not necessarily get an Instagram...

It’s the new star of the wellness show, a once humble mineral now touted as a natural antidote for insomnia, migraines, constipation, anxiety, heart and blood sugar issues ... you name it, it seems. It’s true that magnesium is involved in more than 300 biochemical reactions, essential for many bodily functions and lacking in roughly half of people’s diets, according to two major studies. But is it really the holy grail of supplemen...

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Ever heard this old saying? It's true. But too often we take a reactive approach to our health instead of a proactive one. What can we do to better monitor our overall well-being and stay ahead of chronic health issues? In this episode, we discuss the health metrics everyone should know and get tips for course correcting if one or more of those numbers is trending in...

Americans are drinking far less alcohol than they have in the past, despite an uptick in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift in attitudes — almost 9 in 10 U.S. adults say alcohol use is “very” or “somewhat” harmful, according to a recent Gallup poll — follows research debunking the idea that drinking has any health benefit. The new trend: no- and low-alcohol drinks, known as the “NoLo” movement. NoLo, the fastest-growing p...

There’s no denying probiotics are big business — and it’s not just the dietary supplement industry, valued at $12 billion. Other sectors are getting into the game too, claiming their skincare, household cleaners and mattresses contain probiotics. Why?  Probiotics are alleged to provide gastrointestinal, mental, heart, vaginal and bone and joint health benefits as well as help manage weight and blood glucose levels. Is all that real...

Prostate cancer has been referred to as both a silent killer and the silent man’s disease. Why? For one, many men don’t like talking or even thinking about it, since the disease affects sexual and urinary function. For another, there are no obvious early warning signs. So what should every man know about prostate cancer? When should you get screened for it? And what are the risk factors, symptoms and treatments? In this episode, we...

We’ve all come across home remedies at some point in our lives. Whether it was our parents offering ginger ale for an upset stomach or a friend suggesting local honey for allergies, there’s no shortage of at-home treatments people swear by. But do any of them actually work? In this episode, we explore some of the most popular home remedies to uncover what works and what doesn’t. 

Expert:  Dr. Megan Arthur, Primary Care Physician 

Int...

Weightlifting has been around for ages, but it’s never been more popular than now, thanks in part to new research on its health benefits. The classic form of strength training — one of the cornerstones of the CDC’s exercise recommendations — weightlifting is linked to better bone strength, balance, metabolism, fat burning and cardiovascular health. Plus, it may help reduce cancer risk and even extend lifespans. But how much do you ...

Sinus problems are the bane of many people's existence, all that congestion and discharge, difficulty breathing, post-nasal drip, coughing, pressure. But is the issue an infection or allergies? It can be a tricky question, even for doctors, who see about 30 million people annually for sinus infections and more than 80 million annually for allergies. So what are the key distinguishing symptoms? Why is it sometimes so hard to te...

A diagnosis of coronary artery disease, or CAD, should be taken seriously. But what does this mean exactly? CAD is the most common type of heart disease — 18 million adults in the U.S. live with the condition — roughly the combined populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and our fair city of Houston. In this episode, we explore how we can prevent CAD from ever developing — and potentially prevent it from ever leading to heart...

Body mass index, or BMI, has long been used to gauge whether a person's weight falls in a healthy range, but people are rightly wondering whether the measurement makes sense for today's world. Do we need better ways to talk about weight? In this episode, we explore what the formula does and doesn't measure, when focusing on BMI can lead to misleading conclusions and practical tips for keeping tabs on our weight.

Exper...

Milestone birthdays come with new rights and responsibilities. At 18, we can vote; at 21, we can drink; and at 40, women can get their first mammogram. Adding a potentially stressful cancer screening to your yearly to-do list (on top of everything else women manage) doesn't sound like much of a gift — but getting a mammogram is crucial to detecting breast cancer early, when it's easier to treat. In this episode, we explor...

If you're over "diet" trends, we don't blame you. But the Mediterranean Diet isn't your usual diet. For starters, the U.S. News & World Report has named it the best overall diet for six years in a row. And most dietitians don’t even like referring to it as a diet anyway. In this episode, we cover how this eating pattern benefits everything from heart health to weight management and get tips for starting...