A Doctor-Professor answers the old question “What is the single best thing we can do for our health” in a completely new way.

Dr. Mike Evans is founder of the Health Design Lab at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto, and a staff physician at St. Michael’s Hospital.

A month or so ago, I had bad pain in my heels when I got out of bed. It got better as the day went on, but the pain continued the following mornings.

After a little research, I found that I had a symptom of Plantar Fasciitis, which occurs when the thick band of tissue on the bottom of the foot is overstretched or overused.

It was uncomfortable, but I was dealing with it. It’s something that happens to lots of runners, and I found that it most often affects active men ages 40 – 70. Nice – I am 41. Welcome to being old.

Last Thursday, I went to a conference, and as I was walking around, I had some pain. I chalked it up to a sore foot from pivoting around as I coached 5-year-olds in soccer the night before.

But it got worse fast. I felt like I was going to drop to the floor with this feeling like nails were being driven into my left heel.

It was so bad that I went home.

I tried to power through it with Advil, but finally went to the doctor today and got the official word that it’s a textbook case of Plantar Fasciitis.

Fortunately, there are some pretty cheap remedies that should work (I hope!).

My doctor recommended icing my heels a few times a day, heel stretching exercises, Aleve twice a day as needed, heel cups, and night foot splints.

Also, I need to stop running for a while. Looks like I’ll be walking and biking when I can diminish the pain a bit.

I was using Bistro M.D. for a while to regulate my diet, but I’ve cancelled it and will be going out on my own now.

At first, I really enjoyed their food, but over time it became increasingly unappealing to me.

Don’t get me wrong – they have some great stuff. But there is a big focus on spinach, and I don’t really care for spinach. That’s a problem with their menu.

So, I’m figuring I will stock up on high-protein snacks and eat healthy with my own menu now.

There is a report out of the University of Texas that chocolate milk is the ideal post-workout recovery drink.

“Serious and amateur athletes alike enjoyed physical recovery benefits when they drank low-fat chocolate milk after a vigorous workout,” said Dr. John Ivy, lead researcher on two studies and chair of The University of Texas at Austin College of Education’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Education said in a press release. “The advantages for the study participants were better body composition in the form of more muscle and less fat, improved times while working out and overall better physical shape than peers who consumed sports beverages that just contained carbohydrates.”

Hmm… I’ll have to try that out. But I can’t imagine it would be refreshing after a run in the heat.

Source: UT research shows benefits of chocolate milk as recovery drink

I skipped posting last week, as I was the same weight as the previous week of Bistro M.D., but I’ve bounced back.

So I dropped 8 pounds in my first week, and then 2 in my second week, before going even in week 3.

But now I’ve dropped another 4 to a current total of 216 in my quest of going from 230 to 210 or lower.

If you’re not familiar with Bistro M.D., they send a weekly package of doctor designed gourmet meals on dry ice, and they’re really tasty and satisfying.

I’ve been combining the Bistro M.D. diet with lots of water and running or walking 6 days a week.

Here is my menu for today:

• Breakfast: Spinach Mushroom Omelet with Waldorf Apples
• AM Snack: Raisin Nut Mix
• Lunch: Uncured Ham with Natural Juices and Turkey with a Confetti Rice
• PM Snack: Dried Teriyaki Chicken Breast Strips with Mangos and Papayas
• Dinner: Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo

The meals are a good amount smaller in portion size from my typical meals, but they are satiating. After I wind up with Bistro M.D., I need to focus more on a protein-rich menu and portion control.

I have pulled everything together to have a treadmill desk to use for work and exercise at the same time.

Now, for anybody who is not familiar with a treadmill desk, it’s a way to get some work done while walking. Some people build attachments to their treadmill, as well as free-standing desks to go up and over the treadmill.

Since I’m not particularly handy, I relied on things that were available to purchase, and I’ll share all of the items I assembled to have a comfortable, productive environment for walking and working.

The treadmill desk is setup in an area of my garage with a TV used as a monitor, desktop computer pulling in WiFi, wireless keyboard and mouse.

The three most important elements are the treadmill (Precor 9.23 Treadmill), the treadmill desk (SurfShelf), and the keyboard (SIIG Wireless Mini Multimedia Keyboard).

Next up is the computer. Some people work with a laptop on their treadmill desk. I sweat a lot, and didn’t want to kill my laptop, so I got a new computer (Dell Inspiron 560) that would sit far from my sweat.

I got the slim-tower version with Intel Pentium dual-core E5800 (3.20GHz, 2MB); 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 3X2GB, integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500; and 500GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache.

One thing it didn’t come with was the ability to pull in a WiFi signal, and I don’t have a hard Internet connection in the garage. So I got a little USB network adapter (Cisco-Linksys WUSB54GSC Compact Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster).

I’ve got the computer sitting on a little fridge near my treadmill desk – I need my cold water!

That’s a little iPod stereo thing on the top, so I can play podcasts, music, and audio books when working.

Finally, I use a 32″ LCD HDTV for a monitor (LG 32LD350 32-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV).

The TV/monitor is mounted to the wall with a bracket that swings out with a tilt and swivel articulating arm (CheetahMounts 32″-55″ LCD TV Wall Mount Bracket), so it can be comfortably positioned for either the treadmill desk or elliptical machine.

I connect the TV/monitor to the computer with an HDMI Audio Video Cable that is 6 feet long.

This setup enables me to do any of the tasks I usually would do at my desk, and once I had all of the pieces, it was easy to get everything up and running.

I started out walking 4 miles per hour with the treadmill desk, but I found that was too brisk to get things done with accuracy.

I played around with various speeds while working, and I brought it to around 3 miles per hour to keep moving, but still do everything I do at my old, wooden sit-down desk.

If you’d like to see my progress, check out my dailymile profile.

You can also follow my adventures in eating healthy and exercising at FatShawn.com.

I had a delay in my weigh-in after the second week of Bistro M.D., because I was out of town for a few days, where I didn’t quite stay with the program – lack of exercise and eating poorly.

But now I’m back on track and had a net loss. I dropped 8 pounds in my first week, and then 2 in my second week, as I work towards going from 230 to 210 or lower.

If you’re not familiar with Bistro M.D., they send a weekly package of doctor designed gourmet meals on dry ice, and they’re really tasty and satisfying.

I’ve been combining the Bistro M.D. diet with lots of water and running or walking 6 days a week.

Here is my menu for today:

• Breakfast: Spinach Mushroom Omelet with Peach Compote
• AM Snack: Wild Berry Shake
• Lunch: Turkey and Beef Chipotle Chili
• PM Snack: Sweet BBQ Mix
• Dinner: Chicken Breast Stuffed with Brown and Wild Rice

The meals are a good amount smaller in portion size from my typical meals, but they are satiating. After I wind up with Bistro M.D., I need to focus more on a protein-rich menu and portion control.

I started up with Bistro M.D. a week ago, and I was pleased with the results after one week.

The Bistro M.D. service sends you a weekly package of doctor designed gourmet meals on dry ice, and they’re really tasty and satisfying.

Plus, I dropped 8 pounds in my first week. Now I know the first week of a diet can be deceiving with the loss of water weight, but I’m still glad to go from 230 to 222 in my quest to hit 210 or lower.

I am hoping to knock it all off in the next month with a combination of the Bistro M.D. diet, lots of water and running or walking 6 days a week.

Here is my menu for today:

• Breakfast: Omelet Served with Canadian-Style Bacon
• AM Snack: Chocolate Mini Crisps
• Lunch: “Philly Style” Chicken Cheese Steak
• PM Snack: Crispy Parmesan Protein Chips
• Dinner: Chicken with “Greek Inspired” Lentils

The meals are a good amount smaller in portion size from my typical meals, but they are satiating. After I wind up with Bistro M.D., I need to focus more on a protein-rich menu and portion control for sure.

Later this week, I’m off to Chicago for three nights for business, so that will be challenging. But I wrote to Bistro M.D. to ask for suggestions on eating out and they were really helpful.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was looking into Bistro M.D. as a means for getting my eating habits in check, and I start today with it.

The Bistro M.D. service sends you a weekly package of healthy balanced meals, which can be customized, right to your door.

Now, it’s not cheap, but I figure it’s my rightful junk food tax, after eating poorly for too long.

And my first delivery could not have come at a better time. I got on the scale today and it was the worst number I’ve seen in years: 230.

I am pretty excited for the menu today:

• Breakfast – Spinach Mushroom Omelet with Waldorf Apples
• AM Snack – Crisp N Crunch Cinnamon Bar
• Lunch – Uncured Ham with Natural Juices and Turkey and Couscous
• PM Snack – Chili Nacho Cheese Protein Chips
• Dinner – Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo

And I’ll be getting in my exercise today – either a few miles running or walking.

I enjoy exercising, but also like bad foods, and have pretty lousy discipline when it comes to a good diet.

So, I think I will give Bistro M.D. a try.

If you’re not familiar with Bistro M.D., it’s a service where you choose a plan of healthy balanced meals, which can be customized, and they are delivered to your door.

They’re pricey, but if they can get my eating habits in line, I think it’s a worthy investment.

Stay tuned.