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This is your Health First, the most beneficial health program on radio with doctor Joe Bellotti. During the next hour, you'll learn about health, wellness and the provention of disease. Now here's your host, doctor Joe Bellotti.
Well a good Sunday evening to everybody, Doctor Joe Galotti. Every Sunday between seven and eight pm, we're here bringing you all the best in health and wellness. And our mission, which is pretty clear cut, I'd like to think it's pretty simple, is to make you better consumers of healthcare. We say this and we mean it because every single day that I'm seeing patients in clinic or in the hospital,
there is always some deficiency in what people understand. They do not have a clear sense of what a particular pain or complaint means, and so these rather basic and early signs and symptoms go ignored until weeks, months, years later they turn into a colossal problem. So being a better consumer, raising your health i QS, we'd like to say, really is important. So to follow along our website Doctor Joegalotti dot com d R J O E G A L A T. I is is our website and you
can sign up for our newsletter. All of our social media is there. You could send me a message, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook is all there, but you have to go to doctor Joeglotti dot com and don't forget. You can pick up a copy of my book Eating Yourself Sick and is now coming out in paperback form, and pick up a paperback version for family and friends and of course yourself.
So today is Father's Day and coming up in a few minutes, Dan Ostrander, who is a dear friend of mine, and as I like to describe Dan, he is a wise gentleman. He has insight. He has a very clear perspective on on family and health and life and being a parent, communicating with one another, be it family or neighbors or friends. And I'm gonna have Dan drop in and talk about the role of fathers in health and wellness. I believe that all of us need to empower dads.
And a lot of people have talked about written about that the American father is under attack. They are looked at and ridiculed on TV shows and in movies and in the press. But that is not a good look. We have to really continue to support dads and make sure that they are playing the vital role that they need to play in their family, the role of uh, you know, really communicating with their children, with their spouses, significant others, and other family members. It is really vital.
So Dan will be coming up and always interesting to have him on the program. But you know, certainly even in our dads that are no longer here, my father, I was exquisitely lucky to.
Have a.
Father that was there for me, there for my two sisters, there for my mom. He was a member of the community at large, our church, and if you know, to this day as a parent, as a husband, I'm not quite sure I have been able to live up to all of the things that he was able to do. He was just an amazing man, and he taught me so much, not only about being a good son, but teaching me to be a good husband and father, but simply how to manage myself, how to communicate, how to
be good to other people. My father was he was in sales. Many of you have heard me talk about my dad in the past, and he's actually been on the radio a number of times, and because of the digital age we live in, he relives on replays of the radio program, but you could actually go to our podcast and there is a lengthy interview with my dad, which is always lovely to hear. But my father made
sure that we were able to communicate. We were able to be friendly, we could still be firm, we could be stern, but we were able to be good children, good young adults, good adults, good leaders in our field, and we desperately, desperately need more strong father figures. It is I cannot really place the amount of importance that we have to And so for all of the dads tuning in tonight, reevaluate your role, the impact that you have on your children, the impact that you have on
your spouses. It really is important, and I would look at it to say, one of the reasons there is so much chronic disease is that nobody is communicating with each other. You may have a child, you may have a spouse, you may have a relative that really is not taking care of themselves, and nobody is stepping up and intervening. So we have children that have families and
the parents have absolutely no idea what they're doing. They're not communicating, they're not realizing that they're smoking, they're not realizing that they're drinking, they're not realizing that they're eating fast food twenty four hours a day. We need our dads and our moms as well. It sort of falls under this tough love situation. But we need to lead by example. Now, for you to lead by example with your kids as a father, you cannot basically say do
as I say, not as I do. If you're going to want your children to take care of themselves, you have to show the example that you are taking care of yourself. You are going to the doctor, you are following directions, You are learning how to eat and cook and exercise and get to bet on a decent time of the night. You are not in coesting excessive amounts
of alcohol, and that you're not gaining weight. Because if you're doing all of these things wrong in a sense according to my standards, how are your children going to get these healthy habits to follow. It all starts with the parents, and today, on Father's Day, we need to talk about the important role. So with that said, Dan Ostrander is going to be coming on in just a few minutes. He is on hold. I'm doctor Joglotti. This is your health first, and we really mean it. We
want to put your health first. So don't forget doctor Joglotti dot com. It's our website. We'll worry back every single Sunday evening. You should be tuned into your health first. Our goal is to raise your health IQ, one listener at a time. I am and as I've said a million times over the years, if you are all better consumers, you have a good sense of how your body works,
you will be healthier. You'll be out of the doctor's office, be out of the er and really just see your doctor for an annual or twice a year check up. But that is our belief and our website is doctor Joe Galotti dot com. So on this Father's Day night, we never rest. I have a a dear friend, Dan Ostrander. He's been on before, and Dan, I would look at you as one of those great voices of reason, and that's why I love to have you on the program.
Well, I appreciate it, doctor Colotti.
Well, now tell us tell everybody a little bit about your your fatherhood and your kid kids and your family. Give us a quick thirty thousand foot views, so everybody sort of has a sense of who you are.
I appreciate it. I have two beautiful daughters in Dallas, one thirty five, one thirty three. I have three beautiful grandkids. The youngest is he's about eight months now, and they're all doing incredibly well. They have mom's jeans, so we're in great shape.
Well that's that's good. You know, just you mentioned the grandkids, and lots for us to talk about here about Father's Day, the role of father's and the role of dads in the wellness of the family. But you know, it's very interesting when I come across patients that are facing some sort of a medical crisis and they are potentially looking at a shortened life, or they may they may die
from their liver disease or some other problem. They will look at me to say, doctor Galatti, my goal here if I could live another one year, three year, five year, ten years to see my grandkids graduate high school, or I have a granddaughter that I want to see her get married. It is amazing that. And I joke around in a very very caring way with the families I take care of. I say, look, especially if the kids are in the room, the parents of the grandchildren. I say, look,
your dad, your mom doesn't care about you. They're more worried about the grandchildren. So I do not have any grandchildren yet, but the bond it is enough to want to have you live. What do you think of that?
You know, that's such a great question. I guess something that is kind of you know, propelled me into a real strong, healthy position is the fact that both of my parents never made it to age seventy. Oh my yes. Actually my dad passed away at sixty nine and my mom passed away at age sixty seven unexpectedly. And then as my kids got a little older and started having grandkids, I said to myself, I have to make it past age seventy. I mean, that's a goal. There's no doubt.
I've got to make it past age seventy. And with a six year old, a three year old, and a eight minth old, I'm in my mid sixties. I got a ways to go. But that is something that I think about on a daily and a weekly basis. What can I do personally to make sure both my wife and I that we're going to be around past age seventy and then some to be there for our grandkids.
You know, I think that's very important. And really this begs a bigger question to say, what is it really that? And this sounds like either it's a very esoteric question or too philosophical, But really I do think it has real world implication. What motivates you to want to live?
What motivates you to want to stay healthy? Now Here we're talking stay healthy for our grandkids, but I'm sure equally you want to be there for your two girls, You want to be there for your wife, you want to be there for You're in a circle of friends that you so care about and people that care about you. So I think we all have to look when we look at our own health and wellness what motivates us. So besides grandkids, what else do you think motivates people to stay well well?
I think there's a number of things. Not too long ago, which I had shared with you, I was diagnosed as a diabetic patient, which was really quite shocking to me, given the fact as an ex college athlete, I've been fairly active on a weekly basis. But when I went in, all my cardiovascular parameters were relatively normal, except for the fact that my pasting glucose was was somewhat elevated in the morning, and when I got that diagnosis, it just made me think. Look, I asked the doctor, what can
I do personally? We will give me a couple things I can do when I walk out of this office that I can do to change the course or direction of what you've just made a diagnosis off. And I think that was a kind of a wake up moment for me, given the fact that I've been doing some things, but in retrospect, I really needed to intensify and pick it up a little right.
And you know, for you and for all transparency, I see you an awful lot at the at the gym and your beast on on on the elliptical. I've never seen anybody go on the elliptical like that. But you were confronted with a medical issue and you took ownership of it, and you are essentially doing everything you can
to reverse this or stop it. And in a sense, what is what is the light in your head that went off that maybe the guy next door it doesn't What's what's the what's the gene trait that allows that?
Well, I don't know if it's a gene trait I kind of sat.
Down the personality maybe more personality, Well, yeah.
I think, I think I kind of you know, sometimes you think about these things when you go into the doctor's office and he says, hey, here's your diagnosis. I think when you leave the doctors, you know, the next few days you really start to reflect. All right, Right he said this. I took some notes and I go, Okay, what do I need to do personally to kind of change his course?
Right?
And that's kind of how I looked at it. I was saying to myself, I need to be coachable, I need to listen to the doctor of what he says, and then I need to buy into what he thinks I need to do to kind of change his course.
Right. So you're you know, you go all in. And we have certainly a lot of patients that we have not not to have everybody listening tonight think that we have some cookie cutter menu or script that we give patients. But for the most part, it's a similar message that we tell our patients with regard to their livid disease or their cirrhosis. And the issue is we'll see somebody back four to six weeks later and they bought into this full force, and they have lost weight, their blood
sugar is better, their liver numbers are better. But yet the same script to somebody else, the same conversation, and we could be three four years later and they still have not made one positive step in that health journey. So that's that's what's fascinating. We look at it with our staff and we're like, why did this lady do exactly as we had asked? And then somebody else just really didn't seem to care.
What do you think then, Now, that's a great question. I've often thought about that, and the only thing I can think of, doctor Glotti, is I think you get to a certain point in life where you just say, it's really not about me, right, It's about me being around healthy for my grandkids and my wife and my friends. And the only way to do that, I really believe, is make that commitment to yourself and say I'm gonna do it for me. I'm not going to do it
for my wife. I'm not gonna do it for my grandkids. But I know if I do it for myself, I will be there for my grandkids and for my wife, and for my friends in my community and I think that's the only way you can really do it. No, I would you just have to say, I've got to do it for me. I'm the patient, I'm the CEO, I'm in charge. Nobody else is in charge.
It has to be me exactly all right. On that note, let's take a quick break. Come doctor Joe Glotti, this is your health first. Don't forget doctor Joeglotti dot com. We're talking with dan Ostrander on this Father's Day evening. Stay tuned, we will be right back. Welcome back everybody, Doctor Joe Glotti. Thanks for tuning in on this Father's Day evening. It's great to have you with us. Don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot com is our website. Sign up
for our newsletter. All of our social media is available on the newsletter. You could also pick up a copy of my book Eating Yourself Sick. And on the program tonight, we are continuing with doctor not doctor, just playing o dan Ostrander. He could be a doctor talking about the role father's play in the health and wellness of their family and the health of men in general. It's such a important topic. Now switching gears to Father's Day and it's of course, every day is Mother's day, every day
is Father's Day, et cetera. But for tonight and today and fathers are on our mind. I have always wanted to promote the idea that for the men that are listening, the men's in the men in our lives, the men in our communities, the dads, that they need to step up and become, as you said, the CEO of their health plan for their family by not only taking care of themselves, making sure that they're taking care of themselves.
Are they eating properly, They're not consuming too much alcohol, they're sleeping, they're keeping their weight down, good lifestyle habits for themselves, but for their significant others, their children, their grandchildren. And some people would say, look, you know, the American male is under attack, and now here I am saying, there's one more piece of their job description. They have to be the health and wellness champion for their family.
But I do believe that if you have parents, and now we're talking about dads now, and it is a mother and father type of family situation where you have the dad checking in with their kids, the dad checking in with their with their wife or girlfriend or whatever it may be. In that family, and they are encouraging good nutrition, encouraging exercise, encouraging getting your checkups. I do think that we would be healthier if we had that leadership. So with that, Dan, what do you think I'd say?
First of all, I think our wives are incredibly great, compliant patients right with their doctor. I would say, males as a general, and I'm only speaking for my self, at times we're absolutely horrible.
Yes, yeah, you know what I mean, right, don't.
We just don't comply for whatever reason. I don't know if it's our pride, I don't know what it is, but we just don't do exactly what the doctor asked us to do right until we get to that situation when when the hood goes up and he goes we got a problem, right, and this could happen if you don't take care of it. That's kind of when we decide to respond to what the doctor.
Asked us to do right right. And I would say, while I don't have an exact percent, I would say, by far more women come with their husbands to see me and they're there. They're there. They are are there not just as the driver or the companion to help with directions. They are there because they are insisting that their husband get their liver checked. The reverse of that
is much less. It is usually the guy is the driver and the woman is concerned about her liver, and he's there just sort of as moral support, not really the active driver. But I would you know what you said is correct, and that's where this uh doctor mom sort of saying came from. But how do you think
we can turn this around? And do you think a little bit of a rhetorical question here for you, Dan, do you think if men took a more active role, not only in their own health but of their family's health, we could move the needle and make things better.
I think that's an awesome question. How the way I respond to that would be personally given the fact that I am a pre diabetic now, both my wife and I have made a commitment to eat more clean, to avoid what we should avoid, and eat what we should eat. And about two weeks ago, I got a call from my youngest daughter who said to me on the phone, I'm not going to quote word for a word, but
it'll be real close. She said, Dad, I'm so proud of you and mom eating clean and trying to be incredibly healthy for me, for my husband, and for my newly born young son, and that personally kind of hit me, Like, our kids pay attention to our behavior, and I think behavior is probably the greatest gift that we can give other people without words. Our behavior as we display it in front of others, that really writes the paragraphs of who we are and where we're going with respect to
our health exactly. And it was awesome to me to hear from my daughter and I put her on speakerphones so my wife could hear. It's like, Okay, you guys are really trying and trying to do the best you can, and we notice it. We see you, and we hear you. And so I think the behavior component of it for
men on Father's Day is something don't forget about. Just know people are watching you, and if you're making these changes, you're going to inspire your own kids and the others around you and your family.
Yeah, exactly. Now, with that said, and there's always a lot of talk about men's health, and there is a men's Health Month and Men's Health Week and prostate cancer awareness and men's health in general, and more men are going to be affected by hypertension and obesity and the the scourge of you know, diabetes. But from your standpoint, somebody that is in the trenches doing a heck of a good job as a model. I mean, I would say, Dan, and not because I know you, and not because I'm
trying to, you know, boast on you here. You really are a model citizen when it comes to the exercise component. And really when we talk on the parking lot, you're telling me with enthusiasm your blood results and what this doctor is saying, and I'm going to this specialist. You're really all in head first, which is really we need more people to be like that. But for the dads or just men in general that are listening tonight, what would you say are a few actionable steps so that
number one, they can take better care of themselves. And number two maybe the tougher thing, how do they lead by example for their family.
This will be somewhat kind of intuitive, but I would say one thing is when you deny yourself of something that you really like and you don't participate in it, that's powerful. And what I mean by that is when you do it once, you kind of go all right, I can do it again. And so in the same way for the guys that are maybe hearing this tonight on Father's Day, I would say, you know, challenge yourself
personally to deny yourself. And so if you have a habit that's not really healthy, just deny yourself of it and see what your response is and then you realize so you actually can do it. And so you kind of have to get your mind around the fact of denying yourself of whatever that is, and then once you get past that, you'll go, well, I can continue to
do that. And so if it's just a matter of, hey, today I'm going to go out and I carry my phone with me when I walk, and I monitor my steps, okay, and so on a daily basis, and so I kind of feel, you know, trying to get an idea where I'm at. I mean, my goal is personally each day is ten thousand steps. But if you're listening to this and you've never walked before, I mean, just go out and walk for twenty minutes and see what your steps
are and let that be a starting point. Get your foot in the game and kind of see where you are and evaluate. And the one thing that I have learned doctor Glotti is that when you do properly get enough steps and get enough exercise in the day, I promise you sleep significantly better at night and you just feel better.
Yeah, without a doubt. And we tell our patients all the time, just you know, you don't need an expensive gym membership, You don't need to buy expensive pieces of equipment. Just buy a good pair of shoes and start walking. Like you said, get literally get your foot into the game.
Yeah. I couldn't agree more. That's it. Just move your feet. So they told me a long time ago, Hey Dan, how do I need to do this? And they would say to me, I don't really know, But what I do know is just move your feet right now. So just get a moving and then you will figure it out. And your iPhone has that little app on it, which is really great, the one that has a heart on it, at least in mind. Yeah, and it just monitors my steps. Yeah, and in the day's simon tells me how many miles
I've walked. And it's not crazy. You're not running when you're in your mid sixties. You can't run anymore like you used to, however, but you're moving your body and you're moving your feet right and you're moving your steps, and it kind of gives you a goal, so you say, Okay, today I want to try to get X amount of steps or this week, and it monitors it for you.
And then more importantly, doctor Glady, I think, is how do you feel once you do that over a day, two days, or a week's time, and the way you feel will probably move your behavior to say, hey, I got to continue to do this because I feel really good and I've really struggled with sleeping and I'm sleeping significantly better now than I did before.
Yeah, you know exactly, and I'm sure you talk with friends and colleagues. There are so many people that just don't feel well. They don't sleep well, they wake up tired, they have no energy, they are poofed out with everything. And I do think it's tied to lack of exercise, lack of movement, the food, the process food that they're eating. And you just have to make these small steps to make meaningful change. Last thing, Dan, and this sort of
gets back to the father's day and father's responsibility. When your daughters were younger or here they are as adults and parents, do you feel a certain obligation to comment and encourage them on certain health issues or just talk about health. You spent your I believe most of your career in the medical pharmaceutical field. You're a knowledgeable guy.
If you come across an article or a study on condition X, do you send it up to your kids and say, hey, FYI, this might be interesting something you can look into.
Yeah. Actually, it kind of works both ways. Now, since we've really tried to eat clean and try to work both my wife and I have a couple of health issues. We've kind of you know, tried to work on those, and then my daughters will in turn send things that they see out there back to us, right, and so there's an open communication on it, which which I think
is great. So it kind of reminds them that, hey, we're trying to make some changes on our side, and if you see something on your side that would be helpful, police forward it on or vice versa. And you know, Joe, I have to tell you, I shared this with you a while back, but I just really believe, you know, for the men that are out there listening tonight and maybe their their spouse is listening to their girlfriend or
what have you. But I think the cool part is both my wife and I have committed to ourselves personally and committed to our kids and to our grandkids. We are not going to let the old man or the old lady into our lives.
That's right.
And what I mean by that is we're going to move and we're going to move our feet, and we're not going to be seditary. We're not going to sit on the couch. We're going to be active where when you have conversations with other people are gonna go, oh, my goodness, you're really that old, right, And yeah, I'm really that old. But my behavior and my wife's behavior reflects people that are significantly younger. And that's our commitment
to our kids and to our grandkids. So we can be around for them and enjoy and participate in the things that they want to do. From an activity standpoint, and personally, it's much better for us and our health component as well.
Oh.
Ultimately, that's what it's all about.
It is, and that is so encouraging. And you know, look the people that are listening tonight or they listen to it on a replay, if we could just touch one person, one family at a time, I would say you and I would look at this and say success. We did our job tonight.
Absolutely, and I would encourage all the men out there on Father's Day enjoy the US Open. I love golf. Yeah, it's just a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Enjoy that, and either before the US Open starts or afterwards, get out, put your phone in your pocket and start moving your feet and get some steps in before the evening and the sun goes down.
All right, Dan Ostranda, always fantastic to have you on the program. Your wisdom is second to none. And let me wish you a happy Father's Day.
Dan, back at you, Joe, thank you so much. All right, meon, I appreciate it, and have a bluck eving.
All right, we'll talk to you soon. That's final segment of this week's Your Health first. On Father's they hope you were all having a blessed Father's Day with your family, your children, and of course keeping in mind all of the dads that have passed. Certainly, my dad passed a few years ago, and he lived at ninety seven years old because he followed the Mediterranean diet, no surprise there. And he was such a wonderful man and such a big impact on me and my two sisters and grandchildren
that he has remembered every day. Hopefully, hopefully all of you can continue to make massive strides to gain not so much importance to say my family loves me and I've done so much for them. It is really respect. Have you gained the respect of your children by being a leader and having them follow by example? That really is the key thing. And don't forget our webs doctor
Joegalotti dot com. We're all information related to our medical practice, which is Liver Specialists of Texas's posted and all of our social media. You can communicate back with me if you have any topics or things that you want to run by me. Certainly we are available to help you with second opinions, even outside of something liver related. If you need a name of a consultant really anywhere in the country, we can help get you connected with them.
And again thanks to Dan Ostrander for such great interview see such a marvelous friend of mine. All right in the final few minutes here, there was a sort of a nice article that was in the New York Times earlier this week, and it's titled the Five Keys to a Healthy Diet and if you could master this, forget about the complicated diets and the juicing and all of
the crazy things that you see on social media. But if you keep this, if you keep it honest to these five topics, guaranteed, I give you a guarantee, you will feel better. So the five things. Number one, prioritize whole foods. You want to surround yourself with whole foods. Now, what this means is number one, none of these foods are going to be processed or ultra processed. They are going to be fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains
that are just packed with important nutrients, including fiber. All of these whole foods are going to supply you with the fiber that you need. And the research is beyond reproach with the reduction in heart disease, type two diabetes, fatty liver disease, and certain cancers. The fresh fruits and vegetables, especially the green leafy vegetables and the berries are very very beneficial compounds for all of us to eat. Number two,
eat more healthy fats. Very simply put, we're talking about nuts, avocado, fish, and olive oil. Okay, it improves your cholesterol reduces the risk of heart attack and very very important in your overall metabolism. Number three, watch out for added sugar. If there's anything that's going to kill you, it is the food it's going to be processed or ultra process that
has added sugar. You need to read labels and look not only the amount of naturally occurring sugar, because certain foods will have sugar that is part of the world we live in, but it's the added sugar. It should make up less than ten percent of your daily calories and no more than fifty grams per day, though I would say it should be no more than twenty five grams of added sugar and as close to zero as possible. But it is added sugar that is the killer, especially
for your liver. Number four, you want to try to cook more at home. This is what I thoroughly believe in. If there was one thing that you said, hey, what is doctor Galottio all about, it is eating at home. When you eat at home, when you cook it home, you're going to have better ingredients and you're going to eat and prepare meals that are lower in calories. Period. The last thing is they talk about finding joy and
flavor in healthy eating. A lot of people, a lot of my patients say, well, if I try to eat healthy, it doesn't taste good. You need to learn how to master adding spices and herbs and really really jazzing up your food with garlic and onions and all of these fantastic things that are available out there. So those are the five things. I'm going to post this article on our Facebook page for you to take a look at. Anyway, Happy Father's Day to everybody, Thanks again to Dan Ostrander.
I'm doctor Joe Glotti. Don't forget doctor Joeglotti dot com and we'll be back next Sunday evening.
You've been listening to Your Health First with doctor Joe Glotti. For more information on this program or the content of this program, go to your Health First dot com.