Town hall: Advice on fitness, health and being your healthiest you

Whether you’re the type to make New Year’s resolutions and try to stick to them the whole year through, you’ve recently begun working toward a fitness or health journey on your own, or you’re just curious about recent trends in health and wellness, it’s hard to tell which trends are any good and which are little more than snake oil with excellent branding.

Prisma Health experts, including pediatric physician Allyson Price, DO, a family nurse practitioner of addiction medicine Michelle Strong, and family medicine physician Erin Wisbey-Martin, MD, as well as registered dietitian nutritionist Lisa Money and exercise physiologist Benjamin Kelley with Apex Athletic Performance, answered questions on wellness, fitness, diet, parenting and more including:

• What are cleanse diets and do cleanses help?
• Is a cleanse diet the same thing as a detox?
• How does alcohol affect your body?
• What are some questions women should ask their doctors?
• Is it appropriate for kids to take multivitamins? What should parents keep in mind when choosing vitamins for children?
• Do you have to go to the gym to get effective exercise?
• Is exercise meant to feel hard to do?
• Can you eat too much protein? What problems may be caused by eating too much protein?
• Is “dry January” good for your health?
• How does your health improve if you stop drinking alcohol?
• Can weight changes affect your menstrual cycle?
• Is a child snoring a sign of a health problem?
• What causes muscle cramps? How can muscle cramps be prevented?
• Do you have to give up certain foods in order to lose weight?
• What should you do if you find it hard to stop drinking?
• How do doctors feel about the trend of ‘period panties’, or underwear designed to wear during your menstrual cycle?
• What should a parent do if their child refuses to wear a coat in winter?
• What are the best exercises to improve strength?
• Does lifting weights cause you to become bulkier physically?

Our experts asked patients, viewers and members of our community to always keep in mind that influencer or social media advice on fitness, diet, women’s health, parenting and more probably isn’t coming from evidence-based sources or genuine research.