A Healthy Lifestyle, therefore, a Longer Life

Dr. Harpreet Tsui is a board-certified internal and obesity medicine specialist whose number one passion lies in being a mom to her four and six-year-old sons. However, ever since she was four years old, her initial first love was the desire to become a doctor. That young age is when she started imagining herself in her doctor position.

Later, Dr. Tsui discovered another passion while attending her third year of medical school- compassion for people. Whenever she shares her experience during her first set of hospital rotations, she is always excited to talk about how she fell in love with getting to know patients and their families.

While doing her residency in internal medicine in Las Vegas, NV, Dr. Tsui developed a strong interest in obesity medicine. She further pursued it and was boarded in obesity medicine last year. Nowadays, Dr. Tsui benefits from combining internal and obesity medicine in her practice.

Aside from training, Dr. Tsui felt the need to experience a different approach to patient care. For that reason, she recently left a huge hospital-owned company for a different practice: Health4Life (a concierge medical practice). There, she’s now the medical director. While grateful for the knowledge gained from the previous experiences, she was happy to leave behind certain obstacles like limitations on her sessions’ length and frequency, which prevented her from better assisting and discussing more with patients. Since becoming a part of the Health4Life team as an obesity medicine specialist, she receives the leisure, the freedom, and the opportunity to spend more time with her patients, something she had deeply desired.

Preventative and Lifestyle Medicine

Nowadays, Dr. Tsui focuses on disease prevention with preventative medicine. She wants to help prevent people from having to go to the hospital in the first place (if at all possible) with proper nutrition and self-care.

With strong beliefs that a healthy lifestyle can lead to a longer life, Dr. Tsui addresses what lifestyle medicine is. While many simply define lifestyle as “how one lives their life”, there is far more nuance to the practice of lifestyle medicine. Dr. Tsui bases it on the following: being conscious of what you’re eating, how you are sleeping, how active you are, enjoying good mental health, and plant-based eating.

Dr. Tsui believes that being more active (working out, for instance) with a combination of plant-based eating will keep both the mind and body healthy. She says plant-based eating is remarkably helpful, something most people acknowledge although rarely practice. She further explains how many former nutrition patients find it difficult to keep track of food logs. Even though some patients may provide pictures, patients tend to hesitate to share what they’ve truly consumed. She encourages patients to tell her everything regarding their nutrition to assure them the best help possible. Dr. Tsui stresses that when her patients are transparent about their meal selections, it will only help them experience the best results and success in achieving their nutritional and lifestyle goals. She also reassures them that it’s acceptable to have an occasional “guilty pleasure” — the problem is not sweet. Rather, the problem would be allowing indulgences to become habitual.

Telemedicine

Dr. Tsui believes telemedicine is here to stay. She says that it is approximately 60% efficient unless one is experiencing specific symptoms, such as chest pain. Still, she believes it’s great for so many people with varying backgrounds and lifestyles: stay-at-home parents, young people, and people who love to travel, as Dr. Tsui does!

COVID-19

Though Dr. Tsui’s love for her profession runs deep, she explains how the COVID-19 pandemic has been taking a toll on doctors and their loved ones as they found themselves working significantly longer hours. She agrees that things would be better if we were a healthier nation, as outbreaks wouldn’t be as high. Despite everything going on in the world due to COVID-19, she states that the pandemic has taught her a lot. Although there’s much controversy regarding the COVID-19 vaccination, she shares her feelings of excitement about it.

I Was Just Your Guide!

With never-ending compassion for her patients, their suffering, their obstacles, and a drive to guide patients every step of the way, Dr. Tsui carefully takes her time to partner with every individual on their journey. She encourages patients to know that she’s here to be a guide to the community, as she loves telling them: “Look, you had this problem, and we fixed it…together, but you did all of the work, and I was just your guide!”