The 4-Step Holistic Approach That Helped This MD Lose 90 Pounds & Keep It Off

Emergency and integrative medicine physician Eudene Harry, M.D., was feeling unwell—so much so, that she was losing sleep, shedding hair, and gaining weight. Of course, she was under a whole lot of stress—working 60-hour weeks as an emergency physician and all—but all her labs and yearly checkups looked A-OK. On paper, she was fine. Healthy. 

And yet, she didn't feel like it. "I started to explore for myself: Why was I feeling like crap? Why couldn't I get the weight off? Why wasn't I sleeping? Why was my hair falling out?" she explains on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. "I decided there has to be more to health than what [I was] currently doing." 

Yes, 90 pounds is a drastic change, but Harry emphasizes that this by no means happened overnight. In fact, when she first started her holistic health path, she didn't focus on weight at all. "Ultimately, what worked for me was just wanting to feel better. I said to myself: 'Why don't I just focus on wanting to feel better? Why don't I just focus on wanting to sleep better? Why don't I just focus on wanting my energy to improve more?'" 

By focusing on these top-down goals rather than assigning herself harsh parameters, she was able to see the whole picture when it came to her health. In fact, when she viewed these lifestyle shifts as an ongoing journey (rather than a checklist of markers to meet), she was able to make those changes sustainable. And with time? She inched closer to her healthy weight. 

We know how much stress affects overall well-being; and according to Harry, stress management was really the key to getting her health back on track. "The thing that made the most significant change in my life was understanding the impact that feeling overwhelmed all the time was having on my health," she explains. "Once I started getting that in order, other things started to fall into place." 

"When I say holistic health, [many people say], 'What herbs should I take?' or 'What supplement should I take?'" Harry says. "That's not the whole point of the discussion at all... It's understanding that everything you do contributes to your wellness and contributes to your purpose." 

You might not regard purpose as a "tangible" weight loss technique—but Harry urges all of us to reconsider. In fact, research shows that having a sense of purpose was associated with a lower risk of becoming physically inactive, a lower risk of developing sleep problems, and a lower risk of unhealthy BMI1. We need more research to explain exactly why this happens, but the message remains clear: When you focus on your purpose in life, healthy behaviors just seem to fall into place. 

It's similar to the first point, but it bears repeating: Harry didn't check off certain milestones or goals and call it a day. No, she made holistic health an integral part of her everyday lifestyle. 

That way, focusing on her health wasn't a chore or even a rare moment of self-care—it just wasn't optional. "We don't consider brushing our teeth optional," she poses. "Showering—that's not optional. No matter how busy you are, you're going to take time to do that." By folding in healthy habits (in Harry's case, primarily stress management techniques), you make them part of your consistent routine.