Running Thornhill MD helps patients win at weight loss
New books offers tips and his philosophy for success

Thornhill Liberal
January 9, 2014
By Simone Joseph

Dr. Steve Hirsch reached a realization early on in his career as a family doctor.

He sometimes advised patients to lose weight, assuming they would follow his advice. But often they did not have the tools needed to lose excess pounds, increase exercise and improve overall lifestyle.

So he created a tool.

The Thornhill resident created a wellness and weight loss program which he has modified and refined over 25 years of practice.

He released a book in November that explains the program, titled Health First: Winning at Weight Loss and Wellness.

“The focus is not just about looking better, but taking charge of your health,” Dr. Hirsch said. His program is also about giving people greater control over disease prevention, he said.

Dr. Hirsch practices what he preaches.

He has run 24 marathons, including five Boston Marathons, and is also an avid cyclist.

When he was a child, Dr. Hirsch saw his mother, Ruth, battle a disabling form of rheumatoid arthritis, which made him want to remain as healthy as possible.

His father, Hymie, also motivated him to strive for good health.

Five years after he married, his father had gained weight to the point where he was at least 40 pounds overweight.

“I thought, you know what? I don’t want to go there,” Dr. Hirsch said.

Today, Dr. Hirsch is 10 pounds lighter than he was when he was age 18.

“I have to work at this. It is not a constant struggle, but I pay attention. I focus on sugar and fat content,” he said.

Dr. Hirsch says he is not perfect, admitting he goes to the Air Canada Centre from time to time and indulges in unhealthy food.

For the last 30 years, Dr. Hirsch has practised family medicine in the Mississauga and Oakville area. He is on staff in the department of primary care at Trillium Health Partners, a large community hospital in Mississauga. He is also a lecturer in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto.

A Thornhill resident for the last 13 years, he became a family doctor because he wanted to prevent disease and has been trying to help patients do this since 1983.

He runs out of Thornhill’s Running Room on Disera Drive near the Promenade Mall.

Dr. Hirsch has seen the program work with his patients.

He points to the example of one of his patients — the CEO of a large company — who travels 44 weeks out of the year.

Dr. Hirsch told his patient to lose 40 pounds and his answer was: “No way I can do that. I am living in hotels and restaurants.” The patient felt he had no control over what he ate.

But Dr. Hirsch taught him the program and he dropped those 40 pounds.

“The program gives people control and debunks some of the crazy myths,” he said.

It debunks myths such as you should not eat after 6 p.m. It also teaches people how to be smart consumers, for example, not believing a food product is healthy just because it is marketed that way, when it is really loaded with sugar.

He teaches people how to focus on what they eat to prevent mindless eating.

Patients have told him the program helps them read and interpret food labels.

Dr. Hirsch has researched some fad diets, but says they are not sustainable.

Another common myth he debunks is that people often think they can burn off all of their calories at the gym, yet 80 per cent of weight loss is from changes made in diet, while only 20 per cent is from exercise.

He also wants to teach other family doctors how to use his program.

You can buy his book at Amazon.ca or iBooks on iPad or it can be special ordered at Chapters or Indigo.

TIPS FOR HEALTH:

• Eat four snacks per day.

• Eat mindfully.

• Find time to exercise by booking appointments with yourself to do cardio exercise three to four times per week for 30 to 45 minutes. This is a technique Dr. Hirsch has used since he was 18.

• Stick to a food budget, i.e. only eating a prescribed amount of certain types of food each day and week (i.e. four portions of fruit per day, three portions of meat weekly).

• Never let yourself get hungry, since this often leads to overeating.