Here are eight things your doc absolutely needs to know, as they can indicate some pretty serious—even life-threatening—conditions that may need to be ruled out with tests, considered when issues occur down the line, or at the very least impact your ongoing overall health and wellbeing.

There are very few people except seven- or eight-year-old boys who enjoy and feel confident talking openly about embarrassing health issues without squirming, cringing and feeling super nervous. But when it comes to your health, you need to get comfortable in doing so in the confidential space of your doctor’s office. Here’s what your doctor wants and needs to know about:

If doctors could wave a magic wand, they would ideally know everything about you. But we all know that’s difficult-to-impossible to do in a world of infrequent appointments that are typically only 10 minutes long or less. As an MDVIP patient, you have the luxury of long appointments (averaging 45 minutes), during which your physician can really dig in to learn all about you—your health, your lifestyle, your family and relationships, that all contribute to the matrix of your health. 

You’ve heard it many times: limit your intake of highly processed foods. You know the fast, ready-to-eat convenient foods with a long list of hard to pronounce ingredients. Some are easy to recognize -- soft drinks (including diet soda), fast food menu items and packaged baked goods, to name a few. However, some of these so called “ultra-processed” foods, like energy bars, flavored yogurt and breakfast cereals are marketed as health foods. 

Walking is arguably one of the easiest, most effective forms of exercise. It’s relatively inexpensive -- all you really need is a good pair of walking shoes. And you can walk pretty much anywhere. But sometimes even the most dedicated walker needs more of a challenge than walking (or even power or race walking) or wants to burn fat and calories more efficiently. If this sounds like you, maybe your next step is running.

The term “heart attack” is kind of a misnomer. Nothing actually attacks your heart. So, what really happens during a heart attack? 

In a nutshell, a coronary artery becomes blocked. This prevents blood from flowing to the heart, and as a result your heart muscle is damaged. 

The medical term is myocardial infarction. "Myo" means muscle. "Cardial" refers to the heart. "Infarction" means tissue death due to lack of blood supply. Myocardial infarction and heart attack mean the same thing. 

More than 42 million American women live with some form of cardiovascular disease, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and it's the leading cause of death among American women, according to the American Heart Association. But many aren’t getting the exercise they need to help prevent complications like heart attack and stroke. In fact, the number of women who aren’t physically active is quite high and growing, according to a study in JAMA Open Network.

Join us as we continue to celebrate MDVIP's Year of Cardiovascular Health. 

Together we will explore the importance of consuming an antioxidant rich diet that can help to improve our cardiovascular health. Antioxidants are substances that may protect your cells against the effects of free radicals — molecules produced when your body breaks down food that play a role in heart disease.

You and your guests are invited to relax with us while we learn about the antioxidant benefits of wine and dark chocolate. We will also sample some dark chocolate and wine. 

For decades, the advice on dietary fat was clear – steer clear of saturated fat, the type commonly found in meats, whole-fat dairy products and coconuts. But over the last few years, that advice regarding no-dairy diets has been turned on its head. Coconut oil is now considered healthy. Many doctors now think you should replace margarine with butter for dairy-related health benefits.

What Women Really Need to Know About Heart Disease

Ask women what health issue is more likely to kill them and a majority think they should be most concerned about breast cancer, not heart disease or having a heart attack. They’re then surprised to hear that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States today and is more deadly than all cancers combined.