He’s stoic about it, but he’s in pain. I know this because the man who bikes to work, as well as everywhere else in Los Angeles, has actually rented a car (a notably unglamorous Chevy Impala sedan), into which he is throwing a bag so he can go on a post-interview stroll. “I feel silly,” says the cohost of the Emmy Award-winning The Doctors. “I’m doing a 100-mile mountain bike race this summer. I went for a 5-hour ride last weekend, and when you’re biking, you’re bent over, so your hip flexors get real tight and your back overcompensates. I overdid it. No matter who you are, even if you know better, the weekend warrior part of us never dies. I feel so old right now,” he says ruefully.But he’s not, of course, and the minor back blowout is noticeable mainly because he is in such spectacular shape. In fact, the 40-year-old ER physician and author of the best-selling The Lean Belly Prescription is starting a new chapter: He just married Nashville pediatrician Charlotte Brown, MD, and they’re planning an eventual move to Colorado from Tennessee, so his commute to Los Angeles, where The Doctors shoots, will be shorter. Dr. Travis’ Top 3 Exercise Tips"It’s the simple things that make me the happiest," Dr. Stork says. “To me, the perfect day is having time to spend with Charlotte, doing things we enjoy and adding that health benefit. We have a healthy, great dinner, grab our dog, Nala [a 12-year-old Lab/husky rescue], and go for a walk. It’s a really good way to decompress.“Read on for highlights from Prevention’s exclusive interview to find out how Dr. Stork does it—and how you can too. On being in sync with your spouse:“It’s the old cliche: ‘Couples who play together, stay together.’ Charlotte and I don’t work out—we play together. Since we’ve been together, Charlotte has gotten into one of my hobbies—biking—and I’ve started running again because she’s a runner. Sometimes before we make dinner we might go for a quick 2-miler. It takes me 30 minutes; it takes her 10. When I’m doing things with her that are active, it’s fun … Having a supportive spouse is probably as important as getting the right medicine.“Learning to love veggies:“I’m from the Midwest, so growing up, I ate meat and potatoes—vegetables were always on one side of the plate. But now I eat more of them because they’re loaded with fiber and water content. Charlotte and I are vegetarian-centric, but we have fish, chicken, and lean red meat too.” Why you shouldn’t fall for health fads:“The only time you can really hurt yourself and your health is when you grab onto one health craze so strongly that you then lose balance—like the gluten-free fad, for instance. Just because something’s gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy … People move from one trend to the next. One month it’s colon cleansing, and the next it’s crazy diet pills. Things that sound too good to be true almost always are.“On listening to his patients:“During med school, I kept a journal of the type of doctor I wanted to be. One of the first things I wrote was ‘Whenever you’re with a patient, put them at ease.’ If you walk in and you’re like, ‘Okay, what’s going on?’ it’s very different from pulling up a stool, sitting, and saying, ‘Miss Watkins, I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. How can I help you?’ If you’re present, a patient can tell—even if you’re busy or if they’re calling you over to Trauma Bay One. The same thing is true of friendships or hosting a television show.“What he’s most proud of:“The Doctors airs around the world. If we say ‘Quit smoking,’ and even 1% of people watching quit, that’s thousands and thousands of people—many more than I can influence in an entire career in the emergency department. When people stop me on the street to tell me their son or daughter has diabetes but they only finally understood the disease when I explained it on the show, it means that they genuinely want to engage in conversation about health, which is thrilling for me.“See Dr. Travis Stork live! Click to learn more about his motivational health talks. For the complete interview with Dr. Travis Stork, pick up the August 2012 issue of Prevention, on newsstands now! How to Prevent Anything
