Dr. Omar Hamada says individuals should think of themselves as the “CEO” of their own healthcare, explaining that a healthy life begins with personal responsibility.
Hamada, during an exclusive interview Friday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, compared managing personal health to operating an airplane or race car, where only a few key gauges truly matter.
“Like a pilot or a race car driver, whatever, there are certain dials on the dashboard that you look at to make sure that you’re going in the right direction,” Hamada explained. “There are only really a few dials that you have to pay attention to.”
According to Hamada, those “dials” begin with three foundational lifestyle habits: sleep, nutrition, and exercise.
He stressed that sleep should come before all other wellness goals.
“First, really in terms of lifestyle, we need to really focus on three things,” he said. “Actually first, our sleep. That’s really the bedrock. If our sleep isn’t right, nothing else is gonna be right.”
Hamada said nutrition comes next, warning that poor eating habits cannot be overcome simply by working out.
“You are what you eat, and if you eat bad, there’s no amount of exercise that’s gonna compensate for a bad diet,” he said.
The third pillar, Hamda said, is exercise.
Expanding beyond those three basics, Hamada said he encourages patients and health-focused groups to also track hydration and mindset.
“There are five metrics that we look at,” he explained. “Nutrition or our fuel source, exercise or fitness, sleep… and then we add hydration, making sure we’re getting plenty of water to hydrate ourselves. And the fifth thing is mindset.”
Hamada emphasized that mental outlook may be more important than many people realize.
“I never used to realize how important mindset was, in fact, over everything else,” he said.
He contrasted what he called a “scarcity mindset” with an “abundant” way of thinking.
“If we think in a way that is in a scarcity mindset, we’re always gonna think like a victim,” Hamada said. “Versus thinking abundantly like, ‘I’m the CEO of my health. I’m in charge here.’”
When asked whether people should weigh themselves daily as a way to monitor health, Hamada responded that body weight alone is often misleading.
“That’s one of my pet peeves,” he said. “I don’t think weight matters at all. I don’t care what you weigh. What I care about is your body fat percentage. I care about body composition.”
Hamada criticized overreliance on Body Mass Index, or BMI, noting that muscular individuals can technically fall into the “obese” category despite being physically fit.
“You have people that have a BMI of 30, which is technically obese, who have a body fat percentage of 9 percent. They just have a lot of muscle,” he said.
To track body composition, Hamada outlined several options ranging from military-style calipers to modern body scanners and DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) imaging technology.
“Probably the most accurate is actually X-ray studies, like with DEXA scans,” he said. “You can get a DEXA scan for probably $60 now.”
As for ideal body fat levels, Hamada said men should aim for approximately 15 percent body fat, while women should target between 18 percent and 20 percent.
“The more visceral fat you have around your organs, especially around your heart … the higher risk of disease,” he warned.
Hamada ultimately stressed that long-term health is less about chasing a number on the scale and more about mastering a handful of daily habits.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X.
Photo “Dr. Omar Hamada” by Dr. Omar Hamada.
