Dr. Tom Rifai

07/25/2025

Flex5 Friday feelings with Dr Tom!

07/25/2025

If you’re worried about artificial sweeteners and think that we should have cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup in Coca-Cola, I don’t wanna hear a darn thing about fresh fruit having too much sugar, OK? 

07/24/2025

I just scored a zero again on my fourth test. Did I fail? Or is zero the hero? Be a health hero, click play n find out!

07/24/2025

Do you really want me to tell this salt of the earth 100 yo veteran to stop eating at McDonald’s?

No, I’m NOT promoting, nor am I telling people not to go to, McDonald’s. I’m just saying that in the mind matters domain of the Flex5 lifestyle, we discuss acceptance. I simply accept this, and with a smile.

And for full disclosure, though it’s definitely not three times per week, you will occasionally catch me in a McDonald’s, in Paul Stanley’s words, “from time to time”. 

07/24/2025

Anyone interested in my webinar on biomarkers to measure your lifestyle as medicine success, please see here. It also includes a discussion on how to coach based on stage of readiness for change

Measuring & Improving Metabolic Health to Prevent or Reverse Disease

07/22/2025

God rest your soul, Ozzy🙏🏽

07/21/2025

Paul Stanley of KISS is an honorary and very healthy (mind, body and soul) Flex5 Lifestyle black belt 🥋 His 1980 “disco rock” song - What Makes The World Go Round - is one of his most underrated ever: https://youtu.be/yeIF5reJLLI?si=qjsx-b1QhdLUbiGa ENJOY!

07/21/2025

No. A promise to slightly cut artificial colors years from now isn’t winning. We’re being distracted. Even without artificial colors it’s still ice cream. Still Froot Loops. Still Trix. We’ll still be drowning in CRRAHP (calorie rich, refined and hyper-palatable) food concoctions and diabetes. And we’ve been here before with the promises over colors. What happened? The silent majority weren’t silent. They complained and the colors were put back in.

So focus on where Reality Meets Science, we don’t even have enough fruits and vegetables planted in the farmland of this country for every American to eat Flex5 servings a day.

We subsidize commodity crops to make CRRAHP foods and beverages cheaper and more profitable for farmers to plant, but not “specialty crops”, where fruits and veggies are.

Hence $6 pints of berries vs $5 McD CRRAHP “value” meals. No don’t get me wrong. I enjoy myself an occasional McDonald’s, but if they had to rely on me for their business there would be 95% less on earth. Not zero, but who really wants zero tolerance anyway. That’s not what Flex5 is all about. It’s about wise balance.

And in terms of balancing and managing our nation’s attention bandwidth, we may want to forget about the colors for now.

Connect the dots and look at the big picture. We’re being overloaded with fiber-anemic calories, salt and chairs (and still too much smoking 🚬 n drinking 🍺 🥃 🍷)

If we don’t focus we won’t be MAHA, we’ll be MACA (making American confused again).

https://youtu.be/dbCVjZH_jKs?si=1sa3bbtp5PgKFdK_p

07/19/2025

It’s aLIVE “Saturday Stroll with Dr Tom” on
1. demystifying fruit as a healthy source of sugar
2. a critically important observation from an independent retirement community 

07/19/2025

🥋 In martial arts or learning ‘The Flex5 Lifestyle’ for longevity and wellbeing, a black belt is simply “a white belt that never quit”.

Remember what Thomas Edison said: “I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that don’t work“. There is no “failing”. Only learning. Keep going, Flex5 Lifestyle Warriors. You’ve got this. 💥

Want to learn more about making your Flex5 Lifestyle? Your journey begins at

Join The Flex5 Lifestyle revolution, where embracing health doesn’t mean sacrificing joy. Let’s journey together towards a balanced life rich in wellbeing and wisdom, devoid of judgment, guilt and restrictions.

07/18/2025

📍FAMILY, FOOD & THE BATMOBILE? YES, PLEASE! 🦇🍽️

I’m always excited to shout out food businesses that truly go above and beyoAndiamod Andiamo is one of the BEST at finding that perfect place where healthy meets happy… and tasty!

Recently, I had the chance to visit one of their locations with my kids, and wow — from the incredible menu to the surprise appearance of the REAL BATMOBILE parked outside (yes, really!), it was a day to remember. 🚗💥

But here’s what makes Andiamo special beyond the atmosphere: they listen. They customize. They care.

We’ve collaborated in the past on the “Andiamo Lean” menu, which some of you may remember — a forward-thinking concept focused on real, clean, scratch-made food. And even though that specific menu isn’t around today, the philosophy lives on! 🙌

Now, thanks to their commitment to scratch cooking, you can make nearly any dish Flex5 Food style — low-salt, low-oil, gluten-sensitive, or just tuned to your personal goals. The best part? You don’t even have to look at the menu if you don’t want to. Just tell the server what you’re feeling, and they’ll make it happen. (Pro tip: Tip generously — they earn it!)

✅ No salt? No problem.
✅ Light oil? No problem.
✅ Want that whitefish without breading? Done.
✅ Mix and match sides or protein swaps? Easy.
✅ Eating soup with a fork? You better believe it! 🥄➡️🍴

Yep — you’ll even catch a picture of me eating minestrone soup with a fork. Why? Because Flex5 is flexible. It’s innovative. It’s about getting the most out of your food — in this case, filtering out excess salty broth and letting those fiber-rich, potassium-packed veggies take center stage. 🌱✨

Check out the pics below — me with my kids, some flashback photos from our original Lean Menu launch, the latest dishes, and of course, Batman’s ride! 🖤🍝

Big love to the Andiamo team for continuing to evolve and take care of guests like family. If you’re in the area — stop in, tell them I sent you, and ask them to freestyle your meal!

07/18/2025

Flex5 Friday Feelings… if you had a plumbing problem, would you call an electrician? Same goes in medicine.