The Serotonin-Plus Weight Loss Blog: Getting Help from Your Physician
“Eat less and exercise more”… “Here is a 1200 calorie dietary sheet to follow”… ”___________”
If this was the game show “Jeopardy” the question to these answers are: ”What do most physicians advise their patients who are struggling with weight control issues?” If you noticed, the last of the three “answers” was blank, because studies have shown that almost 50% of obese patients report that their own physicians say NOTHING to them about their weight during their checkups. Blood pressure pills, diabetes pills, arthritis pills, cholesterol lowering pills, acid reflux pills, CPAP masks, etc etc are all being prescribed by most physicians for their overweight patients with co-morbidities, but yet the one central unifying cause of all of these, weight, is not being addressed. Sounds insane? Last night I was on a webinar that we hosted for our national physicians to help them with their SP programs. These primary care physicians around different parts of the country are now offering a solution to their patients. Jennie Craig and Mr. Nutrisystem do not give a flying ____ about your medical co-morbidities. They are selling products to Americans and making money. Your physicians do care about you and your health. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority are misplaced in their priorities, with the treatment of disease states taking precedence over the prevention of them.
I totally agree with this. I am a nurse and most of the physicians I work with have admitted that since they don’t know how to help their patients lose weight, they just ignore the issue, except for the occasional reprimand. I am SO glad that Dr. Posner has taken the time to learn, and has taken on this huge issue (no pun intended!) I really hope more and more primary care docs will offer the SP program to their patients.