We know how poor American’s diets are. You could make an argument for how little physical activity Americans get based upon how high the obesity rates in the United States are. In case you didn’t already know, not one of the 50 states had obesity rates lower than 20%. Twelve states had obesity rates higher than 30% (2).
Here is your scenario.
You go into your doctor’s office and sit in the waiting area for what feels like an eternity. A nurse comes out and calls her name and you follow her into another room, this time smaller to wait again for what feels like a lifetime. Whatever the reason may be that you came to the physician’s office today is irrelevant. They check your blood pressure, go over the numbers of your latest blood test then you sit alone in the room to think about it all. The doctor comes in, talks to you, writes you a prescription for a drug and leaves. If I’ve missed anything in this scenario, please let me know.
Here are the questions that you should be asking yourself.
Did he ask me about exercise? If I do and what do I?
Did he ask me about nutrition?
More importantly….
Do you know if he exercises?
Does he appear to be in shape and good health?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, then you need to find out.
According to a recent study, physicians with higher body mass indexes (BMI) impacted the way they dealt with overweight or obese patients (1). The authors stated that physicians with normal BMI’s were more likely to engage in conversations of weight loss with their patients (30% vs. 18%) and felt more confident to have those conversations about diet (53% vs. 37%) and exercise (56% vs. 38%). It seems your doctor may help you about as much as they help themselves.
Here are some more important points from their research.
1) Doctors were significantly more likely to recommend weight loss when their patient’s weight appeared to be higher than their own (93% vs. 7%)
2) Obese and overweight physicians were more likely to prescribe medications to their patients (26% vs. 18%).
3) Normal weight physicians were more likely to believe that doctors should model weight-related behaviors than obese or overweight doctors (72% vs. 56%).
BMI does have it’s flaws especially when accounting for muscle mass. However, it makes you wonder why a physician with a higher body mass index would be less likely to engage in weight loss conversations, conversations about diet and exercise, be more likely to prescribe medications and less likely to believe that they need to model weight-related behaviors.
Any opinions?
1) Ullman, K. (2011). Heavier Docs Less Likely To Tackle Weight Loss. MedPage Today. http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Obesity/30906?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=WC&eun=g258129d0r&userid=258129&email=brentrhartman@gmail.com&mu_id=Photo Image:
2) “US Obesity Trends.” July 21, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
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