CDC’s Response

CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) is working to improve nutrition and physical activity and reduce obesity through state programs, technical assistance and training, surveillance and applied research, program implementation and evaluation, translation and dissemination, and partnership development.  (In other words they are studying the problem, wasting even more taxpayer money)

I heard a news report recently where communities are being forced to buy first response units with heavy duty hydraulics in order to handle the increased number of patients who are obese.  At a cost of $12,000 per unit, cities across America are refitting ambulances to handle the increasing number of patients who weight over 400 lbs.

We can’t wait for the government to figure out how to reduce the prevalence of obesity in America.  Individuals and their healthcare providers need to take the bull by the horns and improve their diet to reduce the incidence of obesity.  Individual doctors need to be proactive and educate their patients on weight loss and improved nutrition.  Most American diets are high in calories, but low in nutrition.  This leads to the body craving more and more food as it strives to ingest the nutrients that it so critically needs.

A classic example of this phenomenon is the often told story of the pregnant woman craving pickles and ice cream.  While this combination of foods sounds bizarre, it is really the body saying that it needs electrolytes and proteins in order to meet its needs for increasing blood volume to sustain a healthy pregnancy.  Pickle juice is high in minerals and ice cream has plenty of proteins that the body is craving.

In order to meet your patient’s dietary needs for weight loss, you need to educate yourself or hire someone with the time and expertise to counsel your patients about nutrition and weight loss.  A whole industry has been built around weight loss, yet the medical profession has been largely ignoring this need for information for patients.  Not only will your patients be healthier, so they will generally respond better to your entire treatment program, but they will be less likely to develop many debilitating and life threatening diseases.

You can cash in on the obesity problem in several ways.  The simplest way is offer your own weight loss program to your patients.  I saw an ad recently where a doctor claims to have added $50,000 income to his practice by providing a weight loss program to their clinic and that his staff actually did all of the work associated with the program.  The internet can provide numerous sites with information on doctor directed programs and products which are available.

You can contract with a supplement manufacturing company which can private label products with your name which will reinforce to your patients that you are a leader in the dietary field.

You can incorporate a nutritionist into your clinic to educate your patients and manage their diets so that weight loss becomes a byproduct of good nutrition and health.  Associate yourself with a gym or health club to address the increased burning of calories which will hasten the weight loss of any reduced calorie nutrient dense diet.  Include in your team a nutritionist who specializes in detoxification and intestinal cleansing which will aid in weight loss for many obese patients.

The bottom line is that nutrition and diet are gaining the attention of patients, the media, and most importantly the government.  You can become a leader in the nutrition and dietary field or get left behind as this trend gathers speed.  You may not have the time or desire to become an expert in the nutritional field.  But, a good leader will surround themselves with the appropriate personnel to accomplish their goals.   Like it or not, the nutritional component of healthcare will become more prominent in the entire healthcare field, so you had better take advantage of this reality.

If have any suggestions or comments you can contact us at: http://www.hna-net.com and click the contact us link at the top of the page or call 877-315-3338 and we will be happy to assist you.