9 ms·

If Doctors Learned to Cook, They Might Give Better Advice

81 points by sethbannon 11y ago

saguin 11y ago
Preposterous!! they should also be trained to give behavior modification advice too? This too could save lives. People need to use common sense, learn what's good for yourself and practice that. At this rate the author will soon want them to learn to code too!
- jfoutz 11y ago
  I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Wouldn't a doctor be a good person to ask what's good for you? amazon has about 50,000 different diet books, it's really not obvious what's "right". Even the glorious USDA has a lot of industry influence in what it recommends/accepts. The food plate is better than the water, kale, and doughnut diet, but it has its own issues. so, yeah, for a general practice they should probably talk about quitting smoking, getting exercise, avoiding being overweight, guns, etc. pretty much anything on the top 10[1] seems like a good idea. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
  - MikeNomad 11y ago
    I didn't see guns on the list you linked to. I did see that Heart Disease and Cancer account for nearly twice the number of deaths as the remaining eight items on the list. What am I missing?
    - nanofortnight 11y ago
      Actual causes of death, table 2: http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf#page=3 http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf#page=3
- DanBC 11y ago
  I hope they are trained to give behaviour modification advice. Otherwise schemes like " Making Every Contact Count" are useless. http://www.makingeverycontactcount.co.uk/ http://www.makingeverycontactcount.co.uk/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/mecc-guid-booklet.pdf https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/mecc-g...
zappo2938 11y ago
They used to teach this exact same class to every 8th grade student -- it was called home economics. There is a very close relationship between home economics education and health. It is now called family and consumer science but political correctness put aside home economics describes it quite nicely. The first woman to enter MIT, Ellen Swallow Richards [1], invented the field of home economics. After reading about her, I realized much of home economics is about health. Because we got rid of well defined gender roles doesn't mean we should get rid of home economics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Swallow_Richards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Swallow_Richards
- Symbiote 11y ago
  It's still on the curriculum in England [1], though the class is called something like "Food Technology". I don't know how well it is taught though — do most children still actually cook themselves for this lesson? It seems the curriculum requires that. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-design-and-technology-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-design-and-technology-programmes-of-study#cooking-and-nutrition https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curricul...
  - timthorn 11y ago
    Again, the name changed - it used to be home economics in England too (or just home ec)
  - tonyedgecombe 11y ago
    Both of my children cooked during the lessons although I don't think it's was as important as them seeing and helping us cook at home regularly.
  - jon-wood 11y ago
    Back when I did it (fifteen years ago admittedly) we would cook once a week when doing food technology, which was part of the technology rotation where we'd study a particular subject for six weeks or so. In practice that probably meant twelve weeks or so a year. At about 15 you had to choose a single technology subject to study, so those who weren't taking it further wouldn't do any more. I seem to remember it being quite focused on commercial cooking - lots of theory on portion calculations and pricing everything accordingly, but we would end up cooking something relatively simple and worthwhile. The commercial side apparently became much more pronounced for those who opted to continue, one friend of mine must have spent several months cooking endless variations on cannelloni trying to optimise it.
jrapdx3 11y ago
Nutrition has always been high on my list of important topics, and yes, they do teach the subject in medical school. It used to be that it was an elective set of courses, so true, not all medical students became well-versed in it. Not sure how much it's changed, though I suspect nutrition is still not widely enough taught. Interestingly, when I was a kid in the 8th grade it was standard practice to have the boys and girls switch shop/home ec classes a few times during the school year. It was certainly educational for me. Actually the students rather liked doing this, and no doubt quite an enlightened policy for the time. As for behavior modification, no reason a doctor wouldn't be able to be skilled and assist patients needing help with dietary management, etc. Doctors have to do a lot of that sort of thing anyway since many conditions and treatments require "lifestyle" changes. Of course, some doctors will be better at it, and others not so adept. But that's pretty much the case re: certain skill sets among those in any given occupation.
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  > when I was a kid in the 8th grade it was standard practice to have the boys and girls switch shop/home ec classes a few times during the school year Growing up in Norway, "home ec" was a mandatory subject, 2 hrs/week, for everyone in 6th grade and again in 9th grade. Shop class was also mandatory for everyone: I remember in 10th grade everyone made their own outdoor knife (well, we made the sheaths from leather, the handles from wood, and then we got the blades and joined them in; no blacksmithing). In 9th grade we also had outdoor cooking (on a fire) for a rotating 1/4 of the class every week, summer and winter. Fun times, smelling so badly of campfire that the 1/4 of class was shunned by others for the rest of the day.
suneilp 11y ago
It's not that people don't realize that proper nutrition is important. They don't want to give up their lifestyle of eating out at every trending restaurant or indulging in something not so good for you. Stuff you shouldn't eat too much tends stimulate the release of mood altering hormones leading to an addiction. After one or two decades of processed foods, people no longer know what to eat. My doctor prescribes foods and it works really well. I'm really glad to see the industry is beginning to change.
- kelukelugames 11y ago
  A doctor friend says patients never listen when he tells them to lose weight.
  - kefka 11y ago
    "Eggs are good." "eggs are bad." "Coffee is good." "Coffee is bad." "Alcohol is bad." "Red wine is good." "Fats are bad." "Fats are good." Ad absurdum. What else do you expect when the nutritionists, doctors, and universities have horrifically conflicting data? The answer, to me, seems to be a tailored diet to the person... but with 10 minute doctor visits that's not going to happen. The best you can expect is "take a pill and move on".
    - jrowley 11y ago
      Everything in moderation. That's a decent rule of thumb.
      - noondip 11y ago
        Everything? Even cigarettes? Of course not, so a better rule of thumb would be to avoid things which are known to cause health problems altogether, at least to an extent which is practical.
        ams6110 11y ago
        Sure, an occasional cigarette probably won't hurt much, all things considered. Exercise (beyond a point) can cause health problems. I know of a guy who is a quadriplegic because he liked to bike on trails.
stefanix 11y ago
Without reading the article I already have so many questions. Why all this speculation!? How many doctors who have learned how to cook does it need to test this hypothesis and aren't those easy to come about.
- alephnil 11y ago
  What is well documented beyond any doubt is that nutrition is more important for your health than nearly anything else in life, so there is no doubt that getting his patients to eat more helthy food is one of the most important things a doctor can do. One of the point of the article is that doctors that can cook may be able to give nutritional advice to their patients that they can relate to, and that does not get too abstract.
- usrusr 11y ago
  I had similar concerns, what new breed of superdocs are they hoping to create, considering that doctors before them certainly did have some level of meal preparation ability? But fortunately the article is more nuanced, i read it as "when general household skills are in decline, young doctors may be bottlenecked by that when talking about nutrition, some cooking classes might help". I see that as a refreshing break from the usual pattern of naive "if there are numbers (no matter which) it must be true"-empirism that holds the medical profession in a stranglehold. (even the antiscientific alternative medicine people do most of their arguing by blowing numbers out of proportion, people rarely become doctors because they were particularly good at maths)
amelius 11y ago
There is an upcoming field called "nutrigenomics", where genetic information is combined with foods and dietary supplements to address a wide range of topics, from (chronic) diseases, to aging. See [2] for a practical example. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrigenomics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrigenomics [2] https://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-mthfr-gene-mutation-and-how-to-rewire-your-genetics/ https://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-mthfr-gene-mutation-and-...
collyw 11y ago
A great deal of medicine seems to be curative rather than preventative. We ll know exercise is good for us, but you wouldn't expect your doctor to design your training schedule. Then again both nutrition and exercise seem to have a large "common sense" element to them in my opinion.
- spacehome 11y ago
  I would expect my doctor to tell me to hit the gym and eat better.
scholia 11y ago
The BBC has just run an interesting TV series where a doctor visits families in their homes and improves their health by changing their diets, and adding exercise. The results are both visible and -- importantly -- measurable. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/46/doctor-in-the-house http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/46/doctor-in-... The series is going to be repeated in January so UK residents will be able to watch them. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06q6y95 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06q6y95 Of course, medical advice on diet hasn't always been entirely correct, but I think there's a pretty broad consensus on Dr Chatterjee's approach -- cut out the fast food and processed foods, avoid added sugars, cut carbs, eat more veggies and fibre, eat a wider variety of foods etc. You don't really med school training to figure this out.
jdietrich 11y ago
Teaching people how to eat better is a laudable idea. Using doctors to provide that information is absolute insanity. The division of labour is not a new or controversial idea; you don't need seven years of medical training to teach basic nutrition. The British NHS lifestyle education programme is called Change4Life. The programme uses advertising, social media and partnerships with schools, local government, food retailers and community groups. The idea is to provide information in small but frequent doses and in ways that are immediately actionable. Convenience stores are encouraged to sell more fresh fruit and vegetables with free Point of Sale promotional material. Employers are encouraged to run healthy lifestyle challenges to help their employees eat better, get more exercise and reduce their alcohol intake. Free smartphone apps provide nutrition information and exercise ideas. http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/pages/overview-policy-background.aspx?filter=OverviewAndPolicyBackground http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/pages/overview-policy-backgrou...
- DanBC 11y ago
  But see also "Making Every Contact Count", where obese people who see a doctor are encouraged to think about losing weight (and sometimes given three months free on a weight loss programme) or people who smoke are encouraged to give up (and given access to smoking cessation services) or people who drink too much are encouraged to cut back a bit.
- mrob 11y ago
  Using doctors to provide that information is not insanity, because it's likely that people will take it more seriously if it's from doctors. "Lifestyle educators" aren't trusted like doctors are.
  - niels_olson 11y ago
    When I was doing primary care, I actually enjoyed talking to patients about nutrition. I can expound on the topic for hours at the drop of a hat. I went to Med school at Tulane (where Dr. Harlan is). But even in the closed system of active duty military, it's hard to believe the time paid off because I rarely saw the patients again. They'd schedule follow up and no show. My clinic schedule would change. They'd deploy. I'd deploy. Do I eat better? Yes. My family? Probably. Anyone else? Long term? Studies say maybe, but I just don't know.
kefka 11y ago
About 3 weeks ago, I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes. I was given the "take this pill and leave me alone" treatment most doctors do these days. The pill was Metformin. I asked about food, since that is the only way I am getting nutrients in my body. His answer was, "If it tastes good, don't eat it." I cook a great deal, as does my wife. If I can change my diet so that my blood-sugar level stays within healthy parameters, I'll gladly do it. And, I've done it. There is a technique called "Eating to the meter", which tailors a diabetes diet to your body. I can see what foods do what. Those sugar-alcohols sometimes do and don't cause an effect. Malitol causes no spike, but xylitol does. Don't know why, but I know it does in me. And all of this is internet derived advice. But it's better; far better than what the doctor said... 'Take this pill and go away'
- beachstartup 11y ago
  do some research into ketogenic diets. "if it tastes good don't eat it" mainly refers to processed sugar and carbs, not real food. for example, roasted chicken and cauliflower tastes delicious and i would certainly choose it over a donut any time of day. is chicken and cauliflower somehow off limits for diabetics? i'm no doctor, but probably not.
  - kefka 11y ago
    Unfortunately, that's the pablum my doctor said. I have not been following my doctor's advice, as it is generally scientifically bad. I haven't went all in what was said. All meats are safe, as long as they are relatively unprocessed. When processing adds corn starch, sugar, or other carbohydrates is when the meats are not good for me. Cauliflower is perfect for me. It's also how I make "mashed potatoes". Find a frozen bag of cauliflower and cook it. Let it dry out a bit, and add butter and heavy whipping cream, and blend. 0g carb mashed potatoes. Also, How I have been testing food is "test -> eat -> blood glucose test every half hour for 3 times". Now that I have data on about 70% of what I normally eat, I don't have to test those foods. I'm much healthier now that I'm following a low carb diet of my own design. I'm eating about 0-15 g carbs a day. Surprisingly, it's similar to Atkins, but with the blood-glucose meter component. I can scientifically say that I'm doing better with regards to that dimension.
TurboHaskal 11y ago
But doctors can be helpful. I was once in poor health. Feeling tired, suffering from high cholesterol and gaining weight despite not eating much. He told me to drop saturated fats, simple sugars and animal protein. And instead choke on complex carbs, vegetables and vegetable oils. The doctor was fat himself, so the contrarian in me did the natural thing and went 180 on his advice: dropped complex carbs, vegetables and oils and instead choked on saturated fats, simple carbs (even sugar and candy) and animal protein. I was once in poor health.
- mod 11y ago
  > gaining weight despite not eating much. It doesn't work like that. It really discounts the rest of your story.
  - Diamons 11y ago
    There's plenty of science showing that people with different gut bacteria can lose / gain weight while eating the same amount of calories.
  - jrowley 11y ago
    Yeah outside of tapeworms, eating at a calorie deficit should always result in weight loss (although not healthy, sustainable weight loss).
    - TurboHaskal 11y ago
      >be me >eat like crap following doc's advice >hormonal issues and possible micronutrient deficits >feel lethargic and without energy >non exercise activity thermogenesis decreases >decreased energy makes me not take part into sports >no sports and low protein drops lean tissue which drops rest metabolic rate even further >now getting fat despite not eating much relative to a normal adult >reverse doc advice >better mood and increased energy >increased NEAT which allows me to eat more >start doing sports >now maintaining weight with 4000kcal >talk about it in tech forum >being called a liar by nitpicking hners who can't read >nerds triggered by mean comment >karma drops below -9000 >eventually banned by admins
pvaldes 11y ago
Most doctors can cook yet, and most doctors give a good advice yet, so the title is bad. A fake starting point to arrive to an obvious statement. And the claimed benefits are not so clear. Doctors that give better advice probably just spend more time studying and practicing and less time doing maccaroni. If this people would need to pay money to be teached how to cook as a part of their really long way to being doctors, they will probably advertise food brands in the end to compensate the loses.
facepalm 11y ago
So doctors will teach patients how to cook in 5 minutes?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
landonshoop 11y ago
I think this is an excellent idea. I am a bit surprised at the reactions against this concept. The key statement to zero in on is that doctors feel they do not have sufficient training to provide advice. The operative words being "sufficient training" and "advice." Providing a few classes in basic nutrition/cooking to doctors can go a long way in their ability to treat and prevent diseases. Tulane is not suggesting that doctors spend 4 years in France working their way up from a garde manger. Food can and should be viewed by doctors as a form of medicine. This perspective aligns with the basic definition of medicine and the role of a doctor.

81 points by sethbannon 11y ago

Preposterous!! they should also be trained to give behavior modification advice too? This too could save lives. People need to use common sense, learn what's good for yourself and practice that. At this rate the author will soon want them to learn to code too!

jfoutz 11y ago
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Wouldn't a doctor be a good person to ask what's good for you? amazon has about 50,000 different diet books, it's really not obvious what's "right". Even the glorious USDA has a lot of industry influence in what it recommends/accepts. The food plate is better than the water, kale, and doughnut diet, but it has its own issues. so, yeah, for a general practice they should probably talk about quitting smoking, getting exercise, avoiding being overweight, guns, etc. pretty much anything on the top 10[1] seems like a good idea. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
- MikeNomad 11y ago
  I didn't see guns on the list you linked to. I did see that Heart Disease and Cancer account for nearly twice the number of deaths as the remaining eight items on the list. What am I missing?
  - nanofortnight 11y ago
    Actual causes of death, table 2: http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf#page=3 http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf#page=3
DanBC 11y ago
I hope they are trained to give behaviour modification advice. Otherwise schemes like " Making Every Contact Count" are useless. http://www.makingeverycontactcount.co.uk/ http://www.makingeverycontactcount.co.uk/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/mecc-guid-booklet.pdf https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/mecc-g...

zappo2938 11y ago

They used to teach this exact same class to every 8th grade student -- it was called home economics. There is a very close relationship between home economics education and health. It is now called family and consumer science but political correctness put aside home economics describes it quite nicely. The first woman to enter MIT, Ellen Swallow Richards [1], invented the field of home economics. After reading about her, I realized much of home economics is about health. Because we got rid of well defined gender roles doesn't mean we should get rid of home economics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Swallow_Richards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Swallow_Richards

Symbiote 11y ago
It's still on the curriculum in England [1], though the class is called something like "Food Technology". I don't know how well it is taught though — do most children still actually cook themselves for this lesson? It seems the curriculum requires that. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-design-and-technology-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-design-and-technology-programmes-of-study#cooking-and-nutrition https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curricul...
- timthorn 11y ago
  Again, the name changed - it used to be home economics in England too (or just home ec)
- tonyedgecombe 11y ago
  Both of my children cooked during the lessons although I don't think it's was as important as them seeing and helping us cook at home regularly.
- jon-wood 11y ago
  Back when I did it (fifteen years ago admittedly) we would cook once a week when doing food technology, which was part of the technology rotation where we'd study a particular subject for six weeks or so. In practice that probably meant twelve weeks or so a year. At about 15 you had to choose a single technology subject to study, so those who weren't taking it further wouldn't do any more. I seem to remember it being quite focused on commercial cooking - lots of theory on portion calculations and pricing everything accordingly, but we would end up cooking something relatively simple and worthwhile. The commercial side apparently became much more pronounced for those who opted to continue, one friend of mine must have spent several months cooking endless variations on cannelloni trying to optimise it.

jrapdx3 11y ago

Nutrition has always been high on my list of important topics, and yes, they do teach the subject in medical school. It used to be that it was an elective set of courses, so true, not all medical students became well-versed in it. Not sure how much it's changed, though I suspect nutrition is still not widely enough taught. Interestingly, when I was a kid in the 8th grade it was standard practice to have the boys and girls switch shop/home ec classes a few times during the school year. It was certainly educational for me. Actually the students rather liked doing this, and no doubt quite an enlightened policy for the time. As for behavior modification, no reason a doctor wouldn't be able to be skilled and assist patients needing help with dietary management, etc. Doctors have to do a lot of that sort of thing anyway since many conditions and treatments require "lifestyle" changes. Of course, some doctors will be better at it, and others not so adept. But that's pretty much the case re: certain skill sets among those in any given occupation.

semi-extrinsic 11y ago
> when I was a kid in the 8th grade it was standard practice to have the boys and girls switch shop/home ec classes a few times during the school year Growing up in Norway, "home ec" was a mandatory subject, 2 hrs/week, for everyone in 6th grade and again in 9th grade. Shop class was also mandatory for everyone: I remember in 10th grade everyone made their own outdoor knife (well, we made the sheaths from leather, the handles from wood, and then we got the blades and joined them in; no blacksmithing). In 9th grade we also had outdoor cooking (on a fire) for a rotating 1/4 of the class every week, summer and winter. Fun times, smelling so badly of campfire that the 1/4 of class was shunned by others for the rest of the day.

suneilp 11y ago

It's not that people don't realize that proper nutrition is important. They don't want to give up their lifestyle of eating out at every trending restaurant or indulging in something not so good for you. Stuff you shouldn't eat too much tends stimulate the release of mood altering hormones leading to an addiction. After one or two decades of processed foods, people no longer know what to eat. My doctor prescribes foods and it works really well. I'm really glad to see the industry is beginning to change.

kelukelugames 11y ago
A doctor friend says patients never listen when he tells them to lose weight.
- kefka 11y ago
  "Eggs are good." "eggs are bad." "Coffee is good." "Coffee is bad." "Alcohol is bad." "Red wine is good." "Fats are bad." "Fats are good." Ad absurdum. What else do you expect when the nutritionists, doctors, and universities have horrifically conflicting data? The answer, to me, seems to be a tailored diet to the person... but with 10 minute doctor visits that's not going to happen. The best you can expect is "take a pill and move on".
  - jrowley 11y ago
    Everything in moderation. That's a decent rule of thumb.
    - noondip 11y ago
      Everything? Even cigarettes? Of course not, so a better rule of thumb would be to avoid things which are known to cause health problems altogether, at least to an extent which is practical.
      - ams6110 11y ago
        Sure, an occasional cigarette probably won't hurt much, all things considered. Exercise (beyond a point) can cause health problems. I know of a guy who is a quadriplegic because he liked to bike on trails.

stefanix 11y ago

Without reading the article I already have so many questions. Why all this speculation!? How many doctors who have learned how to cook does it need to test this hypothesis and aren't those easy to come about.

alephnil 11y ago
What is well documented beyond any doubt is that nutrition is more important for your health than nearly anything else in life, so there is no doubt that getting his patients to eat more helthy food is one of the most important things a doctor can do. One of the point of the article is that doctors that can cook may be able to give nutritional advice to their patients that they can relate to, and that does not get too abstract.
usrusr 11y ago
I had similar concerns, what new breed of superdocs are they hoping to create, considering that doctors before them certainly did have some level of meal preparation ability? But fortunately the article is more nuanced, i read it as "when general household skills are in decline, young doctors may be bottlenecked by that when talking about nutrition, some cooking classes might help". I see that as a refreshing break from the usual pattern of naive "if there are numbers (no matter which) it must be true"-empirism that holds the medical profession in a stranglehold. (even the antiscientific alternative medicine people do most of their arguing by blowing numbers out of proportion, people rarely become doctors because they were particularly good at maths)

amelius 11y ago

There is an upcoming field called "nutrigenomics", where genetic information is combined with foods and dietary supplements to address a wide range of topics, from (chronic) diseases, to aging. See [2] for a practical example. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrigenomics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrigenomics [2] https://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-mthfr-gene-mutation-and-how-to-rewire-your-genetics/ https://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-mthfr-gene-mutation-and-...

collyw 11y ago

A great deal of medicine seems to be curative rather than preventative. We ll know exercise is good for us, but you wouldn't expect your doctor to design your training schedule. Then again both nutrition and exercise seem to have a large "common sense" element to them in my opinion.

spacehome 11y ago
I would expect my doctor to tell me to hit the gym and eat better.

scholia 11y ago

The BBC has just run an interesting TV series where a doctor visits families in their homes and improves their health by changing their diets, and adding exercise. The results are both visible and -- importantly -- measurable. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/46/doctor-in-the-house http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/46/doctor-in-... The series is going to be repeated in January so UK residents will be able to watch them. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06q6y95 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06q6y95 Of course, medical advice on diet hasn't always been entirely correct, but I think there's a pretty broad consensus on Dr Chatterjee's approach -- cut out the fast food and processed foods, avoid added sugars, cut carbs, eat more veggies and fibre, eat a wider variety of foods etc. You don't really med school training to figure this out.

jdietrich 11y ago

Teaching people how to eat better is a laudable idea. Using doctors to provide that information is absolute insanity. The division of labour is not a new or controversial idea; you don't need seven years of medical training to teach basic nutrition. The British NHS lifestyle education programme is called Change4Life. The programme uses advertising, social media and partnerships with schools, local government, food retailers and community groups. The idea is to provide information in small but frequent doses and in ways that are immediately actionable. Convenience stores are encouraged to sell more fresh fruit and vegetables with free Point of Sale promotional material. Employers are encouraged to run healthy lifestyle challenges to help their employees eat better, get more exercise and reduce their alcohol intake. Free smartphone apps provide nutrition information and exercise ideas. http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/pages/overview-policy-background.aspx?filter=OverviewAndPolicyBackground http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/pages/overview-policy-backgrou...

DanBC 11y ago
But see also "Making Every Contact Count", where obese people who see a doctor are encouraged to think about losing weight (and sometimes given three months free on a weight loss programme) or people who smoke are encouraged to give up (and given access to smoking cessation services) or people who drink too much are encouraged to cut back a bit.
mrob 11y ago
Using doctors to provide that information is not insanity, because it's likely that people will take it more seriously if it's from doctors. "Lifestyle educators" aren't trusted like doctors are.
- niels_olson 11y ago
  When I was doing primary care, I actually enjoyed talking to patients about nutrition. I can expound on the topic for hours at the drop of a hat. I went to Med school at Tulane (where Dr. Harlan is). But even in the closed system of active duty military, it's hard to believe the time paid off because I rarely saw the patients again. They'd schedule follow up and no show. My clinic schedule would change. They'd deploy. I'd deploy. Do I eat better? Yes. My family? Probably. Anyone else? Long term? Studies say maybe, but I just don't know.

kefka 11y ago

About 3 weeks ago, I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes. I was given the "take this pill and leave me alone" treatment most doctors do these days. The pill was Metformin. I asked about food, since that is the only way I am getting nutrients in my body. His answer was, "If it tastes good, don't eat it." I cook a great deal, as does my wife. If I can change my diet so that my blood-sugar level stays within healthy parameters, I'll gladly do it. And, I've done it. There is a technique called "Eating to the meter", which tailors a diabetes diet to your body. I can see what foods do what. Those sugar-alcohols sometimes do and don't cause an effect. Malitol causes no spike, but xylitol does. Don't know why, but I know it does in me. And all of this is internet derived advice. But it's better; far better than what the doctor said... 'Take this pill and go away'

beachstartup 11y ago
do some research into ketogenic diets. "if it tastes good don't eat it" mainly refers to processed sugar and carbs, not real food. for example, roasted chicken and cauliflower tastes delicious and i would certainly choose it over a donut any time of day. is chicken and cauliflower somehow off limits for diabetics? i'm no doctor, but probably not.
- kefka 11y ago
  Unfortunately, that's the pablum my doctor said. I have not been following my doctor's advice, as it is generally scientifically bad. I haven't went all in what was said. All meats are safe, as long as they are relatively unprocessed. When processing adds corn starch, sugar, or other carbohydrates is when the meats are not good for me. Cauliflower is perfect for me. It's also how I make "mashed potatoes". Find a frozen bag of cauliflower and cook it. Let it dry out a bit, and add butter and heavy whipping cream, and blend. 0g carb mashed potatoes. Also, How I have been testing food is "test -> eat -> blood glucose test every half hour for 3 times". Now that I have data on about 70% of what I normally eat, I don't have to test those foods. I'm much healthier now that I'm following a low carb diet of my own design. I'm eating about 0-15 g carbs a day. Surprisingly, it's similar to Atkins, but with the blood-glucose meter component. I can scientifically say that I'm doing better with regards to that dimension.

TurboHaskal 11y ago

But doctors can be helpful. I was once in poor health. Feeling tired, suffering from high cholesterol and gaining weight despite not eating much. He told me to drop saturated fats, simple sugars and animal protein. And instead choke on complex carbs, vegetables and vegetable oils. The doctor was fat himself, so the contrarian in me did the natural thing and went 180 on his advice: dropped complex carbs, vegetables and oils and instead choked on saturated fats, simple carbs (even sugar and candy) and animal protein. I was once in poor health.

mod 11y ago
> gaining weight despite not eating much. It doesn't work like that. It really discounts the rest of your story.
- Diamons 11y ago
  There's plenty of science showing that people with different gut bacteria can lose / gain weight while eating the same amount of calories.
- jrowley 11y ago
  Yeah outside of tapeworms, eating at a calorie deficit should always result in weight loss (although not healthy, sustainable weight loss).
  - TurboHaskal 11y ago
    >be me >eat like crap following doc's advice >hormonal issues and possible micronutrient deficits >feel lethargic and without energy >non exercise activity thermogenesis decreases >decreased energy makes me not take part into sports >no sports and low protein drops lean tissue which drops rest metabolic rate even further >now getting fat despite not eating much relative to a normal adult >reverse doc advice >better mood and increased energy >increased NEAT which allows me to eat more >start doing sports >now maintaining weight with 4000kcal >talk about it in tech forum >being called a liar by nitpicking hners who can't read >nerds triggered by mean comment >karma drops below -9000 >eventually banned by admins

pvaldes 11y ago

Most doctors can cook yet, and most doctors give a good advice yet, so the title is bad. A fake starting point to arrive to an obvious statement. And the claimed benefits are not so clear. Doctors that give better advice probably just spend more time studying and practicing and less time doing maccaroni. If this people would need to pay money to be teached how to cook as a part of their really long way to being doctors, they will probably advertise food brands in the end to compensate the loses.

facepalm 11y ago

So doctors will teach patients how to cook in 5 minutes?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

landonshoop 11y ago

I think this is an excellent idea. I am a bit surprised at the reactions against this concept. The key statement to zero in on is that doctors feel they do not have sufficient training to provide advice. The operative words being "sufficient training" and "advice." Providing a few classes in basic nutrition/cooking to doctors can go a long way in their ability to treat and prevent diseases. Tulane is not suggesting that doctors spend 4 years in France working their way up from a garde manger. Food can and should be viewed by doctors as a form of medicine. This perspective aligns with the basic definition of medicine and the role of a doctor.