Did you know that research shows that when doctors have a three-minute conversation about smoking with their patients that they are significantly more likely to quit? In a similar study, patients whose doctors spoke to them about their weight did a better job preventing further weight gain. It seems like something in that short conversation makes a difference. The problem is that very few people are being told that they are obese by their doctor. (Taken from NPR’s article Just Talking With Your Doctor Could Help You Lose Weight)
It seems that this issue keeps popping up. Recently we were at an obesity summit in Atlanta where the Vice President of a major Atlanta-based medical center commented on this very issue. She said that physicians are hesitant to bring up the topic, partially because of the stigma that comes with obesity and partially because they really don’t know how to have this conversation.
Last year we created a Doctor/Health Clinic/WIC Clinic Kit designed to help create an environment to make those conversations easier. It’s chock-full of great OrganWise material like our 8 DVDs, The OrganWise Guys Shorts!, Foods of the Month Posters, hard-back books and healthy lifestyle trackers. The intent of this kit is that as children and parents wait to see the doctor, they’ll be reached with healthy messages and primed for a potential discussion In addition, the healthy tracker cards are designed to give kids and adults simple steps that they can take to create healthy habits like drinking more water, choosing high-fiber foods, exercising, and making low-fat choices.
If you know of a doctor’s office who could benefit from this product, please pass this blog along to them today!
