Health Insurance Blog

Partners for healthy livingWith overweight and obesity rampant in this country, a cultural shift to more healthful living is in order, many experts say, but patients don”t always know how to do that on their own.

“Physicians are just sort of in this model of prescribing medications,” said Sallis, who would like to see doctors prescribing exercise to patients. “I think they”re much more comfortable prescribing medication than with lifestyle intervention.” His group, which is the world’’s largest sports medicine and exercise science organization, is in the process of launching a program called Exercise IS Medicine to encourage physicians to make a change.

“I think that every physician ought to inquire about a patient’’s level of physical activity, and then if they are doing less than 30 minutes, five days a week, they ought to inform them of the risks of inactivity and the benefits of doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week, said Sallis, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, Calif. “It ought to be assessed at every visit by every physician … and similarly, smoking needs to be addressed as well, and obesity. Those three problems, to me, are the big three.”

A change in lifestyle Though some patients would prefer a magic pill instead of exercise and eating right, it’’s worth it to try to make lifestyle changes, said Veeneman, who emphasizes a combined approach of exercise and dietary changes to her patients. “Even a small amount of weight loss can impact lots of things like the blood pressure … or the cholesterol or the sugars,” she said. “So a 10 to 15 pound weight loss can be significant in people.” Delaney, who lives in the South End, has not been exercising because of arthritic pain but said she hopes to in the future.

Meanwhile, she’’s lost about 12 pounds and seen her condition improve by changing her eating habits and getting her medication adjusted by the doctor. Doctors can help patients by guiding them away from unwise strategies, such as unproven weight-loss supplements, and helping them choose better foods and better portions, Veeneman said.

They also can provide some objectivity when it comes to things like crash diets, Haney said. “As a general rule, we”re not trying to sell a product,” he said. “Virtually every one of these other diet systems is trying to sell some product or some gimmick to make money. … Some of those things are downright unhealthy.”

A program that fits Doctors also can be helpful in tailoring programs to fit patients” specific needs. “There are some patients that want to set up a program with personal trainers, so sometimes I do give them some written instructions to sort of go over with their personal trainer just with some general recommendations on management of their weight and general calorie goals,” Haney said. “There are so many things that have to be taken into consideration with each person.” Haney’’s approach resonates with Nanci Brill, 51, of Oldham County, who is not only a longtime patient but also participates in a step aerobics class that he teaches.

“He really stresses the importance of your health and promoting the longevity of that and the importance of it in terms of what you eat and how you exercise,” said Brill, an emergency room nurse at Baptist Hospital East. Brill said taking care of herself has always been a priority for her but feels that, as you age, it’’s important to have someone to motivate and monitor you like Haney does.

If anything starts to go wrong, “I know that we”re going to sit down and we”re going to discuss it,” she said.