[/caption]Is your doctor fat, thin or just right? HealthDay Reporter Randy Dotinga didn't actually say fat or thin in his Medicine Net report. He called them 'chubby' doctors, and that they could be bad for your health.
How? Yes, I asked the same question. Possible reasons derived from a new study are:
- a doctor with extra pounds to his weight may be unlikely to advise patients to shed excess weight
- overweight doctors who responded to a survey say that they are less likely to talk to their patients about weight control
- even doctors of normal weight aren't prone to talking about weight loss to their heavy patients
It doesn't seem far from the pot calling the kettle black. Study author Sara Bleich of the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says "you can't look at overweight doctors and say, 'You're the problem.'" Research did find that -
doctors of normal weight were more confident than their overweight counterparts about their ability to counsel obese patients about diet and exercise.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="253" caption="A patient having his blood pressure taken by a physician. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)"][/caption]
Bleich did this study on doctors' tendency (or the lack of it) to counsel their hefty patients after she went to a dentist with bad teeth. Indeed. How can that dentist take care of his patients' teeth when he can't take care of his own? It is also similar with doctors or parents who smoke. Can they really be authoritative or credible if they advise their patients or children to stop smoking?
So could chubby doctors be bad for your health? With the absence of likelihood that they could be of help to a patient's ballooning weight, they could be. Unless if you have no issues with weight; but something just seems off about being treated or examined by an overweight physician, don't you think?
All of the doctors I've been to are normal weight, a few were even underweight.. XD But yes, I agree with your post. It's hard to convince someone to do otherwise when the one counseling is doing that particular thing.
ReplyDeleteyou have a good point, how can chubby doctors advice and talk about proper diet and weight if they themselves can't do what they know and learned, hehe
ReplyDeleteour doctors are all skinny but they look fit and healthy :-)
ReplyDeleteI encountered a chubby doctor before but our case was not related to diet and I am not the type of person who keeps on asking different stuff :D
ReplyDeleteYou must be very proud.
ReplyDeleteFirst impressions last. You'd definitely wonder what could be wrong if you see your doctor looking not so fit...even in this department, it is best to practice what you preach. :D
ReplyDeleteJust learned something new about chubby doctors. It's true that doctors should be healthy because how can they help others be healthy if they are not?
ReplyDeleteabsolutely right. they have to walk the talk.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, my doctor's a bit overweight and he often scolds me on how i should cut on the food and try to exercise.
ReplyDeleteThe norm is, a preacher should practice what he teaches. Consistency must be observed.
ReplyDelete