Your doctor is a lying liar pants!

stealthq

Well to be fair knowledge of nutrition is utterly irrelevant to the vast bulk of medical specialties. Most don't particularly give a rats *kitten* as to what their patients eat, because it actually doesn't matter.

Not true.

For a healthy person, it doesn't matter too much as long as you get in your nutrition. But for several diseases, what you eat can have benefits or consequences. Important to know that several nutritional deficiencies have symptoms similar to common diseases, and to take that into consideration for diagnosis. Important to know how to advise your patient, even if that advice is to go talk to someone who knows more about nutrition.

RavenLibra

All Doctors are NOT created equal BUT at what stage in life is a person supposed to take responsibilities for themselves... SHOULD it be a Doctor's responsibility to TELL you what you should and should NOT stick into your gaping maw? I think at NO stage should that be a doctor's role...

Bry_Fitness70

Always see a specialist if possible , whether it is a dietitian, a podiatrist, urologist, oncologist, etc...a general practitioner isn't going to have the same education and training as someone who specializes 100% in that particular discipline. (Same with lawyers - you shouldn't retain a real estate lawyer to defend you in a criminal case).

RavenLibra

That being said... MY Doctor... has advised me into looking into emulating the "Mediterranean diet" .. NO it isn't some fad diet... simply put.. eat the same ingredients found around the Mediterranean...PICK your poison... French food, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Mid-East... and from MY own advice... I only shop the perimeter of the Grocery store UNLESS I need some pasta.. I guess it helps that I can cook... anyway... that's it

rml_16

All Doctors are NOT created equal BUT at what stage in life is a person supposed to take responsibilities for themselves... SHOULD it be a Doctor's responsibility to TELL you what you should and should NOT stick into your gaping maw? I think at NO stage should that be a doctor's role...

What about when you have a specific health issue that requires a special diet? Or when you think you're doing everything right and you aren't getting the results you want, despite doing plenty of research?

Obviously, there are common sense nutrition "rules," but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances where nutrition counseling is absolutely necessary. Or when what and how much you're eating should not result in the results you're getting. This indicates a problem, but if a doctor doesn't know anything about nutrition and is unwilling to refer you to someone who does, this is a major problem.

ribqah

Always see a specialist if possible , whether it is a dietitian, a podiatrist, urologist, oncologist, etc...a general practitioner isn't going to have the same education and training as someone who specializes 100% in that particular discipline. (Same with lawyers - you shouldn't retain a real estate lawyer to defend you in a criminal case).

^This.

My favorite thing about my current PCP is that she is very quick to refer me to specialists, and it has resulted in a major improvement in my quality of life. Previous general practitioners I saw tried to handle it all themselves -- and they didn't even run the right tests.

radmack

I'm not trying to tell you to not listen to your doctor, but perhaps if you have questions about nutrition, you'd be better off getting a referral to a registered dietition.

My doctor always gave me pages of print outs with very sound nutritional advice as well as information on my health issue.

VBnotbitter

Well to be fair knowledge of nutrition is utterly irrelevant to the vast bulk of medical specialties. Most don't particularly give a rats *kitten* as to what their patients eat, because it actually doesn't matter.

Not true.

For a healthy person, it doesn't matter too much as long as you get in your nutrition. But for several diseases, what you eat can have benefits or consequences. Important to know that several nutritional deficiencies have symptoms similar to common diseases, and to take that into consideration for diagnosis. Important to know how to advise your patient, even if that advice is to go talk to someone who knows more about nutrition.

For the vast majority of doctors it's absolutely true. There are no nutritional deficiencies that matter to doctors working in, for example, emergency, orthopaedics, general surgery, ent, anaesthetics, intensive care, radiology, obstetrics, neo-nateology .... I could go on.

In the vast plethora of diseases and conditions very very few are caused by nutritional deficiencies and those that are show up on blood tests, at which point a referral gets made to a dietitian or gastroenterologist.

PrizePopple

As someone going through the process of becoming a physician right now I can tell you that we learn the nuts and bolts of nutrition but the amount of material that is already squeezed into a med school curriculum is so immense I find it hard to imagine they could squeeze an entire traditional nutrition course in. I always encourage my patients to exercise and eat healthy, especially if their particular condition responds to dietary intervention (diabetes, congestive heart failure, end stage renal disease, etc.) We are normal people and have a finite fund of knowledge just like everyone else and the vast majority of us want nothing more than for our patients to be as happy and healthy as possible.

^^ Bolded by me, and I agree. Having a family with roots in the medical field I understand that very well. (I go back and forth on enrolling for nursing)

I finally found a doctor that I trust almost implicitly. I've only actually seen her twice, but in that time she's done more for me in regards to testing (MRI) and referring me out (endocrinologist and physical therapy) than my previous GP and OBGYN combined. If I were to approach her about nutrition I have no doubt she would be more than willing to send me (or DH) to someone who has the education and training to help with our specific needs.

I go to her for general problems, if she can help that's awesome, if not then she will be the first to admit it. Like she told me when my labs came back fine "I'm a horse doctor, and now we're looking for a zebra." Unlike my last GP she didn't shrug it off and say "well, I've done all I can do." and wash her hands of it.

bethany_91

Things like this are why I want to be a nutritionist.

paperpudding

I don't understand all the doctor bashing.

A doctor should be able to give you rough nutritional guidelines and any information related to your specific needs ( eg some medications you have to be careful eating certain things) but to expect them to give detailed specialised nutrition advice is unrealistic. If that is what you need then a referral to a dietician or diabetic educator or such like, is needed.

No different to needing a referral to a cardiologist if you have a heart problem or a physciatrist for mental health care or any other specialist for any other specialty.

General practitioners practice general practice and co ordinate and follow specialists instructions. They are not themselves specialists in specific specialties.

Not sure why anyone is surprised by this.

alereck

Most don't and it is not part of their education. It used to be that doctors were very smart people who knew and did everything related to medicine, nowadays you have very specific profession that can provide better information and assistance to doctors.

I am a clinical laboratory scientist, I've had many doctors come into the lab and they can't focus a freaking microscope. Not that long ago most doctors had a microscope in their office.