Your doctor is a lying liar pants!
SuperSexyDork
Posts: 1,669 Member
Just kidding! She/he is probably not.
However, did you know that your doctor probably knows next to nothing about nutrition? I'm currently taking a college nutrition course and came across this gem in my textbook (Nutrition Concepts & Controversies, 13th edition):
"Only about 30% of all medical schools in the United States require students to take a comprehensive nutrition course, such as the class taken by students reading this text. Less than half of medical schools require even 25 hours of nutrition instruction. By comparison, your current nutrition class provides an average of 45 hours of instruction."
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.
However, did you know that your doctor probably knows next to nothing about nutrition? I'm currently taking a college nutrition course and came across this gem in my textbook (Nutrition Concepts & Controversies, 13th edition):
"Only about 30% of all medical schools in the United States require students to take a comprehensive nutrition course, such as the class taken by students reading this text. Less than half of medical schools require even 25 hours of nutrition instruction. By comparison, your current nutrition class provides an average of 45 hours of instruction."
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.
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One of my best friends is a doctor. She asked me what kind of diet she should do.0
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if you are gonna go to a lumber jack and expect him to make you a master piece of a kitchen cabinet set because he works with wood and should be able to do a carpenter job, then you get what you deserve.
The good doctors do recommend. The problem is that in our society mind (you know, society also includes our doctors) weight loss is a topic who anyone and everyone will give recommendation on. Add to that the God complex of a Doctor, they will give you a recommendation of what they think is right.
I personally think its both the doctors fault and the patient. Doctor isn't doing his job telling the patient what to do and the patient almost always feels insulted that the doctor isn't sharing the "secret pills" or "weight loss secrets" that he knows since he's a DOCTOR!0 -
I lucked out in that my primary care is actually a Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Diabetic Educator. I get better nutrition info from her than I did from my previous MD. She still sent me to a Registered Dietician for more in depth nutritional counseling.
ETA: Nurse Practitioners tend to have much less of a God complex than MD's because they started out as nurses and we all know that nurses are the true backbone in health care.0 -
It's a funny thing. You always WANT to trust a doctor. But we've seen so many people with doctors giving them terrible advice, putting them on dangerous diet plans, even using their position to sell them gimmick products they profit off.
Like the article states, they don't really learn much about nutrition. They don't learn much pharmacology either. To be fair, you gotta learn A LOT trying to be a doctor, so I get it that they can't learn everything. Just goes to show you have to be careful, if it's something important don't be afraid to get a second opinion, and always make sure you're taking advice from good sources.
You make some good points but I know that it's HARD to make sure you're getting good advice from good sources because you want to trust certain people and because of the massive amount of misinformation out there. There is a whole section in this book devoted to finding credible sources of information in both print and from professionals.0 -
One of my best friends is a doctor. She asked me what kind of diet she should do.
Did you tell her Paleo? LOL!0 -
if you are gonna go to a lumber jack and expect him to make you a master piece of a kitchen cabinet set because he works with wood and should be able to do a carpenter job, then you get what you deserve.
The good doctors do recommend. The problem is that in our society mind (you know, society also includes our doctors) weight loss is a topic who anyone and everyone will give recommendation on. Add to that the God complex of a Doctor, they will give you a recommendation of what they think is right.
I personally think its both the doctors fault and the patient. Doctor isn't doing his job telling the patient what to do and the patient almost always feels insulted that the doctor isn't sharing the "secret pills" or "weight loss secrets" that he knows since he's a DOCTOR!
That's true! My GP was honest and said that she doesn't know much about nutrition. She let me know that she'd be happy to write a referral if I wanted one though. But yeah, God complex. The other problem is that so many people are willing to let them keep that God complex. Seriously, I know people that are afraid to ask for second opinions or even ask their doctor a question because he/she must be right. He's a DOCTOR!0 -
I think most doctors have a very good sense about nutrition, but a dietician has the expertise.0
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Yeah, this sort of goes for nurses too, but honestly, I think nurses have more education in nutrition than doctors do.0
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Yeah, this sort of goes for nurses too, but honestly, I think nurses have more education in nutrition than doctors do.
I don't know. I'm starting nursing clinicals next semester but I've already looked over the graduation requirements for nursing at my school and they don't include any nutrition courses.
BUT it's a prerequisite for the University of Maryland's RN to BSN program which I plan on taking sometime after I've started working as a nurse.0 -
Well... No news there, sometimes they pretend they know and just screw up. Mom got on several diets with different doctors, lost some weight and then either stopped losing it or gained it again without breaking any of her current diet's rules, and doctors kept blaming her. A couple of years later after giving up on them, she did some research on her own and lost 60 pounds... and yes, her diet was very healthy.0
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Every time I take my son to see the doctor he always quizzes me on how I'm losing weight, how much weight I lift, when I train and my macros lol then laments about his own weight gain0
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Also as of 2010 most doctors were getting less then 19.5 hours of nutritional training scarier still is One survey published in 2003, “found that 96 percent of internists and 84 percent of the cardiologists who responded did not know that a low-fat diet, in general, would increase triglycerides in the blood. High triglycerides increase the risk of heart disease,” according to The Chicago Tribune.0
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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.0
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Doctor here, can confirm. Nutrition was a one-half of one semester class that nobody took seriously.0
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Many years ago I was at my mother's doctor and asking questions (they love me especially when I take notes:devil: ). I was concerned about her being really inactive and the possible muscle atrophy. He informed me that atrophy is only a problem if someone is in bed for years.
Her chronic pain never improves and she can barely walk out to the mailbox on a beautiful day. Her quality of life is awful.
I still want to strangle him every time I see them.
He's in his mid to late 40's and likes to call me and my mom "sweetheart".0 -
My doctor told me "oh you can't lose weight, neither can I, you'd have to go on like 800 calories, or exercise 4 hours a day" and this is a guy you have to wait 6 months to see, as everyone likes him. Whatever, smile and nod, good advice from long ago...
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Yeah, this sort of goes for nurses too, but honestly, I think nurses have more education in nutrition than doctors do.
I took one nutrition class for my nursing degree.0 -
While it's true that most medical schools don't offer much in the way of training in nutrition, I would dispute the idea that all doctors know nothing. I am a doctor and do a fair amount of dietary counseling with my patients. And as for the remark about pharmacology, I took an entire semester (roughly 6 hours/wk for 14 weeks) of it, but recognize that new meds come out at an astounding pace, and it is hard to keep on top of all the new ones. Lots of my patients ask how they can lose weight, but I think much like quitting smoking, you have to be in the right state of mind to take on weight loss seriously. I thought I was "being healthy" because I was going to the gym 4x/wk, but I was giving myself tacit permission to eat ANYTHING I wanted and that cost me some significant weight that I'm now working hard to take off.0
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Yeah my Doctor is great when I walked into his office 5 years ago at 560 pounds he looked over my blood work and ultrasounds and ask if I wanted weight loss surgery. I told him No Way because if I could not fix what was broken in my head no amount of surgery would matter.. I was going to do this with diet and exercise or die trying... He said well the mental side of this you are going to have to look into on your own but "If you have a cold, I am your guy.... If you have a medical problem, I am your guy...... but I know just enough about dieting and nutrition to be dangerous so lets write you a couple scripts to go see the Endocrinologist (my blood work diagnosed me Type 2 diabetic) and a Dietician, He said I will work closely with them and together we will give you all the help that we can to get you through this...
I have a lot of respect for my Doctor and he is always straight forward and brutally honest with me and that is what I like the most about him... No BS....... :drinker:0 -
I work in a hospital - I am around nurses and doctors often. The primary doctor in our unit had bypass....then gained all his weight back and then some.
...yeah. Canada's medical system is kind of silly.
I probably should not generalize doctors, I guess the point being is that Doctors are hard to come by...and it is as if as long as an individual has slightly more knowledge than most then they can call themselves a Doctor. They work is many different units with many different kinds of patients. I dont even know if they are required to get specific up to date certificates for things like nutrition. They could be spewing out suggestions from the 1980's for all I know.
Did you know - Some doctors still do not think being 100% alcohol free during pregnancy is necessary! Some doctors actually still say a glass of wine or whatever is fine while pregnant (in the city I live in)
Always always always do your own research, challenge the doctor if there is contradictions and when in any doubt get a 2nd opinion. Doctors are way over rated and their suggestions are often taken as words of god.0 -
Jus because they didn't sit through a lot of class time doesn't mean they know next to nothing about nutrition. Maybe they learned through their own reading or from life experiences. It's not rocket science. For every one story about a doctor who "knows nothing", maybe there are 5 more about doctors who helped people get their *kitten* together. You just don't read about that here because it's not attention grabbing enough for the forums.
There are a lot generalizations in this thread.0 -
That is the king of generalizations.I work in a hospital - I am around nurses and doctors often. The primary doctor in our unit had bypass....then gained all his weight back and then some.
...yeah. Canada's medical system is kind of silly.0 -
Yeah my Doctor is great when I walked into his office 5 years ago at 560 pounds he looked over my blood work and ultrasounds and ask if I wanted weight loss surgery. I told him No Way because if I could not fix what was broken in my head no amount of surgery would matter.. I was going to do this with diet and exercise or die trying... He said well the mental side of this you are going to have to look into on your own but "If you have a cold, I am your guy.... If you have a medical problem, I am your guy...... but I know just enough about dieting and nutrition to be dangerous so lets write you a couple scripts to go see the Endocrinologist (my blood work diagnosed me Type 2 diabetic) and a Dietician, He said I will work closely with them and together we will give you all the help that we can to get you through this...
I have a lot of respect for my Doctor and he is always straight forward and brutally honest with me and that is what I like the most about him... No BS....... :drinker:
Your doctor sounds a lot like my PCP. Honest, caring, and they know their limitations and are willing to refer you to someone who knows more than they do about an issue you are having.0 -
Most PCP's are not savvy about weight loss or nutrition...but there are exceptions.
My PCP doctor was actually 150lbs overweight and documented his several year journey to get fit. He got additional training in nutrition while he was losing weight because he wanted to know more so he could help himself and others. When I had my first visit I was shocked...no condescending lecture about being a fat slob or needing to get off the couch or telling me it was my fault I was fat. He jumped right in and said "Losing weight is difficult but I can help you. Lets get you checked out thoroughly for any underlying health conditions first. I know you can do this."
Just as there are good and bad PCP's there are also good and bad dietitians. I went to a dietitian who reviewed my food diary and all she had to say was "Oh my god you eat better than I do" lol which wasn't helpful since I was having issues with hypoglycemia at the time and the whole point of the visit was to find ways to manage it better. :P
If your doc isn't awesome at helping with the goals you want to achieve then seek out a different doc...there's a perfect fit out there somewhere!0 -
This thread is worth a bump.
My doctor hasn't weighed in on my diet at all, except to say that I need to eat low fat because of my cholesterol. It told me everything I needed to know...0 -
My doctor is great, she wanted me to lose weight, told me to exercise more and eat less. At my first appointment since starting weight loss(after years of her telling me to), I was down 25 pounds or so from the previous year, she asked to make sure I was trying to lose weight and not some other issue. Then we discussed what I was doing. She never told me to go on a specific diet or stay away from certain foods. She liked the way I was doing it when I told her I never really gave anything up. We started doing full blood work every 6 months to make sure nothing was going wrong and found that the weight lose screwed some things up and she has helped me get that all back in order while still losing weight. Well, she is trying, my vitamin D is still really low, but everything is good.0
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They also don't know anything about exercise or athletics (unless possibly if they are an athlete themselves).0
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I am a physician. I did my medical school research on nutrition. Not all doctors are the same.0
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While it's true that most medical schools don't offer much in the way of training in nutrition, I would dispute the idea that all doctors know nothing. I am a doctor and do a fair amount of dietary counseling with my patients. And as for the remark about pharmacology, I took an entire semester (roughly 6 hours/wk for 14 weeks) of it, but recognize that new meds come out at an astounding pace, and it is hard to keep on top of all the new ones. Lots of my patients ask how they can lose weight, but I think much like quitting smoking, you have to be in the right state of mind to take on weight loss seriously. I thought I was "being healthy" because I was going to the gym 4x/wk, but I was giving myself tacit permission to eat ANYTHING I wanted and that cost me some significant weight that I'm now working hard to take off.
With all due respect, claiming to know a great deal about pharamacology because you "took an entire semester" is like claiming to be an expert mathematician because you took Algebra last year. 84 total hours of training isn't going to make you an expert on *ANYTHING*.
The problem with doctors (in general, not specifically you) is pretending to greater knowledge than they actually possess. This is one of the reasons for so many malpractice suits (aside from the abusive ones by bad actors): doctors have promised results they couldn't deliver based on inadequate training/knowledge in a field they were claiming expertise in and patients not realizing that their doctor doesn't know as much as he claims to know and therefore believing what he says without looking into it themselves.
Case in point, I was recommended a treatment two years ago that would have resulted in sterility despite me explicitly telling my doctor that my wife and I were going to try for another child and despite there being other alternatives available. Had I not checked up on what that doctor was telling me, you can bet there would have been a lawsuit for that doctor's incompetence.
Taking a course in nutrition or pharmacology isn't enough knowledge or practice to be an expert in it. Period.
Part of life is acknowledging your own limitations and working within them. But doctors are wrongly believed to be the font of far more knowledge than their actual training provides.0
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