Hi i am a doctor. I m a bit overweight and tend to gain weight easily and lose easily as well . I have under a lot of stress lately . Which has led to a weight gain of nearly 5kgs in 6 months .
I want to be regular with my exercise now and eat healthy but not starve myself .
Whenever i get in such situation , my mind keeps going to crash dieting but that is only temporary so this time i want some habits to change so that i can be fit for good .
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DoCtorB
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Hi and welcome to the Healthy Eating group, DoCtorB . Thank you for introducing yourself to the group.😀👍 Please feel free to continue posting and commenting anytime, take a look at the Topics/Events/Pinned Posts/Polls sections for ideas and suggestions for recipes/meals/snacks, ask questions , and of course, meet the other members of the group.😀👍
You make salads once a week and add tuna or salmon for the protein.
But there is likely protein in the salad itself.
Cows, pigs, chickens, fish gain protein through eating veg/algae/greenery.
Then we come along and eat the animal to gain protein... but we don’t need to eat animals for protein. Skip the animals and go right for the source of protein.
Salads that don't feel like punishment are easy. Rocket leaves littered with crumbled grilled bacon (in small, undangerous amounts) makes salad leaves a roughage treat. Diced avocado, grilled asparagus, finely chopped red onions, a handful of fresh peas. The leaves of celery are the best part, and flat leaf parsley is tasty too. A tumful of salad with grated cheese mingled in with it is much more edible, and an equal mixture of mayo and fat free plain yogurt is a good dressing.
What a refreshing change for a doctor to join our group. Congratulations. Just a couple of questions: Do you have any underlying inflammatory issues? Do you have heart or lung problems? Are you on any "fat" pills or having breathing problems.
That aside, I have always loved Mediterranean food. It is balanced and chock full of all the necessary protein, vitamins and minerals. This way of eating incorporates loads of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, Greek yoghurt and olive oil plus, in your case, fish , particular tuna and salmon. Keep your alcohol levels to a low, drinking at weekends and only 1 glass each day. Make sure the glass measures 200 ml not 750ml. Alcohol turns to sugar which in turn turns to blubber. Another point is to only have 1 medium helping, don't load the plate up. Use herbs and spices in your cooking. In fact, how about doing a cooking course in either Mediterranean, Thai or Japanese food (another great food source that keeps you slim). You'll meet some great interesting people. New friends.
The other thing is to start walking. Build up you stamina and walk in places you enjoy. Change your venue each day or week to stimulate your energy. Start walking 1 km and build up slowly. See how long it takes to go somewhere you enjoy. This will encourage you to keep going rather than be bored senseless with routine.
I am a former cook and am happy to give you loads of recipes.
I have a truckload of health issues including IPF, organizing pneumonia, RA and IBD. Keeping interested in everything is vital for me. Ask yourself, "what is my passion" and "how can I incorporate this into my wellbeing?.
I disagree. Even doctors can't know and be experts in everything. Give them a break. To be a dietician you need specific qualifications, and to be a good chef or home cook, you need skill and imagination
Surely they should know the basics about losing weight sensibly since they are supposed to advise patients who need to lose weight! If they don’t know the basics then how can they help patients?
Of course no doctor can be an expert in everything. However any endocrinologist worth of his specialism should be able to help patients and if not able to do so should forget his/her ego and find a consultant who can.
As for many GPs most don’t care.
Please tell me are you suffering the extremely debilitating problems that too many people suffer when they have hypothyroid dysfunctions? When they cannot function at all in simple day to day activities and even die prematurely because of such a bad situation with doctors who have not got a clue and frankly can’t be bothered to really make a difference?
I hear your frustration 😖 , JGBH, & understand it — particularly in context of extreme distress 😫 & mental anguish 😩 brought on by hormone imbalance & it’s {{{{ ripple affect }}}} on our ability to function in our daily life. It is debilitating & unfair. 😞
Unfortunately, medical institutions 🏥 that churn out traditional, strictly allopathic 💊 💉 ( healthline.com/health/allop... ) physicians 👩⚕️ 🧑⚕️ 👨⚕️ aren’t necessarily focused on the significance of lifestyle 🧘 & food 🥗 as being the root of so many chronic ailments as well as it’s ‘remedy’.
Being angry 😠 towards physicians who’ve been unable to treat us effectively (because they weren’t actually extensively trained in lifestyle & dietary ‘medicine’) is understandable. 🙏 😌 (They/ we are all ‘reflections of’ the training 🧑🏫 we’ve received — the ‘products of’ the belief systems we’ve been educated/ indoctrinated in. ["What I Wished I Learned About Nutrition In Medical School" video below healthunlocked.com/healthye...might provide some context/ understanding if interested, JGBH?]
That doesn’t take away the sting 🐝⚡️ of what you (& many of us) have been through. 😔
[By default, if we’ve been through series of physicians who’ve been unable to help us, we’re left to our own devices to try to figure things out on our own 🧑💻 (with the help of forums & "Dr. Google") 🤦. . . . (Not much comfort when we we’re not medically trained & stumble & bumble along the way 🙃 🤪 .)]
By the same token, is it fair to make assumptions about our medics? To blame 😡 👉 🧑⚕️ them for what they don’t know — for what they haven’t been trained in? Are issues of mis-managed, mis-‘treated’ … patients reflections of much broader system-wide (institutional 🏥 ) issues — not necessarily to be laid at the feet 🦶🦶 of each & every one of our physicians who are doing the best they can with the training they’ve received or the limited experiences they’ve had? 🤔 💭💭
I think we’re fortunate to have doctors (such as DoCtorB 🩺 ) come onto a forum & show that they are indeed ’human’ — like all of us — & are just as eager to learn (re-learn) to help ourselves, share experiences, & to learn from each other. 👍👍. . . [Some of the most insightful physicians I’ve had are those who are aware of what they don’t know (or understand) & who are in touch with their common humanity with their patients & are unashamed to show it.] They (medics) are subject to all the same human foibles 🥴 as the rest of us (non-medics) & continue to strive & learn like all of us.
I hope 🙏 you‘ll find an endocrinologist who’s able to help, JGBH, & ‘forgets their ego’ when working with patients. And, I hope 🙏 you’ll also encounter GP’s who’ll show you the care & consideration 😌you well deserve. When we stumble into medics who are knowledgeable & really do care, they make a world of difference. They’re a lifeline to our healing. 😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
Yes, you’re right about having exceptional doctors. I have had a lot of different Endocrinologists before I finally got the one I have for my Diabetes care.😀👍
👍👍 . .. Thank goodness, Leah!! 🤗 . . . Upside: you found them.🥰 . . . Downside: you can never leave their practice region. 😳 😂 🤦 (And, gawd forbid they should ‘move’ or ‘retire’! 😂 🤣 🙃 ”Unacceptable!" vimeo.com/177129220 🤪 )
Oh no! 😨 🤭 . . . [Guess it wouldn’t be ‘de rigueur’ to keep ‘em in the basement after they retire. 😆 🤣 🙃 . . . (Just kidding, j u u u s t kidding . . . 🤦 )]
If any comfort, we‘ve had good luck 🍀 with latest crop of young docs 👩⚕️ 🧑⚕️ 👨⚕️ coming up. Bright 🧑🎓🌟 ✨ , forward thinking ➡️ 🧠 💭 , pleasant bedside manner ☺️ 🛌 . . . . 👍👍 . . [It just makes us laugh so hard 😆 that these young folks 👫👯♂️ taking care of us were in diapers 🤱 👶 not that long ago! 😳 . . .(They’re grandchildren!! 🤯 . . . 😂 🤦 )]
I would live some easy to prep low carb recipes please . Thanks xx
Hello DoCtorB and welcome to the forum and thank you for introducing yourself. We'll all be asking about our twinges LOL.
I think it's refreshing your honesty and you have to look at ways of dealing with stress rather than eating for the sake of it as you are only making yourself unhappy and creating more problems.
I agree that exercise is a fantastic stress buster and know that a short brisk walk would do you far more good than eating empty sugary calories.
Really you want to look at how to make your diet healthier so it works for you as 5Kg in 6m months is quite gradual so I'd aim to lose it gradually and then keep to your new dietary regime and maintain a healthy weight and most importantly a healthy mindset.
Please do let us know how you get on and we have lots of recipes for all dietary tastes and needs.
Moderation works for me.healthy foods without a lot of eating...as soon as I get rid of the hungry feeling and am full I stop and I don't snack in between.but that's me.
Slimming World's plan works for most people. They insist it's not a diet because you can still have chocolate, etc. I lost 4.5 stones in a year, and really mega enormous people have turned a weight of 30+ stones around to a healthy weight.
DoCtorB 🩺 , kindly meet 🤝 Dr. Dean Ornish 👨⚕️, Dr. Douglas Lisle 👨⚕️, Dr. Michael Klaper 👨⚕️ , T. Colin Campbell 👨🔬, Dr. Neal Barnard 👨⚕️, Dr. Michael Greger 👨⚕️ , Dr. John McDougall 👨⚕️, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn 👨⚕️, et. al. ( healthunlocked.com/nras/pos... ) — your medical 🥼 peers.
If interested, their work can help guide you to reduce stress, eat healthily/ sensibly without starving. (No crash dieting, no yo-yo 🪀 dieting.)
Dr. Lisle ( healthunlocked.com/nras/pos... ) teaches us 👨🏫 how to develop new habits, how to steadily progress toward permanent lifestyle changes & how to navigate bumps 〰️ along the way. 👍👍
And, the rest are equally brilliant at showing us whole foods 🥬 🍅 🍠 that are nutritious, delicious, life-sustaining, satiating. . . . 😋
Kindly consider experientially learning from your 🩺 peers & you will be fit 💪 for good. 🤗
For delicious food/ meal ideas 🍲 🌯 🌮 🍛 & recipes 📝 , in addition to the ones provided by the aforementioned physicians, a google search 🔎 of these folks may tempt your tastebuds 👅 :
[Oh . . . your new-found knowledge 🧠✨ (& 1st-hand 🖐 experience) can appreciatively rub off on your patients 👨👩👧👦👨👩👦👦👨👩👧👧 . . . . Kindly, DoCtorB, please 🙏 don’t underestimate the willingness of sincerely serious patients to turn their health situations around by implementing appropriate lifestyle & dietary changes. For so many of us, it’s the difference between living fully 💃🕺 & barely living 😞 .]
If interested, these supplemental resources explore Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) diets from perspective of plant-based physicians 🩺 who actively practice Whole Foods Plant Based (WFPB) eating (aka High Carb Low Fat (HCLF) & share that knowledge with their patients (& students):
"Low Carb High Fat" video search 📹 🔎 results from:
As a ‘wake-up call’ about what we read on forums & what we concepts we actually choose to implement: healthunlocked.com/healthye... (merely 1 sample). We need to thoroughly research & understand the path(s) we’re considering.
We’re real people, with real conditions that must be taken into consideration before ’jumping on a bandwagon’ of current popular trends. What we choose to implement over our lifetime has long-term consequences.
. . . 🦉 When we’re young (& relatively healthy) we can more readily rebound from mistakes that come from a ‘temporary’ poor dietary choice or a ‘brief’ short-term bad habit.
. . . 🦉 Yet, as we age, our body isn’t necessarily as ‘resilient’. Poor, routine daily choices & poor, established habits (ingrained over time) can result in progressively poor health in the long run. (Dis-ease mayn’t manifest in the near-term, but can cumulatively express itself in the long-term.) Chronic, progressive ‘dietary/ lifestyle’ dis-eases can be far more difficult to ‘reverse’/ improve/ heal the further down the wrong road we go.*
[*Unfortunately/ sadly some bodily damage is permanent, & we must learn to ‘live with’ such irreversible damage. No one tells us about such (long-term cumulative effects or permanent damage) when we’re eagerly looking forward to quickly losing weight (or rapidly gaining muscle strength) & faithfully, diligently follow such dietary paths.]
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Achieving speedy results is possible (& tempting) through short-term, drastic changes, yet can prove unsustainable & (more importantly, ‘unhealthy’) in the long run.
Losing weight slowly 🐌 , steadily 🐢 , sustainably ( healthunlocked.com/healthye... ), WHILE acquiring healthy habits to carry us through a lifetime is far, far more important.**
[**Developing sound habits ‘in the here & now’ pays off in the long run. Establishing appropriate habits early on maintains us well throughout our life, sets an example for our growing children 🤰 🤱 👶 🧒 👯 👯♀️ , & loved ones around us: likewise for patients & students who ‘look up to’ their physicians 🧑⚕️ & educators 🧑🏫 who serve as ‘living examples’ (role models) of ‘how to live well’ for upcoming generations. What physicians & educators actually DO speaks louder than any words 🗣 💬 .]
Our ‘pay off’ is over time — in the long run, the long term. [Ask any unwell person who manages (& maintains) their QoL (Quality of Life) through lifestyle & dietary habits. They can relay to you the significance of routinely eating appropriate foods & engaging in appropriate movement/ exercise for themselves.]
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Again, as a physician, the influence you have over guiding the course of a patient’s life onto a healthy path can be significant — immeasurable. What is shared (in the privacy of an office) can guide/ encourage a patient toward healthy living or unwittingly misdirect them onto a problematic/ unsustainable path.
Wishing you (& your patient’s) success in achieving your goals & maintaining uninterrupted good health throughout your life, DoCtorB 🩺 . . . 😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
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Maybe what Dr. Klaper shares might be of interest?
What I Wished I Learned About Nutrition In Medical School [1+ hour]:
NO ADVICE but I have a suggestion. Try not to look at weight control as a diet. Plan or PROGRAM your meals so eating is more routine rather than based upon “hunger pains” or impulse eating. As a physician you know that consistency in medical treatment is more successful than a “once and awhile” approach. (i.e., One pill every eight hours for five days). Apply that thought to weight maintenance or reduction. PROGRAM not DIET!
Crash and fad diets really don't work. I lost over 4 stones following a slimming world life plan, that was over 12 years ago and I basically keep it off, allowing little gains for holidays. I eat lots of protein, fruit and vegetables and very little fats. I started to lose weight after my doctor shocked me by saying I was obese. Since then I have stopped all medication for back and joint pain. Hopefully I can continue to be watch and wait with my CLL. I swim and walk every day, garden when weather allows and take as many holidays as possible.
Dear Dr B, May I suggest you look at nutritionfacts.org which is a not-for-profit and non-commercial site headed up by a reputable doctor, Dr Greger, in the USA. He and his team review all the clinical literature regarding the links between food, disease and health . You can review the clinical evidence base for a plant-based diet (legumes, whole grains, veg, fruit nuts and seeds) which will guarantee you weight loss with no calorie counting or portion control ( as you cannot physically eat the same number of calories in plant form) : nutritionfacts.org/video/ea...
It is the only diet known to reverse heart disease and has the lowest all cause mortality and morbidity. Compliance is high as patients enjoy better mental and physical well being within days of giving up animal proteins and fats and getting all the nutrients from a plant-based diet that is natural low in fat, sugars and salt. Please do not pursue a high protein diet as the China Study and subsequent clinical studies showed that high animal protein put you at risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancers. For absolute clarity, this is about unprocessed plant-based eating and not loads of junk vegan processed products that are high in fat, sugar and salt which are not associated with any health benefits. You will need to do it properly, so read around e.g. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, PCRM.com and there are some good books and plant-based websites available as well as ForksoverKnives.com and quick start programmes. Lastly, there is the Plantrician Project and they have a substantial clinical nutrition evidence base - see plantricianproject.org .
In reply to The planter. I agree that the legumes, whole grains, veg, fruit nuts and seeds is a healthy diet . However that is the same diet that cows,goats and sheep eat but they still get cancer.
Once you have vitamins and minerals the craving stops
If this hasn’t already been posted I highly recommend the MyFitnessPal app. Great for education, support, counting calories and creating some accountability. Good luck!
A doctor eh??? I'd be very interested to know what your thoughts are re LCHF (low carb, high fat)!! I am finding it a very civilised diet - don't feel hungry, don't often get cravings so it's so much easier to stick to
I was really suggesting you consider such a diet before deciding on the appropriate path for yourself, especially as you mentioned a crash diet option. Sadly there is no magic bullet. Well good luck with your weight loss
I was in your camp most of my life. I found intermittent fasting to cut cravings and bing eating by 75%. It still takes effort, but is now possible. Been doing this a year and moved from 263 > 203. I don't feel robbed or pressure and feel confident that it can be a permanent life change. Yes, I take days off. Yes, I drink with my pals about monthly. I try to limit carbs, especially processed. Training courtesy of YouTube... my favorite..Dr Berg and many others!
You're welcome. I do low carb. high protein so I can keep my blood sugars even during the day and evening hours. I'm also on insulin and a gluten free diet (wheat/gluten intolerance/type 1 Diabetic). I also have a CGM that I've been using since the last 4.5 years.
I was in a major hospital for scans this morning and went to the cafe for a cuppa tea. Sitting at the next table was a doctor in full regimental gear tucking into a meat pie with tomato sauce, 2 vanilla slices and a full fat Coke. How long will he last, I wonder. It was hard to tell his age but I'm guessing mid 30's. Around his waist was a full tire of blubber resembling the custard filling of his vanilla slice.
I would generally say to consider what you would like to see your patients eat in an ideal world, and work towards that. Don't view it as an overnight change, but a chance to build some good habits at a pace that works for you.
I'm generally of the opinion that we all fall somewhere different on the spectrum when it comes to carbs vs fat, depending on what our individual bodies can tolerate. That's something you need to figure out for yourself. Upping your veg intake is a great place to start though. Keep things as minimally processed as possible.
I did hear an interview with a doctor who said the thing that drove him to stick to his diet, was to lose the feeling of being a hypocrite when he gave out dietary advice. I'm not calling you a hypocrite by the way! But you could always use that as your "why" to encourage you to stick to the diet. It's not for you, it's for your patients.
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