Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Doctor, Heal Thyself

It's been a very long time since it was common to see busy doctors chain-smoking as they went through their rounds, but the sad fact of the matter is that many of us docs don't always practice what we preach when it comes to a good diet. The truth of the matter is that no one is perfect all the time and even a pretty good physcian known for his work on weight loss surgery in California (no names!) has been known to indulge in some food items that might be less than completely healthy on rare occasions.

Still, as an article in today's Los Angele Times reminds us, too many doctors regularly indulge in "pizza and burgers" and other highly caloric, high fat foods without much nutritional value -- and with a tendency to producing the kind of serious obesity that all medical professionals are working so hard to combat these days. In fact, a group of researchers have just published a piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), specifically calling on doctors to ban together to get hospitals and other organizations to start eliminating junk foods at cafeterias and elsewhere.

The fact of the matter is that before every lap band in Beverly Hills and sleeve gastrectomy was preceded by decades of usually very unhealthy eating. It's one thing to criticize it, but it's really time those of us in the medical establishment really started leading by example.

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