Ask the Doctor at Saint John’s: Dear Food Diary

Q: How did your specialty in family practice lead you to develop an eight-week weight loss class?

A: By Siri Sat Khalsa, M.D., Family Practice Physician at Saint John’s Health Center

Can it really be that the obesity of today’s youth will, as one recent study concluded, result in this being the first generation in modern history to have shorter, less healthy lives than their parents? Fortunately, the two hundred plus graduates of my ongoing eight-week weight loss class aren’t waiting around to find out where the arrow ends up pointing.

As a family practitioner, I provide continuing and comprehensive medical care for males and females of all ages. In dealing with every disease entity encompassing each organ system, the one trend I noticed from the beginning is that weight so often plays a part. Obesity touches on almost every health issue, whether that involves heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, cholesterol or blood pressure.

I also found that it wasn’t enough to simply tell my patients, “Lose weight!” Some people, eager to see results as quickly as possible, might do things like skip important meals and eliminate necessary nutrients from their diets. But a crash program in self-administered semi-starvation might simply slow down a person’s metabolism temporarily. Medical problems could result.

To help people lose weight the right way, I designed our eight-week weight loss class to teach healthy, sustainable weight loss. Sound nutrition and good overall health are the mutually beneficial goals.

The first three weeks of class includes “detox.” Twenty or so students learn about good fats, bad fats, good carbohydrates, and bad carbohydrates. We discuss proteins and vitamins as well, and students record what they’re eating. There’s instruction in how to avoid unhealthy ingredients. It’s “in” for healthy snacks and “so long” to junk food. During the once a week meetings, folks bring their food diaries. People report on results and bring up problems.

The beginning detox period is a bit more stringent than the later requirements. Many, however, are surprised to find that it’s never as difficult keeping to the plan as they had anticipated. One of the main reasons is that people who eat satisfying, healthy meals with nutritious snacks, and start incorporating exercise into their daily routines, begin to feel so much better than they ever felt before.

The importance of physical exercise is an important class topic. Course graduates see immediate results. And they have a system in place to continue feeling good by practicing a healthy lifestyle forever. As a family practitioner dedicated to promoting overall wellness, what more could I ask?

Dr. Khalsa is a family practice physician at Saint John’s Health Center. For more information about Dr. Khalsa or other Saint John’s services, please call (310) 829-8990 or visit the website at www.stjohns.org. For a physician referral or a second opinion, please call 1-888-ASK-SJHC.

Want to learn about a variety of health and lifestyle issues? Watch “Coffee Break,” a weekly, live television show broadcast Wednesdays at 2 – 3 p.m. on Santa Monica City TV Channel 16 and LA City TV Channel 36.