Weight Loss delivered by “trained interventionists”?

 

An article: “Doctors Urged to Treat Obesity Like Any Other Ailment” published recently in USA Today (November 13, 2013) caught my attention.

 

New obesity treatment guidelines from the leading health groups have just been released. The guidelines urge doctors to do whatever it takes to get patient’s pounds off. They want primary care practitioners to take care of the weight management of their patients the same way they take care of any other patients’ ailments.

 

In the same article, Donna Ryan, a professor emeritus at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, after having examined about 17 different weight-loss diets, affirms that “there is no ideal diet for weight loss, and there is not superiority between the many diets we looked at”.

 

What they recommend is: “an intervention delivered by trained interventionist (not just registered dieticians or doctors) for at least 14 sessions in the first six months and then continue therapy for a year”.

 

And I wonder, with 155 million U.S. adults overweight or obese, how are they going to manage (from the practical and economical point of view) to get that kind of therapy and involve those trained interventionists needed, for 18 months?

 

As you know, I only see any future success in personal weight management if it goes through an educational program. I agree that some people will need an interventionist to facilitate the learning process, but some other people can easily go on their own if the program is clear, easy to understand and well-structured to make it easy to implement.

 

To me, this article reinforces my 32 Mondays Weight Management Method, as a unique and effective program to learn how to manage your own weight for life. Now I see the program as beneficial not only to the individual, but also to any health practitioner, registered dietitian and the “trained interventionist” suggested in the article. In essence, to anyone who wants to help their patients, clients or friends to manage their own weight for life.      

 

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