Few people know how important obesity is in the disease states that are regularly treated at Texas Dermatology.
Psoriasis is a big focus in our practice. And Alan Menter's landmark work on metabolic syndrome and this disease has really brought the concept of diet and exercise to the forefront of global treatment for our patients.
So enter Medifast.
Medifast is not a new diet having been around for years with thousands of patients and physicians utilizing it for weight control When we were deciding on an idea for weight management in our patients, Medifast was a logical consideration.
Medifast is a "meal replacement" type diet. Basically you are provided five small meal substitutes and you combine this with one "normal" meal per day. This is recommended to be a lean protein and several servings of green vegetables.
We hit on a plan to have several of us give the program a trial. We anticipated about five chubby guinea pigs would be in our first cohort. Since I was the instigator, of course I volunteered. Cynthia Trickett our beloved PA (who happens to be a Major in the Air Force Reserve - yes, we are proud of her!) was appointed to be our Medical Officer to supervise our weight loss.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
When we made our adventure public, there was tremendous interest from our employees asking if they could participate. So much interest, that we decided what a cool employee benefit this would be if Texas Dermatology would provide most of the cost of participation. And we did.
And now? To date 22 people will begin the Medifast program in the next week or so.
I am so proud of our employees for their enthusiastic interest in health and weight loss. We are not having a contest, but we are going to go through the process together to see how this program might benefit our patients.
I will keep you posted in future blogs.
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