For this month’s blog post I wanted to first give an update
on how things are going with my new practice arrangement. As introduced in last month’s post, I now
have Maria Motta FNP working with me.
Her assistant, Rachel along with Michelle who you all know well and Kym
form a true team to help take care of you, my esteemed patients better. I couldn't be happier with how things are
working out. Maria is a wonderful
addition. She is allowing me to offer
additional services to my patients. She
begins seeing patients at 7:30 AM every day.
I suspect that many of you who work will appreciate those hours,
allowing you to not miss work for a routine appointment. I am available to her to answer questions by
phone but this allows me to continue to see my patients who are in the
hospital. As you may know, there are not
many physicians who still see their patients who are admitted. I feel strongly that I want to continue to
offer this service. No one knows my
patients better than I do. I feel
confident that I am the best one to deliver care that is needed at the most
critical times of someone’s life.
Maria will also be starting a monthly educational class for
those who are having the hardest time controlling their diabetes. We are working together on the curriculum and
be making invitations soon. You do not
need to have poorly controlled diabetes to attend. If any of you are interested in attending,
please let me know.
Other benefits of my team approach is freeing up time for me
to visit my most vulnerable patients in their homes. I have been able to six different patients so
far with plans to do others. I have long
since desired to find a way to do this.
I am glad that it is finally happening.
For those of you who have met Maria, you know what a great
person she is. I encourage the rest of
you to welcome here with open arms. I
have asked Maria to share some ideas she has about healthy living with
you. Similar to the simple facets of
good health I have outlined previously, she has labeled these her “Health Foundations”.
In sports there are foundational elements that apply to
players across all levels of development weather a beginner or a major league
star. They are basics that, if done
right, create a solid athlete who is able to instinctively make decisions that
result in the best plays. Health
foundations are very similar. So, once
you have a routine to follow the basics, then health and happiness have a
greater chance to follow. I believe
there are five foundations for a healthy life and I want to make sure all my
patients are aware of these elements. In
this way, as a team, we can try to head off health problems or work on
following a path that leads back to health when you are ill. The elements are: Nutrition, Exercise, Rest, Peace of Mind, and Prevention. You may be
thinking “nothing new here”… but I want to argue that doctors and nurses spend
most of their time treating health problems that develop as a result of a
dysfunction in one or more of these areas.
Medications and treatments have a valuable role to play in care of
patients, but I want you to know that YOU
ultimately have a lot of control over your
health. Over several blogs I want to
begin to address each of the elements in more detail and, because we are all on
the same team, I would like to hear from you about the positive ways that you
approach your health.
First up: Nutrition
(part one)
Many patients have very little knowledge about what to eat
so they follow traditions instilled by their families and those that are
propagated by the media (including fast food commercials and those selling diet
books). Over time what to eat has been
debated vigorously and the argument goes on even today. I want to send a clear message that the earth
has been providing products since the beginning of time that provide adequate
nutrition for life. In the present age
we have drifted away from eating the whole foods the earth provides in favor of
highly processed and altered substances.
I’m not interested in imposing restrictions, but rather want to
encourage you to find whole foods that you like and then providing information
about health benefits these foods can provide.
Most importantly, I want you to develop your own healthy way to get the
nutrition you need. I want to share my
recipes with you and am interested to see what you can find to share with
us. I would like for you to review the new
simplified recommendations from www.myplate.gov to build a plate of
health and to think about building a “rainbow of food” for nutrition. These show pictures of what should be on the
plate (both types of foods and amounts) and remind you to seek out multiple
colors of foods to get all the micronutrients you need for your best health. These are easy steps to remember and can be a
fun way to approach healthy eating.
