How To Incorporate A Weight Loss, Disease Management / Anti – Aging, Pain Management Nutrition Program That Focuses On Food Rather Than Diet Products.

A Clinical Nutritionists Perspective
By:   Christopher Fuzy M. S., R.D, L.D/N.
Masters Degree in Clinical Nutrition/ Sports Nutrition
LIFESTYLENUTRITIONINC.COM
It’s A Lifestyle…. Not a Diet!!!  

THE PROBLEM

You constantly advise your patients, to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, eat more fiber or cut out the unhealthy sugars or fats.  But, as a busy physician, you don’t have the time to put together a personal nutritional plan or review diet sheets put together by pharmaceutical companies for each of your patients. As a result, patient compliance is poor.

When you approach a patient or a physician about how to guide a patient through nutritional counseling they usually think one of two things will happen; The patient will be given a pharmaceutical diet sheet and explained what foods to avoid which is “a diet of omission and food restrictions” or often in many retail health food stores given a list of nutritional supplements that the patient can take to correct their medical / nutritional condition. Patient compliance and education is generally poor in both of these situations. Patients now want to learn about the right foods for their medical conditions or what to eat to lose weight without hunger or fatigue- normal food that they can buy at a grocery store or at a restaurant.

 THE SOLUTION

The answer is to teach medical assistants how to provide a custom program that allows the patient to create their own program of food so that whether you are a Californian vegetarian or an Alabama meat eater, the patient will learn a system or program of eating to lose weight, control blood sugar, decrease insulin resistance and manage or prevent disease.

The Lifestyle Nutrition Program^® provides customized individualized nutritional programs for each patient without pushing (selling) the nutritional products and food restrictions. The customization of the program to the patient’s metabolic rate, age, height, weight, lean mass and activity level assures getting the clinical results without hunger or fatigue. The program is based on education, and long-term behavior modification techniques  – It’s a Lifestyle …Not A Diet!! ^®  our slogan is the basis for long-term compliance, without deprivation.  The patients find the program to be a positive uplifting experience and as a result client word of mouth referrals usually produce significant revenues into the practice.

  Before

After Nutrition Counseling

Managing blood sugar, and cravings while raising metabolism WITH FOOD is the key to increases in lean mass, body fat reduction and increases in energy level!!!   Patients and physicians are seeking an effective Non-Restrictive Food Program or system that allows a medical staff member to implement in the office without focusing on diet sheets and nutritional products.  A program, which is based on  individualization.

A Turn- Key Nutrition Program Which  Will be Customized for Each Patient.

The answer – To teach medical assistants how to use FDA approved medical equipment to provide a custom program that allows the patient to create their own nutrition program of food so that whether you are a Californian vegetarian or an Alabama meat eater, the patient will learn a system or program of eating to lose weight, control blood sugar, decrease insulin resistance and manage or prevent disease.

With the Lifestyle Nutrition Program®, your patients will receive credible nutrition information designed by progressive registered dietitian’s and physicians.

The most common nutritional disorders we train your office to handle are:

• Weight Management & Stabilization
• Cancer,
• Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, Pre-Diabetes
• Coronary Artery Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• High Cholesterol, Triglycerides
• Metabolic & Thyroid Disorders
• Menopause
• Osteoporosis
• Anti-Aging
• Sports Nutrition
• Digestive Problems
• Fatty Liver Disease
• Chronic Fatigue

Lifestyle Nutrition believes that your recommendations as a physician should become a lifestyle and not just another diet.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Having set up and trained well over 700 physicians nation-wide with nutrition counseling programs, I understand how difficult it is to decide which program is the “best” to follow for you and your patients.

Eating only shakes and packaged foods, or following a rapid weight loss detoxification program without the proper systematic reintroduction of real food back into the patients routine generally causes approximately 60 % of individuals to regain the weight they lost back. Nutritional manufactures attempt to make it easier for consumers  & health care providers to provide nutritional products to their patients to get the clinical results they are looking for.  Often these products dilute the message to our patients that there are innumerable benefits to eating healthy functional whole foods as a source of nutrients in our daily routine. Often patients stop buying their nutritional products, they start back on “regular food,” & have not developed the skills of managing their blood sugar, appetite and cravings properly.  A systematic introduction of healthy food using software based weekly-customized learning modules into the patients diet is an effective program or long-term behavior modification. It allows for the counseling sessions in chiropractors offices to individualize to the patients lifestyle therefore being a positive and effective experience. Lastly, the economic and marketing implications on a chiropractic practice by implementing a Lifestyle Nutrition Counseling Wellness Program are significant.

Counseling the Old Fashioned Way is Too Time Consuming.

With software developers and researchers teaming together, it is now possible to utilize your office assistant to provide custom meal plans to your patients. Here a very small snapshot of a systematic approach improving patients’ macronutrient food intake to reduce health risks, and improve their quality of life   considering their food preferences and lifestyle. ..   

Which Program is the Best For You & Your Patients?

Is it a Zone type diet, a modified Atkins, a blood type diet, food combining program or is raising the ph of your body the right program for overall health and wellness.   Taking a little piece of all the research out there and providing small pieces of evidence-based findings to your patients based upon their clinical needs & lifestyle usually works.

Improving Patient Compliance

By using a nutritional, metabolic typing, meal planning software and a metabolic analyzer to measure the patients metabolic rate, lean mass, resting energy expenditure, calories burn by aerobic & resistance exercises (if exercising) you can now determine what percentage of calories should come from carbohydrates, protein and fat.  Macronutrients percentages should be a sliding scale, depending on lean muscle mass, activity level, age, sex, stress level of the patient and body type.

What doctors like the most is the ability for the software to incorporate any nutritional product directly into the meal plan and make the calculations accordingly.

Working with software developers & researchers at the University of Southern California, software is now simplified to allow any clinical assistant to enter the data into a computer and a the type of meal plan desired with the patients desired number of meals and goals and then print the entire program with all the foods spelled out for them in just minutes.

Divide Your Program Into 1- 12 Nutrition Sessions – 1 Week Apart

The average client would usually come into your practice for 3-6 nutritional consultations over 3-6 weeks. However if time or economics are a factor you will be able to provide a complete customized meal plan and exercise program in 10 – 15 minutes during one session.  We remind our patients that making 6-10 small changes each week are more effective than doing everything all at once.  We provide you with shopping lists to provide your patients in conventional and /or progressive supermarkets that help your patients incorporate specific foods into their diet.

We very rarely need to spend time on the foods the patient needs to omit because they immediately feel deprived.

Keep it Simple

Week one concentrates on one small aspect of eating and remember, you are not starting another diet this time.

Here’s an example of the topics we covered in the program – 15 –20 minute sessions.

Goal Week I

Body Composition Analysis

Metabolic Rate

Breakfast, Snacks, Fiber, Protein Introduction

Blood Sugar Management

Give Article & Shopping List

Goal Week 2  – 12

Are learning modules that cover 80% food, understanding nutrition, eating out at restraints and 20 % exercise and stress reduction techniques etc.

My Disclaimer

Nutrition articles and books usually generalize information because readers (the audience) come from very different backgrounds, knowledge levels, lifestyle & eating habits. As a clinical nutritionist in private practice for the past 19 years, I am much more specific as to the exact names of the foods and the exact amounts when I am working with an individual, or physicians practice depending upon their beliefs. I usually know a person’s metabolic rate, lean body mass, sex, height, weight, goal weight and eating habits.  I find that by teaching patients the correct combinations of foods and a little of the science behind the foods is what takes away hunger appetite and stimulates metabolism and energy levels.  The few examples I provide are a bit general and depend on what “level” you are eating currently.

Economic & Marketing Impact on Your Practice With A Lifestyle Nutrition

Counseling Program

America’s problem is the average cost for a commercial weight loss program for 20-pound weight loss is between $960 –1200 and is not physician supervised.  Our program usually costs 30-40 % of the cost of most commercial weight loss programs in the US.  Our physician supervised programs usually cost patients between $295- $695.00 for 3-8, 15 minute nutritional sessions, 2 consultations with the doctor and 6 consultations with the clinical assistant.

Finally, by promoting long-term lifestyle changes using real food and customizing a nutrition program individually for your patients, they will be more receptive to your suggestions.

Each Lifestyle Nutrition Counseling client can generate approximately $250 revenue in an initial session only or approximately $400 – $600 per patient in 4-8 Sessions depending upon the needs of the patient and the socioeconomic status of your geographical location. These charges are one-third the national average for a commercial weight management program that is usually implemented under a nonmedically supervised model!

Christopher Fuzy M.S., R.D. the President of Lifestyle

Nutrition, has private offices in Fort Lauderdale  &

Boca Raton Florida. He has practiced Nutrition

Counseling for 20 years, has a Masters Degree, and a Bachelors Degree in Clinical Dietetics. Chris completed clinicals in the Texas Medical Center, Houston and was the Chief Clinical Dietitian at

Plantation General Hospital.  Mr. Fuzy has set up well

over 700 physician offices nationwide.  For a complimentary consultation please call 954-561-0166 or visit for Health Care Professionals LIFESTYLENUTRITIONINC.COM 

© 2009