[Tip] Why all of those diet ads say to talk to your doctor before starting a diet (and why you should probably talk to your doctor)

To start with, let’s get the disclaimer out of the way: THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. I don’t know you or your particular situation. Your doctor should. This is why this post is about going to them.

Now that that’s out of the way, welcome to the post! These are some reasons why you want to see your doctor when you start a diet, and who especially may want to call them.

1. They will not have amazing, individualized diet advice. They can refer you to a dietitian if that’s something you’re interested in, though!

2. Your weight has given you a medical condition that you don’t know about.

This could be any number of things, from high blood pressure, to diabetes, to NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). They can check for all of these things on your labs, and let you know how best to treat those. Also, your weight loss may be at least partially due to a treatable disease! (Or a med that they put you on.) This goes into point 2:

1. Your diet plan is going to harm your health, somehow.
   

If you’re diabetic and thinking about intermittent fasting, you could end up becoming hypoglycemic (too low blood sugar). If you’ve got any heart conditions, high intensity exercise may not be the best idea. If you’ve already got joint pain, they can give you recommendations for what type of exercise will minimize the strain on those joints to stop you from getting permanent joint damage.

And if you’re thinking of trying any weird internet supplements, please don’t. Depending on the supplement, your doctor can tell you what it will do to you, but anything off of the internet isn’t regulated and could have harmful fillers. (A regular multivitamin is fine.).

1. Your diet may interact with your medications.

If you’re on an anticoagulant, don’t start eating a bunch of spinach and leafy greens without talking to your doctor. If you’re on lithium or any sort of ibuprofen/naproxen, not getting enough liquid in a day will mess up your kidneys. If you’re on oral diabetes medications, you could get hypoglycemic or really sick. Your doctor can tell you what diets are okay for the meds that you’re on, and what modifications you may need to make for your conditions.

1. They can monitor your progress.

Yes, you can check your own weight. But they can check your cholesterol and blood sugars, and let you know how you’re doing on reducing your risk of disease. (Also, they should be encouraging you and cheering you on! If not, find a new doctor.)

So, who especially should see a doctor?
1) If you haven’t been in a few years.
2) If you need to lose a lot of weight.
3) If you’re already taking meds.
4) If you’ve been diagnosed with something in the past (like high blood pressure).

For my US friends, if you have insurance, you should have one of these visits with the blood tests covered under a “preventive screening/yearly well exam”. If you’re uninsured, see if your city has free or reduced-price clinics—especially if your city has a medical school, you can get free visits with cheap or free labs, with great care. If you’re out of the US, I don’t know your healthcare system.

A lot of doctors are also doing telehealth right now, which means you could talk to them from home, and then just go to the lab for the blood work. Usually these visits are a bit cheaper.

submitted by /u/kh3-2019
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