Physician-Chef Testifies in Sacramento on Diabetes and Obesity

Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) August 24, 2010

Dr. John La Puma has been invited to testify at the first Legislative Informational Hearing on Diabetes and Obesity at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, CA, on August 25, 2010 on what works in practice.

Board-certified in internal medicine and a professionally trained chef, Dr La Puma is expected to testify on successful initiatives which policy makers should explore while seeking to cure California’s problem with obesity and diabetes prevention and treatment.

The only practicing Southern Californian community physician of six invited panel experts, Dr La Puma is medical director of Chef Clinic (http://chefclinic.com) in Santa Barbara.

Dr. La Puma commented, “One-third of obese adults have never received advice from their doctor about diet or exercise. For kids, California has improved school lunches, which is helping. But the severely obese and obese Latinos, African-Americans and Native Americans are being left behind.”

According to a study in the journal Pediatrics this month (http://bit.ly/aFJ2wJ), among California public school students in 2008, 38% were overweight, 19.8% were obese and 3.6% were severely obese. Many are diabetic or prediabetic, or are showing signs of hypertension.

"Food and cooking are the most important clinical tools we've got," Dr. La Puma continued. "Diabetes and obesity prevention and treatment are about "how", not about "what"."

A draft hearing agenda shows other speakers are expected from UCLA, UCSF, Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente, the American Diabetes Association and the Centers for Disease Control. Free health screenings will be available on the Capitol Lawn following the hearing, beginning at 12 noon.

Members of the public can pick up free pedometers, heart rate monitors, Jamba Juice and Safeway healthy food coupons, and discounted 24-hour Fitness coupons, and meet Dr. La Puma.

Dr. La Puma is the first physician in the U.S. to teach a cooking and nutrition class to medical students, with Cleveland Clinic Chief Wellness Officer Michael Roizen MD. Dr. La Puma recently hosted over 120 episodes of "What's Cooking with ChefMD?", airing on the national cable series "Health Corner" on Lifetime TV, hosted by Joan Lunden. He is the New York Times best-selling author of “ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine”, and co-author of “The RealAge Diet”, also with Dr. Roizen.

La Puma’s testimony is available for download at http://www.drjohnlapuma.com/files/sactotestimony.pdf.

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