On Thursday, June 13th, 2019, Dr. Tro Kalayjian presented at Virginia Commonwealth University, to the Department of Medicine at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds.

The presentation was made to the Department of Medicine staff, including attending physicians, residents and medical students as well as the VA and satellite offices.

The title of the presentation was “Questioning Dietary Dogma: A clinical approach to dietary advice”

The focus of the presentation was about the obesity epidemic, and a review of relevant co-morbidities. The presentation also discussed the unique hormonal features of a low carbohydrate diet.

The presentation is embedded below:

Link to Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0IxoldOwBg

The presentation included numerous gems delivered by Kalayjian. Here are some of the highlights:

• “Creating a caloric deficit by doing math is an interesting concept. I’d argue that given the lack of success of Weight Watchers, and the lack of success of managing obesity—despite having nutrition labels everywhere, that counting calories is NOT an ideal strategy to manage appetite.”
• “If we focus on appetite and hunger, however, creating a caloric deficit will be a natural and easy by-product.”
• “Crunching numbers and doing math is NOT a sustainable way to understand and develop a better relationship with food.”
• “Obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, depression, osteoarthritis, and sleep apnea are not cemented on a patient’s chart forever. In my clinic, these diagnoses go into remission EVERY DAY.”
• “Obesity does not have to be something you’re stuck with forever.”
• “I have never once met a patient who wanted to be obese. Not once. Nobody wants the stigma. Nobody wants the shame, patients just need to know how to control the appetite.”
• “You need to give patients the tools to control appetite and their hunger so it’s easy to create a caloric deficit… so it’s easy to get full off of less.”
• “Creating a caloric deficit in and of itself is a disastrous strategy to have. I have never met a patient who wanted to be obese. They have been forced to accept it because the advice they’ve been given is shit.”

Kalayjian told the room full of medical professionals that “with proper guidance and close follow-up, you’ll be able to get rid of these metabolic issues from their lives.”

Dr. Tro’s Medical Weight Loss & Direct Primary Care would like to thank Dr. Steven Bishop, MD, as well as the entire staff at the Department of Medicine and the Weight Loss Center for the invitation to speak.