After six years of hosting walks through Walk with a Doc (WWAD), one physician couple in Dallas recently added a food component to their program – and patients are eating it up.
Last October, Nilesh Dave, MD, and Mona Dave, MD, began partnering with 14 area physicians, a physical therapist, the Semones Family YMCA, and Plant Based Dallas to start each of their WWAD events with a cooking demonstration. The lessons don’t merely tell people to eat healthier but show them how to do it, said Dr. Nilesh Dave, who specializes in pulmonary critical care.
Each monthly presentation is prepared by a different physician, highlighting healthy ingredients and how to avoid foods linked to poor health outcomes. October’s theme – “Poop Like a Champion” – addressed the importance of fiber, November’s event covered diabetes, and December’s focused on dairy.
“One of the things that the audiences are taking to heart is the link between different foods – usually processed and unhealthy kinds of foods – and how they tie in with disease,” Dr. Nilesh Dave said of the events, which have drawn an average more than 40 people.
The Daves are among hundreds of Texas physicians who participate in WWAD, a nonprofit organization that sponsors free, doctor-led walks in mostly outdoor venues worldwide. Walks typically take place once a month and last 30 to 90 minutes.
Like other WWAD physicians, the Daves used to begin their walks with a short, simple talk about an important medical topic, says Dr. Mona Dave, a pediatric gastroenterologist. The addition of the food demonstration originated with issues both physicians see regularly among patients.
“It definitely sprang out of our specialties,” she said. “I’m seeing so much chronic disease in kids, and it relates back to diet, obesity, metabolic disease.”
While the cooking is important, the main event remains a 2-mile walk along Dallas’ Northaven Trail, great for exercise and conversation.
“It’s amazing how many people feel so much more comfortable asking a doctor a question when they’re not in the exam room,” Dr. Mona Dave said. “It’s a different conversation that you’re having. They see you as a real person, and they kind of let their guard down and just ask things.”
TMA’s Walk with a Doc Texas is funded by TMA Foundation with generous support from TMA Insurance Trust and gifts from physicians and their families.