Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles Toolkit

The amount of information on overweight, obesity and healthy lifestyles available for family physicians and their patients can be overwhelming. That is why the staff of AAFP News Now have compiled this list of resources physicians and their patients can use to find out more information. Although certainly not inclusive, this list does provide a starting point for those seeking more education and tools.

AAFP Resources
Americans In Motion -- Healthy Interventions (AIM-HI)
This is an excellent and comprehensive resource for physicians interested in finding ways to encourage their patients to live healthy lifestyles. It offers CME opportunities, tools for physicians' offices, patient education resources and community education resources.

AFP By Topic: Obesity
The AAFP's clinical journal, American Family Physician, has gathered together a list of resources on obesity that the AFP online medical editor has defined as current. Articles included in this list cover screening and diagnosis, prevention, treatment, complications and special situations, practice improvement, and patient education.

AAFP Recommendations for Clinical Preventive Services: Obesity, Adults and AAFP Recommendations for Clinical Preventive Services: Obesity, Children and Adolescents (scroll down to "Obesity" entries)

AAFP Recommendations for Clinical Preventive Services: Physical Activity, Counseling

Catalog Merchandise: AAFP Patient Information - AIM

Webinar: "Putting Nutrition Science to Work in Family Medicine: Nutrition and Weight Management"

Webinar: "Putting Nutrition Science to Work in Family Medicine: Nutrition and Heart Disease"

Webinar: "Putting Nutrition Science to Work in Family Medicine: Nutrition and Digestive Health"

FamilyDoctor.org Resources
Exercise: How To Get Started

Healthy Living - Your Life in Balance

Healthy Living: How Common Behaviors Affect Your Health

Nutrition for Weight Loss: What You Need to Know About Fad Diets

Nutrition: Tips for Improving Your Health

Prescription Weight-loss Medicines

Weight Issues in Children

What it Takes to Lose Weight

What You Should Know Before You Start A Weight Loss Plan

Other Resources
CDC: Healthy Weight -- It's Not a Diet, it's a Lifestyle!

CDC: Overweight and Obesity -- Causes and Consequences

Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation

National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: the Evidence Report
(262-page PDF; About PDFs)

Let's Move Campaign

Nutrition in Medicine

The Obesity Society

The Practical Guide: Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults
(94-page PDF; About PDFs)

Produce for Better Health Foundation: Launching Your Educational Program

Shape Up America!

Society of Teachers of Family Medicine: Collaborative development, implementation, and evaluation of a novel curriculum in pediatric obesity identification and treatment

Society of Teachers of Family Medicine: Incidence of Childhood Obesity Among Children at a Community Health Center

Society of Teachers of Family Medicine: Nutrition Resources

STOP, Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance

Weight-control Information Network
An information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases