Q & A with David Thoele, M.D. , Pediatric Cardiologist, Advocate Health Care

Dr. Thoele’s interest in cardiology led him to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, where he completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology. He realized he could be more effective preventing cardiac problems by addressing the issues when his patients were still young. Dr. Thoele has been practicing Pediatric Cardiology for 22 years.

Be Smart. Be Well. sat down with Dr. Thoele to discuss teen dating abuse. Watch the video interview above or read the transcript below.

To learn more about Childhood Obesity, visit Be Smart. Be Well. Childhood Obesity.

BSBW: Describe the scope of Childhood Obesity in America?

David Thoele M.D: I became a doctor 25 years ago and at that time there were not very many children who  there were always some who were overweight or obese and it was  but it was much rarer. There are a lot of health conditions that were pretty much unheard of at that time. Kids with high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and type two diabetes didn’t exist then. They used to call type 2 diabetes adult onset diabetes because it didn’t occur in children. In my three years of residency, 25 years ago, I saw zero kids who had childhood obesity who had childhood diabetes. And that is quite different now. There are many children in my practice and in every pediatrician’s practice who have type 2 diabetes.

BSBW: What is the most important tool to fight childhood obesity?

David Thoele M.D: The family is the most important determinant of the environment of the child lives in. In other words, um it makes a big difference if all around you everybody is eating junk food. It makes a big difference if the school lunches are no good. But it makes much more of a difference what kind of an environment is created in the home and the parents and the families are what have a big say in that. How you live life and what are your values and what kind of an environment it is. And there are some families which have created an extremely healthy environment, which I see a lot of benefits for those children. And some other families where the environment is not so healthy and there are some effects from those as well.

BSBW: What are some tangible things parents can do to help their kids lose weight?

David Thoele M.D: I think the most important thing is how you set the tone for your children. In other words if you take a shameful thing, kids don’t want to be yelled at, so if you take a thing like, “You need to eat your vegetables. Eat your vegetables.” That will never work. And I think the tone the tone that I try to set with my patients and that I suggest parents set with their children is, “I love you so much. I really want you to do this. This is really, really important, and I want you to be around, and I want you to live a good life and I healthy life.” And I try to make the connection and I think parents can make the connection between living a healthy life and the quality of their life and accomplishing whatever their goals are.

BSBW: What are some ways you try to connect your patients to solutions?

David Thoele M.D: When I talk to my patients it’s not of much good if I tell them, “Well you need to eat these healthy things,” but secretly I know that I’m eating junk. I practice what I preach. I eat pretty healthy food. A lot of vegetables and fruits. Whole grain foods. I live fifteen miles away from here and I ride my bike to work most the year. And I’ll ask my patients how do you think I got to work today and they’ll say, “I guess you drove or something or you walked.” And I’ll say, “No. I live fifteen miles from here and I rode my bike.” And if I can find time to ride my bike for an hour here and an hour back then you can find time for that.