No, you don’t need a referral to schedule a one-hour nutrition consultation with our dietitian or to enroll in the HEAL, Diabetes or PCOS programs.
However, you will need a referral from your family doctor or another physician if you qualify for Optifast® meal replacement program for weight loss.
Our Referral form can be downloaded here: Referral Form CanMed Multispecialty Weight Management Clinics
Yes. Our registered dietitian completes a 60 minute in-depth assessment to learn about your food preferences and gaps in your current diet, and develops a culturally tailored, individualized meal plan for you.
Yes, you can. But we recommend that you try the program for a minimum of 3 months to give yourself enough time to make dietary and lifestyle changes to experience weight loss.
Several studies have shown that a 5% weight loss can result in significant improvement in blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol. A 5% weight loss can also reduce risk of diabetes and heart disease by as much as 50%.
For example, if someone weighs 180 lbs and loses 5% of body weight (~ 10 lbs), they can expect to see the above benefits. Most patients in our program lose anywhere from 5% to 20% of their body weight.
We recommend that you call your insurance company to find out if you have dietitian coverage through extended health benefits or flexible spending account.
All appointments with physicians are covered by OHIP. However, the OPTIFAST® meal replacement shakes and monthly program fees are not covered. In many cases, these expenses can be covered by extended benefits and health savings accounts
Yes, we use a HIPPA compliant virtual portal for video conference calls with patients. We also offer telephone consultations. We provide email support to our clients
Our team of doctors and registered dietitian provide medically supervised meal replacement & diet and lifestyle programs based on medical research 1,2,3 which have been shown to result in diabetes remission or significant reduction in insulin or medication use for diabetes and blood pressure
References –
1.Shiau, Judy Y., et al. “Effects on Diabetes Medications, Weight and Glycated Hemoglobin Among Adult Patients With Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: 6-Month Observations From a Full Meal Replacement, Low-Calorie Diet Weight Management Program.” Canadian Journal of Diabetes, vol. 42, no. 1, 2018, pp. 56–60., doi:10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.03.006.
2. Lean, Michael Ej, et al. “Primary Care-Led Weight Management for Remission of Type 2 Diabetes (DiRECT): an Open-Label, Cluster-Randomised Trial.” The Lancet, vol. 391, no. 10120, 5 Dec. 2017, pp. 541–551., doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(17)33102-1
3.Lean, Michael E J, et al. “Durability of a Primary Care-Led Weight-Management Intervention for Remission of Type 2 Diabetes: 2-Year Results of the DiRECT Open-Label, Cluster-Randomised Trial.” The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, vol. 7, no. 5, 2019, pp. 344–355., doi:10.1016/s2213-8587(19)30068-3.
You can book a free 15 minute information session to learn about the different programs we offer. You can also book a hour dietitian consultation + individualized meal plan session.