tepping on the scale each day and diligently recording their caloric intake and body weight in a little booklet, my patients marked the progress and failures of their dieting efforts. It was the mid-1990s and I was working as a medical fellow in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Düsseldorf Medical Center in Germany. During the day, we optimized insulin therapy in patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, using modern tools such as new insulin analogs, glucose meters, and insulin pumps. In the evening, I supervised an outpatient obesity clinic. Our department was internationally renowned as an accredited World Health Organization collaborating center, and patients came from far and wide to seek care for their diabetes, and a variety of obesity-related conditions.
In many respects, the work was very successful, at least in the short term. Young patients with Type 1 diabetes, many with early signs of ...
