Mirror Mirror...

When smokers warn against smoking and couch potatoes beat up on their fellow slouchers, does anyone listen? Should overweight doctors chide or give weight-loss advice to patients tipping the scales with excess poundage?

Two of five doctors are dissatisfied with their weight, and 35 percent have been on a diet within the past year, according to a poll of 382 physician-subscribers to Scientific American Medicine, conducted by Mark Clements Research, Inc.

Six hundred physicians were asked to respond to a two-page questionnaire which was mailed in April. The first 382 responses were tabulated: Internal medicine and family medicine practitioners accounted for 59 percent of respondents; 81 percent are male and 19 percent female. Their average age was 46.8.

Although 80 percent of the doctors are satisfied with their overall health, only 62 percent consider themselves physically fit. Some other tidbits from the survey that may interest medical consumers:

• 49 percent take vitamins or supplements;
• 74 percent exercise regularly. Walking and bicycling are their favorite workouts, weightlifting is next, and jogging/running follows close behind;
• The physicians ranked "fat content" as the most important factor in food labels, followed by "nutritional value," "cholesterol content," and "caloric content;"
• Only 8 percent who said they wanted to lose weight followed doctor-recommended diets, and 11 percent chose a specific weight-loss program. Eating smaller portions and eliminating specific foods were the means most docs chose for losing extra poundage.

So next time you berate yourself for slipping up on those New Year's vows, remember that even health-conscious physicans struggle with the same demons.

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