Idle musings: would you take advice from an obese nutritionist or a depressed therapist?

[GeriKellmansUpdo]

Just idly thinking about this because on my social media feed there are:
Nutritionists who advise on weight loss and diabetes control but are obese themselves
Therapists who are constantly saying how depressed they are
Financial advisors who are saying how bad they are with money

Does this make them more relatable to ordinary Joes or Janes? Personally, I think I wouldn't. Though on the other hand, I know a lot of doctors who smoke.

In terms of HCP - we are trained to know the advice, evidence base and best practice. LOTS and LOTS of people (HCP included) don't want to take the advice or feel up to it or just want to make a risk vs benefits decision based on their own circumstances and we are not here to judge, just offer the information and support people accordingly. We're not in charge - medicine has moved on significantly from that!

Do people really see HCP as people who 'tell them what to do / preach / give rules' etc?? That's not what is supposed to happen. We're suppose to offer all the information so the patient can make their own mind up through a process of informed consent.....

Years ago I used to go to a Slimming World meeting and the leader was obese. She used to talk about how the plan worked for her years before. She wasn’t a great motivational example.

Therapist with mental health issues - yes (if they were good I don't think I'd know). Obese nutritionist depends, if I wanted a nutritionist for weight loss maybe not. If I wanted one to help my gut become healthier for example or for how to deal with gluten intolerance or something then yes.

Unfortunately that's not uncommon with GPs

I wouldn't take advice from an obese nutritionist because "nutritionist" is an unprotected title and means zilch. And I wouldn't take advice from a depressed therapist because advice-giving isn't a therapist's role.

This makes me think of an influencer who constantly shares her inability to do basic tasks or parent, but sells mothering advice. No, I can't take it seriously, not least because all her 'failings' are contrived in an attempt to be relatable. 🤮

Why would a depressed therapist be bad?

It wouldn't bother me. You can know you're stuff but not heed it as with the nutritionist and I can't see why therapists would be immune to mental health issues. I know that pepsi max is bad for me for instance but I still drink it sometimes 🤷‍♀️

I am an adopter twice over and to be approved as an adopter or to have a child placement approved, you have to be ‘passed’ by a panel of ‘experts’, including a qualified medical adviser (doctor). Many prospective adopters are prevented or delayed from adopting due to high BMIs. My friends, who were eventually approved to adopt, were put on hold at matching panel due to their marginally high BMIs. Our LA medical adviser, who sat on my and their panels, was/is morbidly obese. Personally, I thought this a bit rich and smacked of ‘do as I say not do as I do’ and just illustrates a lot of the hypocrisy around the adoption process.

Depressed therapists wouldn’t bother me, but also how would you know?

The others would, especially the broke financial advisor

I would be happy to be advised/treated by all of them. The professional who is trained in that area doesn't have to practice on themselves, that is not the point of the session. It's not relevant to me what the dietitian's diet is like, only that they could support me with the right diet plan for my lifestyle, which is likely to be totally different to theirs. Same with the therapist. I won't be counselling them, so their mental state doesn't concern me as long as they're ok to work, they certainly shouldn't be projecting their emotions onto me so it shouldn't even come up. You can train in anything, it's the training and experience treating others that you're sharing, not your personal experience. And with a lot of things it does help if you've got some personal experience of it so you can empathise better. I prefer to get parenting advice from an expert who also is a parent but I wouldn't expect them to be perfect parents, I would assume they can apply their training to different families, behaviours and circumstances to advise on my situation which may not apply to their own situation.

"Years ago I used to go to a Slimming World meeting and the leader was obese. "

I couldn't go to that group, the temptation to throw in Marjorie Dawes/Fat Fighters references would be too much.

Wow this thread! Have you considered that maybe overweight people could have a deeper understanding of weight issues? And that ignorance is not the prime cause of obesity?

What do you think is the prime cause? I suspect we might disagree on that.

No.

A vastly obese GP practice nurse once tried to give me advice on losing weight. At the time, I was a bit overweight but I was nowhere near her size. I wasn’t blatantly rude or offensive to her, because she was only trying to do her job, but I did shut her up fairly sharply.

The 2 nutritionists I know I would say are borderline anorexic (I'm not just saying from looking at them, I know them socially - and have previously been anorexic - their behaviour and attitude is typical of someone with an ED)

*Attitude to food

It is a bit like like being a monk or a nun and then having intimacy on the side. I knew a colleague friendly with a priest in Ireland who would visit her in London. Hypocrisy happens it is very commonplace but it wouldn't lure me in.

How do you know they were intimate?!

I don’t know. If the therapist was functioning how would I know they were depressed? So that probably wouldn’t bother me. An obese nutritionist I’m not sure. I would wonder if the advice they were giving me was sustainable and possible, because if they had great tips and tricks for a healthy body surely they’d have one too?

Once upon a time I was patient of psychiatrist who suffered from depression. He had his own psychiatrist he visited.

I've know two dieticians who were very noticeably underweight. Like knees bigger than tights, fuzzy hair underweight.

Made me think they had picked their profession because of a very unhealthy obsession with food and eating. One of them gave me excellent advice for a young woman with a complex eating disorder so maybe it's a 'physician heal thyself' thing. I'd still try the advice.

And with a counsellor, you shouldn't know about their depression. The sessions should be about you not them.

I x-posted but that is weird. I wonder if either of them is the same one or if it's a 'thing'.

These counsellors are talking about their depression on social media. That's how I know.