To expect fat nurses to have some insight?.

[Vikingess]

Just had a routine health check today at my GP surgery. Two nurses - both considerably overweight - dispensing advice on diet. I
am not overweight -AIBU to expect health professionals to demonstrate the the standards they recommended or at least admit to falling short.

I’m a health care professional and I’ve lost nearly 5 stone.
I was overweight due to mental and physical health problems and hitting menopause during lockdown.
my very stressful job didn’t help.

You sound pretty snippy that they even mentioned weight. It's part of what their job is, part of the procedure. Stop personalising it.

I really don't think weight has that much to do with choice... I know so many lazy and greedy (East Asian) people but very few are fat, and certainly none are fat by British standards.

Western people tend to be fat because of the type of food available to them and their genes (tendency to store subcutaneous fat as opposed to visceral fat – while externally unattractive, this is actually a good thing healthwise btw). I think as a Westerner, even if you're one of the rare few who aren't fat (by global standards, not British standards), you still have to work harder to maintain that condition than certain other races.

And secondary MH services are designed for people that have a mental illness. Not for people that get a dopamine kick out of over-eating.

What kind of MH support do you think will stop you from getting a dopamine hit from eating junk and make you want to get it from exercise or something else?

I'm not being goady, I just want to understand what you think could be done? Is there a specific therapy you are thinking of or something?

Also interesting to learn what "considerably overweight" means. Because in MN terms, that could mean anything from a size 10 to a size 18 or more.

As someone else has pointed out, size isn’t always an indicator of good health. Somebody could be plus sized for a number of reasons. Additionally (again already mentioned) they can’t exactly say, I’m not going to advise you about balanced diets when that’s their job? YABU

Interesting how readily you dismiss this. Would you say the same to a drug addiction? Alcoholic? Smoker? Because that is exactly what the poster so eloquently describes. Obesity is often a "food addiction " for the same reasons as any other addiction. So the support this poster is suggesting is entirely adequate and appropriate. Yet you have dismissed it out of hand. Because well fatties....lazy and stupid.
The services should be the same as those for any other addiction....but they aren't. Unless you address the underlying reasons then we don't have a hope of fixing it

None of that is true. Large numbers of obese diabetics are east Asian because if genetics and diet. And I've never heard the nonsense about European? Do you have any evidence for that I would genuinely be interested in seeing it

Did you actually write that whilst asleep or simultaneously performing a brain intensive and complex task? It’s the only explanation I can conceive of to explain it.

It isn’t though.

Um... It's extremely well-known and uncontroversial medical info. Asians develop diabetes at much lower weights than Westerners, which has been linked to their tendency to store visceral fat (invisible fat) over subctaneous fat (more visible fat).

AKA even when unhealthy/lazy/greedy, Asians just don't get that fat. We actually have a very high diabetes rate in East Asia (or countries with high East Asian populations eg Singapore), but very few people are fat in the Western sense. Most diabetics would be considered thin in the West.

See: a million studies, US CDC, various Asian governments' official health advice/guidelines (lower BMI thresholds & size warnings due to higher diabetes risk at lower weights).

On the food, admittedly it's anecdotal but UK supermarkets are full of crap food and I gain double digits in kg each time I live here for an extended period. The crap food phenomenon is spreading globally worldwide (albeit at different rates - already well-established in the UK imo) though, and it requires more and more effort to eat decently.

Wait, I should actually have cited the NHS come to think of it 😂 it uses a lower BMI threshold for obesity in Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean patients. That's because a skinny fit looking woman from any of these races might still be internally unhealthier than a fat(ter) Western woman.

Again not to be rude but this is fairly well-established and uncontroversial. Not saying this to Brit shame or anything. In fact, it's the opposite. Size isn't always that related to choice or health.

Are you really that misinformed that you cannot see the link? I despair at times.

it doesn’t take more than 5 min research to find links. Even just thinking critically, why does one person desire those dopamine hits more than another - it really doesn’t need much thought.

Part of the issue is people ignoring the close linked between psychological problems and physical problems (and the health services which silo these issues)

I had to see a practice nurse after I was deemed pre-diabetic. The practice nurse talked me through healthy choices eg new potatoes instead of mash, hidden sugar etc. she said she had a leaflet for me and opened her desk drawer and it was full of biscuits and chocolates. The embarrassment on her face made me cringe for her 🥴

You wouldn’t go to a hairdresser who had bad hair, would you?
Actually yes.
I only went to my current one as she was recommended to me by someone who has fabulous hair. When I saw her for the first time I was surprised ( not in a good way ) about her hair.
Anyway I don't care, she makes my hair look great!

Of course there are. Apples and bananas for example.

I'd be fine with a male midwife or gynaecologist giving me advice on birthing and general vaginal health despite having no lived experience of it themselves. As with the nurse, they're just professionals doing their jobs

@Mirabai I kind of agree

Although many people may be overweight due to ill health, medication, shift work etc, the majority could lose weight if they ate less / better and exercised more

So, if a patient meets a HCP with an unhealthy lifestyle, they might think "well, my GP / nurse / HV is aware of the risk, but chooses to eat / drink to excess anyway, so they can't think that it's that bad for us". I think it could undermine the healthy living message

Oh goody yet another thread bashing fat people (this is the second one I've seen in 24hrs).... what is it with people on MN, so many judgmental people out there who all know how to solve the obesity crisis 🙄

And not to mention portion sizes.
If you eat out the portion sizes are huge which then often normalises these at home.

Look at the amount of processed food compared to the fruit and veg aisles

Some of it is education, some of it is poverty, some of it is mental and physical health. Some of it is time.

I would love to see more vegan cooking on TV in all these cookery shows for example showing people how to cook amazing vegetable dishes rather than frying red meat in butter. Educating people why they might make certain choices eg the need to chew can arise from trauma, rather than just demonising someone “overeating”. Looking at ways to help those who might not eat vegetables because of the cost of cooking, normalising eating uncooked veg as a snack. Looking at psychological links to food.

We need to address why people are facing unrelenting stress which will affect weight. Why we are so sleep deprived which will affect weight,

Theres so many angles to this I can’t believe in this day and age there’s so many “eat less run around more” believers still (wonder if they look out the airplane window and think it’s the curved windows making the horizon look curved!)

they are doing their job-NOT living your life. Make your own informed choices and hold your tongue maybe

I despair. Every single person knows that generally if you eat less move more you’ll lose weight as a very general rule (although there’s also many reasons this won’t work for everyone)

The question which needs addressing is why some people are unable to do that to the extent necessary - clue for the hard of thinking on here, it’s not greed or laziness 99.999 % of the time!

'admit to falling short'
'obviously weren’t able to follow it themselves'
It would have been a lot quicker to just write 'I hate fat people', OP than this goady bullshit with nasty judgements not very well concealed in it.

It’s a scientific fact that some people are predisposed to putting on weight and struggling to lose it, then others.

As long as I wasn’t belittled or lectured, then I would rather have someone giving me advice who understands the situation, rather than someone who has no clue.

Its like when someone posts they’re struggling with money and long working hours and some posters give the advice to ‘just get a nanny’ or ‘hire a cleaner’.

I remember my mum who has never smoked telling me to ‘just quit’.

Yes of course they should take their own advice but that’s easier said than done.
They know what they’re talking about and they’re giving you the correct advice.

Not all nurses are able bodied but they will still give you the advice for an able bodied person, if that’s what you are.

What are we doing then, BMI checks as entry requirements for nursing/medical school? What happens if you get fat during the course? Automatic fail? And if you actually make it to qualifying, and then get fat? Should I send a letter to the NMC to take me off the register because after 3 children and a thyroid condition I now class as “obese”? 🙄