Your Nutritionist: Too Fat to Fish?

This morning I got an email from an acquaintance who has just been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. I really try not to read email first thing in the morning, because if I run across a good story like this one, I forget the time and don’t get on to other things.

John is in his mid fifties and I wouldn’t say he is fat, but I wouldn’t classify him as thin, either. He is what used to be called “husky,” a definition that isn’t heard much, these days. I would venture to say he is about 20-25 pounds over fighting weight. He loves food, and he loves beer, and he is going to have to make some changes in his life, if he wants to keep it.

He sent me a note about being sent to a nutritionist by his family practitioner, after she diagnosed him with diabetes. John is about 6’1″ and weighs about 225-230. I don’t think it would take but about 90 days to have him in really good shape.

He took the appointment with the nutritionist, and showed up for his appointment at the prescribed time. He checked in with the receptionist, who weighed in about 250, and couldn’t have been a hair over 5’5″. What we used to call “as wide as they were tall,” behind closed doors.

You would think that a nutritionist would not want to have an obese person be the first thing a patient sees when they walk through the door, but John thought that maybe they had to hire her because she was qualified and they didn’t want to break any discrimination laws.

When they finally called John in after a 20 minute wait, he was ushered into a large office. A few minutes later the nutritionist walked in, and John’s jaw almost hit the floor. According to him, this woman could not have weighed less than 300 pounds — he swears on it.

She started into her routine, and talked and talked, but John couldn’t hear anything. His mind kept asking him, “Why are the two people I have seen in this nutrition clinic so fat?”

The nutritionist kept talking and was at the point in her demonstration where she was showing John pieces of plastic food to give him an idea about proper portion sizes. But John was too distracted and just could not help himself from speaking out. He asked her, “If you are so educated about dieting and nutrition, how can you be that fat?”

There was absolute silence on the other side of the desk, and then she said, “What did you say?” like she hadn’t heard him correctly.

So he repeated what he said, “If you know all the rules about dieting, why are you so fat?”

This is when the nutritionist just lost it and started screaming at John. She ordered him out of her office. John left, but even with all the histrionics, he still thought his question was valid. On the way out the receptionist asked if everything was okay, and John muttered something about people who shouldn’t give advice if they are not willing to follow it themselves.

John went back to see his family practitioner and told her what had happened. His doctor turned red and tried to hold back, but after a moment she just burst out laughing.

What followed were some rules that John knew he had to stick to.

I recommend, as John’s doctor does, supplementation with pharmaceutical grade fish oil, especially for patients with Type II diabetes. Diabetes really ups the risk for cardiac issues, and although John does not have heart problems right now, his risk level is high. The pharmaceutical-grade fish oil is useful in the treatment of diabetes because it can help control lipid levels, particularly triglyceride levels. These levels are often elevated in patients with diabetes.

pharmaceutical grade fish oil is useful in treating other problems as well. It has been shown to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and some types of cancers, and has been linked to mood improvement and good joint health.

This last benefit is particularly helpful to Type II diabetics, who often suffer from depression caused by the disease.

I think John was absolutely within his rights to ask that question of his nutritionist. How is his situation different from taking health advice from a pulmonologist who thought nothing of smoking?

Nutritionists need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

John told me she had two cases of Diet Coke on a shelf behind her, too (more fat people drink Diet Coke, than any other beverage.)

Don’t hesitate to get another opinion, especially in a situation like this, where you have reason to doubt the validity of what your practitioner is telling you, based on his or her own habits.