My profession, not helping. Again.
Grrr and sigh.
So being a nutritionist, I'm on a bunch of email lists etc for work. I got a message today that one of the big supplement and education companies I work with (who generally do really fantastic continuing education, actually) is having a "functional medicine study group" in my area. This month's topic is on "weight loss resistance" - basically, when a client is doing "everything right" and they're still not losing weight, what other things might a practitioner try to get their client's weight loss kick-started.
I am really really really tempted to attend the meeting, and basically announce "you leave them alone and let them be the healthy size their body is happy being". This crap makes me incendiary-level mad. If a client is HEALTHY according to standard lab markers as well as having a felt sense of well-being/being free of symptoms such as pain etc., and is EATING WELL and is EXERCISING REGULARLY, then the only reason I can think of for insisting on extraordinary weight loss methods is fat-phobia and some warped sense of fashion. Which are NOT GOOD EXCUSES for potentially putting someone's body/health at risk. I mean sure, if there's an underlying blood sugar imbalance (diabetes or pre-diabetes), or an undiagnosed hormone problem like hashimoto's thyroiditis, then yeah improving someone's overall health is always a good idea. But even once you get their blood sugar more calibrated, even if you get them on a thyroid supporting protocol, while they might lose a few pounds, they also might not. And there's a strong possibility that your client/patient is still going to be larger than what is considered desireable in our fat-phobic culture. Also? They may be currently perfectly healthy, and if you start trying to aggressively get their bodies to be smaller, you may actually be taking a healthy person and make them sick, or increasing their long term health risks. Seriously. It is simply NOT TRUE that thinner always equals health improvement/reduced health risk.
I really shouldn't go to this meeting. I will just yell and alienate a room full of people. I already have Opinions on this, and it will only be disruptive if I attend. And I will leave even angrier than I was when I got there, most likely. This is not a useful way to spend my time. But BOY HOWDY am I tempted to go anyway...
So being a nutritionist, I'm on a bunch of email lists etc for work. I got a message today that one of the big supplement and education companies I work with (who generally do really fantastic continuing education, actually) is having a "functional medicine study group" in my area. This month's topic is on "weight loss resistance" - basically, when a client is doing "everything right" and they're still not losing weight, what other things might a practitioner try to get their client's weight loss kick-started.
I am really really really tempted to attend the meeting, and basically announce "you leave them alone and let them be the healthy size their body is happy being". This crap makes me incendiary-level mad. If a client is HEALTHY according to standard lab markers as well as having a felt sense of well-being/being free of symptoms such as pain etc., and is EATING WELL and is EXERCISING REGULARLY, then the only reason I can think of for insisting on extraordinary weight loss methods is fat-phobia and some warped sense of fashion. Which are NOT GOOD EXCUSES for potentially putting someone's body/health at risk. I mean sure, if there's an underlying blood sugar imbalance (diabetes or pre-diabetes), or an undiagnosed hormone problem like hashimoto's thyroiditis, then yeah improving someone's overall health is always a good idea. But even once you get their blood sugar more calibrated, even if you get them on a thyroid supporting protocol, while they might lose a few pounds, they also might not. And there's a strong possibility that your client/patient is still going to be larger than what is considered desireable in our fat-phobic culture. Also? They may be currently perfectly healthy, and if you start trying to aggressively get their bodies to be smaller, you may actually be taking a healthy person and make them sick, or increasing their long term health risks. Seriously. It is simply NOT TRUE that thinner always equals health improvement/reduced health risk.
I really shouldn't go to this meeting. I will just yell and alienate a room full of people. I already have Opinions on this, and it will only be disruptive if I attend. And I will leave even angrier than I was when I got there, most likely. This is not a useful way to spend my time. But BOY HOWDY am I tempted to go anyway...