April's CR Diary

I read with interest both your comments about misgivings relating to your obese doctors. I work in the medical profession and despite what others might think, it is just as difficult for a doctor, a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant to maintain a healthy lifestyle including an appropriate weight. In many ways, it may even be more difficult because clinicians have less control over their time than many others. I don't work in primary care any longer, but my years as a primary care clinician were probably the most stressful of mt life. The hours were long, after a full day of patients (between 20 & 30!) I stayed an additional 2-3 hours to answer messages and at times people lives and health hung on my clinical and decision making skills. My response to the stress was an inadvertent weight loss of 30 pounds....and I was not overweight to begin with. When I came home at night, I was lucky if I had the energy to microwave a frozen meal, let alone prepare a nutritious, balanced dinner. I rarely had time to eat lunch. Many times, I would look at the clock and be surprised to discover that it was 5:00 and I still had three quarters of my lunchtime sitting on my desk. I literally did not have time to take a bite. At times, I did not even have time to go to the bathroom!

Sadly, this is what primary care and internal medicine is like for most medical clinicians right now. I loved the work, but I left it because the tension was to high. Is it surprising that given this kind of pressure, many doctors end up treating their stress just as the rest of America does? By eating food that is high calorie, yet easy to procure or prepare or by eating for comfort. Life may be hard, but eating junk is easy.

Physicians and other clinicians are just as susceptible to what you so eloquently call the "obesogenic environment" as everyone else. In fact, I think that the fact they succomb to this environment despite their didactic education, their exposure to and ability to analyze the current medical literature, AND despite the fact that they see people slowly killing themselves with lifestyle choices every single day proves exactly how toxic that environment really is!

This is just my two cents, to provide another perspective on your obese doctors. You might want to take a moment to consider the humanity of your physician.

Full disclosure: after leaving primary care for a less stressful environment, I gained my 30 pounds back to achieve my normal, adult weight PLUS another 20. Which is how I found all of you and your wonderful blogs as I try to get my own health back in order. Don't think that your clinicians do not occasional think of the adage, "Do as I say and not as I do."

Thanks for the continual thought provoking posts, April.

Erin

Amen to your prayer. And, like you, I feel so lucky to have been "saved". When I think about what my life would be like without CR, I am grateful to Roy Walford and the CR Society for helping me to stay on CR, once I had found the path to eating less and eating well. And thanks to you, April, and all our other bloggie friends for being such a great support network. Don't let the doctor bug you. You are just there to make sure all is well with you. If she gives you dumb advice about your weight, just ignore it!

Erin,

As you may have read, I work with nurses, and I know very well the pressures that health care professionals face on a day to day basis. Nurses have a similar situation: twelve + hour days, often no time for bathroom breaks, much less time to sit down and eat a healthy meal. Then most come home to families who expect them to provide for every need, physical, economic and emotional, so time to care for self is almost impossible to find.

I have tons of sympathy for my doctor, and everyone struggling with the obesogenic environment. My concern stems from the fact that unlike most people I might meet, my doctor has some power over me. She can decide to order tests that I need or not, she can write whatever she wants in my medical charts...information that insurance companies can use for good or for ill. Sure, if I don't feel like I can work with her, I can choose another, but in a managed care system this can be difficult. My experience two weeks ago at her office with my blood draws was horrible, and undermined my previous confidence in her business. She had not had time to review the materials about CR I gave her last year, and I understand that's because she's busy, but it meant that she was unprepared to deal with the bloodtest issue. And in the last year, the cultural bias to view the thin as most likely anorexic has been growing. So I'm nervous. I definitely give her the benefit of the doubt, and I hope that all will go well. I'll give a full report afterwards!

a

Erin,

Thanks for your comments. A lot of people lead stressful lives, in and out of the medical profession. I sympathise with what you are trying to say. I respect my family doctor which I have been seeing since childhood, but also know he is human. He smokes and he is also over weight, yet always trying to get me and my friends and family to shed a bit of weight and stop smoking for our own health benefit.

I dunno. I am tired and having a hard time writing here, but I want to say this;

Being a doctor or a person in the medical feild or any feild is not an excuse from the expectation of living a healthy lifestyle just because of long hours and stress.

I currently work 13+ hours a day and often work through the weekends and holidays. I have limited time with self, family, and friends. However, I choose to still work towards making the changes in my life necessary to be more healthy and so can anyone else. Whether they are a doctor, nurse, teacher, or even garbage men or women.

I'm probably oversimplifying things, but I truly believe that every person (health care professionals included) should try to step back, even a little bit, from their stress-inducing careers and address their own health concerns. Whether that be the disease of obesity, anxiety or anything.
Last year, I encouraged my husband to quit his high-paying, yet anxiety-inducing job. He wasn't sleeping well and needed medication.
Even my husband said, "But we need the money, we have kids, a mortgage, etc." I told him that we needed him more than the money. The stress was killing him slowly every day, much like obesity is slowly killing so many out there every day.
CR has brought to life to me the adage "without your health, you have nothing". Made me ask "Is fat, unhappy, and unhealthy really the way I want to spend the ONLY LIFE I may have?"

nen

Hi April
Good discussion. My physician's assistant conducts my yearly medical checkups. She's overweight, but not morbidly so. I found it funny that she joked that she wanted to invite me to cook for her, when I described my typical daily meals. I imagine she does have stress from long hours, but like Carolyn, I also work long hours and ocassionally part time on weekends - my field of architecture demands it. I find time to eat properly, and the yoga helps me keep focused. So it is possible to manage stress and weight. Although admitedly, I'm single and some people may have the additional stress of being head of households, with children and spouses to care for.
Cheers
Arturo

I will not apologize for my weight.

I will not apologize for my kitchen food scale, for my flax oil and my kale, for my healthy foods and my refusal to eat crap in a convenience store.

I will never, ever pretend that I am "naturally" skinny just to avoid upsetting those who are "naturally" fat.

If you are not doing exactly that, why do you blog? I can suppose you are inhabited by an overwhelming need to help people?

I'm on the hunt for a new doctor. I've had two -- both of which were overweight and chiding me for not wanting to take meds for cholesterol, etc. but rather retest in 3-4 months and see if lifestyle and diet changes resulted in better numbers. Quite frankly, I think we can all agree that long hours and stressful jobs are not limited to those in the medical profession. In fact, how many minimum wages jobs does one have to juggle to feed a family?

Never apologize for taking the steps to a better life.