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 loves to eat and loves to drink beer. He is in his mid-fifties and weighs about 20-25 pounds more than he should, so he’s not exactly fat, but he’s certainly not thin either. With this new diagnosis of Type II Diabetes, he is going to have to make some lifestyle changes, if he knows what’s good for him.

John weighs about 225-230 and is 6’1″ His email said that his family practitioner recommended a nutritionist for him after she diagnosed him with diabetes. I think John could get back into shape in about three months.

John took his doctor’s advice and made an appointment with the nutritionist. Upon arriving for his appointment he was checked-in by a receptionist who really could be called obese — she was probably 250 pounds and maybe 5’5″

John thought it was a little odd that a nutrition clinic would have a lardass at the front door, but with all the crazy laws on hiring, he thought that maybe they didn’t have a choice.

He waited for about twenty minutes, before his name was called and he was ushered into a big office. Then the nutrionist arrived, and John was stunned. She was about 5’10″, but she weighed 300 pounds and not an ounce less, according to his story.

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 got to the part where she was displaying plastic food to show John about correct portion sizes, but John could not keep silent. Finally he blurted out, “If you know so much about nutrition and the rules of dieting, why are you so overweight?”

The nutritionist stopped talking and looked stunned. Finally she said, as if she had not heard him, “What did you just say?”

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

At this point the nutritionist flew off the handle, and started screaming at him, telling him to get out of her office immediately. He obliged, but didn’t think his question was out of line. The receptionist asked him if there was a problem, on his way out, and he said that someone apparently couldn’t handle her own advice.

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.

After that, John was told of some rules that he really had to pay attention 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.

Mood improvement is so important for Type II diabetes patients, who have a high risk of depression caused by the diabetes.

My friend John was right to question the nutritionist. It would be the same situation as getting advice from a pulmonologist who smoked.

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.