Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Weight Loss Challenges; blame the doctor


This has been my dinner for the last two days.  My doctor would be so impressed if this information got to his desk. Since my numbers at the weighing scale has taken an upright motion, he has addressed with me the same during my previous several visits to his office.  If  he got this information, he would pull my chart and mark patient education effective.  He would cancel my consultation with the dietitian. 

He has advised me that cutting back on carbohydrates would reduce my numbers on the scale.  Culturally, my food is mainly starchy.  On a typical morning, breakfast is usually 'ugali' leftovers from the previous night. 'Ugali' is prepared by putting water to boil, adding corn flour, stirring to a soft consistency but slightly thicker than porridge.  Ugali for breakfast is  accompanied by hot tea. The hot tea is well sweetened.  Lunch would be green bananas and potatoes shallow fried together.  Dinner would be ugali with some greens at the ration of 3:1; 3 being the former.  Most of the meals has at least two energy giving foods.  Food is not just the physical food; its cultural; part of ones identity.  Is the doctor advising me to move from my culture? my identity? Can he please key in my cultural foods preferences in regards to health and weight?  Until then, there goes my upward curve on the scale.

Shouldn't my doctor practice holistic health approach thus considering my psychological, physical, social and emotional needs.  Has he explored my emotional state that prompts me to put food in my mouth even when the stomach does not need it? He has dwelt more on my physical needs as my curve on the scale is spinning out of control.


1 comment:

Marrionette said...

I personally can say that my doctor's advice on weight loss was rather unenthusiastic. He didn't say i should do anything in particular, if anything he told be sugar free sweeteners are not good for me (i have a very sweet tooth). I find dieting unrealistic because there are plenty of people who have been on diets for decades and they are still struggling with their weight. Meanwhile, the diet fad industry continues to boom. I think the only answer is exercise. Plenty of it, so you burn what you eat. Case in point, all those dudes in the NBA are rail thin, most of them eat like horses,what keeps them trim is all the running they do on the court and in practice. I have a colleague who eats like there is no tomorrow, but she runs 5 miles 3 times per week, she looks great. So could that be me? this brings me to my other challenge: getting up early (at the crack of dawn) is nearly impossible!! I f i could get away from my night owl status, avoid all those late night murder investigations, then may be i could arise at 5am, run a 2 miles before work, and loose a ton ...