I was at the Dr's on Friday, still no idea what the problem was but failing anything else he suggested change my diet to eliminate some things that may be part of the problem & that I get down to 6 stone on the basis that it might help, it might not but at least it can't do any harm.
To this end I was sent to talk to the practice nurse, now lets face it, we all know what to do to lose weight, it's getting down to it that's the problem.
I also find it entertaining to have a long conversation with an 'expert' who actually has no idea of what I can and will eat.
PN 'So, what do you eat for breakfast?'
Me 'Porridge in the winter, toast in the summer'
PN 'Porridge is ok as long as you make it with water not milk & no sugar, just use a sweetner'
Me 'I don't use sweetners, I don't eat stuff with chemicals in it'
PN 'Ok, what do you have on your toast?'
Me 'Marmite or marmalade'
PN 'No marmite, it has too much salt, no marmalade, it has too much sugar'
Me 'So just dry toast then?'
PN 'You can use a low fat spread'
Me 'I don't eat margerine or spreads as they contain too many chemicals'
PN 'Well how about museli?'
Me 'I not allowed to eat museli because of the dried fruit and nuts'
PN 'You could try a fruit and nut free museli, as long as it's sugar free'
PN 'What do you have for lunch?'
Me 'A sandwich or soup'
PN 'Soup's not good, too much salt'
Me 'I make it myself'
PN 'Ok, but don't add salt when you are making it just add a stock cube'
Me 'But stock cubes are loaded with salt'
PN 'Are they? I didn't realise and if you are having a sandwich, use granary bread, it's better than white'
Me 'I can't eat granary just ordinary wholemeal'
PN 'And no butter, just a low fat spread & add salad, tomatoes & cucumber to keep the sandwich moist'
Me 'I don't eat low fat spread & I'm not allowed tomatoes'
So, no more chocolate, no alcohol, I don't drink often but I was so looking forward to my damson gin, hey ho.
I still won't eat food with chemicals in it, so I will be eating dry toast & sugarless porridge, lol.
I know exactly what I can & can't eat and I have already stocked up today with extra veg & some tinned tuna to start with but it's just so irritating to be told, yet again, contradictory advice, bananas & avocado to help with the potassium levels, but no avocado as it has the wrong sort of fat in it & no bananas as they are too high in sugar.
Oh and I'm not going to lose as much as they want as I refuse to drop below 8.5 stone.
Scrimping and saving, ranting and raving. Past retirement age.
12 comments:
Oh dear!! You make me laugh!! I would have said muesli without fruit and nuts - is porridge!! All the ladies primed to give healthy advice at our surgery are bigger than me!! Not a good advert!!! Good luck with your non-diet!!!
Down to Six Stone ? Crikey ! Sounds like you already eat healthily and well. I sometimes wonder if the health professionals consider the total impact of their advice.
Good luck
RQ, that's what I thought, though I suppose it would be raw porridge. I have to say most of the surgery staff are much bigger than me, including 2 of the Drs.
FID, I get annoyed as they don't bother to check my history, just dish out the same spiel to everyone.
Jacket potatoes are allowed I hope. High potassium, cheap and go with so many things.
Oh dear! 8 stone is a ridiculous weight! I remember a nurse telling me that the NHS weight guide charts are from the 1950's so the weights they say people should be would seriously be considered underweight today!
Aim for what you feel comfortable and happy with - sod anything else!
No idea how tall you are but 6 stone sounds very underweight for the average person. I am confused by these spreads which seem to be very artificial and full of chemicals - surely proper butter would be less harmful? I remember getting just as annoyed 40 years ago by advice from spinster old maid health visitors just after I had my first child. Nothing changes in the NHS!
Oh they do make you mad.
I always think they talk down to you. When you usually know more about your own body and intake than them. But it did make me laugh. I hope you enjoy your dry toast. I was surprised she did not say toasting it was bad!
Take care and yes I agrss below 8.5 is too low. Take care.
Rosezeeta
6 stone!!!!!! What are you a dwarf? If you are I apologize.
What with the pharmacy and now this, no wonder the nation has a health problem. Go with your own instincts.
As for low fat spreads and the like, I would rather trust a cow than a scientist.
Good luck with your next health related encounter.
I could feel my blood pressure rise as I was reading this conversation lol! It reminded me of a conversation I had with a PN who had apparently done her Masters on weight loss but couldn't really give me any advice beyond handing over some leaflets!
I'm the same as you, I don't eat chemicals if I can help it. I'd rather have a know of butter once a month than low fat spread every day!
In the end, I did it by myself. You will do the same!
Thanks for making me laugh!
"6 stone!!!!!! What are you a dwarf? If you are I apologize".
That made me laugh so hard! And seriously, I'm tiny (my Grandmother actually was only over official dwarfism height by a whisker) and 6 stone is well underweight for me. When I was that weight - teenage metabolism not anorexia - I felt rubbish and deliberately built my weight up so I had some energy. I would have thought for most people 8.5 stone was a very healthy weight.
The problem with the NHS is that often the nurses (and the GPs) are not up to date on current thinking with regard to healthy eating. Avocados being "bad" is just one example. They're actually incredibly good for you, yes, they have a lot of fat but its good fat.
What the nurse also missed out on was amounts: marmite may be high in salt but really, does *anyone* spread it thickly on toast? I bet you anything, Hester, that you have the merest scrape, so your salt levels actually wouldn't be impacted that much. You can probably work out how much salt you take in from it from the 100g listing on the back of the jar, if you weigh a typical meal's worth.
Someone mentioned jacket potatoes. Hester, if you like those, when you've got the oven running cook what you need for a week. They're better (nutritionally) when they've been heated up and allowed to go cold, then reheated. That process seems to change and "lock away" some of the carbs that contribute to high sugar levels in the blood and which can cause so many problems when dieting (I'm a type 2 diabetic, so I know this stuff).
A few years back I lost a LOT of weight by following a low-carb, high fat diet. Not atkins or anything like that, just cutting out what was bad for me and trying to eat according to my blood sugar - eating things that didn't cause a spike (like bananas!). The nurse was delighted, and when asked how I did it, she ended up spluttering cos everything I was doing was flying in the face of official NHS advice, which diabetics have known to ignore for a long time now. But all my figures were in the right place, so she could not argue that I was doing the right thing.
So, Hester, KBO, as Churchill would've said - its really all you can do!
Have had the same sort of conversation. Was handed two sheets with food requirements for acid reflux and IBS...complete OPPOSITES on food ...one says whole wheat bread, one easy white, one says brown rice, one says white..and so on..and like you, I refuse to eat the man made food....I gather you didn't meet with a trained dietician...you knew more than that person you saw!
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