Doctors Blame Fat People

I had a recent run-in with a doctor who was desperate to find something wrong with the way I ate.

So they launched into an attack on the ground turkey that is a mainstay of my low carb diet. Okay. Fine. Well, what am I supposed to eat exactly? I try to avoid a lot of red meat. Chicken is dry and gets boring, but ground turkey is cheap and versatile. I use it a lot.

Let's get this straight.

The doc was a specialist.

Who agreed with low carb eating for my situation.

But was seriously admonishing me for eating ground turkey.

Why?

Because it had too much fat. Ergo I was fat because I ate ground turkey. I sh*t you not, this was the logic.

The medical student cowering in the corner, bravely cleared their throat and said, "Actually, no. It's 97% lean."

"It is?" said the doc, taken aback. I'm sure the med student had been marked down -500 points at this point. Poor student. I hope they didn't beat him.

"Yeah," the medical student and I both chimed in together.

"Well," the doc shook his shoulders, irritated, "You don't know what is in it so you shouldn't eat it."

And that was that. Patient schooled...or was I? Either way, I'm still eating ground turkey. The specialist can Suck. It. I mean, seriously, you're going to criticize me for that?

It amazes me how often my food choices are attacked or questioned in a medical setting. Doctors like to make weight solely a personal responsibility issue and negative fat bias is pervasive. I'm fat therefore it must be my fault, end of discussion.

It never has anything to do with all the prednisone or the PCOS and that medicine doesn't know how to deal with either those issues really well in my case.

No, it can't be the science that is flawed. It has to be the fatty's fault.

I've been told I ate too much.

That I don't know how to count calories (ah, yes, the 'you're too dumb to lose weight' argument) and that food labels are wrong so even if I could count, I'm still wrong. Man, us fat people just can't do anything right, can we?

I've been asked if I drink juice after sharing I follow a low carb diet.

I've been told to join TOPs and Overeater's Anonymous.

I even had a doctor who related obesity back to a history of abuse which led to emotional eating. This theory was applied broadly to every patient according to the clinic (so why a diet and not therapy????).

Rarely have I experienced relevant, quality health care when it comes to my weight. I can count those doctors on less than one hand. Which is saying something considering how often I see doctors.

It also reminds me of this post over on Dr. Grumpy's blog where a doctor, flummoxed by a patient who isn't losing weight, demands they write down everything that goes in their mouth. Because they must be doing something wrong.

I commented on that post that I believed, a 100 years from now, future scientists will not look back kindly on the so-called 'science' of weight loss and obesity doctors espouse today. I'm willing to bet the only ones who will stand the test of time are those who are low carb literate.

Fortunately, I'm pretty sure it won't take 100 years to debunk the idea that ground turkey causes obesity. If it does, there's really no hope for any of us.