A Note for Megan Carter's Doctor

Megan Carter was one of the dancers auditioning last night for this season's So You Think You Can Dance and she was fat.

Quite overweight.

Yet an exquisite dancer. Clearly the mistress of her body.

Beautiful too.

But fat.

And she was cut from the auditions, partly because she was fat.

Here's the thing that upset me. It's probably not her fault. It's very likely her doctors have missed PCOS or don't understand how to properly counsel someone with insulin resistance.

Sure, she may eat crap, but so do many of her dancing peers who are thin. The problem isn't what she eats, it's that she has incredible strength and physicality, something that takes years of training hours to develop and yet her body retains its fat. That is not normal.

I have been a dancer. Nowhere near as talented as Megan, but I performed in an actual troupe at one point. You can't dance and not be fit. The strength required is immense. The calorie expenditure is insane. I remember 3 hour rehearsal sessions that were the physical equivalent of doing the polka full bore and non-stop. I loved it. Too bad prednisone and subsequent adrenal suppression made it impossible for me to continue.

Anyway, the point is, the strength and endurance required to do what Megan Carter does is akin to that of a professional athlete. There is no way she's that active and overeating any more than her thinner peers. There is something going on physiologically, something her doctors probably don't have the education to address.

A few weeks ago I 'spoke' with a woman on a message board about how to eat for PCOS. Her doctor had snidely told her it didn't matter what she ate, as long as she didn't overeat. They even suggested she could eat Snickers bars all day so long as she stayed below a certain total calorie threshold.

Utter bullshit. Of the worst kind. This kind of 'medical care' kills people. Sugar makes PCOS lethal. Restricted calories comprised of pure sugar won't produce weight loss. This is the kind of crap obese people run into repeatedly when they turn to medicine for help and I have no doubt that Megan Carter has experienced the same kind of 'care.'

So if you are Megan Carter's doctor, please check this lovely young lady for PCOS and figure out how to explain a low carb diet or find a nutritionist who can.

If you are Megan Carter googling yourself, you are a beautiful dancer as you are, however, should you ever want to lose weight, check out insulin resistance, PCOS and low carb eating.