In my recent and ongoing frustration about the rising prevalence of obesity costing nearly $300 billion and the majority of those affected making little progress in the direction of change, I reached out in desperation and exasperation. One answer came from my life time friend since elementary, who is conveniently also a dietitian. Great minds must think alike. I found her response to be thought provoking and wanted to share.
She writes:
“During my internship, my preceptor was part of a program for reducing obesity in children. They could come to see her for FREE for a number of sessions. She only saw one child.
Granted, not all MNT is covered by insurance, but even so, those whose insurance will cover it, still don’t necessarily come in. I would say that a greater number of people do not actually come to their appointments, verses those that do.
I feel that people don’t want to “think” as in, they want it all to just be easy. I just had a patient say that she doesn’t like to eat fruits and vegetables as snacks, because she has to wash and cut them. Cooking is too difficult for people, because they can’t trouble themselves to cook, they can drive anywhere to pick something up. People believe that they don’t have enough time to exercise, but people do everything the easy way, but work long hours, just to go home and crash.
I would say that health is not valued. People are making bad choices all the time. There is a push for preventative health, but the issue is, people don’t go to a doctor just because. People wait until there is a problem (like weight…).
Overall, I feel that people can’t make the decision to do something just because it is ‘the right thing to do.’ For instance, being respectful, picking up trash, or simply helping someone else out.
What can we do?”
-A
To all those dietitians and like health minded, what can we do? How do we make a change we so desperately need?