Many of you have asked what has transpired since the post related to the fat doctor. I thought I would flush this out today as it has really weighted on my brain lately. A couple of weeks ago, I actually followed up on my personal promise to myself to get into the doctor’s office. I SO didn’t want to go that morning. I just felt like it was going to be a difficult situation and I wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with it. But, I did go.
I waited in the reception room like normal when finally a nurse calls me to the back. She immediately walks me over to the scale. I politely tell her that “I am not weighing today.” She doesn’t miss a beat or even blink, but walks me into the doctor’s office. She takes by BP, which is still higher than normal, tells me to get undressed and has me wait for the doctor. I wait and she starts tearing through the paperwork. Finally though, she looks baffled and says, why don’t we have your weight in here. I tell her, “Dr. ______ we talked about this in an e-mail. I prefer not to be weighted unless you find is medically necessary or life threatening.” Oh yeah, she says and we continue on through the exam.
The only issues that come out of the visit are the following:
My blood pressure is really high enough that I should go on medication. We are going to wait a month, just in case something changes, but given that I work out like I do AND I am not going to “diet” any longer, the alternative is medication. It does bum me out, I don’t want to be on drugs for the rest of my life, but there really isn’t another solution for me.
My cholesterol blood test results came in worse than last year. My HDL was a little low and my LDL was a little high. She wants to test me on that again in September. This one for me is more tricky than the blood pressure issue. To me, this seems like a direct result of my diet, it isn’t because I am too fat, it isn’t because I don’t work out enough. It is because of what I eat. Which leads me to the question and concern of diet. What if bacon and eggs really do need to be off the list of eaten foods. A year ago my cholesterol levels were within normal range, now they aren’t.
Can I still be healthy in the the Health at Every Size, no diet movement?
health at my size (or any size for that matter) 
question: What is different between last year and this year fuel and activity-wise whih might have contributed to your ^chol?
You can still be healthy…..There are many of us out here proving it. The trick is finding that ever-elusive balance.
Of course you can still practise HAES within dietary restrictions.
This is something I think about a lot, because I work with people who have diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Sometimes people really do have dietary limits for health purposes — that doesn’t mean that, within those limits, you can’t practise HAES principles. If you’re not trying to lose weight, and you’re trying to do something that is good for your body and not detrimental to your mental health, then it’s still HAES as far as I’m concerned 🙂
Keep in mind though, some people develop these issues (even later in life) due to heredity — and though diet can sometimes help, it doesn’t mean that a dietary indiscretion CAUSED the problem in the first place. Be kind to yourself, and stay out of the blame game.
It doesn’t matter how it happened; what matters is how you’re going to take care of yourself now.
I really wish you luck. I know this stuff is hard.
I know this blog post is rather old, but I live in Chicago and am looking for a fat friendly doctor. Would it be possible to get this doctor’s name from you? Thanks so much!!
Absolutely, her name is Elyse Esrig. She is at Northwestern. They have a couple of offices. The one I to to is on Clark just north of Monroe.