Hey all, let me start by saying I am in Australia so some of our doctors and health professionals work a little differently to other countries and they way we can get in to see them can be ifferent.

But my story in short is... I am overweight and had a fall a few months ago that has left me with quite a lot of back pain and nerve pain in my legs.I have started physio therapy and am am doing some basic pilates to try and strengthen my back, but have been advised not to do much other exercise at the moment. I can walk little bits and try to do what I can, but can only a few minutes at a time. My doctor thinks it will probably be another month or so before I can start any more strenuous exercise. Consequently, I asked my doctor to send me to a dietitian so I could check my nutrition etc to keep trying to lose the weight etc. while I am pretty inactive.

i have just come back from this dietician and am so confused by the things she has said that I am not sue what I should do now. Firstly, let me say I have lost about 10 kilograms this year (which is about 22 pounds I think). I have about another 20 kilograms (44 pounds?) to be considered in a normal weight range.

All this dietician could see was my excess weight, she was recommending things like slimming shakes , and suggested I cut all nuts, and fats out of my diet. She told me to stop eating nut butters (even though I eat pure ones with no added sugar or salt) and suggested I tried sweets made with artificial sugars if I wanted something sweet. She told me not to eat brown rice as it is high gi, but to replace it with pasta or bread or white basmati rice as these will be processed slower by my body. And to make sure I have a starchy carb with every meal. She was even if i don't want to eat meat thats ok, but I need fish and chicken. And definitely diet yoghurt! (yuck). She also thinks i should drink diet coke rather than my dinner glass of wine because of the empty calories. (Ok maybe the wine does need to go, but replace it with diet coke????)

I told her my nutrition is way more important to me than putting all the artificial junk from diet products etc back in my body, but her attitude was it is more important to lose the weight, and that her recommendations were the way to do it. 

I suppose I am just looking for some agreement that her advice is crap. I know my diet is not perfect, but slowly the weight is coming off. reintroducing meat and white pasta and artificial sweeteners has to be worse doesn't it? I am trying to be concious of not eating to many calories, and making sure i get the most nutrition for every calorie I consume (but am not going to give up avocado just yet).

She thinks that the weight reduction should be my number one priority, and diet products will be the best way to make it happen.

Any suggestions anyone? What is the right thing to do?

C

My response is that what she has told you is disgusting!!!  I'm a student of holistic nutrition and what you've been told makes me shudder. Can you see a holistic nutritionist?  We are the ones who look at making the right choices for your body to make effective change, NOT just what chemicals you can use.

For pete's sake, once your body is in balance you won't crave sweets and if you do, fruit will completely satisfy you.  Diet coke (and most diet things) are full of aspartame and/or Splenda. Both are neurotoxic and in the long run the research is showing that you will GAIN weight.  Your body reacts to the sweetness and then realizes it's not getting a lot of calories so it figures "hey why not, not a lot of calories and super sweet so I can have MORE".  Healthy fats (like in nut butters) are needed by your body.  Being cautious about how much you consume is a good idea.

I've no idea why she thinks any type of white rice would be lower gi so I will have to look that one up.  Although it's not even close to being vegan, (and I'm not sure I can mention someone else's book here, apologies if I'm not supposed to), Master Your Metabolism has great information about non-foods, about hormones etc.  Obviously you have to grit your teeth and ignore the bits about animal protein.  I'm assuming since you're here you've already read The Kind Diet with all of its awesome info.

Diet shakes are no good in general as they usually have loads of sweeteners in them.  However, using a vegan protein powder with some essential fatty acids and frozen fruit in the morning is a great way to start your day without a huge insulin boost.

Good luck!

Amy