Strange Co-Workers - Do you Know People Like This page

[Wildrose]

This is actually about my mom's co-workers. I work from home, so I have no idea about my own co-workers. For all I know, they're all Primal.

But my mom's co-workers are most assuredly not Primal, and I suspect they are insane. Mom doesn't tell them anything because she says they wouldn't listen, and given her stories I'm sure she's right! Her boss is diabetic and loves doughnuts. There are always doughnuts around the office, and her lunch usually consisters of burgers and fries. Mom says she's never seen her eat a vegetable. Terrifying! Amusingly, she went to a lecture by a dietician for diabetics and apparently all she got from it was that she should limit her meat. Mom says she has a wicked case of selective hearing when it comes to anything that might make her give up doughnuts, so she suspects the dietician is not to blame.

The rest of her co-workers are just as bad... several are also diabetic, and also face first in the doughnuts. There's one person who's rather annoying and keeps saying how wonderful mom's salads look but she just doesn't have time to make one herself. Of course, she has time to get a burger and fries. And mom's salad takes her maybe 5 minutes to throw together in the morning, when she uses store bought dressing. A bit longer when she uses her own dressing.

Conventional Wisdom would be a huge step up for these peope. Does anyone else know people like this?

[IvyBlue]

I cannot keep track of the diabetics (or pre-diabetics, whatever that is) anymore there are so many of them. A lot don't medicate so I'm assuming they dose w/ donuts to keep from crashing. To medicalize being fat by hanging these names like Type II diabetes or "metabolic syndrome" on it is Orwellian. But then again CW has no real answers other than drugs, drugs and more drugs.

Statins: Study Says Their Cardiac Benefits Outweigh Diabetes Risk | Healthland | TIME.com

Sure, keep taking your statins. We'll just transition you onto metformin or insulin when the time comes. Now...about that high blood pressure...

[WeldingHank]

A co-worker of mine asked another co-worker to drive him to the ER about 6 months ago because his vison was very blurry. 1 week prior, the same co-worker was complaining to me he was always thirsty and could never satisfy his thirst, this was while he was cracking open his 3rd pepsi for the day (only 10am!). I had suggested he see his doctor ASAP and have his blood sugar checked, but ignored me. Sure enough, 2 days later from his ER visit he tells me he is diabetic and doesn't know what to do. I told him I was also diabetic and had things under control with primal, but just suggested he think about throwing out processed wheat/sugar to start. He has also ignored that. I now get to watch him limp around all day, eat huge subs, and say he is good because his glucose is only 140.

I don't talk to anyone about health anymore. I avoid it. I can't stand it.

If what your doing is NOT working, why keep with it?

[JoanieL]

There are some estimates, that if we continue on as we are, by 2025, ~70% of all Americans will be obese &/or diabetic.

My mother - dead from diabetes. My neighbor - a know it all that has stopped his insulin (that may not be bad) but continues to drink beer daily and eat the shittiest of foods while bragging about his 350 lb uncle who is just fine with his diabetes.

The good news: 2011 was the first year in a long time that Americans didn't get fatter. Or if they did, it was by a miniscule amount, I don't remember which.

I have a lot of compassion for a lot of things: cravings, ignorance, the cultural pressure to be skinny, etc. I don't have a lot of compassion for people who are willfully stupid. Hopefully they don't reproduce.

[Goldie]

I have two coworkers who are both diabetic.

One is a hair over 5' tall, weighs 250 pounds and is a insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetic. Plus she has RA. Her idea of a well-balanced breakfast is donuts AND bagels ("...but the fat free cream cheese gives me some protein!") I think every bite she puts in her mouth is grain carbs. Every day she eats out for lunch at Olive Garden, Applebees, Chili's, etc. She's 45 years old and has a 15 year old daughter who's on a collision course for the same problems her mom has.

The other coworker is about 5'2" tall, weighs about 210 and takes pills for her Type 2 diabetes. She has neuropathy, arthritis and degenerative disk disease. She has McDonald's McMuffins and a regular Coke for breakfast, and crappy cafeteria burger and fries and a second regular Coke for lunch. She's 60 years old and estimates she'll be in a wheelchair in 3-4 years.

They both have said that they know they need to "clean up" their diets. They moan and complain about how bad they feel all the time. They've both asked me for nutrition advice because I'm known around the office as the healthy eater. When I suggest they cut back on fast food/eating at restaurants and eat real food they make themselves, they say they don't have time to make a good breakfast or pack a lunch. But they also talk about the 3 or 4 mindless drivel TV shows they watch every night.

I truly believe that eating crap screws up people's reasoning abilities.

[Gilleh]

I don't talk to anyone about health anymore. I avoid it. I can't stand it.

If what your doing is NOT working, why keep with it?

Amen to that.

[palebluedots]

I have a good friend who is very very overweight, and who finds the way I eat amusing and extreme. Despite the fact that he's seen me lose and keep off over 150lbs. He asks me about it often, asking me when I plan to return to a "normal" diet (never!). And he lectures me on how it's not so much about what kinds of foods you eat, just how much you eat. And then he will moan about how much he weighs and how he just really needs to be better at moderation.

I despise the blanket message of "moderation". Personally, I found moderation to be the hardest thing in the world until I started eating primal. When your brain starts signaling you that it wants sugar, it is VERY hard to ignore that. And if you're already eating a diet filled with processed foods and other junk, your brain tends to send out a lot of whacked messages to try to regulate your system. There are some things it's better to give up on altogether than to try to moderate. It's much easier to not eat any donuts than to say you'll have just a little bite.

I honestly think that a lot of fat people put more effort into thinking about eating and weight than the average thin person does. It's not fun to be fat or sick, but when you get caught in the rut of CW, (or in my case, snared in by the likes of McDougall), you really believe that you know the answer and it's the most frustrating thing in the world that it doesn't work for you. I have a lot of compassion for people who are stuck being fat and can't seem to get the weight off no matter what they do. I understand how a diet like ours could seem frightening to them, after all, feeding their sugar cravings is the only thing getting them through the day right now, so they probably cannot imagine it any other way. It must be downright terrifying to think of getting through a day on truly whole foods.

That's my two cents.

[Crabbcakes]

I have thought of the general state of American health myself. I would like to think that between all of us here at the MDA (and new members join almost daily), the various paleo writers, the evo / ancestral folks, Weston Price, and to a good extent also the people who are meat-eating whole foods fans - at some point we all will equal the number of walking doomed and perhaps someday outnumber them... and then our country will be overwhelmingly healthy (and all our beef grass-fed... one can only hope!).

Perhaps I have seen too many summer superhero blockbusters and think I can change the world, but if we all keep doing this, it is bound to make a difference. I mean - how many of us are here because of Mark?? It takes a while to turn any big ship around.

My own daughter has planned for years now to be a special-diets chef (she is a dairy-allergic celiac and as such knows her stuff) and recently proclaimed that the cafe she always wanted to open will be expressly Primal-paleo. So, even in my tiny corner of the USA, here is the next generation...

[Crabbcakes]

I truly believe that eating crap screws up people's reasoning abilities.

I hate OMG-ing, but...

OMG!! YOU ARE SO RIGHT!

As someone who struggled mightily with depression (and sometimes can feel its pull still), I can't tell you how I think more clearly and feel so much better the longer I stay Primal (and the more I read and help myself with real whole foods) - hence the longer it has been since I last indulged the Sugar Beast. I am looking forward to some seriously good end-of-my-40's!

[sbhikes]

Does anyone else know people like this?

Everybody is like this. We were all like this, too, until one day we weren't.

This presentation gives me hope that change can happen as our numbers grow. People are coming at this from multiple angles: low carb, paleo, Primal, Food Addicts Anonymous, slow food, locavore, etc. We do this because it works.
Fat Head » The ORI Speech