Earlier this week I wrote about the importance of being honest with yourself about your health. Unless you can honestly assess your own health and health behaviors, making meaningful changes simply won’t work. Living in denial about your weight or eating and exercise behaviors means that you can’t recognize what you need to change.
We should also expect others to be honest with us, too. While family and friends may be hesitant to voice their thoughts, especially about sensitive topics like weight, we should expect them to be supportive. And we should certainly expect medical professionals to tell us the truth about our health, even if we don’t want to hear it.
Unfortunately, many doctors, nurses, and fitness/wellness professionals are reluctant to bring up topics like weight for fear of offending a patient or client. This was expressed eloquently in a recent article in the New York Times.
While the goal should never be to offend or ridicule, I believe that health professionals should always bring up potential health issues and talk honestly about what people can do to improve their health.
Nutrition, exercise, and health information can be confusing. But it doesn't have to be that way. What can I help you with? drbrianparr@gmail.com | http://twitter.com/drbrianparr
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