TrekJapan

I went to the doctor in the states as I live in Japan and had a physical. I had discussed my past problems with weight (I'm not fat anymore), my high blood sugar, and cholesterol, etc. as of course he had no previous health record of mine to look at.

The discussion came up about my current diet and he felt I was deficient in a vitamin or three and wanted me to see a nutritionalist (I had seen one in the past when I lost all my weight).

The nutritionalist I saw was not in what I'd call good shape. I did what I thought was a very respectful rendition of "I'm outta here". Fortunately I keep a food diary in software and she had the program and I was able to dump my diary and leave and get her recommendations later. She really didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Have broccoli instead of beer.

Maybe this gal was once in fine shape and maybe she has a health problem, or maybe she was twice as big as she is now, I don't know but I felt really weird discussing nutrition and diet intake from someone with a Super Big Gulp on the desk and who was bigger than I ever was.

Just curious if it would bother anyone else.

One other thing. The doctor told me I should stop running because it's bad for you. Recommended biking and swimming. Certainly I bike quite a bit but on my Tombstone I'd rather they write "Runner" than "Biker" if for no other reason than I put more effort into running during a workout than I do when biking. I'm in love with biking but running is harder for me to do and provides more personal satisfaction.

John

Lamp-Shade

It's hard to care about your patients when health care relationships have been forced into being nothing more than "May I take your order?" and "Would you like fries with that?"
A lot of doctors are good honest people. A lot of doctors stop being good honest people when they realize all of the work they put in at college gave them nothing but a life filled with endless stress, attempts to meet quotas, fulfill hours, maintain productivity, etc. Stress is really fattening, actually, moreso than fat.
Your nutritionist is probably fat from stress, and gives terrible obvious advice because she just doesnt care anymore.
Your doctor is probably sick of idiots ruining their knees by being idiots with their running.

tadawdy

Family docs also tend to have very conservative (i.e. old-fashioned) views about a lot of things. They're part of an institution, which tend to change very slowly.

Never mind that it's not so simple as running being bad for your knees. That's mostly the seemingly logical "wisdom" of the last hundred years.

TrekJapan

I think I must be the exception to the knees rule. Before I started running I had awful range of motion. It was impossible for me to get into a baseball catchers squat and come back up.

I've been running for probably 6 years now and I mean 5 to 6 times a week and never ever ever less than 3 miles, usually 4-6 and I have to say that it's repaired my limited range of motion. And when I started running I weighed maybe 285 so I was really putting some ooomph into the knees, ankles, feet.

I kinda refuse to believe that running is bad for you. I also think I'm a "smart" runner. I know when to back off. And I've never cared about my speed. I'm slow. I just jog for pleasure and sweat not to win or place at anything.

John

John

adacas

When I was younger and had dental insurance my family dentist had exceptionally bad teeth. He was a fantastic dentist though. Sometimes its hard to practice what we preach.

dsotm

I'm really glad my doctor (he also specializes in nutrition) is a competitive cyclist and even above 60 y/o is very trim and healthy.

Richard Cranium

You must have really bad luck with selecting health professionals. But more likely, you just made the comments in your post up out of thin air. No doctor suggests nutritional deficiencies without supporting medical evidence. (blood tests, symptoms?)

Whether or not some one will suffer joint damage from running is the result of a complex set of variable. Such as weight, running surface, genetic traits of the feet, knees etc..

Thanks for helping me waste time on the 'net dispelling BS........

TrekJapan

Uhhhh Dickie......My doctor had labs.

John