So I had to take a friend to the hospital the other day. It was weird observing some overweight nurses smoking cigarettes near the parking lot. And then going inside and seeing mover overweight nurses, some obese....Even when I was in the cafeteria there was fat doctors. I have nothing against fat people. It was just weird seeing unhealthy people try to make people healthy. These are just my thoughts.
I know exactly what you mean. When I went to the emergency room, I noticed that all the Caucasian female nurses were very overweight, many were probably clinically obese. I also got a "healthy" meal which consisted of white rice, "grape" juice, black tea, cream, mystery meat with gravy, some unidentifiable desert and three baby carrots. Blech, I only ate the carrots, the rice and drank the tea black. At one point a bunch of them were snacking on donuts. At least we can see were that weight is coming from... I know some nursing students, who live off of beer, cheetos, cigarettes and coffee. Nice to know that employees of the health care system reflect the rest of society...
Great thread. I work in a hospital as a patient care assistant, so I know what it's like, and I know exactly what you're talking about. A large percentage of the nurses I know either smoke or are overweight. Or they eat unhealthy foods. Or all three combined. Today, a nurse ahead of me in the cafeteria checkout line had purchased a double cheeseburger with fries and a Diet Coke. Of course her eating habits showed because she was very large. It's not only the nurses I see engaged in these poor habits, but doctors as well. You would think THEY, of all people, would have at least a little concern (let alone common sense) about their health, considering everything they've seen in their patients. I personally would not want treatment from a doctor who is an overweight smoker. I am skeptical about doctors to begin with, let alone ones who don't seem to have a clue about what health even is. Once you come to understand the big money health care industry and big money pharmaceutical industry in this country, you come to see that it's all a sham. NOTHING is geared towards good health or preventative measures, let alone curing anything. The big money interests want you to be as unhealthy as you can be, as this amounts to more money in their pockets. More money for surgery. More money for drugs. More money for ineffective and harmful treatments. Most establishment doctors and nurses don't consider health and good nutrition because they have been brainwashed not to. The solution in the eyes of most doctors is dangerous, expensive pharmaceuticals and unneeded, expensive surgery. Personal responsibilty and healthy eating and lifestyle habits rarely come into discussion. Without a society of fat, chainsmoking slobs, the medical industry and big pharma would be broke. While doctors may be BOOK SMART (which is about all that most of them are), they have still been brainwashed and indoctrinated into the same unhealthy fast food culture as the rest of us. Once you understand who controls big medicine in America, you see they also control the production of the garbage we eat. It's all by design, and it works perfectly for them. They can put all sorts of genetically modified crap in our food, spray our skies with who knows what, dose us with all sorts of garbage in vaccines, then, when we are sick and dying, they can rape us of all our money. That is if we actually survive all the cutting, bleeding, radiating and poisoning.
I know what you mean. Personally, I AM an overweight individual, but I have actual medical reasons beind my weight, have struggled with it all my life, and now I truely believe that I live as healthy a lifestyle as I can. Even if I give up all hope of LOSING the weight, I at least eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise plenty - including strength conditioning to keep my legs and back in shape to support my extra bulk. I'm educated about my health, and I know my problems. And yet, any time I go to any doctor for any thing, I seem to find myself examined by another overweight individual who acts as if I'm just horribly disgusting, and (no matter what the issue is) proceeds to tell me that the reason for all my problems is simply that I'm a fat slob and need to lose some weight. Argh! EDIT: In fact, I remember while I was in the hospital, several of these same doctors/nurses actually COULDN'T UNDERSTAND my reasons for not drinking soda when I explained that I only wanted water during my stay!
Thats bizzare... I have never had an overweight doctor where I live. I'm guessing it's mainly an American thing?
I know what you mean if you are healthy eater and you go into the hospital and refuse to eat some of their garbage during your stay. They act confused as if its difficult for them to understand that diet soda is toxic crap. And that you dont want to eat meat, and you just want some healthy veggies, and bowl of fruit. I try to avoid hospitals. So when I need to go to a doctor I visit a Naturopathic one. They seem very well balanced and very holistic. They arent afraid to prescribe antibiotics, and they arent afraid to say hey this herbal tea of such and such is very good too.
Yeah, I am a nurse and remember working in a hospital, going to lunch, getting a plate of veggies and a co-worker, who ate cheeseburger and fries every single day asking me, "Why do you eat that nasty stuff" !!!! Yes, she was a smoker too. Another way of looking at nurses though it doesnt excuse the behavior is that female nurses frequently have a caretake/fixer personality and put their own feelings and needs last, resulting in stress eating, eating unhealthy foods because they dont feel like they are worth the extra money or time to eat healthy foods. Like, taking time away from their family so they can exercise, or taking money away from their family to buy healthier foods would make them feel bad. But I rarely have seen an overweight doctor. And on the other side of the coin, I have seen many patients with obesity related health problems, like hypertension, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, back and joint pain, etc. who treat the patient without ever telling them that reducing their weight would relieve or at least reduce the problem. Honestly, some people dont know these things! A nurse I work with was upset one day that her doctor had told her this.
The main hospital I work with has Nutritrionists on staff. There is always vegetarian choice on the menu, (usually brown rice and veggies not some nasty cheesy dish) when you are an inpatient (when you are in the ER, you are getting the "leftovers" that no one else ordered, in any hospital.) The hospital discourages pop drinking in the Maternity Ward, and people complain! (Few patients order the healthy dishes, sad.) I took my dh to a local hospital for an ER visit (I wanted to go to my hospital, but he didn't want to have to "wait" by taking the expressway) and the desk nurse spent most of her time outside, in the ambulance bay, flirting with the EMTs and smoking. I swear this girl couldnt go 20 minutes wihout a ciggartte. Most of the doc I know are neither overweight nor smokers, but, they are regular people. If you look at the stats, doctors are actually LESS likely to smoke cigartettes than the general population. I don't know about nurses, though. I have a lot of freinds who are nurses, and although few smoke, a number are overweight,(not the majority, but a few) I think the stress of the job, as well as basically crappy hours, double shifts and not enough time during shifts to get a decent meal may do something to their metabolism. Also, people who were sickly as children tend to be more likely to go into medicine, and these people have a tendency to be either rather thin, or overweight. OTOH, I know a lot of doctors and nurses who are neither overweight nor smoke. I think seeing ONE cadaver with blackened lungs or Emphasemia would change the minds of just about everybody who goes through the program. But, most people live in the world of "It won't happen to me." Doctors and nurses are no different than most people.
Thats just bizarre and awful.. You'd think they would be educated enough to know that that shit is horrible for you! I have like a huge pet peeve about people that eat unhealthy.. but come on, freaking doctors and nurses? Thats sad. Maybe Pressed_Rat is right and its all just for the money. Nobody here fucking cares about the things we put into our body. Your body is yours, your body is your temple, you should know what you're putting into it and treat it well. Just.. doctors and nurses doing that.. Thats just crazy.
