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The Best Way to Talk About Your Diet

The Best Way to Talk About Your Diet

The Story

Hi, I’d like to tell you a story today. Many people know, at least the ones I treat here in the clinic that I have had some problems with certain foods over time. Currently, most people know that that is ice cream and so I just don’t bring ice cream in my house. Yet, I do eat it every so often and go out and get a portion. But my story is really about cake, which was my one before ice cream. And when it was my birthday, or my kids’ birthdays, or someone’s birthday, I had a piece of cake. And if that birthday happened to be someone in my home, I also had a piece of cake at dinner, and before I went to bed, and I realized I had a cake problem.

One time, and I remember the story very vividly, we were at a birthday party and all the parents are lined up across maybe the couch or at a table, and all the kids are playing somewhere else. And the person right before me is given a piece of cake and they take it. And I’m going to tell you, for whatever reason, I didn’t like the way this cake looked. I’m a cake connoisseur, I guess, and it needed to be buttercream frosting and certain things.

No, Thank You

And so when it came to me, I just said, “No, thank you.” And they didn’t look twice at me, and they went on to the next person said, “Would you like a piece of cake?” And so the first thing I want to talk about today is, people do not care what we’re eating or why we are eating, but they often ask us. If I would have said, “I’m on a diet,” they would have just said, “Oh, let me get you a small piece.” Then, If I would have said, “I’m gluten-free,” they would have told me, “I do have some gluten-free cake for you.” Or if I’m low carbohydrate, they would have said, “I actually have a sugar-free cake.” The easiest answer in those situations is, “No, thank you,” and just move on. You don’t always need an explanation.

Craig Primack MD

Hi, I’m Dr. Craig Primack from Scottsdale Weight Loss. This is one of my Medical Minutes series. Today I’m talking about ways to talk to people about your weight and your diet plan. And so if you take the story I just told you a step further, people are very hesitant to tell people that they’re on a diet.

I’m Training

So one of my patients was out of town this week.   She came back from vacation and told me the story that she told her family when she was eating a little bit different than everybody else, maybe she didn’t take extras or she didn’t take very much. And she said, “I’m training.” And that really resonated with me.

I’m training. Now she happens to be training for something that’s actually a year away and that was one of the reasons she came to see me in the first place. But, you don’t have to be training for anything specific. Although if you are, if you’re a runner and doing a small race, or a bicyclist, or just I think training for life, “I’m training” is different than “I’m dieting.” And it does open a conversation, “Okay. So what are you training for?” I’m training to have a better blood sugar. I’m training to fix my blood pressure. So, I’m training so my knees don’t hurt me anymore. I’m training and it happens to include diet, activity, maybe medicines, and a class series, a comprehensive approach.

So the next time someone says to you, “Why aren’t you eating this or that?” First of all, you could just say, “I’m not hungry,” or “I don’t want it.” Or you could say, “I’m training.” Let me know how it works.

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