Post 54 Quiz + short story

Name the meals

These are all popular meals, the clues are given as the initial letter together with the number of letters in the word.

 Example     S5 A3 K6 P3   would be     Steak and Kidney Pie

             1.  T4    I 2    T3  H4

             2.    I 5    S4

         3.  B5  B5  O2  T5

       4.   C3  A2  V3

       5.  C7  P6        (though some people might say C7 P5)

       6.   S5  A3  K6  P3

       7.    L5  M8  P3

        8.     F4  A3  C5

        9.    P 5 M10

       10    J3  R4  P4

        11.  S6  T6  P7

        12.   C6   P7

Answers at foot of this short 'Food' story

My patient came through the door, waddled across the room, then slowly eased himself into the chair. It groaned under his weight. One look at him told me he was obese, but the protocol dictated that I calculate his Body Mass Index. The measurement would be the base-line against which his efforts at weight loss, and my success as a dietitian, would be measured.

‘Let’s have you on the scales,’ I said, without much enthusiasm. Some inner instinct told me that this man had little interest in reducing his weight. My concern for the health of the chair grew as he levered himself to his feet. He struggled to the scales. He weighed 101 kilograms (15st 12lbs). By this time, he was slightly short of breath, so I gave him a moment to recover before asking him to stand against the wall to be measured. He was1.67 metres tall (5 ft 6 ins). I plotted the readings on the conversion chart; his BMI was 36! That made the diagnosis of ‘obesity’ official!

  I see hundreds of overweight patients every year, and its quite an effort to sound spontaneous and enthusiastic when repeating the same advice over and over again. However, his health and life expectancy would be  enhanced if he could  to lose weight, so I determined to give it my best shot.

I started by warning him of all the dangers of obesity; high-blood-pressure and strokes, diabetes, heart attacks, arthritis, and so on.  He listened politely, though without showing a great deal of interest. Then we discussed the many ways in which his obesity affected his day to day lifestyle; his reduced mobility, his breathlessness and the wear and tear on the joints in his legs, hips, and spine. This seemed to claim his attention a little more.

‘Are you saying that if I lose weight, my knees won’t trouble me as much?’ he asked.

‘That’s exactly what I’m saying, With every step you take, your entire body weight is carried on your knees. Obviously, with less weight to carry, your legs will trouble you less. You will be less breathless as well.’

The fact that he now was showing more interest encouraged me to up my game.

‘There are so many ways to lose weight,’ I enthused, ‘and so many programmes available to help you along the way.’

Most dietitians I know, at this point start to talk about dieting. Clearly, this is important, but my view is that dieting is usually seen in a negative light by patients. They often have preconceived ideas of being obliged to give up the sweets, crisps, and cakes they enjoy, in favour of lettuce leaves and carrots! I prefer to begin by enquiring what activities or hobbies the patient enjoys  such as walking, swimming or cycling, to see whether these can encouraged. 

On this occasion, I found my patient had been football-mad as a youngster, and I was able to inform him of a programme of walking football that had recently been introduced at the local gym. Now, I felt I had him; he was enthusiastic and motivated. Maybe I would have success with this patient after all.

Inevitably, I moved on to discuss his diet. As expected, it was not a healthy one. Chocolate cereals, buttered toast and marmalade washed down with sweet tea at breakfast, a couple of Mars bars and crisps for lunch, then sausage or fried fish with chips for his evening meal. By this time, however, the consultation was going well. I had my patient’s attention; he was positive, motivated and enthusiastic. He declared he would give his all to the diet and exercise regime I’d prescribed for him.

Pleased with the way things had gone, I wished him luck and arranged a follow-up appointment for him. Then I gave myself a well-earned pat on the back; I’d gee’ed myself up at the start of the consultation and it was going to pay dividends.

‘Thanks so much for your help. I’ll see you in two months,’ he said as he left. ‘I shall have lost two stones by then.’

‘That would be great,’ I said, though I knew that even for a determined individual, this would be a tall order. ‘Particularly remember that processed foods and sugary drinks are to be avoided. There are ten teaspoons of sugar in every can of Coke.’ I added as a parting shot.

‘I will, I will,’ he assured me.

****

Actually, I didn’t have to wait two months to see him again. We saw each other at McDonalds during lunch. He had a Big Mac burger, French fries and a large Coke in front of him, and as it happened, so did I!

 

       1 Toad in the hole        2 Irish stew       3 Baked beans on toast        4 Coq au vin       5 Cornish pastie (pasty)        6 Steak and kidney pie      7 Lemon Meringue         8 Fish and chips        9 Pizza Marguerita    10 Jam roly poly    11 Sticky toffee pudding2    12 Christmas Pudding

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