I can’t stand health hypocrites

WHEN it comes to handing out lifestyle advice, I think health professionals must practise what they preach. But now a study has found that one in four nurses is obese, with nearly two-thirds of them overweight.

Why are so many so overweight? They’ve seen the heart attacks, the strokes, the diabetes and the leg amputations associated with obesity, so should know better.

It’s a clear example of denial — a psychological defence mechanism to resolve conflicts. You simply pretend it’s not happening.

I’m worried about the appalling example those overweight healthcare professionals set others.

Yes, of course nurses and doctors are human and can’t be expected to have blemish-free lives. But when you’re a professional seeing patients, you have a duty to uphold basic principles of a healthy lifestyle. And if you can’t stick to the principles that you’re promoting, you have no business being on the front line. No patient is going to take you seriously.

You wouldn’t take advice about your drinking from an alcoholic, so why listen to an overweight professional telling you to shed a few pounds? Yet a once-obese nurse who has lost weight could be a real motivation for patients.

As a former smoker, I like to think that knowing I used to smoke helps my patients. It means I’ve done daft things, but I’ve changed — and so can they.