As of today, I have been on this diet for a week. And it is very much a diet.
Based on my numbers, which are not great, I was invited by my healthcare provider to participate in a weight loss study. The study is about “Lifestyle Change Intervention” through the use of technology. I was assigned to the Intervention group. This means I work with a health coach to learn ways to improve my physical activity and eating habits to lose weight. For the first six months we meet weekly on the phone or through video chat, and then monthly during the remaining 18 months of the study. The sessions usually last between 30-50 minutes. I also use a smart scale to weigh myself daily. The weight is sent to the study runners via cellular network. We can then follow our weight on an online graph. This study is supposed to last for two years.
So, I was a bit surprised to discover that the first six weeks consists of the purchase of manufactured food and straight up calorie counting. At this point, admittedly a mere seven days in, there seems to be little to no focus on nutrition. Instead, it’s about learning “portion control” using prepackaged materials.
The American medical establishment has embraced the idea that the obesity epidemic is a lifestyle choice. That people here in the US and all over the world have individually and independently chosen to do things that make us fat. Logically, this makes no sense. But it appeals to our idea of control.
In the US we like to think we have control over our lives. Hence the focus on bootstraps and the resistance to subsidized, well, anything. Because it is our fault we are fat, we are solely responsible for fixing it. Not only do we have to fix it, fixing it should be our priority.