New Belgium Minister of Health to help solve rising obesity problem
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Is that all there is to public health - being thin? How about fat doctors, do they not exist? We should publish some rules explaining what jobs fat people can or cannot have
But shes a politician and in a very public role. People make their own minds up.
The CEO of the NHS has told his 700,000 staff that are overweight or obese to slim down. The UK like many nations is facing an obesity crisis.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/nhs/10999437/Overweight-doctors-and-nurses-told-to-slim-down-by-NHS-chief.html
That's all there is to being in charge of public health?? Not being fat?? No wonder being elected to public office is no better than American idol
would you want the head of the american cancer society to be a smoker????0 -
I don't think that there are a whole lot of people who have decided to get into better shape and decided that the federal government was the place to look for help, then saw that the people who were giving advice weren't following it, so decided not to get in shape, after all.
I think it makes very little difference.
What might make a difference would be teaching kids about their bodies. They all learn the phases of the moon inside out, are well-instructed on the layers of rock in the earth and are shown the difference between a nimbus and cumulus cloud, but most high school graduates don't know the difference between a liver and a pancreas.
Nobody knows what the hell is going on under their skin.
Maybe if people were taught the basics of what goes on in there, they'd be more inclined to keep it healthy. Maybe not. I don't know.
I doubt anyone really bases their personal health decisions on some government official's weight, though.0 -
[snowflake930 wrote: »I think one can be credible and give good advice even if they choose not to follow it themselves.
Of course you can give good advice, because its not weight dependent, but people are going to take notice if they see her following her own advice and less notice if they see her ignoring it. Based on well it cant be that importnat if she wont follow what she is telling us to do.
Well I guess, having people that do not have an issue with weight that are in these positions throughout the world are doing a fantastic job...................right? We are all following their example of being fit and healthy. No obesity epidemic or overweight people on their watch. She is qualified to be in this position. She is highly educated and knows what it takes to become healthier. No one person inspired me to go from morbidly obese to a "normal" weight. I knew what I had to do and did it. I, nor anyone else, knows what drives this woman. What issues she has and may very well be trying to deal with for all we know. I do know it is not easy. If it were we would all be slim, trim and healthy. Walk a mile in her shoes, then condemn if you want.
Are you even bothering to follow the debate? It doesnt look like it. She may be qualified to be in this position and she may be able to do the kind of civil servant aspect of her role very well. But its public office and she has to get her message across so that people follow her advice and pay heed to it. Thats part of being an effective leader and politician. Its a much harder task for her to give out advice on weight loss if she doesnt appear to follow it herself.
There is no condemning or need to walk a mile in her shoes, thats ridiculous. What is being pointed out is her weight will impair her ability to be effective in her job in terms of gaining public confidence. She has an opportunity to turn that to her advantage by following the advice she is giving to others.
In the UK one ex government minister has lost a lot of weight because he went on a diet and he became headline news. He is more famous for his weight loss than anything he did in office.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2808493/Not-political-heavyweight-Labour-peer-Lord-Falconer-shed-five-STONE-thanks-diet-Diet-Coke-apples.html
I bow to your superior knowledge and expertise, but, you do not speak for me. I gain my confidence in how a person does his or her job, not by appearance, but by how they do their job. There are people in the world that do not judge others by superficial standards. If your view of a public officials appearance influences how you view they are doing their job, you are pretty superficial.
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Is that all there is to public health - being thin? How about fat doctors, do they not exist? We should publish some rules explaining what jobs fat people can or cannot have
But shes a politician and in a very public role. People make their own minds up.
The CEO of the NHS has told his 700,000 staff that are overweight or obese to slim down. The UK like many nations is facing an obesity crisis.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/nhs/10999437/Overweight-doctors-and-nurses-told-to-slim-down-by-NHS-chief.html
That's all there is to being in charge of public health?? Not being fat?? No wonder being elected to public office is no better than American idol
would you want the head of the american cancer society to be a smoker????
Thank you for this. Let's think about it. Does their puffing on a cigarette affect their ability to conduct and direct research that could lead to the cure for cancer? Could they handle the budgetary demands of such an organization? Could they ensure their direct reports were performing their job tasks adequately and deliver the next generation vision for their organization? I could understand if we were talking about PETA or a religious organization or something, but in this situation it's just a bit ludicrous to me. A person's job should be based on their ability to perform it, not their appearance or what they do in their free time
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Is that all there is to public health - being thin? How about fat doctors, do they not exist? We should publish some rules explaining what jobs fat people can or cannot have
But shes a politician and in a very public role. People make their own minds up.
The CEO of the NHS has told his 700,000 staff that are overweight or obese to slim down. The UK like many nations is facing an obesity crisis.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/nhs/10999437/Overweight-doctors-and-nurses-told-to-slim-down-by-NHS-chief.html
That's all there is to being in charge of public health?? Not being fat?? No wonder being elected to public office is no better than American idol
Am quite surprised by that response as I normally agree with what you post. The people concerned are likley to be taken more seriously if they practice what they preach and lead a healthy lifestyle. I cant see anything that is controversial in what I wrote. People look up to Drs and nurses and are likely to listen more to what they are saying if the person giving the advice looks as though they follow it themselves. Cant see why that is such a hard concept to follow.
The CEO sees his staff as being a bit of a role model. Obesity is the biggest crisis the organisation faces, so he wnats it tackled and he sees his staff dealing with their own weight issues as sending a good message to the rest of the public.
Yes, Dear, we are indeed independent entities and may occasionally have differing thoughts. It is quite alright!
Her job is to be the Minister of Public Health, not to be their Moooooommy and direct their personal diet. When I think of this job I also think about communicable diseases, infant mortality rates, etc. Not just fatness.
I love the point made about all the slim Ministers for Public Health so far that have totally fixed the obesity problem, fat lot of good that did!
PS: Did you never have a fat doctor or nurse? Did you choose not to follow their advice because they were fat? And oh, if you decided never to visit a fat doctor because they were fat, then I give you this round. Our views are completely parallel and never the twain shall meet0 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »http://www.scotsman.com/news/fiona-mccade-making-a-meal-of-obese-health-minister-1-3574256
Any thoughts on the issue? She is a medical doctor and has an impressive resume.
Should her weight have any bearing on her ability to be health minister?
lol Someone is going around and flagging all my old posts. All I did is this OP was post a link to an article, compliment her resume and ask a question. How is that worthy of a flag?
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noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »The article is pretty fair and I agree if she wants to be taken seriously in a public role then she will have to practice what she preaches and follow all her own advice. If she doesnt then it will make her a hypocrite, do as I say not as I do etc. It could really be used to her advanatge if she used herself to show other people it can be done. Is it unfair to judge? She accepted the role so she must be aware the public will have expectations of her, so yes it is fair imo.
So you basically feel like she needs to be a role model and improve her own health if she is going to be credible with her plan of improving the health of Belgium citizens?
Being a public figure and an effective politician will require her to exhibit some signs of leadership. She may be the best strageist in the world and devise absolutely stunnining initiatives which could work, but the public rate politicians on what they see and how they come across as well.
A so as I say and not as I do attitude will make many doubt her and pay less attention to what she has to say. It creates a barrier for her immediately.
Instead she should turn her current weight issues to her advantage by signing up for her own plans and going on a diet as she is telling everyone else to do. If Peple se her losing weight then they will see her as setting a good example and this will give her credibility that she talks the talk and walks the walk. Could be a good PR coup and powerful public health message if she shows everyone how its done and moves from obese to a normal weight. She isnt stupid and knows it. The media will prey on the discrepancy and keep asking her why she isnt on a diet until she does so.
If she manages to move from obese to a normal weight the power of her message would be a strong one indeed.0 -
noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »noexcusesjustresults2014 wrote: »http://www.scotsman.com/news/fiona-mccade-making-a-meal-of-obese-health-minister-1-3574256
Any thoughts on the issue? She is a medical doctor and has an impressive resume.
Should her weight have any bearing on her ability to be health minister?
lol Someone is going around and flagging all my old posts. All I did is this OP was post a link to an article, compliment her resume and ask a question. How is that worthy of a flag?
I got flagged for saying yum to some food. Who the heck knows anymore ?
I also just realized that This post was few months old.
Guess I'm on top of it today lol
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I think this part of the article summed it up for me -
"In the United Kingdom, fit, non-smoking, light-drinking health ministers are rarer than transport ministers who get the bus. Ministers for Agriculture don’t tend to be farmers and people always get excited if the Chancellor of the Exchequer has any sort of economics qualification. Occasionally, the Minister for Culture will go and see a play, if the ticket is free. We allow aristocratic, Eton and Oxbridge-educated millionaires to tell us that we need to tighten our belts and knuckle under, because we’re going to get poorer before things get better again, then we watch them give themselves an 11 per cent pay rise.
We allow these same people to continue to lecture us on the evils of benefit fraud, while in 2013 they claimed more expenses than they did at the very peak of the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. This is what the UK will routinely put up with, but, in Belgium, if an overweight doctor has an opinion on health matters, it’s an outrage."
I wish her well but I believe she will have a tough time ahead of her.0 -
It isn't her job to be a role model. It is her job to do what she is assigned to do.0
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^^^^
Exactly!!0
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