Lose for Life: an Experience with Health Promotion

Lose for Life

My experience with health promotion started in the clinic in my home town of Valemount, British Columbia. Valemount only has a population of about one-thousand so no matter what aspect of health promotion is looked at the population group will be small. A doctor named Stefan Du Toit came to Valemount from South Africa to practice as a general physician. While he was practicing, he noticed the amount of overweight or obese adults in the town and thought something must be done to help this specific population. Doctor Du Toit took on the challenge of promoting a weight loss plan created by himself and other colleagues called Lose for Life. Lose for Life is a specific weight loss plan that teaches a healthier way of eating and the weight loss journey itself involves weekly group meetings with other participants (Noakes, T., Frouws, J., & Du Toit, S. n.d). In order to insure the safety of those who wanted to participate in the program they had to be evaluated by doctor Du Toit before starting the program. In the examination the participants” medical history and medications were reviewed and further laboratory tests were requested if needed (Noakes et al. n.d). Once the participants health status was known a weight loss goal was assigned to them ( Noakes et al. n.d). Throughout the program those participants are told to follow the guidelines of the eating plan. The eating plan is a low carbohydrate, low fat intake, sugar free eating plan with a specific daily calorie count (Noakes et al. n.d). Unlike other weight loss plans or diets, Lose for Life is considered to be more of a life change than a diet. Diets tend to fail, so instead if people think of this program as a life change they tended to be more faithful the program (Noakes et al. n.d). Another aspect that makes Lose for Life different that other weight loss plans is it does not include exercise until the participant has achieved their target weight. Lose for Life was initiated for obese or overweight individuals of Valemount who wanted to participate to make this life change in order to get their health back on track.

A new lifestyle was promoted to increase health among those who wanted to lose weight. This program was a very helpful tool in the town and taught participants how to eat properly and live a healthier life style. Due to the success of the diet, Doctor Du Toit had doctors from all over Canada contacting him in hopes to establish the same program in their communities (Trick 2011).

Personal Exposure

At the time this new diet plan came out my mother worked as a medical office assistant at the clinic in Valemount. As a part of the staff she was asked to help in these weekly meetings with all the participants who started this weight loss plan. My mother thought she should do the program as well along with the other participants and was evaluated by doctor Du Toit just like all the other participants. She did want to lose a little weight but most importantly she wanted to gain a better understanding of how the patients were feeling and what they were going through. She brought the weight loss plan home and started immediately. At the time I was around twelve years old, so I was not allowed to be as dedicated as she was to the eating plan. At the time both my mother and I were slightly overweight and in need of an education of how to eat properly. We did not have a lot of money when I was child and when times were tough healthy options were limited. In the tough times we tended to eat more processed and cheaper foods, which are obviously much worse for you compared to fresh fruit and vegetables. However, even when we were more financially stable in the future our bad eating habits followed us. Eating differently and healthier changed both my mother and I’s eating habits for the better. Initially I was not happy eating differently even though I was still aloud to eat carbohydrates with one or two of my meals. It was difficult because before all three of our meals typically contained a carbohydrate.

Usually dinner was when we would eat a protein and a serving of vegetables and I remember being hungry only an hour or two after dinner for the first little while. The other large adjustment was almost completely cutting sugar out of our diet. It is said in the plan you are allowed one cheat meal per week and we were allowed to drink diet pop as well so I was occasionally able to satisfy my sweet tooth. We went through cereal, granola bars and other non-perishables and donated all the unhealthy food full of sugar. We started buying items that had little to no sugar in them. It was a difficult adjustment but as most things it got easier as more time went on.

Reflection

The Lose for Life initiative was not just for those who were overweight or obese but also for people who wanted an education of how to eat healthy and life a healthy lifestyle. For me personally the thought of cutting carbohydrates completely out of my diet seems a little far-fetched, especially on a student budget. I took away many different lessons and skills than simply cutting carbohydrates out of my diet. This eating plan teaches portion control as well because you have to weigh your food. I think that correct portion sizes are something that a lot of people are uneducated about. I still would not know what a proper portion size is if my mother did not teach me as she was following this eating plan.

Lose for life is supposed to be a sustainable eating plan that is supposed to allow people to maintain a healthy weight, that is they stick to the plan. There were people that end up gaining all the weight back because it is hard for someone to maintain such a strict lifestyle (My mother, personal communication, January 17, 2018). Lose for Life ultimately change my behaviour and the lessons I learned from this eating plan still help me make healthier choices. For myself I do not think it is a realistic plan to completely follow this plan but I still use the tools I learned. I read labels and buy the products with less sugar, I stick to smaller portion sizes and I know what foods to stay away from. Lose for life is a great health promotion initiative for people who need to lose weight to get back their health. Many citizens in Valemount did lose weight and the plan itself did impact many members of the community in a positive way (My mother, personal communication, January 17,2018). Overall, it was a very successful program that helped many people gain back control of their health while educating them about a healthier lifestyle at the same time.