Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

I don't like scales. They scare me. Seriously. They scare me so much in fact, that I can't even stand to look at it on the bathroom floor. I hide mine in my closet. But unfortunately, doctors-doctors love scales. They love them so much in fact that they like to put them right in the middle of their office where everyone can see the big numbers that appear when you step on it. Total nightmare.

Last week, I had the privilege of going to visit my lovely "woman" doctor. Never  a happy visit, but this year I would give it the all time worst award. My visit went a little something like this:

Scene: Amy sitting on the examining table reading US Weekly waiting for her doctor who is now twenty minutes late.

Enter doctor.

Doctor apologizes for lateness, gives the usual small talk and starts rattling through my chart.

Doctor: "Well let's see, everything looks good so far. Your blood pressure is great. Hmmm, I'm sorry about the weight."

Silent, awkward, horrible longest pause in the history of the world.

Me: (Face turning as red as a tomato and general look of absolute what the hell?!)  "Excuse me?"

Doctor: (Realizes she has extremely offended me and starts to compensate). "Oh, I don't mean your fat, but you've gained six pounds since last year and we don't want it to keep going up. I mean, it has gone up." Flashes me fake smile.

Me: Well, there are no words.

I stared at the BMI chart on her wall for the duration of my visit. According to her handy dandy chart I'm in a normal weight range and have a healthy BMI. I am not overweight. but somehow when I left her office that day I was on the verge of a panic attack and racking my brain for the quickest way to get rid of those absolutely terrible, horrible no good six pounds. 

What my doctor doesn't know about me is that a few years ago I actually weighed a lot less than I do now. A lot less than my weight six pounds ago. So much less in fact that I was anorexic and was forced to gain weight by my friends and family because they honestly thought I looked like a skinny freak. And I did. I never ate more than half my food in those days regardless of what it was, I skipped meals and drove my mother insane when she tried to feed me at dinner. Going to a restaurant with me was probably the most unpleasant experience you can imagine, and I was an absolute control freak about food. I judged my self worth based on whatever number appeared on the scale. I also weighed myself five to 10 times a day.

I realize it's our doctors' jobs to be concerned about our weight, but my doctor had no concern for my overall health. I workout six days a week and eat healthy 95% of the time. I have abnormally low blood pressure, healthy cholesterol levels and great cardiovascular fitness. I run, lift weight and ride my bike. I also wear smalls and buy a size four. The average woman is a size 12.

Would it really kill health care professionals to have a little bit more compassion? Our health is the most important thing in our lives. But I don't want to be a skinny bitch. I love to workout, but I also like to drink wine and eat ice cream sometimes. It took me a long time to get a healthy attitiude about eating and even longer to embrace the way that I look. My doctor should be praising me for making healthy choices and taking care of myself in a postiive way, not lecturing me for a influx of six pounds. It's especially important when we are bombarded with images of size zero celebrities and women of all ages are suffering from eating disorders. Being skinny doesn't equal being beautiful and I would much rather be what I am now than the unhappy rail that used to. My scale will stay in my closet and me and my six pounds will continue to be very happy together.

 (Also please note: My doctor was at least 20 pounds overweight.)

Working at an agency can sometimes be hard on your diet. We frequently get food treats as motivators and are always looking for ways to take a break and eat some sugar. In fact, that same day we called out Chief Creative Officer and asked him to stop by Whole Foods and buy a cake on his way back from a meeting. He is a super busy executive and he did it. We loved every bite.

Despite this demand for cake, we have turned over a healthier leaf at Capstrat. A few years ago we had chocolate every day of the week. Our health premiums went up, and now we only have it on Fridays. Last year, we made some even bigger changes. We introduced fitness clubs to help us stay active. We now have yoga at the office every Friday, a walking club, a running club and a biking club. We also evaluated our lunch menus and make a more concerted effort to bring in healthier lunches. We still have pizza. We still have cake. We just don't have it every day (or at least we try not to).

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a health-nut. I'm the crazy girl who spends hours in the grocery store examining food labels and trying to depict the elements of the "helpful" ingredient list. There are certain words on a food label that if you see, well let's just say you better run screaming into the soy section and pick up a container of yogurt in the hopes it will cleanse your body of the toxins that probably seeped in from that package of granola bars. If anyone can tell me what "fractionated palm kernel oil" is I'll give you a cookie. (Free of partially hydrogenated oils of course). Some people may think it's border line obsessive compulsive the way I examine food. Whatever. I'll be the one laughing at my 97th birthday party.

Wake-up.Turn on any morning TV show, and you're bound to learn a plethora of information about food. Fries are bad, oatmeal's good. Common sense, right? One would think that's the case. But in the next breathe after Meredith Viera tells us to eat our oatmeal and berries, she delivers a statement that made me gag on my toothbrush. For the first time since the Civil War (again I iterate the Civil War) American's life expectancy is now on the decline. Declining. Going down. No more growing old with our loved one until we're 100. Now we should just be praying we get in a good 70 years. Why is this? Childhood obesity rates have surged so greatly in the past few years that kids have knocked 10 years off their lives before they're even teenagers. An acclaimed food Nazi, I hear this and am in moral disbelief. The problem is that most American families listen to Meredith Viera's words and rush out the door to make the usual morning pit stop for a McDonald's bacon egg and cheese biscuit. Does this fact not shock us? Does it not make us stop and think, "Hey, maybe I should eat Cheerios instead." No. It's just like teens who think they'll never get cancer from smoking. That won't happen to me. I'll lose weight when I'm older. I'll start exercising. I'll get a Wii!

Oh the Wii. Props to you, Nintendo. A valiant effort to get the kiddies up off the couch and moving around the living room. The New York Times even did a story on a British study conducted on the health benefits of the Wii. A heart-racing game of Wii tennis will burn about 179 calories an hour. Impressive. And I'm sure that little Bobby washes down his victorious game of tennis with an ice cold Coca-Cola and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Make that Cooler Ranch Doritos. We should all run out to Best Buy and make a purchase toward our health. An hour of real tennis burns at least two times as much as the pseudo version brought to us in our living room. Do they list that on the box? Kids who watch hours of TV and play video games are more likely to be obese. The Wii is a step in the right direction, but it's not the answer.

Network executives at NBC learned that they could also capitalize on obesity in America. Hell, there are so many obese Americans why don't we create a show that awards the person who can lose the most weight? Beautiful. Enter "The Biggest Loser." Thousands of people send in their requests to be picked for the show. Everyone is so willing to prove that they are absolutely fatter than the next guy. Congratulations, you win. You're really, really fat. So now for a season of primetime TV we get to watch the NBC approved fattest Americans shrink before our eyes. Contestants get 24 hour access to top personal trainers and meals handed to them with carefully factored out calories. Entertainment at its finest. If anything, this only affirms for most Americans the difficulty of losing weight. Most people don't have time to give up their jobs and spend 24 hours a day on the treadmill. This isn't how real life works. In real life it takes serious effort to make the right choices that contibute to a longer, healthier life. We don't all have to be food Nazis, but we do all have to take a moment, step away from the Wii and start processing the words of Meredith Viera.

Obsessing over every calorie that enters your body will never make you happy. Nothing will ever be as good as fresh baked chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven. But trading in a pint of Ben and Jerry's for some frozen yogurt and taking a walk around the block are all very doable in our daily lives. 

In 2006, our client Blue Cross and Blue Shield began implementing workplace wellness initiatives among its employees. Out of 213 employees who participated the group lost a total of 700 pounds. The program, Blue Challenge gave employees the tools to undersand their health and nutrition. Weight loss is hard, but those in a motivating environment are more likely to stick with the program. Taking workplace wellness a step further, why not take these health and nutrition tools home to the family? 

If we learned nothing else from Willy Wonka, let's remember that gluttony will only get you a ticket to the furnace where you will be fished out by Oompa Loompas. The keys to your health are simple.

• Eat right.
• Exercise.
• Get enough sleep.
• Laugh as often as possible.

What's that last one again? Laughter. Happiness may be a temporary state in our lives, but those of us who are willing to take time to exercise, eat some fruit and laugh with our friends, won't have to start looking for a director to help out with our Biggest Loser audition tapes. These simple tasks are what make a healthy individual thrive. So do yourself a favor, and learn to practice moderation. Skip the drive thru in the morning and pour yourself a bowl of cereal. Take a walk, ride your bike or even take a trip to that strange universe known as the gym.

And if you have kids, don't think you can buy them a Wii, give them some Lucky Charms and call them the picture of health. Eating habits stay with you the rest of your life. Sit down with your kid and take some really good notes during Willy Wonka. Remember what happened to Augustus Gloop. You don't wanna be the poor Oompa Loompa that has to save him from the furnace, do you?