Yesterday I met with a 24 year old for a nutrition consultation. She was 5’ “8 inches tall and weighed around 125 pounds--she was referred to me by a friend who works with her. This young lady was concerned that she was too thin and wanted to put on some weight. I knew I could help her put on some quality weight so we decided to meet yesterday at 4 PM.

When she walked through the door my first impression was that she was thin and might have possibly stepped through a time warp in 1985 and into my life. She was wearing tight jeans tucked into those boots that are sort of puffy on the sides and which went out of style over twenty years ago. She was also wearing a light blue turtleneck. You know the kind the big open turtleneck that hangs down, also circa 1985. If she was going for a retro look she nailed it, although her hair wasn't shellacked with enough hair spray to make the bangs curl up impossibly high. So overall her retro rating was a respectable 7 out of a possible 10.

She sat the desk in front of me and I asked her first what she had eaten for the day. She told me she had a fast food breakfast sandwich for breakfast, with some sort of coffee drink and a parfait. Lunch was a couple slices of pizza and an apple. Dinner was a cheese steak, French fries and liter of Coke. Obviously she had a fast metabolism and wasn’t taking in enough calories. This of course was my preliminary assessment. I needed to know more about her diet, workouts and so forth to be able to come up with a workable diet plan.

I looked at the food she had eaten that day on the sheet in front of me. “You really need to be eating more frequently if you want to put on weight.”

“Well, this guy I like told me that I shouldn’t drink so much water. He said that it makes me not as hungry and that I should cut way back. I did it today and I was more hungry.”

“Wow, that’s really bad advice. I mean I don’t want to sound like a jerk but being well hydrated is a crucial part of being healthy and it won’t curb your appetite.”

She frowned. “Well, I drink two liters a day.”

I sat back in my chair. “Well, I drink around two gallons a day and I am continuously hungry.”

“Well, you’re different.”

“Everyone is but my point is that cutting water from your diet isn’t going to make you gain weight. To simplify things cutting water from your diet will make you unhealthy.”

She looked at me with far away eyes. I snapped my fingers. “I see here that you have very little fiber in your diet.”

She looked at me like I’d just strangled her kitten. “What’s fiber?”

We talked about fiber for ten minutes until she partially grasped what it was and why it was needed in the diet. I then explained why she needed healthy fats, protein and carbohydrates in her diet.

I drank from my water bottle. “You see, as you get older and if you keep eating like this you’re going to end up losing muscle and gaining a lot of fat. It happens with age.”

Her eyes lit up like two drunken fireflies. “I want to gain fat.”

I shook my head. “You want to gain as much lean muscle tissue as possible. If we take your calories up you will probably gain a little fat too.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “Yuck, I don’t want to gain muscle. I don’t want to look like those bodybuilder girls.”

“Those bodybuilders take steroids. You don’t have enough testosterone in your body to produce muscle like they do. And I can take a pretty good guess just by looking at you that you won’t ever put on an appreciable amount of muscle. Your long and slender.”

She balled up her fists. “You see I don’t want to be long and slender. I want to have curves.”

I took out a price guide and handed it to her. “Well, even the best diet isn’t going to change your height or your bone structure.”

She looked at the price guide and snorted. I knew then that our conversation was over.

She took out a piece of paper. “Well, what should I eat for lunch?”

“Well, if you decide to work with me I will give you that information.”

She folded up the price guide and stood. “Well, I’ll think about it.”

I stood and showed her to the door.

It’s so draining talking to people that know everything. Every step of the way she fought me. I expect people to ask questions and even question some things if they don’t make sense to them but if they don’t even know what fiber is then it’s time to shut the old pie hole, sit back, and listen.