It’s not about the food.
Every obese person knows that they eat too much. So lecturing them about what, and how much to eat are a waste of time. They have heard it all before…and they either can’t help themselves, or don’t care.
There is a pyschological component that needs to be dealt with first, and that’s not a job for nutrionists. You need to swim upstream, to where the problem starts, and not just wait to deal with the symptoms. In my experience, invariably there is some history of personal trauma, crisis, OCD, or self-esteem issues affecting the persons behavior much more than a simple lack of knowledge about the dangers of overeating.
In rare cases, dealing with the calories and exercise issues may help a patient. You can find those people pretty quickly, and succesfully help them. For everyone else, a more effective approach has to involve a team of medical professionals, each dealing with a specific causal component.
