Scaring someone healthy?

Lola1987

Hello,
My dad had a stroke some years ago. Initially he followed the diet he was supposed to, but in the past few years he's been doing everything wrong and by the looks of it is heading straight for another stroke.

He is constantly eating the wrong food, greasy fatty foods and loads of salt, as well as smoking and overworking and not exercising. He won't listen to any of us and is extremely stubborn, and it's very upsetting to the whole family because his attitude is along the lines of "there's no point in living into old age anyway"

We keep trying to talk sense to him, but nothing works. I've even gone as far as hiding the big bags of crisps he buys for himself (he'll eat 150 g bag a day if he could). There seems to be no talking to him.

I was wondering if there were any fairly shocking stories, or documentaries I could show him on stroke victims or the effects of what he's doing on himself. He once saw a documentary of what they do to Christmas turkeys and wouldn't eat turkey for two christmas's in a row, so I was hoping something shocking might scare him healthy.

Please help, we're all very worried and it's causing us all immense stress and worry.

Thanks for your time,
Lorna.

looksee

I don't think you can nag someone into healthy living. You have obviously made the effort and he has chosen to ignore you. Is he enjoying the attention, a bit like the attention he got when he had the stroke? Maybe a concerted effort on the part of the family to stop worrying him and 'lose interest' might have more effect.

You have to look after yourself as well, he is an adult, he has to make his own decisions. Chances are he is not going to 'give in' to nagging, just out of stubbornness, so relax the atmosphere a bit and let him come to his own conclusions. Its a bit like smoking, the smoker has to be the one who wants to give up, and nagging will not usually help.