This article explores the content of discussion by patients and practitioners where they were invited to talk about food and diet. A qualitative methodology using focus groups was employed within one Primary Care Trust in the east of England. Patients described their desire for access to nutritional guidance in primary care and their feelings of powerlessness when following dietary advice. Primary care practitioners discussed their experiences of giving information alongside their scepticism about patients' adherence to dietary advice. Without prompting from the interviewer, patients and practitioners independently chose weight management to illustrate their experiences. Frustrations were expressed by patients and practitioners groups who felt unmotivated to seek or give information respectively on weight management.