Episode 54: Taking the focus off of your weight with Maggie Landes, MD
Taking the focus off of your weight
Still convinced that your weight is the problem?
A cancer diagnosis several years ago set Maggie out to dig deep into the research and evidence behind weight, nutrition, and health. Although she is a board-certified physician, she admits that most doctors in medical school get a tiny blip of nutrition education so she needed to do the research herself.
What she found was everything she thought to be true about health, weight, and nutrition was inaccurate and misconstrued by diet culture. She started to question everything she held to be true about weight and health both personally and the way she practiced professionally.
In this episode we discuss:
The lack of training medical doctors have in nutrition yet weight loss is a widespread recommendation for many health conditions.
Other health-promoting behaviors we should be hearing about that have nothing to do with weight.
Systems of oppression in healthcare that lead people in a larger body to receive a different level of care compared to those in a smaller body.
The truth about "long-term" weight loss success rates.
Maggie’s list of approximately 20 items we can look at to improve health that does not include weight.
When we do and do not need to be weighed at the doctor’s office.
What we can say to advocate for ourselves if our doctor is placing focus on our weight when that’s not the reason you’re visiting your doctor, e.g., you think you have strep throat.
What should and shouldn’t be discussed in front of a child at the doctor with regard to weight.
My conversation with Maggie is an extension of what I addressed in Episode 52: I was told I need to lose weight for my health. The more we arm ourselves with science-based knowledge, the more we learn the truth about diet culture and why focusing solely on weight for health is doing more harm than good.
Mentioned in this episode:
Maggie and "The Anti Diet Collective" on Clubhouse - @maggielandesmd
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