CASE STUDY

Rethinking Diet Culture

The Patient:

Throughout her ‘dieting’ journey, Sarah would make great progress for a month or two, but would then lose momentum. Over time, this led to a feeling of helplessness, and a desire to give up on addressing her health challenges.

*Patient name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.

The Challenge:

Sarah is in her mid forties. She’s has three children, and she has been on and off different diet and exercise routines for half of her life. Concerned about her fluctuating weight, Her PCP suggested she work with a lifestyle medicine practice to develop a more sustainable approach.

Our Program of Support:

When Sarah first started working with us as a patient, she was very focused on the specifics of calorie counting, and the idea of ‘forbidden foods.’ She expected us to start with changes to her diet. Instead, we started by working with her for several weeks to understand what her current health and lifestyle situation looked like.

We also worked with her to get a better understanding of her physical health - looking at lab results and health records, and wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to learn how, what and when she ate impacted her blood sugar and metabolism.

That meant asking questions like:

  • What health or wellness issues was she seeking to address?

  • What medications was she on, and what was the treatment plan provided by her PCP?

  • What motivated her, and what was more likely to discourage her?

  • What brought her joy and pleasure, and what were things she actively disliked?

  • What was her routine, work and home-life like? What aspects created challenges, and what aspects were likely to support her new health journey? 

The Results

X months in, Sarah is showing some really promising consistency in sustained weight loss. [add some specific numbers.] But the most encouraging sign is in her shift in understanding and attitude. This newfound understanding has allowed her to explore and identify specific goals and strategies that resonate with her and what she wanted to achieve.

What She Told Us:

“I thought I knew what diet culture was. And I thought I was pretty aware and in-tune to the ways that society shapes our behaviors. And yet I’d never really been asked to figure out how I had internalized these things.” 

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