Bonus Episode: Our Inbox is a Mess!

I just want to say, as a medical student due to graduate at the end of this year, that I am so glad I found your podcast. Not only has it helped me with my food journey and become more understanding of why diets do not work (because I will be honest, 75% of my education has not gone into the history or details of this), but it has also allowed me to confront my bias and hopefully enter the space with a more nonjudgemental headspace. I hope to also assuage your concerns that at least for Australia, our guidelines for history taking specifically say we have to ask about diet and exercise, without asking about weight unless necessary. -- I will say, there was a fantastic article that I read during my GP rotation (I'm Australian) titled "Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift" by Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor that discussed the Healthy At Every Size (HAES) paradigm. I found this particularly interesting because every point they discussed had many resources to back it up, in comparison to all "lose weight" articles I was recommended, that basically described everything as fact. I'm hoping to incorporate this paradigm into my care.

Charlotte Brown

I'm here to add (late) to the number of people who actually truly get relief from muscle cramps (legs especially) by taking a swig of pickle juice!

Nicole Sudhoff

Age is an independent risk factor for Covid so maybe the doctors should be telling everyone: "get younger!" Makes a lot of sense.🫠

Natalie

Thank you for this! I especially appreciate the discussion around how to introduce these topics with others. As a fat woman, this show has helped me feel better about myself and reflect on my habits around food, weight loss, etc. I've been struggling with how to share what I've learned from this show with my mother (fat and dieting my whole life) and my sister (newly having weight gain and constantly talking about what diet she's doing now). Your suggestions were helpful and I'm going to try them out!

Emmaline Conover

Oh the almond and fatphobic Gen X moms, i have so much anger but also sympathy for them, mine included. It's all coming to the surface now that I'm nearing 30 and I feel like it explains so much about my current body dysmorphia and feelings about food. Le sigh 😕

just heard this episode. before lumbar drama I looooved rowing. so hypnotic. best wishes finding a budget rower.

Julia

I got weighed for the first time in about 3 years----for my psych drugs prescriber so my scripts are correct. Agree, it's about the only reason. I mean, If I suddenly lose 40 lbs over the weekend, yeah, that seems weird and we should talk about it. Otherwise........

Julia

Same!

Heather Hawkes

I know this is dumb but can you drop the link for the cheap but reliable rower?! I used to row crew and I miss exactly what you are talking about - chilling and rowing. The ones I know are like 3-5k.

The convo about “you can no longer talk about weight with fat people”, I’ve begun asking to not see my weight or know my weight and even questioning why doctors taking my weight is necessary. Just the idea that we need to question why the intake routine is the intake routine. Thankfully I’ve worked with healthcare providers who are happy to not share my weight with me and respond that they need my weight for accurate prescription dosage. It comes down to “what foes my weight have to do with this conversation?”. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesnt!

I’m so sorry, but nose washing is *my* bullshit; it works!

ES

And thank you for modeling what compassionate, honest conversation looks like.

Please please please make this episode available on your main podcast. This connects a lot of dots that are so important. Body autonomy and the right to make your own choices are the goal. And thank you for exposing the myths and pitfalls that we otherwise would feel as personal failure.

As a side note to this in New Zealand where I am you have to ask every single patient coming into hospital about smoking regardless of what they came in for. Certainly everywhere I’ve worked anyway. You can’t sign off on the discharge summary (the letter that goes to the family doctor and into the records) unless you have checked the box - are they a smoker and if so did you offer smoking cessation. Really frustrating as although in some circumstances it could a be an appropriate conversation to have, often it is not. I worked in psychiatry so if someone is coming into hospital with an acute psychiatric issue it is unlikely to be the right time to talk about smoking cessation! Another example of how well meaning interventions can actually turn ridiculous and even harmful when applied as a blanket rule to everybody. So I laughed when Michael said you wouldn’t talk about smoking every time a patient came in!

Ginette musker

What are your thoughts on My Big Fat Fabulous Life?

Maria Hess

Loved this convo though, as a health professional working on smoking cessation, it is extremely important for us to ask about smoking (non judgementally of course). There is some research to suggest that 1 in every 33 ‘brief smoking cessation interventions’ leads to a person successfully quitting. There is also a lot of research showing that nearly 100% of people who smoke have thought about quitting. This isn’t to say doctors should offer advice if it isn’t wanted, however, it is extremely important they ask if someone smokes and if they do smoke, that the health professional asks if they have thought about quitting. If they have, then it is important to offer support and ask if they want to hear about quit smoking medicines. Using medicine and counselling means people are around 7-8 times more likely to successfully quit, and a lot of people who smoke try to go it alone. I get it was more of a throw away comment about not stigmatising people but just wanted to put it out there! Love the show

Please discuss: Dani Mathers, 30, pleaded no contest to posting a nude photo of an elderly woman preparing to shower in the locker room at a Los Angeles gym. How appalling is Dani Mathers??

Maria Hess