#150: Medical Care Without Weight Stigma with Dr. Mara Gordon

Jan 13

Dr. Mara Gordon joins the pod to share what it means to be a size-inclusive physician and why it’s time to rethink weight in medicine.

We discuss why it’s harmful to center medical care on a patient’s weight, the stigma and negative health consequences of medical providers prescribing intentional weight loss, how to advocate for yourself with your physician, caring for and treating diagnoses without weight loss, and her thoughts on the GLP-1 hype.

Mara also opens up about what she regrets as a physician prior to finding fat-positive medicine, and how she came to see the harms of fat-phobia and diet culture.

In the EXTENDED version (a bonus episode), Mara answers questions about:

her concerns about GLP-1s like Ozempic, and what we can do to think about them differently
how larger bodied humans can advocate for themselves at the doctor’s office without giving the unwritten message that they're “noncompliant” or don't care about their health
how to deal with being told weight loss will help a specific health condition (like diabetes, joint pain, sleep apnea)

Tune in to hear more about:

Why Mara got into the anti-diet space
Her experience as a doctor before she realized the harm of medical fatphobia
The research that shows exercise and dieting do not result in long-term weight loss
The physical and mental harm of stress about weight
Why doctors are so married to diet-culture when the research says about 95% to 98% of people will regain weight after dieting
Why BMI should not be the center of a patient’s care, and why a patient does not need to be weighed at every appointment
How to tell your doctor’s office that you do not want to be weighed
A nuanced discussion of GLP1s, both as medication for medical complications from diabetes, and as a prescribed eating disorder
Doctors and patients connecting on a human level
How folks in larger bodies can advocate to receive the same treatments offered to thin-bodied folks
How “obesity” as a pathological condition has its roots in the pharmaceutical industry, and it started in the 90s
So much more!

This is an important episode for everyone, but especially for those of you who are in quasi recovery or don’t quite identify as “recovered”. Eating disorders are so tricky, diet culture muddies everything even more, and Shira does a great job of expressing all of the hard emotions that come with recovering in a larger body in this culture. She also offers so much hope. Give it a listen, and subscribe to Patreon here to share your thoughts on the ep!

More About Mara:

Dr. Gordon is a family physician and writer based in Philadelphia. She worked in public health in Tanzania and Malawi before returning to the Philadelphia area to attend medical school at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the Zervanos Family Medicine Award for a medical student going into family medicine. She cares for patients of all ages at the Cooper Family Medicine office at the Kroc Center in Camden. She loves working with medical students in preclinical and clinical educational settings. She teaches selectives in Narrative Medicine and Audio Storytelling and co-directs the Narrative Medicine Scholarly Concentration. She continues to write professionally about issues in contemporary medicine. Learn more about her here.

Check out Medical Students for Size Inclusivity here.

You can read more of Mara’s work here: maragordonmd.com

Here's more about AWSIM: www.weightinclusivemedicine.org

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Group program:

Good news! Enrollment is open for Abbie's next group program:

Looking for more support and concrete steps to take to heal your relationship with food and your body? Apply for Abbie's next 10-week group program: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching

Group membership:

Already been at this anti-diet culture thing for a while, but want community and continued learning? Apply for Abbie's monthly membership: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/circle-monthly-group