“Is Health at Every Size® REALLY For Me?” With Dr. Maggie Landes, MD, MPH

Episode 56. “But I have a serious health condition, Is Health at Every Size® REALLY For Me?” Today I sit down with physician Dr. Maggie Landes to talk all about a weight inclusive approach to healthcare and the science to support it.

I am not one for dramatic statements. At the same time, this episode could save your life or the life of someone you love. Weight bias in healthcare can be deadly and today’s episode talks about what this means and how an over focus on weight can and does cause things to be missed. We talk about how you can understand our current healthcare climate (from the standpoint of a physician) and best navigate the system to get the care you deserve.

Dr. Landes is a unicorn. She is a physician who is fully aligned with a weight-inclusive approach to healthcare.

Today’s episode was an “Ask the Expert” Episode which means that people inside The Body Respect Community were able to pre-submit questions for her to answer. We cover a LOT, and truly everyone should listen to this, whether or not they have a specific health concern at this time or not.

We cover the following questions (and more!):

• I feel like being in a smaller body is the only way to improve my mobility, what are your thoughts about this?
• I want to lose weight to improve my pain, how would you suggest I think about this?
• Is it really healthy to not focus on weight loss if you have a family history of heart disease/diabetes/cancer/etc? What about hepatic adenomas?
• How can I make sure I have an optimal healthcare team?
• How do I know if my doctor is missing a root cause?
• What is the best way to ask a doctor to look for another cause (besides weight) for a medical/health issue? 

“The weight conversation in the doctor’s office is a huge distraction. We have limited interaction, limited time, a limited captive audience and we are squandering that with a whole conversation about weight loss. You get weighed in the hallway before you even go into a room… and when it’s a weight first environment, it’s a weight forward environment, and we’ve got to change that.”

Dr. Maggie Landes, MD, MPH

Want To Support Local Bookstores Near You?

Buy your books from Bookshop! Support local bookstores near you and this blog and podcast and help prevent Amazon from completely squashing the local book market.

Do you ever worry that you are wasting your life?

I definitely did. In fact, I wrote that in my journal many years ago when I was in the middle of the diet-binge roller coaster ride.

• I woke up every day thinking about food, my body, and what I would eat that day to “be healthy”
• The notebooks I had filled with calories and points could fill up a spare bedroom
• Social events and vacations immediately prompted the thought “they will notice I gained weight” or “I need to lose weight by then”
• Deep down I knew I wasn’t living life the way I wanted to, but I didn’t know how to pull myself out of it.

If this is you, I want you to imagine what it would feel like to feel empowered in your body and proud of your choices on a consistent basis. I promise you, it isn’t too late.

Dieting steals our motivation. It makes us ineffective. It keeps us spinning our wheels in a system that was never built to work.

If you are ready take the first step to motivating yourself with what matters to you, download my free Create Powerful Motivation guide (which is quite beautifully designed if I do say so myself), and walk through the 3 simple steps to create motivation that works for YOU in 15 minutes or less. You will get a simple formula to write ONE SENTENCE you can use to motivate yourself on a daily basis.

You can write it on your bathroom mirror, put on the background of your phone, or just read it and repeat it in your mind.

Look, I know how much it hurts to live a life worrying you are missing out, not stepping into the person you were truly meant to be, vibrant, passionate, curious, vulnerable, and brave.

You can listen to the podcast all day, but taking that first step, putting pen the paper (or typing on your phone) is required for true lasing change. It’s time to start living my friend.

It’s 100% free, so what are you waiting for? Grab your free copy of the guide today at DrHondorp.com/Motivate 

Support Independent Bookstores Near You!

Did you know that that if nothing slows their momentum, Amazon will have almost 80% of the book market by the end of 2025?

Look, I love the convenience of Amazon, but I’ve got a super cool way that you can support local bookstores and my blog and podcast simply by buying books like you already do! You can choose any bookstore on the list in the US and Canada (they plan to expand to other counties in the future) OR you can just let the donation get split between all stores. As of this recording, they have raised 15 million dollars for local bookstores. On my bookshop, you will see my absolute favorite books related to health and wellness, courage and vulnerability, and even my favorite fiction and kids books!

My recent favorite related to improving the quality of our lives was Digital Minimalism. Our family actually decided to do an optional screen free August to re-evaluate the role of screen time in our lives.

So if you believe in supporting local businesses, please consider buying your books through Bookshop from now on!

The Psychology of Wellness Bookshop Link.

Disclaimer: This blog and podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual professional advice or treatment, including medical or mental health advice. It does not constitute a provider patient relationship.

Disclosure: Using the Bookshop.org links in this post means that I would get an affiliate fee if you purchase from the online bookshop (this supports my business, and local bookstores too!).

Credit: This blog post was co-written and edited by Sarah Grace Rapoport, podcast and blog manager and Psychology of Wellness Intern, and Dr. Shawn Hondorp.