About this episode
Who gets to decide what a healthy body looks like?
Is it the patient? Their clinician? Their family? Their community? And what happens when culture, identity, health, and personal goals don't all point toward the same answer?
With Zach away recovering from surgery, Deb Cooperman joins Mike as guest co-host for a conversation with Michelle Tedder, nurse educator and patient advocate, and Dr. Jovonni Spinner, public health researcher and health equity strategist.
This episode explores obesity through the experiences of Black women while asking broader questions about health, identity, culture, access, and patient-centered care.
Michelle and Jovonni discuss patient autonomy and shared decision-making, including what happens when a patient's goals don't align with a clinician's recommendations or when family and cultural expectations influence treatment decisions.
They also challenge the idea that accepting or loving your body means you can't choose to treat obesity.
Body acceptance and obesity treatment can coexist.
Someone can value their body, reject shame and stigma, and still pursue treatment to improve metabolic health, mobility, strength, or quality of life.
The conversation explores how social networks, cultural identity, environment, chronic stress, access to resources, and the meaning food carries within families and communities can influence health decisions.
It also examines disparities in obesity care. Insurance coverage, geography, affordability, access to clinicians trained in obesity care, representation in research, and assumptions made inside the exam room can all influence whether someone receives treatment.
As Jovonni explains, health equity doesn't mean treating everyone the same. It means meeting people where they are and giving them what they need to have an opportunity to achieve their healthiest life.
The group also challenges the association between obesity and laziness, discipline, effort, appearance, or personal worth.
Obesity is a chronic disease, and the number on the scale doesn't tell the entire story.
So what should success look like?
Better blood pressure or blood sugar. Improved cholesterol. Walking farther without pain. Getting stronger. Increasing muscle. Lifting your suitcase into an overhead bin. Running to catch a connecting flight. Maintaining the independence to carry your groceries upstairs at 75.
Those outcomes may tell us far more about someone's health than a number on a scale.
And while this conversation centers the experiences of Black women, its lessons extend beyond any one community.
You don't have to share someone's lived experience to believe it, learn from it, or advocate for better care.
Black women aren't a monolith. Neither are people living with obesity.
Better care starts by replacing assumptions with curiosity, listening to what matters to the person in front of us, and recognizing that health may look different from one person to the next.
Featuring:
Mike Donnelly-Boylen | Co-host, Weight & Measure
Deb Cooperman | Guest Co-host & Obesity Advocate
Michelle Tedder | Nurse Educator, Patient Advocate & Host of Dear Healthcare Provider
Dr. Jovonni Spinner | Public Health Researcher & Health Equity Strategist
More Science. Less Stigma.
#Obesity #ObesityMedicine #HealthEquity #WeightStigma #BlackWomensHealth #PatientAdvocacy #WeightAndMeasure