Healthy at Every Size: A Body-Positive Approach to Healthcare

Sometimes healthcare providers focus more on numbers than on an individuals’ overall wellbeing and health. Sometimes a provider will link medical conditions to a need for a client to lose weight. (We’ll talk about why some providers put so much emphasis on these numbers and the impact it can have on patients’ mental and physical health.) This event will talk about how people can be healthy at every size, focusing on a body-positive approach to healthcare.

Clicking on timestamps will redirect you to the corresponding video section on YouTube.

Introduction 2:59
Overview of topics 3:59
What is health? 4:44
Finding health in healthcare 5:55
Experiences within the medical community 10:42
Living in a healthy body 14:48

Physical health 15:53
Mental health 19:28
Emotional health 23:57
Spiritual health 27:11
Sexual health 28:50
Staying healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic 31:37
Final thoughts 38:33

Q&A 39:36
Is it okay to talk to your primary care provider about sexual health? 40:11
What does “spiritual health” mean for someone who is nonreligious/atheist? 41:46
What does “sexual health” mean for an asexual person? 43:53
What to do when providers link weight to health issues? 45:24
Do we have a right as patients to not be weighed? 46:48

Dealing with triggering info in MyChart 48:16
What if someone doesn’t have a goal to gain/lose weight? 50:58
Addressing anxiety and depression 53:14
Anxiety affecting safety choices 58:20
How risky is it to play a wind instrument (during COVID-19)? 59:15
Wrap up, what’s coming next? 1:00:06

PRESENTER: ANNIE LAKATOS

Annie Lakatos has been a nurse practitioner since 2009 and works at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Inclusion Health Clinic and the General Internal Medicine Clinic. She provides primary care, hormone replacement therapy and PrEP alongside preventive care and education. She is passionate about making each patient feel welcome and creating a space that is supportive and health-promoting for her patients.

Recorded on June 23, 2020.