Thinking Outside the Scale

Cultivating Healthy Attitudes about Weight, Nutrition and Body Image

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he world constantly tells us that obesity kills and that skinny is an ideal.  In turn allied health professionals often utilize weight and body mass indices as goals to achieve. Unfortunately this does not reflect the reality that while we may well all be able to make healthier choices, we can’t always do so enjoyable. This talk presented at the Saint John Regional Hospital on January 30th, 2009 aims to help viewers:

1. To understand the utility along with the shortcomings of using number based weight loss goals (BMI, body fat percentage, waist circumference etc.).
2. To learn a new goal setting tool for weight management efforts that is easily applicable in office settings and far less daunting than absolute weight.
3. To understand how the environment helps shape body image issues
4. To learn how to counsel patients to empower their families to minimize the influence of the environment on body image and how to create a healthy home environment
5. To learn how to guide patients to self-directed resources geared to help with binge eating, body image and weight management and how you as a family physician can help to constructively support their efforts.

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