Anna Lutz and Elizabeth Davenport chat with Shelley Aggarwal, a board certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist, about weight-inclusive care for teens and young adults. Dr. Aggarwal speaks on the importance of challenging diet culture in schools, at home, and in healthcare settings, and what parents can do to help their teen build a positive relationship with food and body. 

We discuss:

• The cultural factors that influence food choices and can shape food exposures for teens.
• How well-meaning adults and medical providers can inadvertently say things that leave teens feeling bad about themselves.
• How common pop culture messaging around food and bodies often neglects to take into account global cultural traditions which tends to be harmful rather than helpful.
• The ways in which diet culture influences parents’ experiences of their children going through puberty.
• The importance of parents educating themselves on weight neutral care and modeling affirming behaviors in the home to help teens build resilience.

Links: 

• Raising Body Positive Teens: A Parents Guide to Dieting-Free Living, Exercise, and Body Image
• No Weigh! A Teen's Guide to Positive Body Image, Food and Emotional Wisdom
• Sunny Side Up Nutrition Podcast 
• Lutz, Alexander & Associates Nutrition Therapy
• Pinney Davenport Nutrition

Dr. Shelley Aggarwal is a board certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist in California. She treats medically complex teens and young adults and consults on a variety of youth specific health issues, including adolescent development. Dr. Aggarwal has worked with premier academic institutions and continues to be teaching faculty at Stanford’s Children’s Health at UCSF Fresno. Currently she is the medical director of clinics serving justice involving youth. She is a co-author of No Weigh and the upcoming book Raising Body Positive Teens: A Parents Guide. 

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