In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Erika La Vella and host Natalie Benamou take an in-depth look into the way nutrition, lifestyle changes, and stress impact our wellness. They discuss the centuries-old indicator called BMI (body mass index) and how it plays a part in deciding health outcomes for larger patients with a BMI over 40. Find out how one interaction with a patient transformed the way she approaches caring for patients.

Dr. Erika discovered how compassion is so important in building trust with patients from her own experience in her practice. She shares how healthcare and in particular Bariatric Surgeons are traditionally trained to treat patients to not include empathy when talking with patients.

In her personal story, Dr. Erika shares why it is so important for healthcare providers to avoid dehumanizing language and how to use treat words like “obesity” as a medical term.

5 Key Highlights:

1. Discover why and how Bariatric Surgeons use the BMI index to assess health risks for surgery.
2. Barriers to care and how weight bias within the healthcare industry prevents patients from getting the care they need.
3. Improving health outcomes is a multi-dimensional with gut health, nutrition post surgery.
4. Why it is important to listen and treat patients with empathy and compassion.
5. Building trust is critical to ensuring better patient outcomes.

Here are three standout quotes from Dr. Erika La Vella:

1. "Being compassionate as a healthcare provider is probably the most important lesson I've learned in my career. When you use compassion, you can really experience the other person's experience and they feel seen and heard, it leads to trusting you.”
2. "Especially as a surgeon, the ability for somebody to trust you is really everything."
3. "I realized that in my career, it's not about me at all, it's 100% about the people I serve."

Don't miss this opportunity to listen and learn from Dr. Erica La Vella. She exemplifies what how it is possible to provide compassion and lead to better health outcomes.

Thank you Dr. Erika La Vella for being a guest on this podcast for part 2 of this important interview. Sharing a big thanks to Anastasia Lipske, from Access Speakers, who introduced us and is a member of HerCsuite™!

Resources

artofbariatrics.com

HerCsuite.com

Natalie Benamou LinkedIn

HerCsuite™ LinkedIn

Special Offer

Dr. Erika is co-founder of Art of Bariatrics. An online learning and nutrition lifestyle program for women after weight loss surgery. They use science backed gut health and microbiome support to nurture a healthy metabolism. Listeners can use the discount code PODCAST20 to receive 20% off site wide. Dr. Erika is on a mission to make health and healthy weight management accessible to all. Go to artofbariatrics.com to check out the offerings.

This podcast is sponsored by Her Health Equity Council. Our Think Tank Collaborative is bringing together everyone in women’s health to solve today’s most pressing needs: Improve Women’s Health Outcomes, Access to Clinical Trials and Better Health Equity at Work. Find out more at HerCsuite.com/

HerCsuite™ Women’s Growth Network delivers 5 individual leadership programs monthly and coach led group mentoring for organizations, designed to accelerate personal growth and amplify your impact.