Reader Question - How to Find a Weight-Neutral Provider

This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter! If you like what you are reading, please consider subscribing and/or sharing!

Reader Allie asked “Are there any places to find a doctor who won’t prescribe diets?”

There are several terms for this type of provider including weight-neutral, weight-inclusive, anti-diet, and Health at Every Size(tm). There are several options to find this type of provider.

First, you can try one of the lists that exist.

ASDAH has a vetted list of their members here.

Mary Lambert compiled several lists of fat friendlier providers here. There is a form to add additional providers if you know of (or are!) one of these providers.

Christy Harrison has a list of providers here.

Jen McLellan has a directory here for size-friendly doulas and birth/parenting professionals that requires size-inclusivity maternity training (accredited by the California State Board of Nursing and the International Childbirth Education Association for contact hours).

There is a list of Australian providers here. (Thanks to Dr. Annette Ostermeyer for letting me know about this one!)

If you know of other lists please feel free to add them in the comments and I’ll add things to the post as I learn about them.

Another option is asking in fat-positive groups either in-person or online to see if anyone has any referrals.

Finally, you can try calling ahead. You can do this anonymously or even have a friend call. If you have insurance coverage that includes a list of providers you can use that as a starting point. Ask something like “I’m looking for a doctor who is willing to provide weight-neutral care. That means treating me without weight loss recommendations. Is there a doctor in this office who can do that?”

You can also talk to your provider. Sometimes even if someone doesn’t identify as this type of provider, they can offer that care for you. You can let them know, for example, that you are exercising your right to informed refusal of weight loss recommendations and want weight-neutral care, then explain what that looks like. You can use the doctor’s office cards, and/or I have a quick guide for talking to healthcare practitioners here.

If you are a weight-neutral provider, please consider taking the time to add yourself to these lists and also finding ways to make it clear to your current and prospective patients that you offer weight-inclusive care. After I posted the printable what to say at the doctor’s office cards a friend of mine who is a weight-inclusive doctor sent me the following. She has given me permission to post it but asked to remain anonymous. Feel free to print it and/or use it any way that is helpful if you are a weight-neutral practitioner!

Did you find this post helpful? You can subscribe for free to get future posts delivered direct to your inbox, or choose a paid subscription to support the newsletter (and the work that goes into it!) and get special benefits! Click the Subscribe button below for details:

Liked the piece? Share the piece!

More research and resources:
https://haeshealthsheets.com/resources/

*Note on language: I use “fat” as a neutral descriptor as used by the fat activist community, I use “ob*se” and “overw*ight” to acknowledge that these are terms that were created to medicalize and pathologize fat bodies, with roots in racism and specifically anti-Blackness. Please read Sabrina Strings’ Fearing the Black Body – the Racial Origins of Fat Phobia and Da’Shaun Harrison’s Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness for more on this.