Dr. Jon Stevens is triple board-certified in adult psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and obesity medicine. With a strong background in psychopharmacology and advanced diagnostic tools, Dr. Stevens strives to blend the art and science of psychiatric care.
Today, Dr. Jon joins the show to discuss the psychology behind medical weight loss, the game changing interventions available today in obesity medicine, and best practices we all can implement to lead healthier and happier lifestyles.
Key Takeaways
01:18 – Dr. Jon Stevens joins the show to share his experience as a board-certified adult psychiatrist and why he recently chose to pursue a board certification in obesity medicine
06:42 – Some sobering statistics on obesity
09:22 – Gastric bypass and lap band surgeries
10:15 – The decision to get board-certified in obesity medicine
13:45 – New weight loss interventions
16:12 – Ozempic and the proper use of Ozempic
22:56 – BMI, explained
25:59 – How age and sex impact weight loss
28:04 – Dr. Flowers thanks Dr. Stevens for joining today’s show and lets listeners know where they can connect with him
Resources Mentioned
JFlowers Health Institute – https://jflowershealth.com/
JFlowers Health Institute Contact – (713) 783-6655
Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen
Dr. Jon’s Website – https://jonstevensmd.com/
**The views and opinions expressed by our guests are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of J. Flowers Health Institute. Any content provided by our co-host(s) or guests are of their opinion and are not intended to reflect the philosophy and policies of J. Flowers Health Institute itself. Nor is it intended to malign any recovery method, religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.
🎙️🎙️🎙️
Podcast Production & Marketing by FullCast
—
Listen to the podcast here
Dr. Jon Stevens – The Psychology Behind Medical Weight Loss [Episode 76]
Obesity Medicine
I’m here with my good friend and colleague, Dr. Jon Stevens. Welcome.
Thank you, Dr. Flowers. It’s nice to be here.
I’m so glad that you’re here. Your schedule is packed every single day, and I’m honored that you were able to take an hour or two out of your day to come over here and visit and do this show with me.
I love coming over here. Great people. Beautiful place you have.
I love it. Thank you so much. It’s good to see you in person. We talk on the phone, but we don’t get to see each other every day because of our schedules. What you and I decided that we would talk about, I think, is something really important, and it’s overall general health. Dr. Stevens, you’re a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. One of your many board certifications, I should say.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about something that most people don’t really think, “I’m going to talk to my psychiatrist about medical weight loss.” We’re going to talk about medical weight loss and what that means. We’re going to talk about some statistics. We’re going to talk about some medications of choice and some lifestyle implications. First of all, Dr. Stevens, why go to a psychiatrist and talk about medical weight loss? Talk about that.
This wasn’t something that I started my career and thought I’d be really interested in, and I have a confession for your audience. For many years, I was part of the problem. I was the culprit. What I mean by that before you would call 911 is I’d be working with population, especially sicker populations, on an inpatient basis, whether kids, adolescents or adults. Many of the medicines that I was using were putting on weight for people, dangerous amounts of weight. Sometimes slowly in an insidious fashion. A couple of pounds a month.
When I trained and moved to an outpatient setting, those 2, 3 or 4 pounds a month, over years of caring for people, added up to significant and dangerous weight gain. Part of getting board certified in obesity and medicine, really doing that journey during COVID and having the time to focus on that, especially, it was really scratching my own itch. It was because my patients were gaining weight, developing complications of obesity, and we needed to find together interventions that would help them.
“Becoming board certified in obesity medicine during COVID allowed me to focus on my patients’ needs. Many were gaining weight and facing complications, so it became essential to explore interventions together that would truly help them.”
On the therapeutic side, at J. Flowers, we see patients every single day that when we talk about an appointment, whether it’s with Dr. Stevens or another psychiatrist, they’re like, “Please don’t put me on medication that I’m going to gain weight. ‘It’s their number one complaint that we hear day in and day out from patients about medication resistance. It’s, “I don’t want to gain weight. I’ve tried this in the past and I gained 20, 30, 40 pounds over the years.” They say once they gain that weight, it’s harder to lose than it was prior to even being on medication. Have you heard that?
That’s absolutely the case. The body has multiple compensatory mechanisms that when you’re starting to gain weight, there are a lot of factors that are pushing back metabolic factors, that are pushing back in the body, that prevent you from going back to your original weight. Part of that is driven by evolutionary mechanisms. The body doesn’t want that. The biggest danger for most of human existence was starvation. We are in this really time of plenty, but too much so, that without really being careful about what we consume and how we’re exercising in terms of how we’re increasing movement, we’re really at risk.
There’ve been some studies, including one in the New England Journal of Medicine, that said in the next 10 or 15 years, practically everyone in America could be overweight or obese. We’re already at 60% when you got overweight and obese. Forty percent of Americans are clinically obese. I’m not using that term in the pejorative sense that it’s oftentimes used. This is a really a crisis and epidemic that we’re facing.
“40% of Americans are clinically obese. I’m not using that term in the pejorative sense that it’s sometimes used. This is a crisis and epidemic that we’re facing.”
It is. No matter what part of the country that we’re in, whether we’re in California, Texas, New England, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest, in the United States in general, we’re seeing a much greater level of obesity than we’ve ever seen before. What do you think brings that on?
America has done it the best. We are the most overweight and obese country on the planet. I think that obviously the material wealth and the nutritional wealth has created some of that, as well as just technological changes. We are not working the farm anymore in terms of exercise. With many of our jobs, especially since COVID, is sitting at home, working at your desk or your chair. Really, there’s an imbalance in energy you consumed in terms of the form of calories and energy burned. If that imbalance persists for a while, the weight will add on. It’s mathematical.
There is a small percentage, probably about five people, especially for those that suffer childhood obesity, that do have genetic factors that do have underlying, inherited their mutations in the melanocortin 4 receptor or other genes that are linked to that. For the majority of people, the weight gain that contribute to overweight and obesity is environmental.
Speaking of COVID, the other thing that we hear a lot of is, “During COVID, I was immediately sent home and I worked from home and I sat at my desk all day and I gained 30 pounds over the year and a half or two years that COVID was keeping so many people at home.” People haven’t been able to get off of that rollercoaster weight going up and down and getting back into a normal routine exercise. What I want to talk about first is let’s talk about statistics. Some World Health Organization statistics.
It’s not just an American problem, obviously. We’re talking predominantly to American audience, hopefully outside. The worldwide prevalence of obesity has doubled since 1980. It is not just an American problem, but again, the way we eat is also being adopted and sometimes glamorized throughout the world with fast food, with sugary drink, with high salt snack, these high fat and very processed and ultra-processed food. I think that that is also partly to blame. Over that time, just the rise of technology. You and I see a lot of adolescents coming, either J. Flowers or in our private practice, but when you’re out on the phone, you’re not on the basketball team. There are only so many hours just glued to technology. That inherently is a sedentary activity.
Even in adolescence. Back when you and I were children, our parents said, “See you at 5:00,” or, “See you at tonight. Be home by 7:00.”
“Go outside and play. Lock the door.”
Nowadays, teens and adolescents are just going upstairs or in the den, and they’re turning on their TV and getting their game out, and literally sitting on a sofa for 3 and 4 hours at a time. They are not getting any exercise out of after school.
The rates of childhood overweight and obesity are increasing even faster than adults, which is terrifying because, as we said, once the body gets to that space, the body sets at that space. There’s a lot of compensatory mechanisms that are pushed back. A dirty secret is that diet and exercise, once you’re already in a clinically obese realm, only really lead to about 5% body mass loss. If you are, let’s say, 240 pounds as an adolescent, which is not unusual, if you completely change your lifestyle, get 150 minutes of movement that gets your heart rate every week, and cut out all the processed foods, no more soda, you could lose 12 pounds.
“The rates of childhood obesity are increasing even faster than adults. Once the body gets to that space, it sets at that space. A dirty secret is that diet and exercise, once you’re already in the clinically obese realm, only really lead to about 5% body mass loss.”
Would you do that to lose 5%? They’re going to say, “I need to lose 40 or 50.” That’s why we really need new kinds of interventions. Most of the people I see honestly have done all of these things. Have done all sorts of weight loss diets, everything. They’ll tell me stories and I have to look them up because I have never heard of that. It’s like, “Did you really do the cabbage soup diet? I didn’t think that was real. I thought that was a joke.”
The lemon water, the honey, and all that. I also want to talk about gastric bypass surgery and lap band surgery. Over the years of practice, I have done probably greater than 3,000 weight loss pre-surgical psychological evaluations. They would look for clearance. The surgeon would say, “Can you clear this patient for surgery to make sure they can follow our instruction?”
Obesity Stats
We would have people that would come in for a behavioral evaluation who were looking to lose 125 or 150 pounds and say, “I can’t live anymore like this. I’ve got to do this.” Through the testing, we found they were not going to be able to follow a new diet and a new restriction. A lot of times, the surgeon would do it anyway. Those patients’ lives were miserably affected because it changes everything in our body overnight when you have that surgery. What I want to go back to real quick is during COVID, you decided to get boarded in Obesity Medicine. Talk about what you do to get boarded in obesity medicine?
I had been using oral agents like metformin with patients on antipsychotic or mood-stabilizing medicines, probably for years before that. They’re not FDA-approved for that. Many of the medicines that are approved for oral medicines are psychiatric medicines like Wellbutrin, Naltrexone or Topiramate. Topamax. I was already familiar. I was watching this field, but some of the trainings required weeks in different parts of the country.
I have three small children. The idea of going to New York City for weeks, undergoing conferences and doing all the work was really daunting. For many years, I put it off, but then with COVID, a lot of these things went online. I was able to do it in odd hours, watching, studying, and doing all the things that it took to get board certified. Telling my patients about it, I wasn’t sure how they would respond. Most people that are in obesity medicine are internal medicine doctors. Family medicine. Endocrinologists. I felt like a little bit of a nod, but I think the response has been fantastic. People really like the conversation I started earlier.
When you talk about those patients, I know we see these patients that are saying, “I will not go in that medicine if I gain weight.” It’s very reassuring to say, “Don’t worry, I’m totally sensitive to that. Let’s think of a strategy. Even if you did, we find ways to take it off,” because really, the mental health is the primary concern for these issues. If you’re manic, colossally depressed or psychotic, the weight loss has to be secondary.
It’s so interesting. I’ll tell you, talking about the reception of what you’re doing, and old school psychiatry probably never would’ve thought about, “Yes, they’re gaining weight, but that’s not my issue.” I think it’s amazing that now psychiatry is looking at it saying, “I see that my patients are gaining weight and I hear their complaints of it, and now I’m boarded in something that now I can do something to help about it.” Medically appropriate.
Even when I was doing the training, I submitted the reimbursement. When you do that, you’re working. I worked at a local hospital institution. I submitted the reimbursements for some of the training, and the hospital administrators were like, “What are you doing?” It was put off. They didn’t pay it for month. I think they eventually did, and I thank them for that. Even other doctors were like, “What are you doing this for? How is this going to help our patients?” We wouldn’t talk about it. A lot of doctors don’t talk about the long-term risks. Patients will say, “What are the side effects of medicine?” They might say, “You might be sleepier. You might have constipation,” but they don’t say, “You could potentially gain a dangerous amount of weight.”
That’s of the things left out of, and you can gain 20 or 30 pounds.
Gastric Bypass And Lap Band Surgeries
Especially if you’re in a hospital for a week. The doctors are trying to get you stabilized, that you’re not suicidal, you’re not homicidal to get out the hospital. The long-term complications in the office are staggering. I’m talking about the risk of cardiovascular disease, risks of stroke, risks of joint disease, the pressure that’s put on joints. A lot of people’s joints wear out, and you talked about gastric bypass surgery. A knee replacement is not exactly an easy thing to recover from. Even increased risk of cancer. I’ve had patients that, unfortunately, in my practice over the years, died many years too early from the complications of obesity because we weren’t targeting that as really an underlying condition that was going to have a cascading effect on all those other health conditions.
New Weight Loss Interventions
Let’s talk about some of the new weight loss interventions that you’re using in seeing great success in your practice.
I’m so excited right now. I wasn’t practicing at the time, but I really feel like right now, in obesity medicine, with all the new interventions, what it must have been what it was like for a psychiatrist practicing at the dawn of Prozac, like in the late ‘80s, and the SSRIs. There are some fantastic new and really game-changing interventions.
“I’m thrilled about the advancements in obesity medicine! Although I wasn’t practicing before, it feels like being a psychiatrist at the dawn of Prozac. We’re seeing incredible, game-changing interventions that can truly make a difference!”
Most people will think of and they’ll hear about injectables. There are three currently on the market that are used and these are really different from the old-time appetite suppressants. It would suppress the appetite and you lose weight. Stop them and you’d gain it all back. Some of them even had abuse potential. That would lead to some of the yo-yo that people talk about. There are some good oral medicines. I think a lot of people that I have come to my practice right now are talking about these injectables.
There are some that are daily and that are marketed as Liraglutide or Saxenda or Victoza. They have different names. It’s very confusing. I’ll explain that just briefly. If it’s FDA-approved for diabetes, it’ll have one name, Victoza, Ozempic, Moujaro. If it’s for weight loss or obesity, then it will have a totally different name like Saxenda or Wegovy.
Wegovy and Ozempic are pretty much the same.
Remember back in the day when Wellbutrin was FDA-approved for smoking cessation? They called Zyban. Just a little bit of a shell game. It’s different. It’s confusing to people. I was telling you earlier, I had someone who called and left a message. She says, “Hi, my name is Emily. My friend said I need to talk to you because I need to be on something.” She starts saying something you know. “Call me back.” She didn’t even leave her last name.
It has entered the popular culture. Sometimes in a negative way, though. I had a woman in her 50s. This is someone I know, very educated, smart. She says, “I want to talk to you about this new medicine. It’s approved for weight loss. I said, “No. That one was approved, but it’s for diabetes.” She said, “No, it’s for weight loss because on my TikTok, I saw a video about it.”
TikTok is absolutely Dr. Google.
I said, “I’ve been Google doc-ed before. I’ve never been TikTok doc-ed before.” People are hearing about it, but some of them might not fall into a category or might have health complications, like you said, with gastric bypass surgery. You need to talk to your doctor before just going on those. I’m glad that you brought that up.
Ozempic
Let’s talk a little bit about Hollywood. Every day, when you look at your Apple News on your iPhone, or you look at really any newspaper or online newspaper, you’re seeing articles about this miracle drug. They’re calling it a weight loss drug. That’s FDA-approved for diabetes, but people are using it for weight loss. Let’s talk a little bit about Ozempic, because at J. Flowers, we see a lot of patients from Los Angeles, the LA area. Every one of them ask about Ozempic, it seems like. Talk about Ozempic for just a minute and the proper use of Ozempic.
Ozempic is the brand name. It’s Semaglutide, and it’s also FDA-approved for obesity under the name Wegovy. Most people seem to attach it to the Ozempic. It’s heavily marketed. There’s a normal pill of it. This is even more confusing, but let’s just leave it out of there. Basically, this medicine is a weekly injectable medicine. It is not like an injection into your muscle. It’s a rather painless injection into maybe abdomen, basically subcutaneous fat. You barely feel it. Very tiny.
This medicine is really a game changer because it’s a metabolic medicine. It’s a GLP-1 agonist. We’re not going to go into all the biochemistry. Basically, it radically slows down gastric emptying. What that means, when you have a meal, you will get fuller faster and it will slow down your GI tract so that the fast food, you won’t get a few bites of that burger. Those chicken strips before, you’re going to feel really full.
We talked, interestingly, I’m going to have some patients, because I know your deep background in addiction medicine, that some people say certain foods taste different. Alcohol tastes differently for someone. I don’t know how to fully put that in, but I’ve had some people who just will not drink, and some sugary snacks don’t taste the same. The studies show it really can allow people to lose at least 50% of their total body mass. Think about that.
We talked about that person who’s 240 pounds. You could start to reasonably expect a 30-to-35-pound loss. That starts saying, “I could get to 200. I could get out of the 2X size. I could get back into shopping at a regular place.” That’s really powerful for them. That’s really different from when you say the diet and exercise of losing 5% of your total weight, it’s huge.
I was talking to a patient who has been on, I can’t remember if it was Wegovy or Ozempic, but nonetheless, the patient had been taking it for about 6 or 8 weeks at that point. She was saying that prior to starting it, she was what I think is referred to as grazing. A grazer. She would walk by the kitchen and if there was a jar of M&Ms on the counter, she’d stop and grab three M&Ms and snack on them. She’d go through the kitchen and if there was a candy bar at the office or somewhere here, and she tended to order dessert after meals when they went out to dinner.
She was not an alcoholic. She didn’t have a history of alcoholism.
No one in our family had a history of alcoholism. She was a social occasional drinker. She said, “It’s so interesting. My grazing has completely stopped. I walk through the kitchen and I look over and look at some M&Ms and I just turn away and keep walking. I don’t even think about it anymore.” One of the interesting things that happened to her was, “I may have gone out on a Friday night with friends or neighbors and had 3 or 4 glasses of wine. It’s so wild. I can have 1 or 2 glasses of wine and then just say, ‘You know what, I’m good for the evening.’” not being an alcoholic, but cutting down the number of drinks right from 4 to 2 makes a difference.
It makes a big health difference. It really brings up sometimes people’s attitudes because I’ve had some emergency phone calls after people started these medicines, especially the ones that really lead to some substantial weight and said, “It’s 11:00 and I haven’t had breakfast.” I said, “Okay.” They’ll say, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” I said, “Who told you that?” That’s one.
Ancient Romans didn’t even have breakfast. They didn’t have a word for it. Some will call me and say urgently, “I’m really upset. I didn’t clean my plate. I have food left over my plate. What do I do about this? Since I started the medicine, I can’t clean my plate.” I said, “Okay. That’s a good thing.” “No, my mother or my grandmother said you always have to clean your plate.” People might eat two times a day. They might not graze. They might have smaller meals. I think it’s really helpful. It sounds a lot like the intermittent fasting. It’s also so popular these days. Also, not having that sweet tooth or alcohol. That’s probably good for someone’s weight loss.
I remember many years ago, John Travolta and Oprah were talking about weight loss. He said, “The way I’ve lost my weight is I fill my plate the way I always have and I eat exactly 50% of it.” It seems like with Ozempic or Wegovy or these other medications that you’re prescribing for a healthier lifestyle. We’re seeing that people eat about 50% or 60% of it but not the whole plate. They’re not fatigued. They’re not tired. They have more energy. Not that it’s a motivator, but psychologically, it’s a motivator to get up and go to the gym.
I think if you really look at the field, it was always focusing on diet and exercise. That’s why I think it’s been a sea change in the whole field and why I’m interested in now because the field was always looking at diet and exercise. I think making people feel bad about their lifestyle choice, like it was a moral failing. What I’ve seen is the exact opposite. I see people who go on the medicine who don’t do anything with diet and exercise. They lose the first 5 or 10 pounds and they start to make a change and they say, “I got my husband to drag the thing from the garage.” Either the Stairmaster or the Peloton or the bike.
They drag the treadmill into their bedroom. They start eating. “I’m going to cut the fast food down, cut it to maybe once or twice instead of 3, 4 times a week.” It’s almost like it gets them started. As opposed to the traditional, and you’d probably know this in gastric bypass. I think the doctors say, “You need to lose this much before we’ll consider you to be a surgical candidate. We want to see your buy-in, that you have “skin” in the game.” I’m seeing the exact opposite. When people start to lose, it becomes a virtuous cycle. Of course, people say, “You’re a little better. You’re buying a smaller size. You get to throw out some of those clothes or donate them.”
BMI
When we’re not pushed to do something or we’re told, “If you don’t go exercise, pretty much you’re a loser,” what this is doing is psychologically motivating us to get out, feel better and exercise because we’re getting positive feedback anyway, instead of that negative feedback. Let’s talk about BMI. First of all, tell our audience what is BMI? For an average or typical, however you want to describe it, male, female, what’s a healthy BMI?
BMI is controversial and much maligned, but it’s still what defines overweight or obesity. Specifically, a BMI of 25 or above is clinically overweight. That’s 25 to 29.9. Above 30 is obese. When I use these terms, that’s that. You can calculate these things. There’s online. Just Google BMI calculator. You want to be mathematical. It’s your weight in kilograms. The pounds divide by 2.2, that’s your kilograms. That is divided by your height in meters. We don’t use the metric system. Squared. BMI does not apply to some of the people you and I see. Any elite athlete will come in, especially a running back, and will be clinically obese even though their total body fat might be 6%. It’s not going to apply to certain people.
“BMI is controversial and much maligned, but it’s still what defines overweight and obesity. Specifically, a BMI of 25 or above is clinically overweight – that’s 25 to 29.9 – and above 30 is obese.”
For kids, we use growth charts. If you remember the pediatrician’s office, they’ll have different growth charts and their 95% of a percentile of weight is what consider obese versus 85% for overweight in kids. Bottom line, that’s something you could look at now to see where you are. Some are going to be dismayed because some people I’ve had in my office, when I tell them it’s clinically obesity, this is medical condition, they’ll say, “No, I’m just curvy,” or, “I’m big boned.”
I don’t try to say it to reinforce stigma, but we really need to understand that this is putting them at risk. This could take healthy life years off. This could raise your risk of cardiovascular disease. A lot of times, I’ll ask about family history. If you’ve known someone who died from a stroke or had diabetes, and especially if they’ve had complications of diabetes, we’ve had multiple amputations. Such a nasty illness, how strongly linked they are to overweight or obesity.
You really raise their awareness. For many of them, they haven’t even had healthcare for many years. Including my doctor, lawyer patients, and Dr. Flowers. You know this. You do some labs or you just check their blood pressure. Surprise, they have hypertension or high blood pressure. They have diabetes. They have cholesterol problems. That’s when you start to say, “This is an issue we need to address,” and it is reversible. You give them hope.
That’s the key indicator right there, giving people hope. When people feel hope, they’re motivated. When they feel hopeless, they feel hopeless and they act hopeless.
You get a whole lot of childhood stories. I’ve had some people tell me that their parents put them on a “fat farm” or they were teased relentlessly or they had nicknames. I ask about that now in my evaluation because it brings up a lot of the childhood trauma that comes with it that also prevents people from taking appropriate action. Just tell him though, “That was you at 10, 14 or 18. This is you now. This could be the new you.” It’s very empowering. I think that’s where so much of the interest is. However, we talked about the Hollywood, it’s not there for the 5 or 10 pounds before the holidays. I got some of those calls too. It’s really meant for the best response for those people who really clinically meet criteria for that.
Age Criteria
Is there an age criteria in your mind for using weight loss management in your clinic?
Increasingly, no. In fact, some of my best results are in my teenagers because the biggest rise in obesity across our country now is in youth. We talked about some of the factors, and they are highly motivated. They’re some of my most motivated. A lot of them have not been taught how to eat. I know you do that here at J. Flowers very well. A lot of people don’t know. You talk to them.
My teenagers are really inclined. They also seem to respond very well to these interventions. Increasingly, I’m offering to them, whereas in the beginning, I was just focusing on those people I’ve treated for years. Usually adults in their 30s, 40s or 50s that have already started to have complications. I think it’s probably why child psychiatry is to catch people earlier before really all the problems and secondary issues that develop with mental illness, most of which develop before the age of eighteen. In fact, half develop before the age of fourteen. It’s the same thing with obesity. Before people have high blood pressure, diabetes or joint problems, get them early so they can lead a healthier life.
What about male versus female? Are you seeing a difference in the percentage of males versus females that come in? I would think, in my own mind, it’s probably more females. I’m hoping that you’re going to tell me, “No way. Those days are gone and it’s equal male-female.”
In my practice, no. I have a couple of patients that happen to be female that are wonderful apostles and tell all their friends. I think there’s a little bit more of like, “How did you do that? You’ve lost a lot of weight.” Once you tell them it’s not surgery because no one wants to do surgery, then they start. I think it is. I hope it is because many men in this country are silently suffering from it. Men already live a much shorter lifespan than women in our country. Diabetes, heart disease and obesity, all of those things, many of them stem from obesity and overweight. That is one way. I hope men reading will take it in themselves. If it’s for cosmetic, that’s fine. If they think it is, but it really is for their health.
“Many men in this country are silent suffering from that. Men already live much shorter lifespans than women in our country. Diabetes and heart disease many of those cases stem from obesity and being overweight.”
Episode Wrap-up
It’s for long-term longevity and health. Dr. Stevens, unfortunately, we’re just about out of time. What do you want leave the audience with in talking about a healthy weight, a healthy lifestyle? I also want to know how does everyone reach out to your office and get an appointment. I know everyone’s going to want to do this. Everyone wants to be healthy, that needs to be healthy.
You can look at my website. It’s JonStevensMD.com. They could go on there, find my information, and see if this is right for them. Book an appointment. To anyone reading, you can make a healthy lifestyle change now. Limit those high sugar, high-fat foods. Read some labels. If you don’t know what those ingredients are, it’s probably processed food.
Cook at home more. Cook with family. Get your kids cooking with you because you’re teaching them how to eat portion control. I guess like John Travolta, maybe get smaller plates. In your house, maybe that’s big plates. Also, trying to target 150 minutes per week of exercise. Try to prevent yourself from getting to that place in overweight or obesity. If you’re already there, seek help. Talk to your doctors.
Reach out to people like me or J. Flowers Health Institute. You have a whole team here. Reach out to teams and then, if you’ve had a positive journey, tell people about it. Share it because a lot of people still have not heard about it or have preconceived notions like it’s a personal failing that’s a character and it’s not.
Speaking of that, what I want to say real quick, and I’ll wrap up with this as well, is patients who have long-term depression and obesity, what we’re seeing is when they’re coming to see you is we’re not only seeing a decrease in their weight over time, we’re also seeing a significant decrease in their depression. When we look better, we feel better. When we’re satisfied with our bodies and we’re out doing things that we stopped doing because we didn’t feel good. We’re exercising a little bit more and we’re not grazing in the kitchen. We’re not getting up in the middle of the night to go grab some ice cream out of the freezer like maybe people used to. They intrinsically feel psychologically better.
We’ve seen amazing results here at J. Flowers long-term for patients that really need this. I’m with you. I know it’s very popular in Hollywood and LA and some people are utilizing it that may not be obese. What we want to stress is this really is for obesity. Talk to your doctor about it. Most importantly, call Dr. Stevens because he is board-certified in this and you need to see an expert. Dr. Stevens, thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, you bet. Reach out to JFlowersHealth.com or (713) 783-6655. Thank you, everybody, for tuning in. You can find us on iTunes and Spotify. Thanks, Dr. Stevens.
Thank you.
I’d like to remind everyone that there are numerous platforms on which to find our show, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Please share this episode on social media or with someone that you think it could help.
Absolutely.
We remind you also that a clear diagnosis is key to the most effective treatment possible.
Yes, it is.
See you next time.
Thanks again, Robin.
Thank you.
Important Links
- Dr. Jon Stevens
- YouTube – Understanding The Human Condition
- Apple Podcasts – Understanding The Human Condition
- Spotify – Understanding The Human Condition
- iHeart Radio – Understanding The Human Condition
- Subscribe on your favorite player
