Until she was in her mid-30swingo, Xanthia Walker rarely went to the doctor, even when she needed care. She didn’t want to step on the scale.
When she did go in — to treat sciatic nerve pain or get antibiotics — somehow the conversation always turned to her weight.
The effect could be potent, scientists say. Rivers contain carbon dioxide that is constantly escaping into the air, where it traps heat and warms the planet. But adding limestone converts some of that carbon dioxide into a stable molecule that instead stays underwater and washes into the sea, where it should remain trapped for thousands of years.
“Even when I went in about migraines, the response was, ‘Well, if you lost weight that would probably go away,’" she recalled.
That changed when Ms. Walker, 40, who lives in Phoenix, found a new physician. Dr. Natasha Bhuyan rejects what she calls the “weight-centric” model of medicine.
Instead, she favors a “weight-inclusive” approach recognizing that people come in different shapes and sizes, and that the number on the scale does not necessarily predict health status.
“When a person comes in, the first thing we do is not check their weight,” said Dr. Bhuyan, who is the vice president of in-office care and national medical director at One Medical, a primary care practice owned by Amazon.
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