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Welcome to “Should I Call a Doctor?” The podcast where we dive into trending health topics to separate fact from fiction. We bring in experts to talk about all things health, to empower you with knowledge and answer your questions hosted by Inova Health.
Welcome to Should I Call a Doctor? The podcast where we dive into the questions you have about your health and today's trending health topics to separate fact from fiction. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Samuel Elgawy, an internal medicine physician at Inova.
Tracey:I'm Tracey Schroeder. I lead communications for Inova. Doctor Sam will give you
Tracey:the clinical perspective while I ask the questions that keep patients up at night. Today, we have 2 guests to discuss a topic that's been all over the news, weight loss. We'll be talking to them today about surgical and nonsurgical options, the risks and benefits of each, and who is eligible.
Sam:Doctor Amir Moazzez is a board certified bariatric surgeon with extensive training and experience in the field. We're excited to sort of have you, Doctor Moazzez, tell us a little bit more about yourself. I'm not gonna be able to say it as well as you will. Doctor Moazzez is, I'm happy to say, one of the top bariatric surgeons in the Washington DC region, having performed over 5,000 weight loss surgeries. It is very nice to meet you, doctor Moazzez.
Amir Moazzez:It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Sam:And doctor Mehta is a board certified obesity medicine specialist with a background in internal medicine. And for the last 4 years, she has focused her practice on the prevention and treatment of obesity and related comorbidities. Welcome and thank you for joining us today. So maybe each of you just tell us a little bit more about yourselves. We'll start with you, Doctor Mehta, and then go to Doctor Mehta.
Meetal Mehta:So I actually, you know, started out my practice actually learning more about nutrition in general. And so I have training in kind of the spectrum, obesity as well as underweight. So, I was doing a lot inpatient with that but now I've really kind of focused on treating obesity, obesity related medical issues, really trying to focus on just overall metabolic health.
Amir Moazzez:Doctor Moazzez? I am the director of weight loss services, at Inova, and, we have one of the first, centers of excellence, in the area for the past, at least, 15 years.
Sam:That is wonderful. And, I mean, look, as we all know, this is a very important topic. Right? We see it in the news.
Sam:We see it on social media. We talk about it with friends. We talk about it with family. And it's, you know, there's a lot of misconceptions. There are a lot of viewpoints on the subject that almost feels political sometimes and a lot of stigma around medical weight loss and just around the term obesity itself.
Sam:Really, it's an honor to have you guys and the work that you guys are doing is so important because obesity, you know, really links to so many other things in the health care world. Right? Whether it's other disease processes, hypertension, diabetes, mental health.
Tracey:Let's start with a very simple question. Is obesity a disease?
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. Obesity absolutely is a medical condition and one of the things we want to make sure is that we're treating it as a disease and not just a short term treatment because not only are we treating obesity, we're trying to treat all the medical issues that kinda come with the obesity. So, absolutely, it's a medical disease and there are so many factors that kind of go into, you know, the cause you know, the etiology or what causes the obesity, and also kind of how to treat it.
Tracey:Meaning, like, whether it's genetic or whether it's lifestyle related and probably other things beyond those.
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. Absolutely. There's, you know, of course, there's a genetic predisposition, lifestyle, but then there's also medications that can actually put on weight for our patients, and we can't necessarily change that in many situations. There's, epigenetics, which is really just, you know, when you're in your mother's womb, things just in her environment can predispose you to having obesity as an adult. Sleep and stress are also very important and just something that we like to focus on as well in the treatment of obesity.
Meetal Mehta:And so there are a lot of things that kind of go into it.
Tracey:Very helpful. How about how about you?
Amir Moazzez:Yeah. The NIH term obesity as a disease state about 20 years ago. The AMA did the same thing about 15 years ago. And it's a disease state because it is the common denominator for for many conditions that our patients are suffering from are diabetes and hypertension and the, high cholesterol are precursors to heart disease. There's definite evidence obesity increases the risk of cancers significantly.
Amir Moazzez:And now when patients lose the weight, there's 20 to 40 percent reduction in these cancers, which is very complicated. I don't want to go into it. So it's definitely a disease state, and we need to, as physicians, look at it as a disease state. I like to think and I tell my patients I feel like obesity is one of the last acceptable discriminations in our society. No one talks about that.
Amir Moazzez:And, and our patients need deserve better than that, and we need and we owe it to our population to to treat them, to get them out of this condition that does not leave them alone, not even for a minute, not even for even if they go to sleep, they may be suffering from sleep apnea. They can't get into the right position. They can go to their kids' soccer game, and do what they need to do, and they
Tracey:Climb a set of stairs.
Amir Moazzez:It impacts every aspect of a patient's life.
Tracey:Yeah. And I can definitely see that. And, you know, I think in some ways, you know, now talking about it more, talking about the the medical routes different patients can take whether surgical or nonsurgical is maybe reducing that stigma somewhat. I think, you know, we used to hear that, you know, some people would resist even going to the doctor because they were embarrassed about how they looked and they felt like, oh, well, I'll just be guilted for being overweight or shamed and so they didn't wanna go see a doctor at all. So are you still seeing that from your patients, or do you find by the time they're coming in and seeing you, like, they are ready.
Tracey:They want that help. They want the solutions. They're ready to kind of take what take the steps necessary.
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. So I think in the past, a lot of people had difficulty going to their doctors because there was so little to offer. We would just go to them and say, you know, just exercise a little bit more, change your diet, and we didn't have as much to offer. But now that we're learning so much about the disease and now there are options in terms of treatment with medications and now we know, you know, how much exercise may be helpful and things like that. We have more concrete things.
Meetal Mehta:To be honest, when patients come to us, they are already asking for that help. So, the first step that they usually do is they go to their primary doctors, they bring up their concern, and the primary doctors do a lot of that, you know, talking to them about those sensitive topics. And so by the time they're with us, they're ready. They're ready to make a a big change.
Amir Moazzez:Yeah. As a as a whole, society of medical providers, we need to do better Mhmm. To to make our patients feel at ease and, and talk about the problem and not just, treating the diabetes and hypertension and the sleep apnea and just marginally mention weight loss, but really talk about that weight loss, and improving the metabolic state as the main problem that's causing all the other issues.
Tracey:That's right.
Amir Moazzez:That's what we need to do better. It is exciting times, though. Before we had surgery or we had nothing.
Amir Moazzez:we had all these, you know, go exercise and
Tracey:Make a lifestyle change.
Amir Moazzez:You have to remember someone who's £200, they cannot overweight. They cannot go exercise to the point that they're losing a lot of weight. They may actually injure themselves. Yes. And that's why we, we were very excited to, incorporate a medical weight loss program along with our surgical weight loss program because we saw that patients, at some point, they needed, surgical treatment.
Amir Moazzez:At at some point, they need medical treatment. At some point, they need both of them. So
Tracey:So talk a little bit more about what that process is. When a patient comes to you, do they automatically start with the non surgical options and if those aren't successful, then move into the surgical options? Or are there other things that might earlier in the path kinda take them down one route or the other?
Amir Moazzez:So we know better now. I think we know we know that there are, limitations to medications for weight loss. At best, weight losses, I think, doctor Mehta can definitely talk about more of this. But, let's say 10, 20% of your weight loss. So someone who's, let's say, 400 pounds, if they lose 40 pounds, that really doesn't make a major impact.
Amir Moazzez:So we know better that, there are several studies, one recently in JAMA in February, that showed the long term weight loss with surgical patients versus medical patients, whose BMI the starting BMI was high was much better with surgery. So we can actually tailor it if your BMI is over a certain amount, if you're over a certain amount of excess body weight, let's say a 100 pounds over your ideal body weight, you're much better served long term with surgery than medications.
Tracey:Your outcomes are going to be better.
Amir Moazzez:So outcomes long term outcomes. We're not talking about short short term outcomes. Your outcomes are gonna be better long term. Now medications there are a lot of medications that are gonna come out in the future, but at this point, our surgical, outcomes for very high BMI patient, morbidly obese patients, are better than nonsurgical treatment.
Tracey:Let's talk a little bit about what's been in the media. That's been, you know, very well covered in the last year, Ozempic and Wegovy and the like. And it sounds like, you know, from what I've seen in the news, even more medicine medication options are are coming out, and there's different pros and cons to them. And so how do you evaluate if a patient is a candidate for one of those drugs?
Meetal Mehta:So, you know, first of all, we we use the BMI. Of course, that's not a great indicator of metabolic health because it really just takes the height and weight into account, but there's a lot of other processes going on in the body. But And BMI being? Body mass index. Yes.
Meetal Mehta:Now, in terms of kind of the BMI, you know, we for safety purposes, for insurance purposes, there have been strict cutoffs as somebody who has a body mass index of 27 with a comorbidity that's related to the weight, which would be things like sleep apnea, fatty liver, blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, they would qualify for the medication, as well as anybody with a body mass index of 30 or higher with or without those medical issues. Now, of course, the medications that are on the market are, most of them were originally made for other purposes. So, sometimes we look at a patient, look at their comorbidities, and see which medication would look, would work better for them. Maybe it's kind of working to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. You know, if they have diabetes, we use one of the injectable medications that can help with both weight loss and the diabetes.
Meetal Mehta:But now we are also seeing that these injectable medications like Wegovy, Saxenda, and the most recent is Zepbound are kind of the best on the market. And so we're using this, you know, more frequently. We've actually created significant nationwide shortages of these medications, but, you know, they've been very helpful in that sense. We've seen a lot of stuff in the media of, you know, using it short term for an occasion. They're really not designed to kind of use the medications that way.
Meetal Mehta:The lifestyle, physical activity help the medication kind of work better and you'll lose more weight in that setting. So, to kind of answer your question about, you know, should you just use it short term, is it an easy button, it's really not. No matter what you do for weight loss, consistency with the behavioral changes are going to be necessary. And, you know, what we see is that I've seen patients who lose the weight really well with the medications and weren't able to kind of comply with nutrition, physical activity changes, and then while on the medications start putting the weight back on. And that's that's something that I tell them right in the beginning.
Meetal Mehta:We really want to focus on everything else as well, not just the medication route.
Tracey:That it's got to be a piece of a larger puzzle.
Sam:Yeah. And it's similar. I mean, we see this way of thinking in a lot of other medical diseases. It's just it's so interesting how with obesity, because of the stigma, because maybe there's so much that's outwardly obvious about it and aesthetic, we we suddenly form value judgments about it. But this is no different than high cholesterol, high blood pressure.
Sam:We have no problem saying, hey, we'll start you on a statin for elevated cholesterol, but please make sure you're also exercising and watching your diet in conjunction with that. Or coronary artery disease, we say, we're gonna shove a stent in your body, open up your artery, but you gotta make sure you stop smoking. And that's a very acceptable conversation and but somehow when we talk about obesity, it's like you should only be focusing on the exercise and weight loss. And so it's so interesting hearing you talk how if we really think about obesity as a disease, the way you guys describe it the same way we do, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, which also can have external factors. Yes.
Sam:Is it possible that my elevated cholesterol is because I have been I've made certain lifestyle choices? Sure. But that doesn't change the fact that a medication combined with lifestyle modification may still be the best way to go. Just remove the stigma out it.
Sam:It's a disease like any other disease.
Amir Moazzez:If you read I mean, if you would never say no to a patient who's had a coronary artery bypass graft who has another clotted Yeah. Vessel that
Amir Moazzez:I'm not gonna open the artery.
Sam:You're taking the easy way out
Amir Moazzez:You're taking the easy way out. You're
Sam:opening
Amir Moazzez:the artery. So the stigma is unreal and I think that it's time to, for us as a whole medical society or Even the culture.
Tracey:Yeah.
Amir Moazzez:Yeah. To start thinking about us differently. Because these are real people with real families with 15 to 20 years of decreased life expectancy if
Amir Moazzez:they don't lose their weight.
Sam:Real consequences.
Amir Moazzez:Yeah. My, my mom had pancreatic cancer, right? She had surgery. She lived 1 year after that. No one said you had a 12 hour surgery just to live 1 more year.
Amir Moazzez:But for when it comes to obesity, the stigma is like, you're gonna live 20 more years
Amir Moazzez:With less medical problems.
Sam:And live better.
Amir Moazzez:And live better.
Sam:A higher quality life. Longer and better.
Tracey:And 20 more years if you address this.
Amir Moazzez:You'll be going to King's Dominion with your kids. But it's, you know, it's it's, it's very difficult. And to change that the stigma, it's going take years. I know there's new medications, and, it's going take generations of physicians coming and going and thinking about it. This whole business is going be different.
Tracey:Well, and changing the stigma among the medical community is only one piece of it. I mean, you have the fashion community. You have I mean, weight loss is the or obesity is the one thing or or maybe one of a handful of medical issues that people feel permission to comment on that can they can observe with the naked eye. Like, I can't look at you and be like,
Tracey:how's that cholesterol? Looks high of me. You know? Like No.
Sam:And even if if you did,
Sam:if they said my cholesterol's high, you'd be like, okay. Good luck. There would there would be no
Sam:other subtle or unsubtle value statement to your question. Right?
Sam:Along those lines, you were talking about okay, you start someone on a medication. Okay. They meet these criteria in conjunction with behavioral modification, etcetera.
Sam:What is the data or is there data or guideline on how long do you use these? Right? So, again, the philosophy we've discussed, if we were to say it's remotely similar to high blood pressure or cholesterol, it's like you just take the medication and then eventually, if you've truly established a state where you've really removed the external factors that we believe caused x, Let's say it's the high blood pressure. Then maybe we can wean you off a medication. Is it the same paradigm for this or is it something different?
Sam:Do we not have enough information yet?
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. So, I mean, what we've seen kind of anecdotally on my end is, yes, we've been able to we treat obesity as a disease just like the other, you know, medical conditions and it tends to need long term treatment.
Sam:Can you define long term?
Meetal Mehta:So, a lot of these medications are not necessarily they weren't originally approved for long term use, so we don't necessarily have as much data on there. Yeah. But we've seen patients so some of the injectable well, all of the injectables that we use for weight loss are used in patients for diabetes. And so those patients need these medications long term. So, we've seen that these people have been using these for years without significant issues.
Meetal Mehta:In terms of kind of keeping the weight off, of course, we were we have been successful in taking patients off of the medications, but we typically see that a lot of patients do need some dose to kind of keep a lot of that weight off. And it's really kind of just how these medications work that, you know, kind of requires that.
Sam:Yeah. And, Doctor Moazzez, you know, you had mentioned earlier, you know, one of the clear categories that benefits from surgical intervention, of course, is your high to very high BMI. We just know that that's who's gonna benefit from it and medications will only take you so far. Is there a subset of patients who are not in that category? Maybe they don't start with the BMI greater than 40 or or around there who who still are recommended or that you find are the beneficiaries of a surgical intervention, whether it's a disease based or I just ...
Sam:Okay. I'm not 400 pounds. I'm 225 pounds but I just my knees hurt. My, you know, I really want to be active.
Tracey:I've not been successful.
Sam:Or I've tried. I've tried every where is that? Where does that fit?
Amir Moazzez:That's a great question, because just, this past year, the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery endorsed surgery since surgeries have become so safe. Right? With low morbidity, low mortality. So diabetics, with BMI over 30 are candidates for surgery.
Amir Moazzez:Before it used to be a 35.
Sam:it was down to 30.
Amir Moazzez:Yeah. And now it's down to 30. And if you have no comorbid conditions, now clinically, I can offer surgeons someone whose BMI is 35.
Amir Moazzez:That means about 80 pounds overweight. But insurance companies are not there yet, so it's not very well adopted. But clinically, before I was I would say no. Stop at the door. Yeah.
Amir Moazzez:Because, you know, if something goes wrong, I didn't have the indication for surgery.
Sam:Yeah. Of course.
Amir Moazzez:Now the indication is there. So if you're diabetic, and many studies have shown that the stampede trial, the the arm study that was, published in, arm, type t d t two d, type 2 diabetes. It was just published in February in JAMA this year, showed that 12 of 12 year follow ups of how diabetes, has higher remission rates in patients that had surgery or needing less medications in 12 years after their surgery. So there's definitely benefit. They have significant benefit from surgery in those patients.
Tracey:Specifically for diabetes type 2 diabetes.
Amir Moazzez:Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes.
Sam:Makes sense.
Sam:How much is there an opportunity separate from the medication, separate from the surgery? There is something going on here that perhaps we can influence at a larger level or isn't there? It's just, listen, this is the trend and we we are managing it the best we can.
Amir Moazzez:So right now, we are the 2nd heaviest country in the world. Mexico took the number one spot away from us. And if you go to cdc.org, centerfordiseasecontrol.org, and look look at the rates of obesity. In the past 20 years, you see the significant increase in rates of obesity. So, you know, yes, genetics does play a role in obesity.
Amir Moazzez:For sure, we know about it, but our behavior and our eating habits play a major role in that. That's what really creates this perfect storm Yeah. That results in obesity. And and it's a major and right now, obesity kills more people in the world than famine does. I mean, if you think about that, obesity is killing more people than than famine does.
Amir Moazzez:So, our our processed foods or the industry is not here, is not helping us.
Amir Moazzez:So, the the external factors are definitely And and and you can tell, like, when you go to the further and further from cities, the problem obesity becomes more and more in the in the smaller towns where there is less available, maybe healthy foods, and there's more fast food restaurants and all that. And, people it's very easy to get people are busy. They they commute long long hours, and and these are very accessible, these types of foods.
Tracey:So let's think about it, from but maybe a potential patient, someone listening, today and thinking, like, I didn't even know that I had this myriad of weight loss options, almost a menu of options and help that is out there, you know. I think people often think about, like, you know, Weight Watchers or Zoom or just those sort of commercial programs to managing this, but that they really could be tackling this a whole different way, which is with their physician. Can you reckon you mentioned earlier starting that conversation with your primary care. Is is the work you're doing, the patients you're seeing, are they mostly coming through primary care first, or some of them coming directly to you? They're sort of self selecting and saying, like, nope.
Tracey:I need to go to a specialist that can help me with this. I'm I know this is my issue.
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. I think with a lot of the, you know, medication and a lot of the the media out there and the social media, a lot of people are taking that control themselves and, you know, coming in saying, you know what, I need to I'm ready. I'm ready to take control. I want to know what's out there. So it's nice to have, you know, when when a patient comes in and, you know, they they know that they're not forced, oh, my primary care told me that I need to lose weight.
Meetal Mehta:I don't know why I'm here. That we've seen that, but I think a lot more people, because there is so much information out there, they're taking control of their own kind of medical conditions. And it's really nice to see when they come in and they actually say, you know, I know that my high blood pressure is because of the weight, I know that my knees will feel so much better. And so, they're motivated by all these other things, that I think, you know, may not have been well established knowledge until more recently.
Tracey:And how long are they under your care? So if somebody comes to you, and I'm sure it has to do with, like, well, how much is it 30 pounds? Is it 50? Is it several 100, you know, pounds overweight? You know, how long are you are you seeing a patient forever?
Tracey:Are you seeing them until they reach a goal weight?
Meetal Mehta:Honestly, it's a long term relationship. We want this to be forever because if, you know, there's there's always things that can derail the process and, you know, ups and downs, we want to make sure that, you know, we're supporting them in every way that they they need. And, of course, one of the things is, you know, especially after surgery, one of the things that I like about, you know, having that combined surgery and medical practice is that even patients after surgery, if they need support or even longer term, just monitoring for, you know, nutrition labs and just making sure that they're on track. It's nice to have that collaboration. I think this is a new concept that's coming up in many fixes.
Tracey:What can a patient expect for both of you in terms of that, you know, care that you surround them with? How do you surround them with sort of a full whole person care?
Amir Moazzez:That that I think that's the that's the most important part of this. When we have a when we when I mentioned that centers of excellence, that just doesn't mean I'm I'm there with doctor Mehta. It's because we have, we have, for example, in our practice, we have, like, 3 diet 4 diet 3 dietitians. We have 3 exercise physiologists. We have, 3 behavioral therapists.
Amir Moazzez:We have physician extenders, like nurse practitioners and peers.
Sam:Plan of care. Yeah. That's
Amir Moazzez:great. You know, there's some part that I can do really well. There's some part that she does really well. There's the education about the diet dietary education or dietitians do well.
Amir Moazzez:My dietitian has been Marie has been with me with us for, like, about 15 years. So so they really are passionate about this as well. And, to your earlier point, most patients are self referred. And and and I wanna tell patients that, put the stigma away. You know, come in, see what we have to offer.
Tracey:You're investing in your health.
Amir Moazzez:Investing in your health. See what options are open to you. You're not ready for surgery? That's okay. Go the medical way, but don't stop there if you know and see the results.
Amir Moazzez:There are a lot of effective, safe ways for you to get down to your healthy you. But, but come and be be active part of this. If if the patients are not an active part of this journey, it's it's not gonna work very well. And what we do, we empower them to make the right decision when they go to the grocery store, when they go to a restaurant. Because some of the things that we may think is very as a physician, oh, I know what this this is, this is healthy and this is not healthy.
Amir Moazzez:Many of our patients don't, and they realize this. And then they make the right choices if they know what the right choices are.
Sam:It's interesting. I mentioned earlier when I was talking to you guys, I was having lunch, just a few hours ago with an old colleague who I hadn't seen in a while. And we were just catching up and he was like, how's your day? Etcetera. And I said, you know, I'm gonna be doing a podcast later and we're gonna talk about obesity, new medication, surgery, etcetera.
Sam:And he told me, you know what? Let me tell you a story. You know, he was about £207. BMI would probably not have been particularly high, maybe somewhere between 27 to 30, something like that. And he had done intermittent fasting for a year, said I went from 207 to 191, but he said for the entire year, a, I still felt hungry all the time at night, didn't feel great, my blood pressure medication dose, ramipril, it's an it's a blood pressure medication, was at 20 milligrams.
Sam:He had, reflux, heartburn, was taking a medication for that. And his wife kept taking him out of bed because his snoring was unbearable. He said, I kept going, went down to the one eighties, tried even harder with exercise, diet, still no difference, gets on Wegovy. So this is the reason I mentioned this is to say he has 3 comorbidities and in case our listeners don't know what a comorbidity is, that's what they are. It's diseases or diagnoses that occur in conjunction with whatever we're talking about.
Sam:In this case, obesity.
Tracey:So heartburn, acid reflux? Yeah.
Sam:In his case, it would be acid reflux, hypertension. And I don't know if he had sleep apnea, but it sure sounds like it. We'll say sleep apnea, snoring. He gets on with Govee, follows the instructions of the of the providers taken care of in conjunction with his continued behavior modification, drops below the 180 range into the 1 seventies. And and this person is not a the type who exaggerates or is dramatic says, no more reflux.
Sam:I got off the medication. The blood pressure medication went from 20 milligrams down to 5, which is really just north of stopping the medication. 0 snoring, which I'm sure improved the relationship with his wife and says I physically feel better than I have, maybe, since I was in my twenties. So I know this sounds like I'm doing some advertisement, but it is a live story that just happened 3 hours ago from someone who does not fall within the stigma of obesity, someone I would not have expected to hear this from, but a powerful, powerful story of the lifestyle alter, modification, the truly multidisciplinary approach that he took, and then, ultimately, the need and honest approach to saying, I need help and what a difference it's made to his life, his marriage, his medication use, etcetera. I mean,
Tracey:it sort of makes me have a question for you hearing that story, which is is there that what's the magic threshold that he that all of these other things went away?
Amir Moazzez:And that's every they're different in everyone. Right?
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. And and that's what
Meetal Mehta:it is. It it is different in everyone. And I I actually tell all of my patients this, that I don't care about the number on the scale. I wanna know that your blood pressure is getting better. You're not
Sam:That's your guide.
Meetal Mehta:That's it. That's it. And that's the threshold. Like, when you're feeling better, you're sleeping better.
Amir Moazzez:Not only we don't care. They don't care. They they don't care about the number. Yeah.
Sam:They want to feel better.
Amir Moazzez:They want to sleep better. They wanna
Tracey:Be able to close
Tracey:their jeans. Medications.
Sam:They don't
Amir Moazzez:want to inject themselves. Yeah. I mean, and to that point, then now you know how great it feels for me to walk in the office and get a hug from patients. Oh, yeah.
Sam:Literally. What a change.
Amir Moazzez:So it's a it's a great feeling. And, again, we feel very fortunate about what we do. And I think that's, it's it's it's great when patients take that really brave step. It is it is not an easy decision to make to come and change your organs around or have surgery, especially for guys. Right?
Amir Moazzez:Guys don't want to have anything to do with medicine. Yeah. But but but it is We can
Tracey:definitely validate. It's another stigma.
Amir Moazzez:These are all
Sam:I am a physician so it even worse.
Amir Moazzez:Yeah, exactly. So but it's but it's not the easy way out. It's a way out because they're going to come out. They want they want a way out. They're gonna get a tool, whether with medications, whether with surgery, it's a tool for them to help them lose their weight, and we do that in every part of medicine.
Amir Moazzez:We use that for cholesterol. We use the tools that our physicians give us every day to get better, and the stigma should be removed from treatment of obesity.
Tracey:Right. The Yeah. Treat it. Treat it. Yeah.
Tracey:What if we missed? You guys have shared so much great information with us today. What would you like to leave our listeners with? Let's start with non surgical options.
Meetal Mehta:Yeah. I mean, I think, first step is just realizing that it's an issue. You know, realizing that it's something that's affecting the entire life, taking away the stigma and, you know, coming to just see what the options are for patients. The the other thing is, you know, yes, we have medications, we have surgery, but we also have support for everything else and I think that's the most important part because these medications, the the surgery, they they're a tool to help you make those healthier decisions, and that's the ultimate goal. We want that to be kind of the the focus when it comes to the weight loss journey.
Amir Moazzez:Yep. And I think I want patients to know they're exciting times. There's a lot more available now than it was 15 years ago. So come, and and see what we have to offer. There is no commitment when you come and see us in the office.
Amir Moazzez:Just learn about what what it is, that you can do to really make a major impact in your in your life.
Sam:Thank you for what you guys do. I've learned a lot from this. And certainly as a physician will do my part to work with you guys and others to help reduce the stigma and encourage our patients to take that extra step. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed this episode.
Tracey:If you liked what you heard, be sure to subscribe.