Bringing Lifestyle Medicine to Black Women: Aajay Shah and Meryl Fury on PYP 484
Channel: Sick to Fit | Plant Yourself Podcast
Date: 2021-09-29

Meryl Fury, RN, and Aajay Shah, MD, have teamed up to fight obesity and chronic disease among Black women in America.

The statistics are horrifying: Black women live, on average, 4-5 years fewer than white women. Their rate of obesity is 55%, making them the most overweight demographic in the country.

And as women go, so go children; there's now an epidemic of childhood obesity that hits Black communities extra hard.

We began by talking about why; what is it about Black women that predisposes them to obesity?

The answer is complicated, because the question could just as well be phrased, "What is it about our society that predisposes Black women to obesity?"

Fury talked about historical circumstances that favored "curvier" women; from African cultures to the artificial selection of white slaveholders to the "natural" selection of maltreatment and malnutrition that rendered those with extra body fat more likely to survive. And the economic disparities that turn some communities into "food deserts" in which finding healthy food is literally impossible. And the marketing arm of the food industry. And well-earned distrust of the medical establishment.

So what to do about it?

Dr Shah shared his vision of medicine, one in which physicians are trusted partners and friends of their patients. One in which they have more than 6 minutes per visit to explore their patients' worlds and mindsets and obstacles and questions and goals. One in which they can get paid for proactive wellness rather than after-the-fact treatment of disease.

Those aren't empty words, either. Dr Shah has quit his lucrative cardiology practice to shift to lifestyle medicine. And as he's made the shift, he's (re)discovered the joy and spiritual power of practicing caring, compassionate, patient-centered medicine.

Rather than the mainstream model of "fighting" disease, Dr Shah now uses diet and lifestyle to make peace with disease. To collaborate with the body to restore health.

Throughout all their years of medical training, neither Fury nor Shah learned how to be a "healer." Now they're both combining their valuable medical education with heart-based and lifestyle-based interventions, and loving their work. And considering that something close to 50% of MDs and 70% of RNs will experience burnout in their careers, that's remarkable.

Fury and Shah don't charge for their public education and advocacy. You can find them on Facebook and YouTube (links below). They're building this to scale; not for themselves, but so that others can duplicate and improve upon their efforts to bring the message and practical tools of lifestyle change to disadvantaged and marginalized and sick people everywhere.
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