FOOD AND FAMILY: A Systemic Approach to Battling the Bulge
FOOD AND FAMILY: A Systemic Approach to Battling the Bulge
By James E. “Jed” Foster, Jr., MA, LMFT
As a trained systemic therapist, it’s nearly impossible for me to approach anything with a singular lens. We are, after all, a product not only of those things that makes us an individual, but also by our families, our communities, our jobs, our friends, our ethnicity, and more. There are “invisible forces” within our contextual existence that influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors every minute of every day. So, when patients enter Comprehensive Gastrointestinal Health’s weight management program looking for strategies to reclaim their overall health and well-being, I look to get an overhead view of how these forces are at play in their lives. It’s an integral part of the ongoing assessment process that will lead both the patient and me to the best points of entry for effective interventions that will yield the best results for each patient’s goals.
In the September/October issue of Family Therapy Magazine (click link below), authors Keely Pratt, PhD, and Megan Ferriby Ferber, PhD take an in-depth look at both clinical collaboration and systemic treatment considerations for pediatric and adult weight management.
https://www.aamft.org/documents/FTM/SO19forweb-compressed.pdf
The article describes the need for an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach that incorporates behavioral, dietary, and medical assessment and intervention; which is precisely what Dr. Troy has built here at Comprehensive Gastrointestinal Health. Dr. Troy, Nurse Practitioner, Elizabeth Moon, Registered Dietician, Claire Allen, and I work together to get a complete overhead view of each patient so that we can tailor an effective treatment plan that sets them on a course for long-term, sustained success in their weight management journey.
Dr. Pratt and Dr. Ferber also discuss how, though studies have shown that engaging family members in weight management programs can help individuals be more successful, most weight management programs lack familial involvement. Despite the “invisible forces” at play in both creating and sustaining an individual’s habits and rituals around food, they argue, clinicians are failing to address the problem systemically with interventions that can promote wide-ranging changes in the family system that promote better health. Here are some of the points of entry for systemic intervention the authors touch on in the article:
- Family meal preparation and practices, paying specific attention to communication and interactions patterns during these activities.
- Physical activity in the family, focusing on fun and active time spent with family members in non- competitive environments.
- Reducing excess screen time by individuals and the overall family by trying to do more activities that involve in-person interactions (like family games).
- Ensuring family members are communicating messages about overall healthy habits and behaviors, rather than about individuals’ body shape, size, and weight.
- Helping families to address systemic weight stigma and bias experienced by children and/or adults in school/ work, home, and community settings.
- Aiding families in having agency (asserting their choices and decisions with their healthcare team) and communion (feeling as sense of community) with their weight management team.
Pratt & Skelton (2018)
Losing weight and keeping it off involves changing one’s habits. The habits that resulted in weight gain didn’t develop in a vacuum overnight, they are the amalgamation of both internal and external forces at play in the lives of patients. The path to better health and well-being therefore involves interventions that target the systemic forces at play in patient’s lives. Call 224.407.4400 or visit compgihealth.com to schedule an appointment and we can help get you on the desired path.