Welcome to season 2 of Living Breathing Medicine! To kick off another season of honest conversations about the human side of medicine, Dr. Natasha Beauvais and Dr. Cecily Havert talk with Dr. Ira Marathe. Dr. Marathe is a family practice doctor in Northern Virginia, who is board certified in Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine. She shares the story of working together with a new patient to learn how personal history influences behavioral decisions.

Episode Highlights:

• • 0:34 – 1:44 – Dr. Cecily Havert and Dr. Natasha Beauvais kick off season 2 of Living Breathing Medicine Podcast by introducing their guest, Dr. Ira Marathe. Dr. Marathe, who is board certified in Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine, introduces herself and thanks the providers for inviting her on the podcast.
  • 1:56 – 6:52 – Dr. Havert asks Dr. Marathe about a patient or experience that has touched or moved her in a significant way – Dr. Marathe also provides an explanation for “obesity medicine” and what she specializes in. “The backstory’s everything, really.”
  • 7:37 – 10:25 – “So it did take us a few visits to uncover a lot of that. And these were things that she had never said out loud that she remembered anyway. And it was just, just sitting there and witnessing her say that was really, I think, helpful for her. It was helpful for her to say it, and it was helpful for her to have a witness to it because so much of childhood trauma is denied by the patient and the people that they maybe have grown up with who don’t want to acknowledge that this has happened.”
  • 10:32 – 12:53 – For Dr. Marathe, it’s all about self-compassion. “It’s a lot of self-compassion. I explain to her that we have to come from a place of self-compassion because it’s not her fault that she endured this trauma.”
  • 13:37 – 16:28 – Dr. Marathe speaks to the psychology behind why many diets tend to fail, and why overly restricting yourself may not have the intended effects.
  • 16:50 – 19:03 – “So if you’re feeding them (babies) very high-caloric dense food or juices, the very high sugar content spikes the baby’s insulin, which creates more hunger. And so then we have thrown things off by the time children are toddlers – being exposed to some sweet things is fine, but it’s when a child is thirsty and you always give them juice instead of water that trains them to want something sweet.”
  • 19:09 – 26:33 – Dr. Marathe discusses the relationship between stress/trauma and food, and how that can lead to emotional eating.
  • 26:56 – 27:53 – “And you know, so much of behavior change is rooted in self-understanding because if we can understand why we do the things that we do, then from there we can figure out how to change the behavior.”
  • 28:03 – 32:44 – As they close out the episode, the providers ask Dr. Marathe how she has seen her own growth throughout her career and working with her patients. “I think it’s really important to understand that we as primary care doctors, we’re not psychologists, but if we don’t unpack it, if we don’t bring it up into the open then they won’t know that it’s something that they can get help with.”
  • 33:16 – 33:55 – Dr. Beauvais concludes the episode by thanking Dr. Marathe for joining them and for such a candid conversation. Dr. Beauvais also tells listeners to stay tuned for episode 2, and where to find Living Breathing Medicine on social media.

Living Breathing Medicine is a podcast from Northern Virginia Family Practice. Find us on Facebook and LinkedIn, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also nominate health care providers for future interviews here.