I tried to find my place in health care for fifteen years. Then I just built it myself.
I started dieting when I was nine years old.
Not because anyone told me to. Because I'd absorbed, somewhere between the playground and the grocery store checkout line, that my tall, fast-growing body was something to manage. In the 1990s, when your body becomes public commentary before you even understand what that means, you learn quickly: it's safer to see yourself through other people's eyes first.
So I did. I read diet books as a child. Tried every plan, every protocol. I was a varsity athlete. I studied nutrition in high school—food physiology, exercise science, all of it. In university, while rowing competitively, I developed anorexia nervosa.
Recovery took years. What I learned: self-objectification doesn't automatically disappear when you get healthier. But you can learn a gentler way. Every year, I got a little better at knowing myself, at caring for myself. Once you decide that's how you're going to live, you never stop.
The Medical Training Gaps
After graduate school and work in public health, I went to medical school. I gained significant weight throughout training. Then I started a busy rural emergency medicine practice, working constantly, not caring for myself in the way I now wish I had. Within a few years of starting practice, I reached my highest weight.
By then, I'd lived the entire spectrum of sizes multiple times.
I'd made peace with what felt like the only options: be very hungry, or be fat. And honestly, as you get older and start to actually like yourself, you're not willing to starve anymore. So you think, okay, I suppose I'm just going to be fat. And actually, that's okay.
Then my first pregnancy became complicated. My daughter was five months old when the pandemic started. I was an emergency physician working constantly in an increasingly broken system, at my highest weight, exhausted.
For the first time in my life, I went to a weight loss specialist.
I had no expectations—all I'd ever seen was failure.
I was fortunate to encounter a doctor who said something that changed everything: "By the way, this disease is not what you think it is."
He opened a door. But I walked through it.
What I Discovered Changed Everything
I realized there were many more doors. I kept opening them—in my practice with myself, and eventually with thousands of patients.
And I thought: We are doing this catastrophically wrong.
Here's what I saw with absolute clarity: We're about to have some of the most powerful therapeutics we've ever had for any chronic disease come to market for obesity. GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. Genuinely useful, important molecules. And 40% of adults have overweight or obesity.
I had a master's in public health. A medical degree. Four years in practice plus all of my personal experience with eating disorders and weight cycling.
And I still needed to teach myself the things I needed to know.
If I needed to teach myself, what would happen to everyone else?
We were about to dump these molecules into a system with not a clue what to do with them. They would end up in the hands of people stuck in loops of self-objectification. People would use them to under-fuel, to facilitate restriction.
I decided to feed myself properly. But many people don't make that decision.
I believe if we do this right, we don't need to live in the world of black and white thinking. You can be satiated and satisfied. Experience the pleasure of food and have metabolic wellbeing.
So my mission became clear: Empower patients to understand their own minds. Help them see themselves as beautiful living ecosystems. Help them understand the role of modern therapeutics and make well-rounded, smart, long-term decisions about their health so their weight can stay in a territory that allows them to live really good lives.
That's the job.
But I couldn't do it by asking the system nicely. It hasn't worked.
I Tried to Work Within the System (It Isn’t Ready)
For years, I tried to make it work inside the existing structure. I thought if the system would just adapt—just a little—we could create pockets of wellness within it.
I ran intensive programs. I delivered synchronous care, then asynchronous support. I spent thousands of hours in clinical work, coaching, testing what actually moves the needle. I worked with patients on appetite literacy, on understanding their metabolism, on building self-trust. I saw transformations that convinced me this work was possible.
But the architecture kept failing them.
The government consistently showed a lack of interest in treating metabolic disease like a real problem—in adequately funding comprehensive primary care, in properly training dietitians and nurse practitioners and physicians in obesity medicine.
And then came Christmas Eve 2023.
I was ice skating with my family after working all day in the emergency room. I was scheduled to work the next day. I fell. I broke both of my wrists.
I called my chief. "I have two broken wrists. I don't know what to do."
"Well, I'm already at the hospital, so I can't cover you."
He asked colleagues in our strapped, resource-drained department if anyone would cover me. He offered a small financial incentive.
No one came.
So I went to work. Twelve hours after breaking both wrists, I worked all day in the emergency room on Christmas. For much of the day I had the assistance of a senior resident, thank goodness. But I walked around with my arms elevated, unable to chart, in agony.
I rescued the system, in a small way, that day. But rescue is now the modus operandi of healthcare systems everywhere.
If the only redundancy we have is what clinicians are willing to sacrifice, the system isn't just strained—it's broken.
We throw people treatments and prescriptions and give them no ecosystem for managing their own health, for leading their own care. We have deeply paternalistic and sometimes violent systems that patients and doctors both have to endure.
I came through that experience much more clear-eyed.
I am not rescuing anymore. There is no more rescuing to be done, because we rescued our way into a broken system.
I'm building something new.
What Coaching Taught Me That Medicine Can’t
In medicine, we're taught that we have the answers. Our job is to deliver them to the right people at the right time, and hopefully they'll take them and run.
That is not even close to true.
It wasn't until I became a coach—not just a prescriber—that I understood: My patients have the answers. They don't need saving. They need a guide.
They need someone who can help them integrate fragmented health information. Someone who holds them in unconditional positive regard and can wield therapeutics expertly in a way that works for them. They need someone who sees the champion already inside them.
You cannot rescue people into health. You cannot shame them, starve them, or optimize them into wellness. You cannot hand them a prescription and a photocopied diet plan and expect sustainable change.
You have to build something entirely different. So I did.
Five Years of Testing What Actually Works
Over the past five years, I've been iterating. Testing. Learning.
I ran intensive in-person programs. I delivered care synchronously, then asynchronously. I built coaching systems. I developed educational frameworks. I tested what works in real life, with real people, in real complexity.
I learned that people don't need more instructions. They need integration.
They need to understand:
How their metabolism, appetite, and perspective interact (what I call the MAP Framework)
How to read their hunger, wanting, and fullness signals as data, not adversaries (appetite literacy)
How to translate their values into strategies that evolve with their lives
How pharmacotherapy fits into this picture—not as something done to them, but as a tool they understand and control
I learned that sustainable change requires five integrated elements working together:
Medical care that respects your intelligence and explains the why behind every recommendation
Education that teaches you how to think, not just what to do
Daily support that meets you in the moments that actually matter—before the challenging meal, when cravings hit, when you're unsure
Community that's professionally moderated and psychologically safe—where you can be vulnerable without being diminished
Strategy sessions where you move from values to action, with physician guidance and peer momentum
Most people have to assemble these pieces separately.
See a doctor for prescriptions (but get no behavioral support). Hire a coach for accountability (but get no medical oversight). Join a program for education (but get no real-time help). Find a community for support (but get no professional moderation). Attend workshops for strategy (but get no ongoing implementation support).
Every iteration taught me the same lesson: these elements don't just need to coexist. They need to integrate.
The medical care should inform the education. The education should enhance the coaching. The coaching should be reinforced in community. The community insights should shape the live sessions. The live sessions should refine your medical approach.
That integration is what I've been building toward for five years.
This Is The Shift Clinic
The Shift Clinic is what primary care should have been all along.
It's the first physician-led virtual obesity medicine practice that integrates all five essential elements—medical care, education, daily support, community, and live strategy sessions—teaching you appetite literacy to transform obesity care from symptom management to self-mastery.
The system wraps around you. Not the other way around.
You don't contort yourself to fit into fifteen-minute appointments. You don't get a prescription and a pat on the back. You don't white-knuckle your way through hunger and hope it works this time.
You get a clinician who understands the neuroscience of appetite, the genetics of weight regulation, the psychology of behavior change, and the reality of living in a body the world has opinions about.
You get a doctor who has lived this. Who knows what it's like to be stuck between being very hungry or being fat. Who developed the tools to get out and stay out.
You get evidence-based obesity medicine delivered with coaching, strategy, and a completely different paradigm: You are not broken. You do not need to be fixed. You need to be seen, guided, and equipped.
What You Actually Get Inside The Shift Clinic
The Clinic: Physician-led medical care including comprehensive obesity pharmacotherapy when appropriate—thoughtfully explained, not imposed. You'll understand how medications work, what realistic expectations are, how to adjust safely as your body responds.
The School: Access to my proprietary Shift System through comprehensive video and text lessons. The MAP Framework (Metabolism, Appetite, Perspective). Appetite Literacy. Eat Above Water skills. Values-to-Strategy progression.
The Coach: Custom WhatsApp-based coaching available anytime—before a difficult lunch meeting, when cravings hit at 3pm, when you're unsure how hungry you actually are. Intelligent support that reinforces what you're learning in real-time.
The Community: A professionally moderated, physician-present space with intelligent, accomplished women (35-55) who share your values and your frustration with broken systems. No comparison. No shame. Just shared intelligence, empathy, and accountability.
Live Shared Experiences: Monthly strategy sessions (The Weekender) where you move from values to strategy alongside other members. Live Q&A sessions. New member onboarding. This is where medicine meets mentorship.
Plus weekly nutrition reports with thoughtful clinical feedback—not judgment. We turn your eating data into actionable direction.
Everything works together. The WhatsApp coaching reinforces what you're learning in the video lessons. The nutrition reports inform your monthly strategies. The community shares insights that deepen everyone's understanding. The physician care integrates with the behavioral skills. The framework connects it all.
This Is Not a Rescue Mission
The Shift Clinic is for people who are done with diets. Done with systems that don't work. Done being told they just need more willpower.
It's for people who want to take care of their health, their weight, their appetite, and their mind—and who are ready to do it in a way that actually fits their life.
I've built something for people who want to understand their own appetite. Who want to know why their body does what it does. Who want a clinician who can explain the role of leptin and ghrelin and the MC4R receptor and how GLP-1 medications actually work, and then help them make smart decisions about whether those medications are right for them.
I'm building something for people who are tired of being caught between a medical system that says "just eat less" and a wellness industry that says "you're fine as you are" when neither of those things is true or helpful.
I've built something for people who know they need help but don't want to be treated like they're broken.
This is what you've been looking for. This is what's been missing.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
The Shift Clinic launched December 1st, 2025.
Monthly investment: $249 CAD for Ontario residents. Minimum three-month commitment.
If you're reading this and something in you is saying "yes, this, finally"—then you're exactly who I built this for.
Not sure if weight loss medications are right for you? Take the quiz to find out where you stand.
Want to experience The Shift approach before committing? Join The Shift Weekender—a monthly strategy session where you'll move from values to action alongside other members.
