Lifestyle Medicine Psychologist Kaiser Permanente San Jose, California, United States
Presentation Summary: This session explores the intersection of lifestyle medicine and disordered eating risk, highlighting an important and often under-recognized clinical challenge in the application of whole food, plant-predominant nutrition. While lifestyle medicine is a highly effective approach for preventing and reversing chronic disease, its nutritional recommendations may inadvertently contribute to the development or exacerbation of disordered eating behaviors in vulnerable individuals. This includes those who may not meet criteria for an eating disorder but still experience harmful patterns that can undermine both physical and psychological health outcomes.
Drawing on real-world experience from a large healthcare system, this presentation examines the prevalence of disordered eating risk within lifestyle medicine populations and underscores why these patients are already present in clinical and programmatic settings. It provides practical, replicable strategies for identifying individuals at risk, including validated screening approaches and ongoing clinical indicators for monitoring emerging concerns during participation in lifestyle interventions.
Attendees will learn a structured framework for conducting risk–benefit analyses when disordered eating is suspected, including considerations for continued participation versus referral to specialized care, interdisciplinary collaboration, and patient-centered communication. The session also highlights programmatic supports and targeted interventions that enable safer engagement with nutrition and physical activity recommendations for at-risk individuals.
Finally, the presentation addresses the importance of group-level messaging, offering concrete guidance on language, framing, and program design strategies that preserve the integrity of lifestyle medicine while minimizing unintended harm. Participants will leave with actionable tools to more safely and effectively integrate lifestyle medicine for individuals with, or at risk for, disordered eating.
Learning Objectives:
Recognize individuals at risk of disordered eating and conduct a risk-benefit analysis to guide decisions to include them in a lifestyle medicine program or refer to other behavioral health services.
Recognize common risk factors and triggers for disordered eating that may arise in lifestyle medicine programs.
Describe specific approaches applicable to supporting individuals who are at risk of developing or worsening disordered eating.
Describe how to message lifestyle medicine content to a broad group that keeps the integrity of lifestyle medicine goals while reducing the risk of disordered eating for participants.
