{"id":7199,"date":"2025-01-24T12:55:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T18:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/?p=7199"},"modified":"2025-01-24T12:56:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T18:56:29","slug":"pih-courtney-younglove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/pih-courtney-younglove\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast episode 16: Dr. Courtney Younglove"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast<\/a>. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In episode 16, we interview Dr. Courtney Younglove, MD, FOMA, FACOG, DABOM. <\/strong>She is board certified in both obesity medicine and obstetrics and gynecology. She is the founder and medical director of Heartland Weight Loss<\/a>, an obesity medicine clinic with locations in Overland Park and Lawrence, Kansas. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Dr. Younglove recently earned her fellowship in the Obesity Medicine Association<\/a> \u2013 a designation earned by only 70 people so far. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas in 1997 and her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Kansas School of Medicine four years later. She has practiced medicine in the greater Kansas City area for over 18 years and has practiced obesity medicine for 10 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Younglove<\/a> understands the battle with obesity. She began her struggles with excess weight in adolescence. Prior to obtaining her degree in obesity medicine, she gained and lost the same 40 pounds at least 20 times. She is also a busy single mother of three boys and understands how tempting it is to forego healthy foods in order to get something on the table between school, work and obligations. She has a passion for living a healthy life and believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to live a life of wellness: physically, emotionally and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, she discusses the emergence of the field of obesity medicine. Obesity medicine has four pillars of treatment<\/a>: medical interventions, nutrition therapy, physical activity and behavioral modification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said a comprehensive treatment strategy is needed to tackle the root cause of excess weight. Medication alone will not address the underlying issue, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She discusses the rapid rise in popularity of GLP-1 medications<\/a> to aid in weight loss, though they had been around for years to treat diabetes, and the ripple effect that’s had on the health care industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“From a medical standpoint, I think we’re losing focus on the underlying problem. We were just making headway that this disease of obesity is a complex disease. It’s not simply a disease of appetite regulation. It’s not just, ‘Hey, you need to eat less,’ and we’re just going to cheerlead you through that eat less process,” she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the medications are beneficial in suppressing hunger, the treatment can’t stop there, or the root cause won’t be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we haven’t figured out why do you have that abnormal drive to eat, then the minute you take them away, if you haven’t fixed the problem, they come right back again,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also discusses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n