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Don't Call Me Fat: Reframing Pediatric Obesity Counseling

Sunday, October 25, 2026

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Hemisfair C3

CPE: 1.0

Proficiency: Intermediate knowledge/experience

Tracks: Pediatric & Adolescent Health, Weight & Metabolic Health

Theme: Clinical Updates & Evolving Practice

Description

Too often, conversations about pediatric weight go off course; well-meaning clinicians use words like “fat” or “overweight,” unintentionally triggering shame, restrictive eating, or even disordered behaviors in the very children they’re trying to help. In this powerful storytelling session, dual-credentialed Physician Assistant and Registered Dietitian Colleen Sloan shares two real-world patient encounters that changed her approach to weight counseling forever. You’ll hear how a single word eroded trust in one case, and how compassionate, body-affirming guidance built confidence in another. Through these stories, Colleen will explore how language, parental body image, and clinical tone shape a child’s long-term relationship with food and their body. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the unspoken messages in weight conversations and practical ways to reframe the dialogue with empathy, precision, and purpose.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe how clinician language and tone influence a child’s relationship with food, body image, and health behaviors.
  • Identify common communication pitfalls in pediatric weight counseling that can contribute to shame, restrictive eating, or disordered behaviors.
  • Demonstrate practical, compassionate counseling strategies that foster body acceptance, trust, and long‑term healthy habits in children and families.

Performance Indicators

  • 3.2.2 Delivers information in a respectful and professional manner.
  • 10.4.4 Adjusts teaching plans and delivery to make them accessible, culturally sensitive, and meet the needs of individuals, groups and populations.
  • 11.2.9 Gathers and evaluates information that affects intake and nutrition and health status (e.g., behaviors, beliefs, knowledge, cultural, religious, ethnic, psychosocial, and social determinants of health) that influence nutrition and health.

Speaker

  • Colleen Sloan photo

    Colleen Sloan

    Physician Assistant, Registered Dietitian, Exam Room Nutrition

    Colleen Sloan, PA-C, RDN is a dual-credentialed Physician Associate and Registered Dietitian with over a decade of experience in pediatric medicine. Working at the intersection of nutrition and primary care, she is passionate about helping clinicians navigate sensitive conversations around weight, food, and body image with greater compassion and clinical nuance. Colleen brings a unique perspective from both sides of the exam room, combining the counseling expertise of an RD with the medical decision-making of a PA to better understand how language, tone, and provider messaging shape long-term health behaviors in children and families. She is the creator of the Obesity Medicine Nutrition Course and host of the Exam Room Nutrition podcast, where she teaches healthcare professionals how to deliver evidence-based nutrition guidance that is practical, empathetic, and realistic for busy clinical settings.

Moderator

  • Melissa Mitri photo

    Melissa Mitri

    Weight Loss Expert + Communicator, Melissa Mitri Nutrition

    Melissa Mitri, M.S., RD, is a registered dietitian-nutritionist, weight-loss and GLP-1 expert, and professional speaker with over 20 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. She owns Melissa Mitri Nutrition, a telehealth practice that helps women achieve sustainable weight loss on or off GLP-1s. She also serves as a freelance writer for major media outlets and wellness brands such as Everyday Health, Eating Well, Lose It!, and more. Melissa helps translate complicated scientific research into easy-to-understand terms for the public and is a sought-after nutrition expert in the media. Her volunteer roles include serving as Communications Chair for the Connecticut Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics and the Newsletter Editor for the Academy's Weight Management Dietetic Practice Group. Melissa believes everyone has the power to improve their health, one small habit at a time.

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