Provider Spotlight: Kara Denny, MD, PCP at One Medical

Dr. Kara Denny, MD, PCP is one of the top referring physicians to Culina Health. So we chatted with her to learn more about her experience with collaborative care alongside Culina Health RDs. Read on to learn all about the results she sees from her side, and the importance of cross-disciplinary partnership in improving patient outcomes.

What are the benefits of working with a dietitian?

When a registered dietitian can also be a health coach, can implement behavior change strategies as well as provide nutritional education, it is invaluable.  Most of my patients are quite knowledgeable about nutrition, but their habits are entrenched. Developing and implementing strategies to positively impact their nutrition choices is out of their cognitive bandwidth on most days. Working with a dietitian who can meet you where you are, to identify your unique barriers to healthful diet and lifestyle habits, and to take some of the cognitive load off of developing strategies to overcome the obstacles to progress, is pure gold.

Can you share a recent patient success story?

One of my patients, we’ll call her Ann, had long entrenched nutritional habits that were working against her health. This included eating out a lot, a lack of balance in her diet, followed by a period of burn out during which she went on a leave of absence.  She worked with a Culina Health dietitian who helped her every step of the way out of her burnout, first identifying a meal delivery plan, then gradually progressing her towards more active food preparation. This patient told me that because her ADHD often makes her feel overwhelmed with shopping and planning, her RD would literally fill her Instacart shopping cart while they were in sessions together working through her goals and plans. It helped her get through a really difficult time without taking a toll on her physical health.

How have your patients been helped by weight loss medication?

Another patient of mine started taking Ozempic for his weight management. He worked with a RD at Culina Health who helped him identify several areas to work on, but most importantly found that his workday lunches were making a significant negative impact on his weight control.  He was eating out and, because he was choosing lunch while in a hurry and stressed, wasn’t making the most healthful decisions. Rather than being told to meal prep and pack lunches, which wasn’t an option for him at the time, his RD helped him identify the fast casual spots around his workplace that would be good choices to frequent as well as multiple options for what to order that would make a more positive impact of his weight management, energy, and overall health. He has maintained his weight since stopping Ozempic months ago, due to having such a solid strategy in place that he feels has just become a lifestyle.

How has working with our RDs influenced your approach to treating chronic conditions?

I’ve seen that even seemingly small changes that people make in their diet and lifestyle, as long as made consistently over time, can make a big impact on their disease markers. One of my patients, who is overweight, made some small dietary changes and began to walk for 20 minutes daily after dinner, was able to avoid medications for diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Even while not losing any weight, her A1c and cholesterol levels improved significantly. This was such an eye opener for me. Culina Health’s approach showed me that habit and diet changes don’t need to be severe to be powerful. I am constantly trying to identify ways that people can hack their habits to make them work for them and make them less reliant on pharmaceuticals.

What role do you see nutrition playing in the future of primary care?

Our nutritional choices impact every aspect of our lives—from our bodies, to our finances, to our environment. It’s mind boggling to me how little modern medicine has emphasized detailed nutritional guidance and counseling as an essential part of quality primary care. I think the more we talk about this, the more patients request nutritional guidance, the more we, as health care providers, will be encouraged to incorporate a focus on food as medicine into our practice.  Because once you see significant health problems improve or resolve with simple nutritional modifications, you want to incorporate that kind of magic into all the care you provide for your patients.

Work with a Culina Health RD

If you’re a physician wanting to refer patients to Culina Health, head to our referrals page to learn more. And if you’re an individual looking to get support to reach your health goals through nutrition, get matched with a Culina Health Registered Dietitian today.