Hi @ihatediabetes I am a fellow Connect member and saw your note. I work at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living program in the area of Nutrition. While we wait to hear from other people who have been through the program, is there a specific question you'd like to ask me?

Hi I got a packet in mail. There's something in there about becoming research volunteer. I was wondering about what that means. Also I was watching a clip and doctor was talking about getting into your face about diet and exercise. I hope it's not going to be like drill sergeant experience. Are they going to be gentle or hit people over head and tell them bad news? Yikes.

Good questions! Mayo Clinic's three shields are patient care, education and research. We offer guests the opportunity to be involved in research. It is an optional choice and separate from the program.

And for your other question, rest assured - we are not a drill sergeant approach. We help you to design your own individualized plan for your wellness.

Since I work in Nutrition, I will use that as an example. A drill sergeant would say "you have to eat 3-5 vegetables every day" Our approach centers around asking you questions about your current vegetable intake is, what you want your vegetable intake to be, the strategies you might implement to meet your goal AND what are the obstacles that will deter you from reaching the goal. At the end of the conversation, we may have develop several different tactics that you can try - packing vegetables for an afternoon snack, adding vegetables to your eggs at breakfast, picking 2 new vegetables to try each week, cooking your vegetables in a new way....the tactics are endless - we just need to find the ones that work for you.

Hope this helps and feel free to post other questions. Lisa

Hi I got to talk to my wellness coach on the phone. I'm going to check out the place and meet my coach this week. I thought it would be good to meet her and see where I'll be ahead of time. We are going to talk about the Mayo clinic diet. I think I'm doing well on exercise but not so good on the diet. I think I'll also volunteer for research but I don't know what that involves.

Thank you for sharing this with us. Your positive attitude is contagious! I hope all goes well for you. Keep us posted.
Rosemary

Today I went down to Dan Abrahamson Center and took a tour, met my wellness coach, and signed up for the research cohort. You have to give samples and fill out a long questionnaire. I was worried about going down for two whole days in an unfamiliar environment. That's why we thought it would be good to see the environment and meet coach a week early. I already go a hotel room reserved next week on priceline. I think I'm ready.

Lisamn Rd Is there a charge? Terrid

@tdrell, Here is some information for you to look at. There is phone number, also, that you can call for more information and answers to your specific questions. I hope that this will be helpful to you. https://healthyliving.mayoclinic.org/offerings.php
Have you read thru the discussions posted by @ihatediabetes who has shared about her experiences with this program.

Let us know if you have any questions that we might help you with. @lisamnRD, I want to inform you of this conversation in case you have anything to add.
Rosemary

Thank you @rosemarya for posting information. If anyone has additional questions about our programs, feel free to reach out to myself or our Program Advisers at 507-293-2933.