Lisa Carroll is a regular in the lifestyle medicine groups offered by Eskenazi Health. “The program, I really enjoy it,” says the Northwest Indianapolis resident, “and every time they reach out . . . I try to participate, because for one thing, it helps get me out and gets me motivated . . . . ”

The team of outpatient dietitians and lifestyle wellness coaches working in primary care offer a variety of lifestyle medicine group programs to help patients learn more about their health while meeting personal health goals. Lifestyle medicine groups for patients at Eskenazi Health Centers include diabetes and blood pressure classes, programs to learn more about and sample produce, cooking programs, activity and support groups and a pediatric program. The instruction team may also include primary care providers, pharmacists and other medical professionals.

Although she appreciates all of her health care providers, Carroll has the “biggest rapport” with Eskenazi Health clinical dietician Alyson Love, whom she’s worked with at Eskenazi Health Center Pecar for several years. Love has been one of Carroll’s instructors in groups for hypertension and other nutrition groups for selecting and preparing healthy food.

Love is “really nice, she really is,” says Carroll, “and she’s patient, and she asks you questions and tries to work with you on your goals to make sure you’re hitting the goals that you want to hit.”

Carroll says her groups have made her pay closer attention to her diet: “I tend to look at the labels to make sure I’m doing the [right] serving size. I mean it helps. It helps you make better choices.” She adds that now she tends “to think more about adding vegetables in instead of it all being starches [and] ways you can combine vegetables in with the food that you cook.”

Lifestyle medicine groups are not the only resource Carroll has utilized to improve her health. She has shopped at the Eskenazi Health Fresh for You Market on the downtown campus multiple times and visited the Fresh for You Market on Wheels when it was stationed at Eskenazi Health Center West 38th Street. Carroll received vouchers for these markets while being connected to resources during her primary care appointments. “I love it,” she says. She adds that this resource is so helpful for patients, especially when they worry about grocery costs, since  “every little bit helps. I think it’s a great program, and it gives people the incentive to eat healthier, ’cause they have fresh fruit and vegetables.”

Of course, eating well can still be a struggle. Right now, Carroll’s kryptonite are Jolly Ranchers. “I don’t know what it is. I’m on a Jolly Rancher kick,” she says. “I’m trying to leave that alone as well. Sometimes it’s hard, you know?”

Making better choices now feels more do-able. Carroll  shares she has even found a healthier snack from her classes, seasoned popcorn, something she can share with her four grandchildren, who join her for family dinners and church outings, but do not — she points out — expect her to accompany them to the water park.

One perk to participation is the community she finds in the dietitian groups. She notices that “some of the same people attend the different classes. That makes a difference too.”

In addition to her time working with Love, Carroll has visited with Eskenazi Health primary care providers (PCPs), a rheumatologist and nephrologist. “With the team at Eskenazi [Health],” she says, “it just seems like they give you a lot more information, and they all seem to work together and coordinate . . . . I just feel like they work well together, and they make sure you get the highest care . . . . ” Her PCP at Eskenazi Health Center Pecar, Carrie Leathers, M.D., “takes her time. She explains everything. I’m really comfortable with her. She lets me know everything that’s going on. She makes sure I get everything I’m supposed to get done.”

“I feel better,” Carroll says, reflecting on the changes since she began working with her dietitian and Eskenazi Health’s lifestyle medicine groups. She’s observed physical changes as well. “When I started noticing the pounds coming off, it gives me more incentive to keep going,” she says.

Although Carroll has achieved a lot, she still has goals on her list. “I haven’t accomplished all of them yet,” she says, “but I’m getting there.”