Michelle May, MD

Michelle May, M.D., a physician and recovered yo-yo dieter, empowers individuals to take charge of their life and manage their weight without deprivation and guilt. She delivers her crucial and timely message with passion, energy, humor and insight that transforms the way people view weight management.

Her interest in the weight management field stems from her own personal struggle with food and weight. After years of chronic dieting and negative body image, she resolved her own weight issues by developing a healthy relationship with her body and the food and activity that nurture it. Her primary goal has been to share what she has learned with others using a compassionate and constructive approach.

Michelle is the Founder and President of the proven Am I Hungry? Workshops that guide participants to eat instinctively again, live a more active lifestyle and balance eating for enjoyment with eating for health. Am I Hungry? received the Excellence in Patient Education Innovation Award and is available through corporate wellness programs, medical offices, hospitals, fitness centers and insurance companies. She has trained and Licensed Am I Hungry? Facilitators from Alaska to Florida. As a physician, speaker, writer, workshop facilitator and consultant, Dr. May has shared her powerful and innovative approach to weight management with thousands of workshop participants, health care professionals and organizations across the country.

Michelle is the award winning author of Am I Hungry? What to Do When Diets Don't Work. Am I Hungry? won three Glyph Awards for Best Health Book, Best Self-Help/Psychology Book and Best Book by a New Publisher. "Am I Hungry?" is also used as the basis for the American Academy of Family Physicians' national health and fitness campaign, Americans in Motion. Michelle also co-authored H is for Healthy - Weight Management for Kids (SWAK Pak, 2005) to encourage healthy attitudes and behaviors in young children.

She was featured in the Discovery Health Channel special, Adult Obesity: Reversing the Trend sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control. She has also appeared as a guest for numerous television and radio programs on health-related topics including Oprah and Friends Radio with Mehmet Oz, M.D. and writes regularly for several publications. Her personal story appears in Chicken Soup for the Dieter's Soul. As an expert in the cognitive-behavioral approach to weight management, she also advises corporations and organizations on issues of health, nutrition and obesity.

Michelle is a Board Certified Family Physician with 14 years of clinical experience. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Arizona State University and her Medical Degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She completed a three-year Family Medicine Residency at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona where she served as Chief Resident.

She is well respected by her physician colleagues who elected her to serve as President of the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians. She was the Chairperson for the Subcommittee on Women of the 93,000-member American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and has been elected to serve in the AAFP Congress of Delegates, the policy forming body of the organization for eight years. She currently serves on the AAFP Commission on the Health of the Public and the Americans in Motion Advisory Panel. She is chair of the AAFP Women's Health and Physician Wellness Conference.

Michelle practices what she preaches in order to balance her personal and professional life while maintaining her own optimal health. She cherishes her relationships with her two children, regularly enjoys hiking and recently became a certified yoga instructor. She and her husband, Owen, a professional chef, share a passion for gourmet and healthful cooking, recipe development, wine tasting and traveling.

Chef Owen's demonstrations complement his wife's programs. He is a professional spa chef at a major resort in Phoenix, Arizona and believes that food should nourish the body, mind and soul. Owen shares simple culinary techniques and secrets for making nutritious food delicious food. His mouth-watering recipes are featured in Stop Dieting, Start Living.