Dr. Begüm Bengi

As a 72-year-old with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes, I was terrified of restrictive diets. Dr. Begüm Bengi at Acibadem Atakent didn't just give me a list of 'no's.' She spent two hours mapping my 50-year culinary habits onto a sustainable Mediterranean-Turkish fusion plan. Her secret weapon? A handwritten notebook of my mother's recipes, which she creatively adapted—my beloved zucchini fritters now use chickpea flour! My HbA1c dropped from 9.2% to 6.8% in three months, and I haven't missed a single family meal. She treats nutrition like cultural preservation.

Our 8-year-old son, Kerem, was failing to thrive, hiding food, and had extreme anxiety around mealtimes. Multiple doctors dismissed it as 'picky eating.' Dr. Bengi was the first to spot the pattern: a texture-based ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) triggered by a choking incident he'd never verbalized. Her approach was revolutionary—she used Lego analogies to explain 'food bravery' and collaborated with a play therapist. She didn't push broccoli; she introduced 'crunchy sticks' (julienned carrots) during his Minecraft sessions. We now have a 'victory chart' with 27 new foods. She saved our dinner table from becoming a war zone.

I was rushed to Acibadem Atakent after a motorcycle accident requiring emergency bowel resection. Post-surgery, I was told I'd need a feeding tube for weeks. Dr. Bengi intervened, arguing for an immediate but radical 'progressive culinary protocol.' Within 48 hours, she had me sipping a custom, warm bone broth infusion she personally prepared in the hospital's dietary kitchen, citing specific peptides for gut lining repair. She then orchestrated a daily progression—from saffron-infused congee to pureed lamb and quinoa—meticulously tracking inflammation markers. I was on solid foods in 11 days, a hospital record. She doesn't just follow guidelines; she rewrites them for the individual.

As a competitive marathoner with inexplicable fatigue and declining performance, I saw Dr. Bengi for what I thought was a routine sports nutrition tune-up. Instead, she diagnosed 'Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)' through a detailed 14-day circadian nutrition log and hormone analysis I'd never heard of. Her prescription wasn't more carbs or protein; it was strategic 'nutritional periodization'—aligning my intake intensity with my training microcycles, and adding specific timed sweet potato and tahini snacks to support my luteal phase. My energy returned in 6 weeks, and I just qualified for Boston. She approaches the body as a complex, rhythmic system, not a fuel tank.