Patient Experience
My 82-year-old mother, who has late-stage renal failure and diabetes, was struggling with severe malnutrition and had lost all interest in food. Dr. Aras didn't just give us a standard renal diet sheet. She spent an hour in our home kitchen, showing us how to modify our traditional Turkish recipes—like how to reduce potassium in our bean stews and make her favorite zucchini fritters with egg white substitutes. She created a 'taste revival' plan focusing on aroma and texture rather than just nutrients. Within three weeks, my mother gained 2 kilos and, more importantly, smiled while eating for the first time in months. Dr. Aras treats the person, not just the disease.
Our 7-year-old son was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis after months of choking episodes. Multiple doctors said 'he'll grow out of it.' Dr. Aras approached it like a detective mystery. She had us keep a 'food and symptom diary' in a colorful notebook our son helped decorate. Through a meticulous 8-week elimination diet, she identified trigger foods we'd never have suspected—not just dairy, but certain food dyes in his favorite snacks. She worked with his school cafeteria to create safe alternatives and even helped him prepare a 'show and tell' about his special diet so his classmates would understand. Her pediatric nutrition approach is nothing short of revolutionary.
I arrived at Acibadem Atakent after emergency gallbladder surgery, unable to tolerate any solid food without excruciating pain. Dr. Aras was called in at 10 PM. Instead of just recommending broth, she designed a phased 'gut retraining' protocol using specific Turkish comfort foods in precise sequences: first salted yogurt whey, then strained lentil soup with mint, progressing to finely ground bulgur. She explained the 'why' behind each step—how mint aids bile flow, how bulgur's fiber type helps digestion restart. Her emergency nutritional intervention prevented complications and got me home two days earlier than projected.
As a competitive marathon runner with inexplicable performance decline and gastrointestinal distress during races, I saw Dr. Aras for what I thought would be a simple nutrition tweak. She discovered through specialized testing that I had developed multiple food intolerances and a microbiome imbalance from years of high-carb sports nutrition products. Her solution wasn't a standard athlete's diet but a personalized 'fueling map' that varied by training phase, incorporating fermented Turkish foods like tarhana and boza for gut health. She even coordinated with my coach on race-day nutrition strategies. My marathon time improved by 12 minutes, and my recovery is now remarkably faster. She approaches sports nutrition as precision engineering.