Name of business: Doc’s Diet

Type of business: Weight loss service

Location: 3140 Hotel Dr. in Turlock

Hours: 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday

Contact information: 209-667-2500

Specialty: Healthy choices without fad dieting

History of business: 

Since 1999, Daryl Wilkins — also known as “Doc” — has helped people discover tools for a healthy life when he opened his first office in Linden. Turlock’s Doc’s Diet location opened in 2013, allowing the Internal Medicine-trained osteopathic physician to help locals take control of their weight the right way. 

With personalized, hand-tailored programs curated by medical professionals, Doc’s Diet in Turlock equips patients with lifelong weight loss tools rather than quick fixes, resulting in most patients losing eight to 10 pounds per month. With easy-to-follow plans that include advice like recommended activity levels, positive messaging and healthy meal ideas, Doc’s Diet teaches patients about their body and what it needs to be healthy. 

“When someone comes in, we help them with calorie counting, counseling as well as encouraging them to exercise. Normally they come in about once a month,” Doc’s Diet office manager Shannon Chapman said. “We have people reach their goal weight and even exceed their goal weight. People come in not sure what to do, just wanting a better lifestyle for themselves.”

As a medical office with doctors, Doc’s Diet is able to prescribe helpful medication to patients. But many visitors resonate with the routine of the office visits, Chapman said, which create good habits and allow the business to hold patients accountable, rather than them just going at it on their own. 

There are a variety of reasons patients turn to Doc’s Diet for guidance, she added, whether they’re stressed, grieving or simply lost when it comes to making healthy choices. 

“The first step is letting them know that it’s going to be alright and that you’re there for them,” Chapman said. “The first step is acknowledging that you’re doing something for yourself, then everything else will fall into place. That’s the best part about it — helping someone take time for self love.”

Doc’s Diet prides itself on being an affordable weight loss option, with a cost of $95 on the first visit and $85 each visit thereafter. Each office visit includes a focused examination and discussion time with a practitioner, a Vitamin B-12 injection and 30 pills of Phentermine 37.5mg (a controlled prescription appetite suppressant).

“The biggest advice is to think of yourself…Especially through COVID, we’ve been so consumed with taking care of each other,” Chapman said. “If you take care of yourself, then you can take care of your loved ones longer.”