Who we treat…
While our specialty lies in the nutritional treatment of eating disorders, this work can always expand to greater populations. This includes those struggling with emotional eating, inconsistent eating patterns, incessant cravings, yo-yo dieting, body image concerns, unfamiliarity with meal planning/prepping, and those concerned with the quality of their (or their loved one’s) diet.
Over-eating is often caused by physiological, emotional, or cognitive deprivation. Let me help you find what’s “missing”, and influencing the unwanted behavior with food!
How we treat…
Through the lens of the Intuitive Eating principles, we help clients reconnect with their internal cues of appetite regulation. These include hunger, fullness, satiety, and satisfaction. Often, our environment, family dynamics, work schedule, etc. interrupt our ability to attune and trust these cues. Reconnecting and learning to trust your body often takes time, exposure, and help. We are here to provide that guidance!
The more we avoid something we fear, the stronger our fear becomes. It is through supported exposure we can begin to re-establish a trusting relationship with food, our body, and ourselves.
Why do we fear some of these foods and/or trusting our bodies? Often this disconnect is rooted in a deeply complex fear of fatness, obesity, or the falsely connected health complications we perceive as a result of body size. Due to this, we practice using a Health at Every Size approach, where all bodies are welcome & deserve to be treated based on their relationship to food vs. their weight/size.
Why Dietitian vs. Nutritionist?
These titles are often used interchangeably, though represent different training, regulation of practice, and legitimacy of care.
A registered dietitian (RD), or now also known as registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) has an equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics, has to complete a year-long accredited dietetic internship with practical experience in medical, community and foodservice practicums, has to pass a national examination for formal certification, completes continuing education credits and must abide by a code of ethics overseen by the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. There are also a variety of advanced specialty certifications like sports nutrition, nutrition support and pediatrics, or Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian that requires several years of working experience, supervised hours, more exams, continuing education, and approval by an accredited specialty board.
One of the defining characteristics of being a dietitian is using evidence-based research and information from reputable, peer-reviewed literature to inform nutrition recommendations. They are required to know what has worked in a large patient population, over time, with control groups, etc. in order to form a meaningful treatment plan.
The titles nutritionist, health coach, holistic health coach, nutrition coach, etc. do not have formal education or training requirements, and require very little time and money, if any, before calling oneself any of the above. The “nutritionist” titles often base recommendations on anecdotal stories (either their own or something they’ve heard or read), fad diets or trends like elimination diets, gluten free, dairy free, ketogenic, paleo, etc., and/or scientific information that may not be peer-reviewed, or demonstrative of true health effects in humans. A lot of times these recommendations come from a place of restriction or taking things away from the diet, which is often a slippery slope when it comes to disordered eating.