If you have never met with a dietitian before, or are a little apprehensive about making your first appointment, this blog is for you.
At nourishED, our dietitians are non-diet dietitians. You may be thinking “Say what? As if things weren’t confusing enough in the world of food and nutrition!” We take a different approach to helping you because our dietitians are Health At Every Size (HAES) informed-meaning we support and celebrate people of all body shapes and sizes, and help you reach your health goals without a side of judgement or weight-bias. We strive to meet you wherever you are in your recovery and support you along the way. Let’s talk more about what WILL and WON’T happen when you meet with your dietitian:
1. You WON’T be put on another diet
We don’t believe that restrictive diets or fad diets are the solution to your wellness or fostering a positive relationship with food. In fact, dieting is the number one predictor for developing an eating disorder! Dieting can also lead to weight cycling, obsessive thoughts surrounding foods, and dissatisfaction with yourself when you can’t maintain it-among many other things! So we won’t be promoting the latest paleo-pegan-keto-intermitant diet or putting you on a restrictive, low calorie diet. We do, however, provide Medical Nutrition Therapy-dietary strategies that can help manage medical conditions like diabetes, heart or gastrointestinal disease, for instance. Ultimately, we want to help you with building solid nutrition habits, not harmful ones.
2. We WILL value your story and lived experiences
We will spend our first session together getting to know each other and talking about your relationship with food. We will probably ask you a bunch of questions, but only what you are comfortable answering. And we want you to ask us anything you want! We will talk about your health history and current concerns, what a typical day of eating looks like, your food preferences, relationship with exercise, and much more. Together we will work towards setting long and short term goals, and a few action steps to get started on when you leave. Do you want to feel confident cooking new foods? Do you want to feel less stressed around mealtimes? Do you want to learn about intuitive eating? We want to hear about it!
3. You WON’T be alone in your recovery
Having an eating disorder is often isolating-you may feel like you are suffering alone. Maybe your parents or best friends don’t even know. But your dietitian is your partner (and personal food consultant!) in your recovery journey and an essential part of your treatment team (along with your therapist and/or physician). We will provide you with things to work on in-between appointments and resources like books and podcasts. We also encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and join our community! We offer a free support group on Tuesday nights, cooking & meal support groups, and fun random workshops. Check our schedule to see what is happening this month at nourishED.
If you are not sure if you are ready to meet with a dietitian to support your eating disorder recovery, we would be happy to talk with you about what we do. You can read about our dietitians here or contact us.
