a non diet dietitian?

I've never enjoyed the restrictiveness of putting people on diets to lose weight.

What? Am I even a real Dietitian? What is wrong with me?

In my private practice I am faced daily with the expectation that this is what I am going to do. Put people on a diet. Restrict them to help them lose weight. Cut them back on their eating. Be their (nice but nevertheless) food police.

Knowing that a person may have battled weight all their lives and wants a fix now, doesn’t make the prospect sit any easier with me. It’s not in my nature to deprive people of the joy that food and eating brings and it conflicts with my very core as a former hospital-based Dietitian focused on nourishing people.

So here goes. Confession time. If you want a Dietitian to put you on a diet, write you a meal plan and make you count calories to lose weight, I am not the right Dietitian for you. I've done all of that before but I don't think I can do it anymore.

Perhaps this is business suicide. (Though I trust that discerning readers know there is so much more to being a Dietitian than managing people's weight concern. See the 'How I can Help' page if you need a refresher ;))

But here’s the thing. Weight loss diets don’t work. It doesn’t matter which diet you choose to think of. Low carb, no carb, high protein, low fat, high fat, soup diets, clean-eating, paleo, counting macros, even general 'healthy eating' blah blah. In the end if you are ‘on a diet’ it will fail to give what it promises. Sooner or later. Millions of people on diets can’t be stuffing them up, or be failing because of a lack of willpower. No. Something is very wrong with the diet messages that we have been delivering. Yet the Diet industry is booming and obesity rates are rising. 

There has to be a better way.

So I've started working with a new framework. It goes by a number of names - The Non-Diet Approach, Intuitive Eating, Health at Every Size. It is evidence-based, flexible, it cuts to the core of why you eat the way you do and in doing so teaches you how to tune into your own body and nourish it as nature intended. You no longer have to constantly think about the correct food or amount to eat, and you can enjoy food rather than seeing it as the enemy. And I love it because I can help you to learn to nourish yourself again, physically and emotionally.

The bad news? It takes time to learn and you won't lose weight fast. You might not lose it at all if you're not meant to. Shocking I know. But is that worse than the misery of dieting, losing weight then regaining it (and likely more)? Which you will do. I can just about guarantee that.

If any of this resonates, feel free to drop me an email or call and have a chat about whether this approach is right for you. It’s not for everyone, but if you’ve tried all the rest, are caught in the dieting/weight loss/weight regain cycle, or just want to learn to eat intuitively for your health, it might be worth considering.