My Approach to Nutrition

There is so much nutrition information out there, and it’s important that you’re confident in the approach I take as well as the science. My support is

  1. Individualized. You’ll get recommendations and goals designed specifically for your needs, goals, and life circumstances.

  2. Evidence-based. I keep tabs on the most current, best quality nutrition research from around the world, and translate it for you in clear terms.

  3. Weight-neutral. Decades of research have shown us that restrictive eating and calorie-counting do not lead to sustained weight-loss, improved health, or happiness. So why do we keep trying? My approach focuses on your health, not your weight, and follows the principles of intuitive eating and Health At Every Size®. See below for more detail on this.

  4. Inclusive. Everyone deserves high-quality nutrition care, but in reality, certain groups tend to be neglected. For example, transgender men tend to receive less care in pregnancy. In fact, in Canada men have shorter life expectancies, and are more likely to develop a range of health issues, than women. I aim for the most inclusive practice possible, and am continuously seeking ways to improve.

  5. Collaborative. When you work with me, we’ll set treatment goals together based on your values and priorities, and form strategies to address a nutrition issue together.

I also LOVE food! Food gives most people a lot of joy, and I fully recognize the need to balance healthy habits with pleasure. Wherever possible, I like to liberalize diets (if they’re unnecessarily restrictive) and focus on changes that will be the least disruptive to get the most benefit.

The reason I can’t help you lose weight.

 

I run a weight-inclusive practice, because to me, this is the only ethical approach to take in nutrition care. Not only do fantasies of weight loss get in the way of health goals and often do harm to clients, all the best research on weight loss shows that dieting is ineffective and usually counter-productive. To me, weight-neutral practice is the only ethical approach to take because based on the evidence, it’s very unlikely that anyone can help you lose weight (in the long run).

Most people assume that health and weight are closely related, and that to be healthy, they’ll need to lose weight. When I explain that I don’t set weight goals with clients, but instead set health goals, this often confuses clients because they assume they’re tightly linked.

Everywhere you look, size bias and diet culture tell us that we should be thinner, that we should never eat freely, and that our health is at risk if we gain weight. But these assumptions aren’t backed by the research of the past 50 years or more. Restricting food tends to lead to binges (the “restrict-binge cycle”), 95% of weight-loss attempts fail in the long run, and most people regain more weight than was initially lost (“weight cycling”).

Many (including healthcare providers) are hesitant about this conclusion, because we assume that the message “diets don’t work” means “giving up” on our health. This isn’t the case at all! Making healthy dietary changes can improve markers like blood pressure, blood sugars, fitness level, strength, endurance, mental health and more, even if you don’t see any changes to your weight or size. Nutrition supports your health no matter what size you are (the same goes for movement, by the way).

Giving up on the fantasy of weight loss can be a long process (including for me!). However, on the other side of this acceptance is a freer life that includes taking more pleasure in food and being less self-critical. An intuitive eating approach can be extremely helpful on this journey.

We’ve all (maddeningly) internalized the assumptions that being thin is important for our health and happiness, that weight loss is simple and achievable, and that we should measure our self-worth based on our body size. We can let all of this go and learn to accept (or at least tolerate) our bodies as they are.

If you’re still skeptical (completely understandable, since we’ve all been swimming in diet culture for our entire lives), I recommend looking at the resources below to dip your toes into body acceptance:

10 Principles of Intuitive Eating

Ragen Chastain’s excellent Substack

Christy Harrison’s podcast, Food Psych

And of course, I’m here to support you with intuitive eating—you can book a free phone consult or initial assessment whenever you’re ready to get started!

One last thing…

In occasional, specific cases, I do ask for or track weight. For example, unintentional weight-loss can be a red flag, especially in pregnancy or for kids. This is part of our collaborative agreement about what would be most effective, and always in the context of your relationship with food and your body.