Now that I am officially out my internship, I have more time (for now) to dedicate posts to nutrition and health info..yay! So, I decided to dedicate this particular one on dietary strategies for success.
The Bad News: It’s not what you think
The Good News: You will have gained a plethora of information and usefulness
I should preface this by giving credit to my inspiration “The Institute for the Psychology of Eating,” as their article (By Marc David) “5 steps to make people eat exactly what you want,” is what inspired this post.
So, let me get started.
1) Seek out dietary professionals…aka knowledge and education..not information.
I recently attended a Wellness Retreat and while there were a lot of great health professionals there, there were also a lot of incorrect nutrition jargon and misinformation thrown around. The simple solution: seek out those who have at least 4 years of schooling in nutrition coupled with a dietetic internship to impart their wisdom as opposed to Google’s or “health coaches” information. Everyone’s nutrition needs are different and the only way to ensure that your needs will be met with evidence based answers and solutions coupled with empathetic counseling and MNT is through the help of an RD.
2) Add passion
Both as a nutritional professional and a client, passion is needed to succeed. If you don’t have passion as a professional, how do you expect to impart passion onto your client and if you, as a client, do not have a passion for your own health, how in the world do you ever expect to get on track?
As Marc David, founder of the Psychology of Eating would put it, “Nutrition information delivered without passion is like eating a meal absent of any flavor.”
3) Honor your body no matter what you eat
I have come across too many people who obsesses over every morsel they consume. Whether what we are currently consuming is super healthy or completely sucks, it’s important to be mindful when eating, paying attention to hunger/fullness cues, and enjoying our food, honoring ourselves and our body in the moment and in our food choices. We will most often need to forgive ourselves at times but also allow ourselves the simple joys of life and food. I know I struggle with respecting what other people choose to put on their plate, but I am realizing how important it is to respect how others decide to nourish themselves and to provide help, knowledge, and support when it is sought out. Not everyone will seek out good nutrition for various reasons as there are often bigger issues to leading a nutritious lifestyle, and it is my job to figure out what is driving the way individuals choose to eat, whether good, bad, restrictive, or not. At the end of the day, I can’t tell them what to eat, I can only impart them with the knowledge that I know, if incorporated into their lifestyle, will be of benefit to their bodies. But regardless if they choose to follow my advice, I hope they take away the message to strive to honor their health and bodies every single day and respect themselves.
I agree with Marc when he says “I believe if we’re going to tell others how to eat better, then our dietary advice has real nutritional value when it’s more than just about food.”
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