I’m a registered dietitian who doesn’t give diet advice and won’t help you lose weight by telling you what to eat. Medical nutrition therapy is nutrition-based treatment provided by a registered dietitian. It includes a full nutrition assessment, nutrition diagnosis counseling, and nutrition education to manage chronic disease. My day job is providing medical nutrition therapy amid unhealthy eating behaviors related to an eating disorder or poor dietary intake caused by obsessive-compulsive disorder. What I do is not what you’d expect a dietitian to do at first glance. My professional experience took me beyond the traditional role.
I’m delving into the behind-the-scenes of what MNT often misses, a patient’s philosophy, and why certain behaviors occur. Science chugs along, finding answers to our health problems to help us live longer. But what gets steamrolled are the emotions and feelings that drive us. Science doesn’t have all the answers.
Here’s a good example:
A patient is diagnosed with diabetes
A dietitian recommends a specific diet to manage hyperglycemia
The patient doesn’t follow the advice, binges on carbohydrates, and drinks alcohol
The scientific process uses empirical evidence to help us understand the world around us and to help us make better decisions. It’s procedural. Follow the steps and you’ll receive the same results, but it’s not so black and white with healthcare.
As a practitioner, it became clear I needed to find out why patients don’t follow what seems so obvious to everyone else, or why they fall for unproven methods instead.
Join me on this journey of nutrition philosophy
- Help feed the hungry. How to make your charitable contributions count.Photo by Alexander Mass on Unsplash I feel compelled to write about helping the less fortunate in the wake of the SNAP benefits fiasco. Access to food is a fundamental right, no matter race, gender, body size, age, or economic status. There’s no reason on Earth that food should be denied to anyone. In all … Continue reading Help feed the hungry. How to make your charitable contributions count.
- How to defend yourself against Diet Culture during the holidaysI was in a big box hardware store yesterday, looking for purple and orange lights to add to my Halloween decorations. In one aisle, an oversized skeleton let out an evil laugh, while in the next aisle, Christmas music was blaring near the leftover Thanksgiving swag on sale at 20% off. I’m not sure how … Continue reading How to defend yourself against Diet Culture during the holidays
- A Daughter on Father’s Day: Coping with His Absence
Some mornings, I wake up wishing someone would stop the Earth so I can get off. This Father’s Day morning is one of them. This year, I’m the same age my dad was when he died. He passed three months and 12 days before he turned fifty-six on Christmas Day. He always joked about how … Continue reading A Daughter on Father’s Day: Coping with His Absence - Type 2 Diabetes. When family history makes a healthy lifestyle ALMOST irrelevant.
I’ve known for a while that diabetes was always a few steps behind lurking in the background. - Wild and free as green as can be
When I saw these green Crocs, they had to be mine. I bought them when I wanted to look different from everyone else. It was a time when I was feeling tired, resentful, and disillusioned. The downside of getting older. Those who get it know sometimes buying a new pair of shoes can be therapeutic. … Continue reading Wild and free as green as can be
Green Apple Dietitian 