Disparities in Dietetics

Episode 17 of the Fuel the Fire Podcast hosted by Shanon Safi, RD, LDN.

It seems that nutritional opinion is constantly changing to conform to a new ‘trendy diet’ every other month, even the world of dietetics has its own discrepancies. How are you supposed to know who to listen to and what is the right way to set yourself on the right path for your health? In this episode Shanon discusses what is taught in dietetics & food regulation, why she questions the system, and how you can make sure you work with the right coach.

In this episode we talk about:

Red flags in the world of dietetics and food regulation (07:23)

The truth about how our bodies handle processed foods (15:07)

The important differences between your diet and ‘diet culture’: What about tracking? (19:13)

Harms in promoting restrictions (30:13)

Is there a correct form of exercise to promote health? (37:52)

Analyzing, questioning, and listening to your body through every choice and change (44:26)

Episode Transcript:

    This is a topic that really fires me up because of how far we are away from what's actually good for humanity when it comes to our health and the broken tools that we have to work with. It actually blows my mind. Hello. Hello. Welcome back to the fuel fire soul podcast with your host Shannon Safi. If you guys haven't already, if you've been enjoying these episodes, it would mean so much if you could take a moment to write a quick review on apple podcast.

podcast. It really does help the podcast so much. And I really want to continue providing a lot of good content, good conversation, good thoughts to keep your brains and your minds and your souls open to new ways of perceiving life. And so, yeah, if you were able to share your thoughts on the podcast, on the review section, whatever you have to say, whatever you feel called to say, I would love to hear it.

I would love to see it. And if you do so, send me a screenshot. I'm getting super duper scanty on the merchandise, but I'll still send it your way. So please yeah, send me a screenshot after you write a review and I'll send you something special for doing so. So thank you. All right. And so today what I wanted to get into is slash are dietetics.

And I've been thinking about this topic so much recently, more than I have in the past. I've always kind of felt that way. I think even to be honest, from the very beginning, when I was still in school studying to become a dietitian, I remember thinking back in undergrad, how there were parts of my education that I wish were a little bit.

different just because of what I felt like is more helpful when it comes to helping people in this realm. When it comes to nutrition, everyone thinks of a dietitian as the nutrition expert, right? And I think, to me, the part of myself that really wanted to go this route of studying nutrition on such a formal method rather than just like a weekend certification was because I do feel like Dietitians, we are supposed to be able to provide nutrition counseling.

And to me, nutrition counseling is really unique in the sense of, you know, that integration piece of the nutrition education that you should be receiving as well as that counseling aspect to actually help you integrate the different educational pieces that you are learning. Fuel has always been founded upon the concept that we are not just about nutrition.

So when I started my business. I always knew I had to have a really big emphasis on the counseling aspect of nutrition. I guess the way I saw it was that it's really great, like, I love having that educational piece and being like a quote unquote expert in the field of nutrition and how food affects the body and all of that beauty.

But the other part of it is, if like, you're given this information but you're not able to actually apply it, then the information becomes not as useful. You know, it's like, you know what you quote unquote, like want to be doing and how you want to be serving your body. But if there are so many blocks in the way of you even being able to give that to yourself, it's not helpful to continue to learn more information on nutrition.

And I think it's something, you know, I'm, I really hesitated on speaking out about it because. I really do love the way I entered into the nutrition world and the integrative health world. So one of the groups that I'm part of is integrative health, so it's almost like we have these small subgroups within dietetics that you can be a part of.

And I really love the integrative health aspect of it. I think integration... is a really important part of learning and education and acquiring true knowledge and to actually work it into your life and make it make sense. And so I hesitated because I don't want to necessarily say anything negative about dieticians.

It's more of the education and what we need to emphasize and the potential toxicity that can come from working with the wrong person or someone that's still trying to figure out that message. I'm not saying that I'm, like, perfectly innocent in terms of, like, saying stuff that I now look back at and say, like, wow, I could have delivered that message very differently in a more impactful way that Might not have had that like a negative impact on someone.

So especially in the counseling sphere, it does take a lot of practice as it's something where when you're in school, you can learn how to counsel, but you can only refine the. And in my education, one thing I always wished was that there was more emphasis on the counseling aspect of it. So if I could change the field of dietetics in any way, I would make counseling a bigger aspect of what it requires to become a dietitian.

Because when people come to you, they do want that information and they want to know that the information that they are receiving from you is scientifically proven and it's accurate. Thank you. But on the other hand, like, to me, the integration piece is like, Just it's so big and that's really where I want to emphasize and focus on in my career is like, you know Come here when you already have a little bit of the knowledge or if you don't have the knowledge We will teach you that foundational piece of nutrition and what that actually should slash could look like but then like how do I actually make that a part of my life and make it make sense for me and have it be Something that's like enjoyable that I don't actually have to fight myself to do So today, I really want to focus on kind of like those flags that maybe you should kind of...

Reconsider when you're looking at, like, who's in your scope and who you're learning from, because I do think it's really important, especially on social media, to, like, make your feed something that's going to benefit you. You really want to be more in the boat of, like, wholeheartedly agreeing with the content that you're absorbing.

Because to me, like, if you are allowing more into your feed of content that you don't agree with, I don't really think that's serving you in many ways. Yes, it's beneficial to have different perspectives to challenge your thoughts, but in the same, you also want to be careful of people who, you know, you might agree with on one topic and then the repetition of hearing something else that you don't agree with, you might subconsciously start to absorb that information and start to feel it as truth.

So you really have to be careful with. what you're letting into your scope, because there are a lot of people practicing as dietitians, as nutritionists, as these self proclaimed nutrition experts in the field that are actually perpetuating the problem that is the diet culture of the world that we have to work with or fight against.

And so, again, I want to emphasize, like, I used to think some of these things were right. So, you know, people that are in that stage of thinking that what I'm about to talk about is actually correct, I totally get it because, again, in school, this education, like, you think you're going to school to learn that, hey, like, this is the way to teach people and this is how you can help people.

And so much of what I learned in school, I look back at, and even when I was learning it, I literally was like, wow, I will never. Literally never, ever teach someone this as the way to live. Like it blew my mind because we had to use like. Or like what they're teaching us is like the USDA and like the government's perspective and how the government is like encouraging food consumption and stuff and like a lot of those principles and like the rules we have in the legislation around food, it actually blows my mind that it's even that there's this many people that like, you know, Know that this is wrong and still continue to push it, because I don't think that we live in an ignorant space.

Like, I don't think our government is ignorant about what they're telling the people. I think they're very aware. They're very conscious of what they're telling the people and what they're doing to our food supply. And, like, this is what we're left to kind of work with and teach people about. Like, it really, like, this is a topic that really fires me up because of how far we are.

Away from what's actually good for humanity when it comes to our health and the tools that we, like the broken tools that we have to work with. And so, you know, when I think about food and this, like legislature starting all the way from the top, you know, so one big thing, like. When I was in school, we were taught, like, push this principle of my plate.

So that was the big thing. I, you know, I honestly, I don't even follow it anymore. So I think it's still my plate, but like, realistically to me, it was just like, oh, you want me to teach people to eat in this like little, like diagram where it's like, you know, half the plate is fruits and vegetables, a quarter of it is protein and a quarter of it is grains, and then you always have a cup of dairy.

At the top and I remember looking at this and just being like, who, who even eats like this? Like if I'm making dinner, I'm not sticking like grapes on my plate and like fruit is great. Like fruit's excellent. Do I eat fruit? Yes. But like, you know, you're teaching me to tell people like, okay, your meals should look like this weird little quadrant of food on your plate.

And then like always have a glass of dairy with it. Where it's just kind of like, okay, well, you know, I love dairy, I'm a huge dairy advocate, but the problem with dairy in this country is that there is a lot of, like, hormones and things pumped into these cows that is then put into the milk that is then causing hormonal problems for everyone.

So like, milk itself, you know, it, it should not have the negative impact that it is currently having in this country. And so that's why, you know, it's, it's hard because. Like, I feel so strongly about this, but then it's just like, okay, well, where do I even go? Like, where can I go that I can really trust that these cows are being treated properly?

Because it's like, if I'm going to the grocery store, zero percent chance. Like no percent chance have these cows that are producing this milk had a great life that was hormone free and as much as like products like to like, you know, I see a lot where it's, there's so much lingo. And so a lot of times, even when you're at the market.

You have to be really careful with this, these labeling claims that companies are even making because, you know, another thing that I thought was like absolutely ridiculous when I learned it in school, when it comes to organic and all of those things and like free range, like the, the ability to use terms like this is like, they use these words to build trust.

Between you and, like, who is selling it, right? So the consumer thinks that they feel safe because they're seeing these words. But then when you actually look at the legislature behind what, like, the USDA, I'm sorry, the FDA allows you to put on your labels, it's like, it's very misleading. So, organic, I'm going to use that as the prime example.

Because when I was in school, you would learn, like, okay, hey, this sticker for organic. Means that it's 95 percent organic. This organic sticker means that it's 90 percent organic. This one means it's 80 percent organic. And like, I don't know if you're already feeling what's extremely wrong with that statement.

Like how can something be a percent? To me, organic, it should be black and white. Like it's organic or it's not organic. Like suddenly there's degrees of organic now. So like when you go to the store and you think you're doing something great by purchasing organic and thinking, yes, like I'm protecting myself from chemicals and GMOs and all of this, like not so good stuff.

And. You know, you actually, as a consumer, because you weren't taught this in school or at any point in your life, you're actually still taking in toxic chemicals. It's like, it's almost impossible to avoid them, and I definitely encourage you to go more towards farmers markets and, you know, even more, like, going directly to the farms and having those conversations with the owners and farmers to really understand what is going into your food.

And even then, you know, I think it's like, Some farms are given government aid. Like I said, you know, I think the government is willing to pay farmers money to help them produce crop. And the only problem with that is, is that like. The government is paying for specific types of products, and it becomes like, again, a challenge where it's like, okay, like, a person needs to choose money or their integrity, but the thing is, is like, it's not always that simple because it's like, okay, well, you do need money to live.

You can't not have money and still survive in this world. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. So when we're put in this position where we have to choose between the dollar versus is. It's survival and it's like, how do you, you know, I like, I, I think it's gotta be really tough to be a farmer and have to face that, but I'm getting off topic a little bit.

You want to go move back a little bit more to the disparities with dietetics instead of talking about farmers and all of that good stuff. They are super important. Yes. Support your local farmers. I love that. That's the way to go. And really, you know, being more aware of where and what is in your food, but in general going back to that kind of control where again, the government puts money before it's people.

And I know that's a really crazy statement to make, and I don't know what's going to happen to me after saying this, but you have to start. Kind of like seeing that, because I think, you know, in the world of dietetics, it's like we're taught these things, these principles that are upheld by the government for how nutrition should be regulated, and it's, it's a really tough battle to fight.

And I, you know, it's like, I don't even know where to begin with that in so many ways. It's like, I see the problem and I wanna start educating myself more on how to make change in this sector because it really, it really needs it. And I think it's so important because, you know, as we move forward, I think more and more people are starting to have more issues with food.

And I think it's really waking people up to the fact that like something is going on with our food that is actually making us. Sicker, and we need to start paying attention to that and do our best to consume things that we can have a little bit more trust in that we know are going to be beneficial for our bodies.

Because now more than ever, you know, it's, I think it's really good time to push away and let go of some of the processed products that we are consuming on a daily basis. I've been really, and I don't even want to say I've been trying to avoid it because it's not even that. It's literally The more I incorporate whole foods and adapt to consuming whole foods and purchasing from areas that there are the less chemicals and less toxicity around and growing the plants.

I'm really starting to feel a difference in my body. So then when I do have something processed, my body, like my taste buds don't react the same way anymore. And I think that's really interesting because I used to use a lot of processed products because, you know. Way back when, when I first started school, we were, it was just like pushed to use these diet products, right?

It was like, Oh, use fat free this, use low sugar this, and all of these products that are called like health foods. That are actually processed and changing what food actually is, you know, completely changes the way our body reacts to it. So our body is meant to react and respond to whole foods. That is what is going to allow you to have normal Physiological responses to food so that you can better understand and be in control of what's going into your body when you start to incorporate too many elements of things that are processed, what starts to happen is your body can't respond properly because there are billions upon billions and trillions of dollars put into processed foods to figure out What perfect chemical combination is going to actually cause you to become addicted to that food?

And there's a really good book called, I believe it's called the Dorito effect. So if you're a little bit curious or skeptical about me making that statement, I encourage you to read that book, take a look at it because it talks a lot about How science is actually used again to like create these like serotonin, dopamine hits, like every time it hits your tongue so that you become like, so addicted to this food that you feel like you're no longer in control of it.

And if you think about some of the campaign slogans that companies use, it's like, there's a lot of truth to it. Like Pringles saying like, you can't, but you can't eat just one. And listen, I'm not saying that I never eat Pringles, but the thing is, is like. No, I have to acknowledge that I cannot make that something or like, I shouldn't say cannot, because again, I'm not into like hard fast, steadfast rules.

It's more about like, this shouldn't be a staple in my diet because it's not designed to nourish my body. It's designed to make me want to continue to consume the product. And so you have to be really conscious of like these processed products. A lot of them are really designed. To hook you in and to make you love that product rather than Being able to navigate it from a standpoint of, like, what feels good to my body.

And when you eat a lot of these products, the other part of it is they're not designed to satiate you. And so, when you stop having that sensation, or you're not able to actually identify the sensation of feeling full, then you continue to eat. So, you know, it's like they want you to eat more of their product because you will go through it quicker.

You will buy more of it and they will get richer, right? That's their goal is to increase revenue. And you do that from increasing the demand and the psychological need for the product. So you really have to think about. What is on the front labels of the foods that you are processing, or I'm sorry, you are purchasing and to really start to incorporate more aspects into your day of whole food consumption.

That is honestly going to take you so much closer if you are on a journey to improve your health. So again, I keep getting off tangent, but moving back to the counseling piece that I was talking about earlier in dietetics, I think that how people start to try to coach people in the realm of outpatient counseling or coaching or whatever you would like to call it, I think can actually perpetuate a lot of toxic behaviors that feeds into this diet culture.

And again, almost like making you buy into a system that you can never actually break free from. So I look at diets and, you know, I think the term diet, I think a lot of times we associate with some form of restriction or some form of control, limitations, rules, expectations, all of that gets Brought up into your mind when you hear the word diet.

The word diet itself really is just a general term for what you're consuming But diet culture here is this concept of like how to make your body look good And not necessarily think about the long term Consequences of the actions that you're taking now. So one of the major things is Tracking this is a principle that I I did teach slash do still kind of like use as a tool for awareness.

To me, tracking should not be a tool that is used indefinitely. If you are doing something specifically for a sport that is, you know, if you're like a bodybuilder, this podcast is probably completely irrelevant to you because that is just its own animal in a sense I'm talking about, like, if you're just trying to be a.

Normal, generally speaking, healthy individual, and so, when it comes to this tracking piece, and I see people tracking every gram of protein, every gram of fat and like, I almost want to cry when I see people measuring their vegetables on a scale, like, you think that you can't, like, I was watching this video online because a lot of nutrition videos and reels still pop up into my feed.

And I saw this one where this girl was like, giving a salad recipe, and the first thing she dumped in and measured was the lettuce. Like, she was using, like, I don't know, it was either like, it was probably romaine lettuce, right? And she was like, okay, first, like, X number of grams of lettuce. And I was like, oh my god, like, are you...

This like when people look at this do they think that I need to measure how many grams of lettuce I'm taking in to make sure that I'm a healthy individual like that is that That is so sad. And I, you know, there was an older version of myself that did think that weighing and measuring was necessary.

And I was just after a very specific body composition, but I, you know, I came to realize like, this is completely. You know, it was like becoming a dietitian almost pushed me further into that because it became this like pressure. And again, like I built it in my own head, so I'm not blaming anyone for this.

But when I was like, oh, I'm a dietitian, I have to like look a certain way. Then I, this is how I need to be personally in order to look a certain way to have people respect me and have them listen to me. And so I was putting way too much control on myself. But when I would look at what I was teaching people, it was It was not the same as what I was doing for myself.

And so again, like, I'm fully opening up and, like, owning the fact that, like, I did perpetuate some of these problems, and I am, like, you know, it's like I had to forgive myself for genuinely not realizing it, and now that I'm so much more aware of What these problems or perpetuating these problems can do to the health and wellness of our community, our country, our people, our world.

It's like, I have to like speak up about it and say like, Hey, like I was on that other side and I realized that was not it. And I want to push forward with talking about how dangerous these things can be. So tracking, you don't have to track that specifically. And I think, again, like, I think it can be a tool for awareness, period.

Because you can't make changes when you're not aware of what you're doing. So if you're in a space and you're like, Wow, I am eating a lot of processed food. I don't feel great. I'm experiencing digestive problems. Tracking is really just a tool for you to start thinking about what you are putting into your body.

So again, I'm not saying tracking is bad, but how you track is what makes a difference. So the tracking system I use or we have used in the past with clients, it's a picture tracking system because I don't want you to obsess over like every little calorie that's going into it. Because it's just not a way to live.

Like, I don't want to teach people that tracking is the only way. Because, like, all that is is, like, you needing to fixate on this level of control over what's going into your body. And that's not even how to properly nourish yourself. Because then you're getting so fixated on hitting numbers, and then your meals start to look weird.

Like, I think of, like, you know, I don't push macro tracking at all, because to me it's, like, If you're starting the day, right, and you didn't have a strong desire for eating protein, and then it's the end of your day, and you're like, oh, well, I have 500 calories left, and I still need to hit, like, 50 grams of protein, and then you're just, like, for dinner, then you have to, like, eat, like, or just drink a carton of egg whites, and then, like, one tablespoon of peanut butter, and then you're like, yep, that's health.

Did it. Hit my macros. But, like, what is that teaching you? That's teaching you that you can't trust what your body is telling you that you need. That's teaching you to further disconnect from your body and to follow rules and standards that someone else has set for your health. We are all different. We all need different nutrients daily.

We're all going to gravitate towards something different. And what you want to do is set yourself up in a space where you have the ease and simplicity to access. Whole foods for yourself, rather than being stuck, just not having time and needing to read a label in order to know that it's okay to eat and trust that you can put it into your body.

Again, you're just like giving, you're taking away the permission that you're supposed to be able to grant yourself. And like, that's why this whole theme of like reconnecting to your body is so important to me in my work moving forward, because your body has a lot of those answers and it's not about following these specific programs.

So again, like calorie counting your body doesn't even burn the same number of calories every day. And so. To me to say, like, I specifically need to hit exactly these calories every single day in order to hit my goals calories. Again, that is awareness. I think you have to have awareness around what calories are, especially in the realm of mixing in processed foods.

And so I'm not saying that it's, you should ignore these things. They are important. They are measurements that we've used to help teach people. Because right now, when you're so disconnected from your body, like you have to bring awareness to your habits before you can change something. And if you, like, you can't really conceptualize the feeling.

of calories in your body until you have awareness around what calories are. So you have to start somewhere to strengthen that connection. But what I don't want people to do is fixate so strongly on calories, because another unhealthy behavior that I think that perpetuates is that processed food calories are going to hit very differently than a whole food calorie.

And so, like, I say this all the time when I'm eating whole foods and I would see like, okay, this is how many calories if I were to like write down and calculate how many calories I ate in whole foods and calculate how many calories I ate on another day if it was like majority processed foods my body does so much better when I'm eating the whole foods, even if it's the same number of calories.

And even if I'm eating more calories in whole foods, My body responds so much better at that higher calorie intake from whole foods than it does a low calorie intake of processed foods. I'm going to say that one more time. You could eat more calories of whole foods and feel better and look better and operate better and have better labs and better everything, better energy, rather than having these processed food calories.

Things that are coming out of a package at a low rate will tend to cause more disruption with your hormones, more health problems, and you struggle more to lose weight and you struggle more to have any sense of self control because you are putting things into your body in a way that your body was not designed to process in an appropriate manner.

Going back to the point where these processed foods are not made with your best health in mind most of the time. And I'm sorry to say it, but it's true. These packaged health foods, you have to really be careful. And I'm not saying never have them, because like I said, I have them sometimes. I am. A person of this world.

I am an American citizen. This is, you know, it's like we have, this is what we are given. And so sometimes it happens and it is not going to be the death of you. If you eat a processed product, you have to just be more conscious of reading the label and knowing what. Like, what that actually is going into your body.

And so if you are going to choose to incorporate processed foods, which is very appropriate you just, to me, the degree of processing and what's actually in it is really important to acknowledge. So... Really limiting strongly, or again, I hate to use terms like limiting or avoid, but I would say it's more just like leading with whole food choices, leading with products that do not contain preservatives which is few and far between in that world, but a lot of things that are super simple that don't necessarily contain.

Things that I would say are like appropriate processed products to like rice. I would still put that in the category of whole foods. It's minimally processed. I mean, there is some degree of processing. Anything you buy in the supermarket has some degree of processing. But pastas, you can make really good choices.

You can buy 100 percent semolina pastas. That's fantastic. It's easy to make your own. I mean, it's a little time consuming and I know all of us are very busy in our lives, but giving more time to making your own food is important for your health. And I think it's something that everyone should take into consideration.

If your life is set up in a way that you don't have the time to probably properly nourish yourself, you should really evaluate, reevaluate. Where you are spending your time and giving more back to that. So on the note of rules and restrictions That's another big thing that I see dietitians Promoting and pushing all the time where you see these dietitians that are like no dairy, no gluten, no this, no that And you go into that and what that does is it just makes your relationship with food so much worse When you have all of these rules to follow.

So again, there's no I don't I don't see there being A perfect diet. There's no one way to eat that suits everyone. And so, when you go to some of these dieticians and they're pushing these, like, restrictive diets, or, you know, you know, I, I was so upset when the Academy released a statement saying, like, 1, 200 calorie diets are ideal for obese clients.

And, you know, it's like, I'm paying money to be Considered a dietitian and the people that credentialed me are saying, Hey, push this agenda on your clients. And I just, like, I rejected that so hard. I just, like, I couldn't believe that it is 2022 and the Academy of Dietetics is pushing a 1200 calorie diet.

Like, I could have cried. I honestly was like, wow, this is not what I want to represent. I'm not, I don't want to put. My name behind this statement. I don't want to be tied to this and have people think that I'm going to push people towards this number, number game again. It's not like nutrition is not a number game.

You can measure your health using numbers. Sure. But it's not a number game on a daily basis to you. What you should be leading with is what, like honoring what your body needs. And so the more we put rules and restrictions, you're basically, again, further disconnecting from your body and saying like, no, I don't know what my body needs.

This person knows what my body needs and they're going to tell me what to do. And I'm going to listen to that. And I'm going to ignore what my body's telling me so that I can fit this scheme to lose weight. Weight loss isn't always, you know, it really, it's, it's so hard because yes, like sometimes it can benefit us to lose weight if we are in a place where we feel uncomfortable in our bodies, right?

So, you know, the thing is, is like, Leading with a program that's focused on losing weight rather than focused on nourishing the body. It's going to have a, again, psychologically a completely opposite effect. If you're so steadfast and focused on like. Needing to lose weight. You're going to miss the beauty of what food can really do for your body.

You're going to miss the enjoyment that food should be. And again, these diet programs, like, perpetuate that problem and that disconnection. And people, like the internet, can set these dangerous expectations for people, and you see these, like, weight loss competitions that people will run. And like, ah, that's another thing that makes me cringe, where it's like, it's like, oh, like.

They're hosting this like eight week challenge and the one time someone asked me to do it, and this is when I was young, someone was like, hey, can you run a nutrition challenge here? And I was like, ah, like, I really don't want to do this, and you know, I was kind of like, mm, but I could like, you know, Maybe this will bring more awareness to my business.

So when I did this nutrition challenge, I made it like to quote unquote, like win the challenge or to be in competition for the winner. It was more about the habits that you decided for yourself that you wanted to grow from. So it was like, okay here are the habits I started with. And what were my habits like towards the end that actually further connected me to the ability to nourish my body.

And I think people thought it was weird, absolutely, because I did it in a gym space. So, like, you know, even though that's what I was kind of promoting, a lot of people were still super stuck on this desire to lose a certain number of pounds in a certain period of time. And I think that just kind of, like, Yeah, like the fact that it was a challenge pushed people in a direction that I really didn't want them to think in.

And so that's why it was like my one and only and I was like, I will never do this again because like your health should not be a competition with someone else. Because what, like, what are you going to do? Perform for the competition during that time and then after just drop off with it? Because that's what happens for a lot of people.

They do these weight loss competitions and they do it for the competition. But then they've, they come out of it realizing they've learned nothing and they're just perpetuating this fluctuating cycle of their weight. People would gain the weight back right away a lot of times after these competitions because they would just be so desperate to win whatever this competition is promoting, rather than focusing on this being a period of time that they're going to continue to learn and honor their body.

And the expectations out on the internet that people put with this, like, Hey, in six weeks, my client lost 20 pounds and it's like that, that does not apply to most people, if anyone, and I would say that's a pretty extreme amount of weight to lose. And so there's no way that your body was adequately nourished if you lost 20 pounds in six weeks, but then people come thinking they see that and they say, why can't that be me?

Why can't I get it together? Why can't I lose 20 pounds in six weeks? What is wrong with me? Why do I have no control over myself? Why am I so insecure about myself? And instead of these competitions motivating us, they make us hate ourselves. And the more you hate, like, you know, I'll say it now, and I'll say it again, like, a million times over.

Hating your body will never bring you the body. that you want. You cannot hate yourself into your health. You can only do it through love. You can only nourish yourself through love. You cannot nourish yourself through hate. And that's what a lot of the media out there does. It just, you look at it and you're like, wow, I hate myself because I don't look like this person.

I hate myself because I can't control myself like this person. I hate myself because I'm not disciplined like this person. And instead of them, you know, and a lot of these coaches, what happens and again, it's so dangerous is that they push this agenda or like, you know, and it's, it's like, it's a double edged sword because people come to you and they're like, Hey, I want to work on my health.

And then, you know, you as a coach have to make it really clear as a dietitian, you have to make it really clear, like, okay, we're not focusing. On weight loss, because if you want to know how to nourish yourself, we need to undo a lot of the, the damage and the false truths that you've been fed for so long before we can actually make progress towards you connecting to your body and knowing how to nourish it and being able to know what feels good and what feels right.

You can't feel what feels right when. You are really disconnected from yourself, and so that disconnection a lot of times requires a heavy amount of counseling, and a lot of awareness, and a lot of meditation, and proper movement. That's another one, this principle of exercise, where, you know, it's like this really narrow scope of like, what exercise should look like.

It's like... What we learn to teach people in school too, it's just like, okay, do you know x number of minutes a week of cardiovascular activity and do x number of minutes a week of resistance training? And so then you look at the internet and what's everyone doing? Sprints and weightlifting. And so people are like, well, I hate running.

And I hate weightlifting. And so therefore I hate working out and therefore now I have a problem with the movement piece of it because none of it makes sense to me. And then when I do do it, I feel super sore and I don't know what I'm doing. And then I hurt myself because no one's ever taught me. And like, you're again, just perpetuating this problem as a coach.

If you're not taking the moment to acknowledge that there's an infinite number of ways to move and. There's only a few correct ways to do it. And what I mean by that is like, what movement can be is so broad, but it needs to be good for your body. And a lot of these weightlifting programs, they try to reel you in with like these crazy new workout movements.

And it's just like, no, you need to go back to the basic principles and realize that Your body, it's like, okay, humans, we've been around for quite some time, right? You know, it's like these new innovative ways to like move your body. It's not as useful as it sometimes seems. It's just like an attention grabber rather than something that's really making sure that your body is being taken care of.

So, you know, I've always put such a strong emphasis on mobility. And without mobility, like, don't bother moving because you're really going to cause more damage. You know, it's like, it's important to do any form of mobility. Before you hit any level of intense exercise, you need to take care of your joints because if you're, you know, what you're doing by just like diving into weights is you're just increasing the inflammation in your body and not doing anything to work any of that inflammation out or to protect the muscles around the joints.

You're just kind of like, you know, doing it because like I'm supposed to lift. You can do resistance training in so many different ways. Without weights. Okay. So unpopular opinion in this world, it's like, you don't need to use weights specifically, but you should do some degree of resistance training. But.

When people hear the word resistance training, they don't think about mobility being resistance training because you're not picking up a heavy object, you need to kind of like, again, you know, and I used to do it too. Like, again, I'm so guilty of buying into that because that's what I was fed. That's what I was taught to teach in school.

And I thought like, hey, This should be right. I'm learning in school. Right. But like the whole time in the back of my head, I was like, but this, I can't listen to, but this just doesn't make sense. But why are they telling me to do this? Is it really health or is it about money is about being gimmicky is about pushing an agenda.

It's like sometimes like I really step back and I'm like, wow, there's so much that I questioned and that I really want to change in this field because. Yes. It's like easy to fall into it. And it's like, this is what we're taught to teach. And it's like, it took a lot of unlearning and education on my own.

So, to really, and even just practice in principle, or just like, I would move my body in a certain way that like, you know, everyone's, it's the new trend, it's the new cool thing, and stuff, and it's like, it didn't feel good. It hurt. It literally hurt. And movement should not hurt. That's the part of it where it's like, it didn't feel good.

We also get stuck in this like, Oh, well, if I'm not feeling tortured, then it's not working. And people feel the same way about their nutrition as well as their movement in this field. Because with nutrition, they're like, okay, well, I should, like, a lot of my clients would say like, well, I like going to bed a little hungry because I know that means that I didn't eat too much.

And the thing is, is like, you're not supposed to avoid your hunger. Like your hunger is there to tell you. That you need food. So I always say to people, I'm going to give you a guide so that you can bring some awareness to some foundational principles to help you kind of unlearn some of these social media diet gimmicks.

If you ever feel physically check in with your body and hear that you need more food, you should 100 percent do it. I will never tell someone to not eat when they're hungry. And it's crazy because there's so many diets that tell you, like, push through the hunger. And, you know, that's what people expect health to be, like just this torture chamber.

And same with exercise, where it's just like, if I didn't beat myself up to do this workout, and if I'm not sore the next day, then I did absolutely nothing useful the day before. Soreness is you doing, probably doing a little bit too much, honestly, and you know, it's, there are going to be times where soreness happens unintentionally.

But if you are basing quality of your workout off of how sore you are, you are not focusing on the right thing. Your body should feel good while you are moving. And if you are doing things that do not feel good. It's probably not the right thing for you and what I mean by feel good You know, there should still be some you know that like you want to still challenge yourself with your movement so especially when it comes to mobility and yoga and these things so these like Focusing more on connecting the mind and the body these sorts of things what's happening here is you can still experience like a slight discomfort when you are trying to improve your mobility, so You know, but it should not be painful.

So it's like, you know, the difference between like, Hmm, this is a good stretch. This is a good reach versus this is me about to rip my bicep off. So like we don't want to push it to that point, but it should be something that you have a little, like I said, it's normal to have a little bit of discomfort, but there's, there's a good discomfort and there's a bad discomfort.

You have to kind of pay attention to like, what is. What feels like it's doing something good for your body and what feels like it's actually torturing your body. And so, again, like a lot of this, the more I think about it, it's, it's a really hard world to navigate. Like this is so difficult and it's hard to know who to go to to get trusted information from when you're trying to enter into this world and do something to benefit your health.

So, like, I think most people listening to this are not going to be dietitians. Maybe, maybe not, but if you are my listeners, you are my people, my clients, anyone that has worked with me, anyone that's interested in working with me, and you're coming from the end of being someone that wants to be coached or wants to be taught and to be in an environment where they can trust the information.

Even if you're just listening to this, just to listen to this, when you are looking out for a coach or someone to guide you or a dietitian or trainer or a mobility coach, any of those things yoga teacher, all of that, you really have to sit with yourself and think about how your body is feeling when you're making these decisions.

You really have to focus first on connecting to your body with all of these things, because if you don't focus on body connection first, you are never going to be able to use your body as your guide through all of this, because your body is designed to protect you, right? So your body knows much more than your conscious brain.

is processing. Your body is absorbing everything. Your subconscious is absorbing everything. Things that you're not even aware that you are absorbing. So again, your environment is so crucial. And so you really have to take a moment when you are working with a coach, like ask those questions, challenge some of their principles, ask them why you are doing what you are doing.

You have the right to ask those questions and you should ask those questions and you shouldn't just accept something at face value. Like part of this process is really questioning like, hey, how am I feeling in this and why are they teaching it this way? Why did I buy into this product, whether it be a food, whether it be a coach or a program, ask yourself these little questions and say, like, what's the true motivation behind my decision making process?

And if I'm in a space where I don't even have time to think about this, maybe I should focus on that first is giving myself the space to process a lot of these thoughts. I think I probably said a lot of things that some people might question and say like, like, why is she like, no way. And like, honestly, I'm a little, a little nervous to release this in so many ways, because like, I hate to speak negatively of anything, but the thing is, is like, we have to be conscious and aware of what is being given to us.

And so it's paying attention to these small things. And like you, you know, it's like when I go. to a professional. I want to know that they are a professional. They're an expert in their field. And that's not always the case because education becomes this thing where it's just like everyone's just supposed to do it.

And I think that weakens the standards sometimes. And so people go through this and just because you're really great at taking exams and making your way through school does not necessarily mean you're going to be an expert. So you really have to pay attention not only to people's credentials, but to really like, They're reasoning and beliefs behind these principles that they're trying to teach.

You really need to know a person before working with them in the coaching sphere. And so that's why with anyone that comes to work with me, like I always do a free consultation. It's as much about like you figuring out if you can trust me as me figuring out if you're open and ready to receive the message that I have.

It's again, it's a, it's a two way street. People need to acknowledge that. And like, I will never have someone enter my program that is in the desire to track calorie count, restrict, and have these extreme expectations on their bodies. I will always be upfront and transparent and say, Hey, this is not what I teach.

I will teach, if you are open to learning. How to connect to your body and to learning why there's, how this trauma is actually stopping you from nourishing yourself. I'm here. However, if you are focused on losing X amount of pounds in this many months, I am not your girl. I'm not going to encourage that behavior and set these goals and rules that are perpetuating the very problem that I am so dedicated to speaking out about.

And so, yeah, I really, I don't know, I hope this message lands with some people, and I hope some of these thoughts you really sit with and think about, and I hope the right people hear it, that need to hear it, and yeah, just like, Really start to think about these little things and start to pay more attention to it because awareness, like I said in the beginning, is the first part of this all.

This stuff is now being brought into your awareness. Now that you're aware, it becomes increasingly more uncomfortable to sit with it and not do anything about it. And that's kind of where I'm at. It's like now that I know, and now that I've seen, and I've shifted my perspective, I can't... Be continued to be a part of perpetuation of this problem And you know, there's parts of me that have been honestly like again full transparency like grappling with Keeping my title as a dietitian because I don't want people to think that I'm going to push These sorts of agendas that the Academy of Nutrition has spoken about and said, Hey, this is, this is truth, and this is what we need to teach people in order to be healthy.

Because I don't agree with all of them. And so if I don't fully agree with these principles that are being pushed, there's a part of me that says, do I try to fight where this is coming from and dietetics, or do I walk away from it? You know, it's, I don't have a full decision yet, maybe someone hears this and says, I'm deciding for you, don't get to be a dietitian if you're going to speak this way about dietitians.

And I, you know, honestly, I think there's a lot of amazing dietitians, so I'm not by no means discrediting anyone with any title. Right? I'm just simply saying that just because you have a title doesn't necessarily mean you're an expert. But there are a lot of really loving, compassionate people in this field that have beautiful messages and that are working to change the way the system is.

And yeah, there is a huge part of me that says, you know, I think education is a really beautiful, empowering, important thing. And I hope that the system will continue to adapt to what is important, because where it's at now, I've been facing a lot of issues with people not understanding what brings true change.

And I'm trying to, I'm currently in a situation where I am fighting a system that wants to tell me that a dietician should only need to spend 15 minutes with their clients to elicit results. I don't believe that for a second. And I will never, ever revert. To spending only 15 minutes with someone and thinking I'm going to have any impact on their health and actually truly help them.

I can't even keep my sessions to an hour, which is the standard. Like, my programs now, it's like I will spend two hours with a person and still feel like, wow, that might have not been enough to continue to uncover What's going on right here? There's so much to dissect. I mean, emotionally, whoo, yeah, two hours, you feel it, but the thing is, it's that continuation.

It's important to spend that time with people because the true change is going to come from something that has nothing to do with the tracking and the calorie counting and the restricting and the weight loss and the expectations and the exercise. That is not your, you're targeting things from the wrong direction.

If you're trying to control all those external things, you have to look at it again and approach things. Internally from that mind body connection standpoint, and those other things will no longer matter and you will come into your true sense of health and not have to feel pressure or worry anymore about your body because you're teaching yourself to, to trust your body again without that trust.

You are not going to be able to take steps in the right direction. If you don't trust yourself, and you're not working with a dietician or a coach that's teaching you how to trust yourself, you should consider a new program. Yeah, that's what I have to say. Whew. Yeah, that was, that was some heat that I just felt come out of my body.

Saying all of that because I, I feel so strongly about this and anyone that knows me on a personal level knows that if you ask me one little question about this, I will talk for endless hours. I will get so worked up because this means so much to me to make changes in the system and make this, make this world better.

You know, when I, I don't have a clear vision of how I'm going to do it, but. I have to start somewhere and it's through connecting to you guys and bringing awareness around this subject and the importance of it and starting to help others see this and see the disparities and to stand against it and to follow a path that's in alignment with your human existence, who you are, what you were created to be.

It all starts there. Whew! Alright guys, thank you so much for listening today. Let me know what your thoughts are. If you are also outraged, let me know. If you're a dietician that wants to make changes and you want to like, join forces and be a little advocate together, or a little rebel, whatever, however you want to see it, let me know.

I would freaking love that. And if... What I'm saying is really resonating, I encourage you to set up a free consultation with me because, yeah, we can talk more about how this is playing a factor in your life and your history with a lot of these different topics and where you're trying to grow from and where you're trying to evolve to, because it's so hard to cut the ties and dependency on a lot of these things like calorie counting and restriction when you've done it for so many years.

You know, my, I've been so focused on gathering the tools that you need and being able to teach you the tools to make that evolutionary step and what that actually looks like. Because it's not this magical process where you just wave a wand and you forget about these things. It was a transitionary period of my life.

You know, it took me a couple years, two, three years to really fully detach from these principles and realize, like. How good I can feel when I'm not under that level of control, or like, feeling of lack of control, or desperate need to control these things. Like, my body feels so much better, my health is so much better, it's like, the resistance begins to subside when you actually have the truth, and you're able to hear the truth from within your own body.

So yeah, thank you for listening. I hope that you really felt something from this episode. I hope this resonated with people or at least is now causing you to challenge some of your thoughts and really be able to stand true and what you believe and what you choose to not believe in this. Wild wild world that we are in tune in in the next couple of weeks to hear a little bit more Send me some feedback start a conversation with me on instagram.

I love to hear it fuel the underscore fire Thanks for listening Love you guys. Bye