If you are yet to have a consultation with an Optimum Intake Dietitian, here are 6 ways in which we assist our clients:
- Challenging diet culture– We are all exposed to various avenues of dieting messages that are at least partly influenced by society’s dieting culture. This is leading to much confusion and frustration when trying to make the best decisions when it comes to you and your family’s heath. It is baffling that restrictive and prescriptive approaches to eating are often normalised (and even celebrated) in today’s society. Health behaviours that may appear “healthy” but, in fact, are likely to lead to starvation and under-nutrition (among other consequences). We will play a crucial role in identifying fact from fiction.
- Supporting flexible eating– As dietitians, we’re often feared and thought of as the “food police”. When in fact, we LOVE food! We see this as an opportunity to take advantage of that reputation and use it to better inform our clients and the community. As Accredited Dietitians and Accredited Nutritionists, we can play a powerful role in calling out food myths and reducing modern-day food frenzy righteousness. Instead, using our food science degrees, we can explain how nutrients work in the body beyond a simplistic view of calories and give our clients the permission to eat a variety of foods, in plentiful quantities and find enjoyment and satisfaction from the experience of eating. Optimum Intake Dietitians all have in common the shared value of ‘Food is Food’, not good vs bad, clean vs toxic etc.
- Understanding and optimising health– Our Dietitians have an extensive understanding of weight science and the impact of food and eating (or not eating) on the mind and body. Despite what societal ideals will have us believe, we know that thinner is not necessarily healthier. A person can be healthy in a larger sized body while others may have unhealthy behaviours and maintain a smaller sized body. We can assess when weight loss has been health depleting, as opposed to health-optimising, and link symptoms to nutrient deficiencies resulting from an unbalanced eating approach. We can guide our clients towards achieving their health goals through providing accurate nutritional education, aid in the restoration of health and bring back the joy with eating. There is more to achieving a healthy mind and body beyond the overly simplistic focus on weight.
- The weight dilemma – is this what you really want to focus on? Our dietitians will draw upon their expertise of the human mind and body to have inspiring conversations to assist in combating the battle with the scales. We will consider the effects of food, digestion, fluid retention, muscle mass, bone mass, metabolic rates and provide clarification with how the human body determines its natural set point for weight. Through collaborative approaches and strategies we will broaden our client’s understanding of health, challenge common weight and health myths, and disentangle their sense of self-worth from their body weight.
- Learning from within– Dietitians are experts in eating behaviours. We teach our clients to tune into their body’s cues, trust their body’s inner wisdom, and eat intuitively. Intuitive eating includes an understanding and practice in mindful eating, training in hunger-fullness awareness, experimentation with responding to body cues, the pursuit of joyful movement and reframing the value of body weight and shape and supportive encouragement throughout the transformation. Through doing this, not only do we liberate clients from the traps of dieting, we assist clients to pay attention to their emotional, physical and mental needs, utilise them as important sources of information, and take action that is empowering and honours their worth as a human being. Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract and resole their issues without using food.
- Feel the difference – Clients learn was to respect their body by accepting their genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of 8 would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size 6 shoe. It is equally as futile to have the same expectation with body size. We support finding joyfulness in body movement, shift their focus to how it feels to move the body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise. Learning to prioritise their health through gentle nutrition, making food choices that honour their health and taste buds while making them feel well and satisfied in the eating experience.
Unsure if moving to a non-dieting approach is a good fit for you? Let us show you the evidence, the pro’s and con’s of the two nutritional care options, as we trust that you can decide what is best for you and your overall health. The impact you desire both physically and mentally!
