I’ve always loved food and eating and as a young adult, I became very interested in exercise, physical performance, and health. This led me down the path of nutrition and I was thrilled to discover that there was a career where I could talk to people about food, health, and eating all day long; I wanted to become a dietitian!

 

My journey as a dietitian started in Edmonton hospitals and health centers where I was spending most of my days counseling people on weight loss and healthy eating and trying to come up with new and exciting ways to motivate people to make changes to their diets. I spent many hours trying to help people eat "fewer of these", cut down on "that", and be satisfied by having less. I was quick to offer "helpful" tips such as “fill half your plate with two kinds of vegetables”, “have a dessert you really like but have half the portion and only once per week”, “fill up on fiber to encourage satiety”, and so on and so forth.

 

I enjoyed the work, but I couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling that the focus on weight loss just wasn’t working; my patients would have temporary success, but it never seemed to last. They felt frustrated and defeated and so was I. Not to mention, I was being completely hypocritical! I considered myself to be a healthy person at a healthy weight, and yet I NEVER filled half my plate with vegetables and I had dessert daily. So why did I expect my patients to follow completely different eating rules from my own? I started to lose faith in the standard, weight-centered approach to nutrition.

 

Luckily, I had the opportunity to work in the eating disorder program and in cancer care - two areas where I got to encourage people to actually enjoy eating! I quickly discovered the difference between the type of nutrition counselling that I loved and the type that left me feeling disingenuous; I wanted to encourage healthy relationships with food instead of harping on people to lose weight!

 

This discovery led me toward opening my own practice, In To It Nutrition. I was able to use my psychology degree and eating disorder experience and ultimately became a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Now I am thrilled to practice in a way that feels right to me; I spend my days healing damaged relationships with food, encouraging people to enjoy food without guilt, and teaching people how to listen to their own eating cues and I’ve never looked back!