Have you ever met with a healthcare practitioner who did not make you get on the scale, or who did not ask you about your weight, within the first 30 seconds of the appointment?
Some of you may not understand what it means to be a weight neutral dietitian, or to see one yourself, as part of your healthcare team. When I make the claim that I’m “weight neutral”, or a “weight neutral practitioner”, I’m saying the following;
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I will treat you the same regardless of your weight
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I will look beyond your weight to make suggestions and goals for your health and well-being
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I will not use your weight as a barrometer of your health
- I will not use your weight as an indicator of how hard you’re working or how motivated you are
- I will ask questions about your lifestyle and behaviors, to determine next steps in a plan for you:
- Are you sleeping enough? Do you get enough quality sleep?
- What do you do for physical activity?
- What’s your relationship with alcohol, drugs, social media?
- Do you engage in self-care?
- Are you in tune with your body and your body’s needs?
- I will dig deeper to learn about food intake and your relationship with food
- Do you eat enough and are your food choices balanced?
- Do you feel the need to restrict, or do you have food guilt/shame? How does this affect you?
- Does food bring you joy or does food make you stressed?
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I will ask questions about your relationship with your body
- How do you feel in your body?
- Have you been told not to listen to or trust your body? How does this help or hurt you?
- Do you listen to or trust your body?
- Do you regularly connect with your body in a positive way?
As a weight-neutral dietitian/practitioner my goal is not to help you manipulate your body or your weight, my goal is to treat you as a human being with needs that go far beyond weight. My goal is to help you control and manage the controllable; your health and lifestyle behaviors. My goal is to help you see that you are more than a number on the scale, and your success is not determined by how little you weigh. As a weight-neutral dietitian I will not:
- Tell you your weight doesn’t matter
- Tell you not to think about or worry about your weight
I will take your lead. If you want to discuss your weight, we can, but if you don’t want to discuss your weight, we won’t. If you want to learn more about the difference between a weight-neutral approach to nutrition coaching, and a more weight-focused approach, check out this interview I did with a good dietitian friend of mind, Casey Lewandowski.
Sign up for an inturance-covered appointment with me through Nourish!
Visit my personal business website; www.NutritionUnmeasured.com
Check out my 10-module self-paced intuitive eating course on my new You Tube channel!!
