Eat For You Dietitian

First of all, what is a perfect diet? No one has a perfect diet, and if that is what you are perceiving from their social media platform then let me tell you, it is not the whole truth. You are seeing a snapshot of what they want to show you only.

The common phrase I hear almost every day when I go into anyone’s office at work. ‘The Dietitian’s here, hide the chocolate and snacks’

On behalf of all Dietitians (well most at least) to the rest of the world … We are not judging your food choices and we also love a chocolate or a snack. It’s what keeps us going and our stomach’s quiet during clinic.

As a practising Registered Dietitian working in the NHS I aim to practice within a weight inclusive, non-diet approach to nutrition and try to educate and empower the individuals I come across to be able to eat food freely without guilt, unnecessary restrictions and tailor to clinical conditions which are relevant. This may not always be the case as the medical setting and the NHS is widely a weight-centric organisation and individuals who come to me have repeatedly been told they need to be a certain BMI or Body Mass Index to be ‘healthy’ or they need to lose a certain amount of weight to receive a treatment or surgery.

When a person has been told this multiple times it is difficult to see another potential goal apart of ‘losing weight’ as the only option. If calorie counting or strict portion control is the method they wish to use then I will fully support with all the available options and education resources. This may include using alternative measurable outcomes such as mood, sleep, movement abilities and so on.

I’m not selling a fancy calorie-restrictive diet or any fancy ‘superfoods’ that will promote fat loss (these don’t exist by the way).

What did I have for dinner last night? 

It was Nando’s-inspired of spiced chicken boneless fillets, halloumi, tomato and mango salsa, chips, and green beans. I also used up our last 2 corn tortilla wraps and made crisps in the oven to nibble on.

Maybe my portion of carbohydrate was larger than a handful or a 1/3 of my plate, maybe I didn’t have enough vegetables with my meal.

Maybe I even had a chocolate cake slice topped with spray cream for pudding.

Guess what? I was satisfied and nothing bad happened to me. The way I eat changes, my overall diet varies. When I say ‘diet’ I don’t mean a calorie-restrictive or any fancy ‘diet’ to change my body. When I say ‘diet’ I mean the many foods I am lucky enough to include on a regular basis.

Every day will look different, my balance will change dependent on many factors.

Un-learning diet culture and its role in my life took a long time and I still find I have to challenge any of these thoughts when I hear comments about losing weight or even see some of my Ecuadorian family members who can be very blunt and weight-centric. They are the type of family who will mention weight or asking if I’ve gained weight within the first few sentences. I have found that for my own mental health and wellbeing I need to remove myself from these situations. For some time I felt like I was the rude person for not engaging in these conversations. But then I remembered, our weight is the least interesting thing about us.

Does this happen to you with your family members? If so, how do you navigate these conversations?