Why I Do What I Do
Everyone has a story, right? I didn’t study nutrition and become a registered dietitian for no reason. I believe that most dietitians stumble on this career path out of:
ONE… a desire to help others, and
TWO… a desire to help ourselves.
Everyone eats, right? As a dietitian, your options for helping others are countless. However, my interest in nutrition blossomed due to my own obsessions with food.
I grew up as a dancer with body image issues my whole life. I can remember being fitted for costumes and freaking out about my size as young as 8 years old. What started as body image issues turned into a desire to improve my performance as a dancer and be the best athlete I could possibly be.
I started to take nutrition and additional training (outside of dance classes) seriously in high school. I became obsessed with food and exercise.
When I started college, dance was over. I put down nutrition and exercise and picked up partying. When I gained the freshman 20lbs, I was devastated (as the body image issues were still there).
I turned to nutrition and exercise for weight loss and to change my body. I hated exercising and hated eating “healthy.” I know now that this resistance to healthy behavior patterns was a result of my struggle with self-acceptance. Because my motivation was to change the way I looked, I found ZERO enjoyment in what I was doing.Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
During this time, I declared my major in Dietetics. I dove into my studies in hopes of further expediting my weight loss. I didn’t know what kind of dietitian I wanted to be yet.
I continued to restrict my food intake until I lost an unhealthy amount of weight. I was weak in the gym. What muscle mass I had built was deteriorating. My confidence was being shed along with the lbs.
I thought to myself, “Do I have to diet forever to be skinny?” I believed the lie that “I am just one of those people who will always have to watch what I eat.” There were so many lies I believed about nutrition due to antiquated measures of health and outdated literature that was still being referenced in the nutrition world.
Fast forward to my Dietetic Internship (1200-hour supervised study post-grad). I discovered the concept of food freedom. Working in clinicals, outpatient clinics, and the community, I learned that life isn’t so textbook. Having all the nutrition knowledge in the world does not mean much without overcoming your mental barriers around food.
I discovered food freedom while interning at an outpatient clinic in 2020. At first, I didn’t understand the concept of food freedom. I thought, “Wow, who would advise someone to eat literally anything they want? That sounds so irresponsible and unhealthy!”
But food freedom is so much more than just eating whatever you want.
The idea of food freedom can be subjective, but here is what food freedom means to me:
Being free from obsessive thoughts about food
Allowing myself to eat fun foods without guilt or shame
Not constantly being on a diet or watching my portions
Allowing myself to eat until I’m comfortably full and satiated
Freedom to eat nutritious foods out of self love and desire to be healthy
Eating in public without feeling self conscious
No longer having an “off limits” list
Living a life that is not controlled by what I eat
Prioritizing mental health over a number on a scale
I witnessed peoples’ lives being changed through the concept of food freedom, including mine.
Guess what, as an unintended consequence of having food freedom, I am the healthiest I have ever been - both mentally and physically!
