What Is A Non-Diet or Anti-Diet Dietitian?
The Problem With Diet Culture
Our society is obsessed with “diet culture”. Diet culture is the belief that health, beauty and higher social status is achieved by thinness, pursuing weight loss through restrictive dieting, and eating more “good” foods instead of “bad” foods. It is a massive industry, with Americans spending $72 billion on diet-related goods and services in 2018 (I can only imagine what this number will grow to with all of the shameful COVID-related weight messages I’ve been seeing recently).
Diet culture includes some obvious figures, like weight loss programs (Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, Noom, and others), promotions for weight loss medications and bariatric surgeries, and food products (Lean Cuisine, “diet” drinks and foods, and others). But diet culture also persists in much more subtle ways, present in our lives on a daily basis. Some more subtle aspects of diet culture include:
Fat-shaming and derogatory comments about larger bodies in our TV shows and movies.
Being given “the talk” by physicians and other healthcare providers to just “lose weight” to improve your health, even though there are thin folks with the same concerns that are certainly given more appropriate recommendations.
Advice from friends and family that in order to find a romantic partner or reach your career goals, you should really “focus on your weight”.
Nutrition education starting as early as pre-K that teaches kids that there are “bad foods” like sugar and sweets, which can cause them to internalize those feelings and believe they are bad kids for liking those foods.
Social media influencers and personalities that jump on the bandwagon and promote every single diet fad out there, with little regard for your health and safety.
This negative belief system is problematic for so many reasons. Diet culture’s negative effects include:
Weight-cycling or “yo-yo” dieting - Where you lose weight, then gain it back, then lose it again, and gain it back again. This cycling itself is unhealthy for our bodies, and may be more unhealthy than the health “risks” (I put that in quotes because often this research is greatly exaggerated or misleading) of being in a larger body.
Dieting disconnects us from our bodies. Many people who have been dieting for years don’t have a good sense of when they are hungry or full, what food they actually enjoy, and may even lose a lot of the pleasure and joy of eating because of the stress of eating “the right things”.
Discrimination against people in larger bodies is very real, and may cause someone to skip doctor’s appointments, be denied life-saving or life-improving procedures, or avoid physical activity because of the judgment from others and the lack of comfortable and fashionable weight-inclusive clothing. Read more about medical fatphobia in this article “No Health, No Care” by Marquisele Mercedes.
Increased risk of disordered eating and eating disorders, especially in kids and teens. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a non-diet approach that does not focus on weight. I’m hopeful that one day this approach will be recommended by for adults too.
What Does It Mean to Be A Non-Diet or Anti-Diet Dietitian
Being a “non-diet dietitian” is a provider that does not use tools of dieting to help their clients. No calorie counting, “good” and “bad” food lists, or weight loss prescriptions. While I do all that, I like to identify as an “anti-diet dietitian”, meaning that I actively fight against the toxic influence of diet culture.
In my work, I help people improve their health and find peace in a world full of chaotic diet culture. To eat for pleasure and nourishment without counting calories or macros, or planning ahead to how they have to “make up” for eating dessert. I help people find the joys of what their bodies can achieve, rather than hating their body and trying to shrink it.
I also help kids grow up in a world where they are resilient to the negative messages of diet culture, so that they can become strong, healthy adults that don’t even know what “WW” stands for, or how many almonds is in 1 ounce. Can you imagine?
My Journey To Become An Anti-Diet Dietitian
I must acknowledge that I was not always an anti-diet dietitian. When I was in school, I did not even realize how my own belief system was steeped in diet culture, and how my own relationship with food was warped. Most US dietetics programs teach the traditional false messaging that being thin means being healthy, and people who are not thin should pursue weight loss to try to become thin, no matter how damaging to their minds or bodies.
One of my main motivations to become a dietitian, and specifically to work with kids and families, is because in my childhood I believed that my body was too large. I felt insecure and uncomfortable about my body, and I wanted to shrink it. My hope was that I could help kids grow up healthy, and by doing so they would grow up with a smaller/straight-sized body, and not feel negative toward their body like I did towards mine.
What I learned along the way was that my very motivation was influenced by diet culture. Essentially, I used to believe that weight stigma and fat-shaming are bad, but the solution was just to not be fat or not exist in a larger body.
How backwards is that?!?
It’s like saying, racism is bad, so BIPOC folks should change the color of their skin so they won’t be discriminated against. It makes no sense!
I tell you this because, while I am embarrassed at these truths from my past, I acknowledge and accept this part of my past as an essential part of my journey to where I am today. So many of us anti-diet dietitians started from a place of diet culture, because that’s what our training focuses on and that’s how we grew up.
It was only after I earned my Registered Dietitian credentials and had been working for a bit, that I started to learn about the anti-diet movement, Intuitive Eating (https://www.intuitiveeating.org/) , and the Health at Every Size approach (HAES) (https://asdah.org/health-at-every-size-haes-approach/ ).
When I first started learning about the HAES approach and Intuitive Eating, it felt like 1,000 lightbulbs going off in my head. Finding this group of health professionals and educating myself on the dangers and toxicity of diet culture was like the missing piece of a 10,000-piece puzzle of my career. I am so grateful to have gone down this path, and to be able to do the work to better myself and help others.
Does Anti-Diet Mean Anti-Health?
In a word - Nope!
Anti-diet dietitians can still provide medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling for a variety of nutrition concerns and medical conditions, like: diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, IBS, hypothyroidism, and others. We also often work with folks who have disordered eating or eating disorders. As a family dietitian, I will also work with kids who are selective/picky eaters, neurodiverse, or where there are concerns about their growth.
We provide evidence-based, science-based advice without a side helping of guilt, shame, or diet culture.
This might look like:
Helping someone with diabetes have a better understanding of how foods and meals affect their blood sugar, without giving them a list of “good” and “bad” foods
Working with someone with high cholesterol to find ways to eat vegetables that taste delicious and they truly enjoy, rather than prescribing a 1,600 calorie weight loss diet
Guiding someone with a history of emotional eating to identify the root cause of their eating, become better in touch with their body’s feelings of hunger and fullness, and cope with their emotions without using food as the primary way to do so.
Helping parents create joyful, low-stress mealtimes that support their kids in trying new foods to nourish their growing bodies.
Take a look at my article What To Expect At Our First Appointment to learn more about how this anti-diet approach works in practice.
When You Should Work With An Anti-Diet Dietitian?
Are you thinking about seeing a dietitian, and want to know if an anti-diet dietitian is right for you?
There are lots of reasons why someone might want to work with a dietitian for themselves or their family. Sometimes our work is preventive, to help prevent a disease or condition. Other times, it’s to address a concern, like prediabetes or high blood pressure.
Here are some reasons you might want to work with an anti-diet dietitian:
You are breaking up with dieting. You know that diets simply do not work, and you don’t want to waste one more second thinking about portion sizes, calories, macros, or points. You are sick of spending hours tracking your food, measuring your rice, and counting your almonds. You want to work on healing your relationship with food, and you know that dieting will only harm it.
You are more than your weight. In the past, healthcare providers may have focused much of your visit on your weight. Even if that was completely unrelated to the reason for your appointment! An anti-diet dietitian doesn’t think your weight (whatever it is) is “a problem”, and most of the time (except in eating disorder recovery) doesn’t even ask what your weight is!
You have no idea what you even like to eat. Diet culture has a way of taking all the joy and pleasure out of eating, to the point where sometimes you don’t even know what you like to eat anymore! Through the process of intuitive eating, we can reestablish the connection with your body, so you can experiment and discover what food you truly enjoy. Many people are surprised that foods they would crave or over-eat are actually not as enjoyable when the rules of diet culture are stripped away.
You want to protect your kids from dieting. You want the best for your kids, and you know the harm that diet culture can cause. You want your kids to grow up comfortable and appreciative of their body, no matter what shape or size. You want them to enjoy eating all foods without fearing them or feeling guilty for eating them. You want them to enjoy moving their body, not feel they “have to” do it to be slim.
Ready to Get Started?
Contact me for your free Meet & Greet Call and learn more about my anti-diet approach and how I can help you.