Diet culture is huge. It’s a full time million dollar industry. There’s always a latest fad diet out there from keto to Atkins to even cabbage soup diets (and endless other ones). Here at S.A.G.E. we will say right out loud that we are not into diet culture. Dieting does not always take into consideration your unique body. Sometimes people can end up having serious health consequences and even end up in the hospital because the parameters of the diet they were following didn’t fit their unique body. We believe that diet culture can be very unhealthy at times and where we try to break through the barrier with diet culture is through intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating is the simple idea that you make peace with all types of foods that work for you. Unlike traditional diets that restrict or ban certain foods or food groups, intuitive eating allows you to stop looking at food as good or bad, but instead, start listening to your body, and do what feels right for you and what’s good for you individually.
With nutritional therapy, we join in with the ideals of intuitive eating and meet you right where you are in your journey with food. Dieting may work for some people but we want to help you understand the importance of Nutritional Therapy when you’re considering what steps to take for your health.
A big proponent of nutritional therapy is the bio-individuality of it and really learning what works for your body. With nutritional therapy, we are looking at the long term end game and conceptualizing your unique goals for coming back to the basics of holistic nutrition throughout your whole life. This is not just a one time decision and we are here to help you continuously make those decisions day in and day out.
We can’t talk about food and diets without talking about stress. You may not understand the connection, but stay with this…and you may just learn something new! Most people that go on a diet want a quick fix. When people are looking for a quick fix, they’re usually in a fight or flight mode, they’re already in a stress state.
The vicious cycle continues…when you’re in a stress state, you want a quick fix. You’ll see advertisements for how different diets will help you lose weight, or how another diet will make your skin clear and then you choose a diet because you read or saw something that was advertised that you decided you want. You’re really strict for a couple of weeks following all the rules of this diet which can actually put you further into a stress state without you even knowing it. This happens purely because you’re trying something new and really having to bring a lot of mental power on board to focus on all the new rules you’re following.
Furthermore, after the diet doesn’t work, you start looking for the next diet that you think will work, which puts you into that yo-yo diet phase which can end up leaving you even more stressed than when this whole process began. Or, you start feeling really badly about yourself, thinking that you didn’t do the diet right, or you weren’t strict enough and you start looking for the next diet that you can follow so you can get it right this time. This is where that connection with the mental health piece comes in because when we go through something like this again and again, we can get really disappointed in ourselves and it can turn into this shame game against ourselves.
We think it’s important to highlight this so you can take an honest inventory of what your relationship to food has been and begin to create Awareness around your relationship with food and dieting. Without awareness, there is no change. And we don’t want you to be stuck in that cycle.
Working with a nutritional therapy practitioner is very effective because you will be guided to create more awareness about your eating habits using in-depth measurement tools and consistent follow up. Our Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP) offers unlimited email access in between sessions so you can get the ongoing support that you need to make lasting changes. Your NTP creates a unique plan in collaboration with you and based on your continued feedback as you move along down this path of healing your relationship with nutrition and your body. You will be supported in a warm and safe environment by our NTP who has such a heart and passion for helping people just like you get to that place of holistic health through their nutrition.
We understand that this cycle of dieting can occur and does occur for so many people. We want you to know that it’s ok if this has been your past and we also want to take your hand and show you another way…another way that is lasting and can bring healthy change for your unique body.
It’s helpful to remember the influences we have in our society because of the strong pull that it has on us. Our society is full of instant gratification and quick fixes. We need to look honestly at this and how we are impacted so we can really dig into what we need to do for ourselves presently and also our future bodies.
Remember small changes make the big changes and it’s really true that the things that are hardest to work for typically are the things that are the most rewarding. It can feel like we are fighting upstream in that battle of changing something within ourselves. Nutritional therapy isn’t about dieting or having off-limit foods. Food is good! Nutritional therapy is about meeting you where you’re at and looking at you on an individual level. When you take all of the unique things that your body responds to and get the support of someone to help you make lasting changes you will find that the new way of being in your body is worth it and the new habits that you create will stay with you.
