It’s interesting, sometimes in my work there will be themes that come up a lot over a short period of time with many clients coming in talking about similar issues. I usually take this as a sign that it’s important and can really add value to someone’s recovery process (and therefore should be blogged about!). One of the themes that has been coming up this week is how great a dietician can be in helping someone take manageable steps toward recovery.
When you are going through recovery, whether it be from anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or any other form of eating disorder or disordered eating, making food choices can be incredibly challenging. Perhaps you have a long list of foods that seem unsafe to eat, or maybe you’ve disconnected from how certain foods make you feel after you eat them and you end up bingeing despite how awful it makes you feel. Either way, food is a part of your journey to wellness and we often need some support in guiding us in the right direction.
For example I have a client who, being a working mom, would invest her energy in making her kids a nutritious breakfast each morning and then would stop by any number of places to grab a convenient breakfast for herself despite that it made her feel awful. It was causing her blood sugar levels to consistently rise and made her feel both lethargic and jittery at the same time. Her dietician recommended that, before anything, she add in some protein in the morning and see if that made a difference. As I am sure you could guess, it did. Success!
Another client of mine has really been struggling with being consistent with when she eats. Eating frequently caused her anxiety because she worried that it meant she was overeating and was going to gain weight really quickly. With the support of her dietician she has a plan that has her eating foods she feels safe with more consistently and in amounts that feel manageable. Having done so for a few weeks now she is recognizing how much better, physically she feels, because she isn’t lightheaded all the time. She also finds her moods have improved and she is better able to regulate her anxiety as a result.
These steps may seem logical to some but when we are on our journey to recovery we can’t always see the forest through the trees. Sometimes having someone else that knows what we need to eat and encourages us to do so gives us permission to listen in a way that we would otherwise struggle to do for ourselves. We all need support in our recovery, could a dietician be a support for you?
My only recommendation if you decide you want to have a dietician on your team is to find someone who specializes in eating disorders. When you are going through recovery, food is a huge trigger and you need someone who understands what that looks like. I truly can’t stress this enough. I don’t often make recommendations on here but if you live in Vancouver and are looking for someone to see who does great work with eating disorders I highly recommend Ali Eberhardt. You can reach her at: ali.eberhardtRD@gmail.com
