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Our Approach

BODY-POSITIVE MEDICINE

Wouldn't it be great to enjoy eating food again?! No more being stuck in the endless cycle of dieting. No more feeling deprived because you "can't" eat certain foods. No more feeling guilty or shameful for eating "bad" foods or having a "cheat" day. No more dreading or avoiding social gatherings where you worry you won't be able to resist the "tempting" foods.

Wouldn't it be great to feel 100% comfortable and confident in your own skin?! No more crash diets in an attempt to lose weight before vacation, a wedding or other big event. No more comparing yourself and your body to an unrealistic social standard. No more putting off shopping or vacations until you lose weight. no more letting the number on the scale define your self-worth.

Wouldn't it be great if you found ways to move your body that you actually enjoyed?! No more worrying about calories burned. No more dreading going to the gym. No more using exercise as punishment for eating.

Wouldn't it be great if you had someone to show you how to make this dream a reality?! Someone who will walk beside you on this journey. Someone who will help you overcome every obstacle that gets in your way. Someone who will hold you accountable. Someone who will encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone. Someone who will be there to celebrate all the wins and growth you experience.

If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not! This is exactly what we LOVE to do. We help you heal your relationship with food and your body so you can live your life to the fullest and reach your full potential. We promote intuitive eating and take a weight-neutral approach, which you can learn more about below. Additionally, if you have any other health concerns, we can address those using naturopathic modalities, such as homeopathy, hydrotherapy, herbal medicine and therapeutic supplementation. Keep reading to learn more about our approach.

INUITIVE EATING

Intuitive eating is a unique approach to health and food that has nothing to do with dieting, discipline or will power, and has everything to do with listening to and trusting your body. It is not just another diet, and in fact, it is the exact opposite… an un-diet if you will. Intuitive isn’t something new to you, it’s actually just something you need to relearn.

As babies, we are naturally intuitive eaters. We cry when we’re hungry and stop eating when we’re full. However, as we get older the outside world influences the way we eat. When we are toddlers, we are told to take just a few more bites, or a clean plate is a happy plate. While well intentioned, these statements tell us to ignore our fullness cues. Certain foods are used a reward for behaving in a store or only reserved for after we “eat well” at dinner. We also begin to get the message that some foods are “good”, like fruits and veggies, and some foods are “bad”, like ice cream and potato chips. This moralization of food eventually leads to feeling guilty or shameful when we “cheat” and eat those “bad” foods. And at some point, diet culture enters the picture. Diet culture values thinness above all else, and falsely equates thinness to being healthy. The diet industry is a multibillion-dollar industry and makes its money by making us think something is wrong with us. If we believe that we are not thin enough, not fit enough, not muscular enough, have too much of an appetite, etc., then we will buy their product.

When you add all of this together, we have basically been told that our hunger and fullness signals are not to be trusted, that our weight dictates our self-worth and our health, and that you are a good or bad person depending on the food you eat. It’s no wonder that so many of us have unhealthy relationships with food. This messaging can lead to disorder eating, such as skipping meals, restricting and binging, emotional eating, compensating with exercise and obsessing over macros. This can even lead to full blown eating disorders.

Intuitive eating is trading in the diet mentality and getting back to listening to and trusting our bodies. It’s giving yourself full permission to eat whatever you want, whenever you want and eat however much of it that you want. Chances are if you are a restrained eater, this statement might sound super scary to you right now, but when you are an intuitive eater who listens to and trusts your body, overeating isn’t something you need to worry about. Intuitive eating also incorporates gentle nutrition and moving your body in way you enjoy and that feels good. Lastly, the intuitive eating movement never has the goal of weight loss and instead views weight as neutral and in no way tied to your self-worth.

If you are ready to commit to this transformational, paradigm-shifting, life-changing way of eating and living, we are here to help!

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WEIGHT-NEUTRAL APPROACH

Diet culture. If you are not familiar with this, it is the way our society tends to value thinness above all else. Diet culture falsely equates thinness to health. However, the diet industry is not the only industry that perpetuates this notion. The healthcare field also puts thinness on a pedestal, equating it to health.

This is called a weight-centered or weight-normative approach. This approach believes that weight loss will lead to improved health. This is a dangerous way of thinking for healthcare providers. It leads to the missed diagnoses, such as diabetes, PCOS and heart disease, in thin individuals, in addition to the dismissal of other's health concerns, chalking them up to extra weight. For example, an individual with diffuse joint pain told they just need to lose weight, rather than being evaluated for autoimmune disease.

Despite the widespread use of this weight-centered approach, the research doesn't actually support its efficacy. This is what studies tell us:

  • Weight loss alone does not lead to improved markers, such as blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure.
  • Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss
  • Dieters are likely to gain back the weight they lost and some, in addition to having more difficulty losing the weight the next time they diet
  • This is not due to lack of will power or discipline on the dieters part
  • Weight cycling is worse for our health than just being steadily overweight
  • Thin people who are sedentary have more health issues than active overweight people

The reality is, fat is not the problem, but rather our fat-phobic society is the problem. Because of the data, some healthcare providers are moving to a weight-neutral or weight inclusive approach. This approach focuses on health alone and does not view weight gain or loss as good or bad. It focuses on creating healthful habits, and recognizes that health occurs at any size.

diagram of weight-centered or weight-normative vs weight-neutral or weight-inclusive approach to healthcare

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