Written by Erin Nelson, RD It is March! That means the sun is shining for longer, the birds are chirping more, and I am starting to feel the familiar stirring and excitement of new possibilities Spring inevitably brings with the buds and new leaves. March for me is a time for looking ahead and integrating the learning and reflecting I have done during the slower winter months. March is the beginning of action in the year. March is also exciting because it is Nutrition Month! As always, a team of dietitians work to come up with a theme that helps to showcase the diverse roles in this field. Th ..read more

   Written by Simply V (TNC Client, shared with permission) For so long, you were climbing uphill  in suffocating darkness. Stumbling at every step. Cold. Wet. Wounded. At times the pain was almost too much to bear. Yet you kept going. Occasionally there'd be flickers of light. But they were quickly extinguished, by lurking shadows. And the darkness became all consuming, once again. Scared and defeated, but determined, You kept trudging along. Picking yourself up after every fall. You kept pushing onwards. Trusted souls assured you this journey was worth it. They believed in ..read more

   Written by Erin Nelson, RD I recently saw a poll on social media asking if the viewers saw perfectionism as a positive or negative trait, and it got me thinking. The outcome of the poll was split very closely down the middle, with people citing perfectionism as a motivating factor to improve on ourselves and our skills, while those against perfectionism strongly stated that it can be debilitating and hinder us from growth out of fear of not doing something well right out of the gate. So which is it? And how does this have anything to do with food and our bodies? The nuanced answe ..read more

   Written by Erin Nelson, RD As a dietitian, I often find people are not sure what it is that I do. And it is no wonder! Dietitians practice in such a wide variety of settings and within that, we all practice slightly differently than the next person. This is what makes it difficult to articulate a cohesive definition of what it is that we do. So I’m going to give it a whirl: A dietitian is a regulated health professional that takes up-to-date scientific information and filters it through to our clients in an easy to understand way. The overall goal is to use this information to he ..read more

   TRANSFORMING THE NARRATIVE FROM ASKS TO ACTION Written by Erin Nelson, RD February 1st through 7th marks Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW) 2023 and the theme this year is Transforming the Narrative from Asks to Action. If you suspect someone you know may have an eating disorder, here are a few things you may have noticed: Overall, they are eating less than previous or cutting out certain foods or food groups Preoccupation with weight and/or calories and/or dieting  They are more irritable than is typical for them  Loss of interest in activities that used to ..read more

   Transforming the Narrative from Asks to Action Written by Erin Nelson, RD February 1st through 7th marks Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW) 2023 and the theme this year is Transforming the Narrative from Asks to Action. It is all about taking action to dispel myths and spread accurate information about eating disorders. It is about shifting the paradigm from asking permission to centre eating disorder education to creating an action plan to escalate awareness. It is estimated that, at any given time, 840,000 to 1,750,000 people in Canada have symptoms sufficient to meet the di ..read more

   This New Year, you deserve to call a truce with diet culture Written by Erin Nelson, RD  It’s that time of year again. For many of us, the end of the year often signals the time to reflect on the past year. To see what went well and what maybe didn’t go the way we wanted. It is a time for us to imagine the new year before us and start thinking about the building blocks we can put in place to help that vision along. This is a time for plans and resolutions. Maybe your resolutions involve working towards getting that promotion or finally making the career change you just know w ..read more

Have you ever found yourself on the crest of starting another diet and a strong sense of dread comes over you? Have you felt apprehensive about accepting dinner invitations for fear you won’t be able to eat what is being served? Have you ever felt like you don’t know what foods to eat anymore? Have you worried about what your children’s experience will be like with food? You are not alone. These experiences are becoming more and more common because we live in a culture obsessed with dieting and changing the way we eat for any number of reasons. Each one of us has our own personal experience ..read more

   Image by Lindley Ashline, Body Liberation Stock We all begin life as intuitive eaters. Babies readily communicate when they are hungry, when they’ve had enough to eat, and what is enjoyable and satisfying. However, as soon as we are old enough to understand and communicate, we begin taking in messages from diet culture. Over time, instead of turning inward to get our needs met, we begin turning outward. Diet culture teaches you that your body can’t be trusted, and that you need to rely on external factors to get your needs met – things like calorie tracking, measuring and meal pl ..read more

   Image by Lindley Ashline, Body Liberation Stock Written by Nicole Caines, Registered Psychologist Virtually all of the people that come to me for support with body image challenges tell me a similar story; they have been trying to focus on “body positivity” but they think they are failing because they don’t feel 100% confident in their body’s appearance and still have negative thoughts about their body. My response to this pressure that so many people place on themselves is twofold: Is this a realistic expectation? And, have we missed the point? Let’s start with the first questio ..read more