The way society approaches nutrition to support chronic illness can cause more harm than good. Here’s how it typically goes: you finally get a diagnosis (sometimes after weeks, months, or even years of seeking answers) and then are told to change your diet. Usually, the nutrition advice is very black and white: i.e. cut out carbohydrates.
You aren’t told how to accomplish these new dietary changes, so you Google it. This takes you down a rabbit hole of very restrictive diets that get more and more extreme the longer you search. But you try it only to find that eventually you just can’t do it anymore. Things often continue to deteriorate from here.
If this sounds familiar, let’s talk about why our traditional nutrition approach is not only not helping you feel better, but is worsening your mental health along the way.
Medical Conditions Commonly Linked to Nutrition
There are a few medical conditions that are are pretty common when we think of nutrition and medical conditions:
- Diabetes (Type 1 and 2)
- Hypertension
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
- Celiac Disease
- Eating disorders as a secondary result of rigid diets.
Nutrition is central in the management of these conditions but is often oversimplified into “one-size-fits-all” approaches. This doesn’t really work for everyone as it does not take into consideration you as a unique individual. Navigating these conditions, and figuring out your pathway to food, and health can be challenging, but there are ways we can help you adjust to a new approach to your health and wellbeing.
Common Recommendations That Don’t Fully Support Our Clients
Based on years of working with clients’, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard these common recommendations, that in the long run do not support or help my clients sustain a healthy approach to their health or daily nutritional needs.
- Eliminate [insert food or even entire category of food: not the carbs!] completely from your diet from now on.
- Count all your calories and/or macros. Track your symptoms and food. Write everything down. Devote every spare moment and many moments that aren’t spare to micromanaging your food intake.
- Demonization of certain foods (i.e. sugar, fats, bread, etc.)
- Just eat [insert fad diet name here} that will take care of it!
Consequences of These Recommendations
There are a lot of consequences to these recommendations, that really limit my client’s ability to navigate their health without creating other challenges or problems like perpetuating disordered eating, and decreased mental health.
Some things to consider when it comes to these recommendations:
1. Eliminating foods/food groups leads to obssession with that food.
It’s the whole “don’t think about white bears” concept. If I tell you to never eat ice cream again your brain will think about and hyper-fixate on ice cream. This obsession can lead to binge eating. Often this is accompanied by a hefty side of guilt and shame. We swear to never do it again and swing back into our “perfect” diet only to find we can’t stick with it as long and we inevitably find ourselves eating “all the things.” We can swing back and forth between these things over and over while we continually slide into more shame, guilt, and self-loathing.
2. Food tracking is exhausting.
While it can have a place for a short time in a personalized nutrition approach, it is usually not used in this way. Tracking food can lead to social isolation. Keeping track also contributes to restrictive eating habits as we become more concerned with a perfect record and/or are too exhausted to write these foods down so it is easier to go without. Often this will impact our social lives creating isolation.
3. Demonizing foods and food groups is a common theme in wellness spaces.
This fear-mongering creates disordered eating. Culturally we moralize foods. Therefore, if I eat a food that has been labeled as “awful” then I am an awful person for eating it. We become paranoid around food. It paralyzes our ability to feed ourselves. It literally strips the joy out of food. This creates shame and restriction. The mental toll this takes leads to exhaustion and worsening mental health.
4. Fad “Diets” Are Not a One Size Fits All & If Not Appropriate Can Contribute to On-Going Health Issues
Many of us know what it’s like to be on the diet train, where we get on and off, and we swing back and forth between feeling kinda good, and going right back to where we started. Fad diets are not built to create sustainable and ongoing support for your physical and emotional needs. When we work together, our number one goal is to create something that is sustainable for you, and it doesn’t make you change your whole life to make meals and nutrition work for you.
The Integrative Functional Nutrition (IFxN) Approach
As someone who struggled with my physical health, who also sought answers in nutrition and wellness spaces, I have lived the scenarios above. I desperately wanted to heal my body and when I eventually succumbed and ate the forbidden foods or fell off my program I would berate myself for days, weeks, or even months. In fact, as time went on, I never stopped telling myself that I was the problem and I was the one who ruined my health.
Sadly, many of us never question the traditional approach to nutrition for our medical conditions. We never ask if this approach might be setting us up for failure. Meanwhile, we find not only is our health not improving and is possibly getting worse, but our quality of life ebbs away as well.
This is why we take a different approach here at IFxN. We combine a few things that really create a powerful integrative approach. We are going to assess your needs, and look at you as a whole person. This is why we look at your physical and mental health in conjunction with your nutrition. Next, we are really going to look at what’s really there for you, shifting the focus from perfection to what actually matters to you, and what you need to understand what you need. Last but not least we are going to set goals, take reasonable action, and then see how things go. Together, we are going to navigate the steps and what it looks like for you to have what you need on a regular basis to take care of your phyiscal and emotional needs.
Our Philosophy Behind Our Integrative Approach
Individualization: You Are Not Your Diagnosis
You are a complex person with varying life experiences, genetics, privileges, and capabilities. Your nutrition should take all of that into consideration. It is critical that we spend time together so I can really get to know you as a person, not just your bloodwork results or your symptoms.
For example, if you despise cooking and I recommend you make all your meals from scratch, I’m clearly not in touch with your needs. Individualized approaches consider all the various factors, not just your diagnosis.
Mental Health IS Health
The consequences of our traditional approach to nutrition all impact our mental health. The food rules, restrictions, and obsession directly impact our psychological well-being. They disrupt our ability to feel our body and Inuit what it needs. It creates fear and doubt over all our decisions around food. We lose confidence in our ability to take care of ourselves. As we slide further and further into disordered eating our risks of developing an eating disorder, depression, and anxiety go up.
It is important to note that as our stress around food goes up so does our inflammation which does nothing to help manage our conditions. Fear and anxiety about a food cause more harm than simply eating the food ever will.
Nourishment over restriction. There are so many ways to nourish your body that don’t involve taking away all the joy in your life. Focusing on adding therapeutic foods while relearning how to attune to our body cues creates freedom and healing. Nourishment can include any enriching activity that you need to add to your life to better your health, not just food.
Strategies to Experiment with & Potentially Implement
Flexibility Over Rigidity
Rigid diets take away our choice and freedom and they come with a host of poor outcomes as we have outlines, rules, and requirements. Flexibility on the other hand gives us back our choice. It provides space that allows us to partner with our bodies rather than being an adversary to our bodies. You can use the principles of intuitive eating to help you build back in flexibility while rejecting harmful beliefs about food.
Get Curious About Your Relationship With Food
Food gets blamed for so much and it really doesn’t deserve to be hated on like that. I always challenge my clients to stay curious about how the food impacts them physically, emotionally, and mentally, but to also stay curious about the circumstances surrounding the food.
If you eat a bagel while sitting at your table with a plate while you are relaxed your body is going to process that bagel differently than when you are shoving it in your mouth while rushing out the door because you are running late to the most important meeting of your life.
There are a myriad of factors that play a role in how something impacts us. Reducing our focus down so we blame only the bagel without considering other factors robs us of the opportunity to learn more about ourselves, our lifestyles, and our symptoms.
Consider the Science & Nutritional Value Food Brings to Your Life
Please don’t take medical nutrition advice from someone on TikTok who isn’t a trained nutrition professional. Your health is too important to put in the hands of people who likely mean well, but are often rather shy on research to back their claims.
While studying nutrition is a challenge, we do have and use evidence-based approaches, that are about way more than simply carbs or calories. A little bit of fact-checking on nutrition claims can save you from sliding into trends that lead you further from your goal of better mental and physical health.
Remember That Nutrition Needs to Be Personal to Your Specific Needs
Everybody’s body is different, and can have different nutritional needs. Just because one person in your life is eating a specific way or taking specific supplements, it may not mean that thing or that way of eating will be helpful or healthy for you. This is why it’s important you work with someone who is going to specifically at what’s happening with your body, and what your specific goals and needs are moving forward.
Does the IFxNutrition Approach Work?
Over the years, I have been privileged to work with hundreds of incredible clients, as they use our unique approach to improve their mental and physical well being.
Here are some common outcomes I see with my clients at Integrative Functional Nutrition:
- Improved energy levels
- Reduced symptoms
- More mental space to devote to important things
- Relief as they stop the disordered eating cycle
- Better understanding of their personal innate cue which allows them to take their nutrition into their own hands
- Less stress
- Confidence in their body and ability to feed themselves
- Improved social life without the fear and stress of food
Clients do this deeper work and as they do so they find themselves empowered. It’s pretty amazing to witness, and it’s pretty amazing to see their progress as we work together over time.
You Don’t Have to Navigate Nutrition & Your Medical Conditions Alone
Being diagnosed with any health condition brings up a lot of emotions and feelings. We often search for anything that will provide relief and help us to live our lives to the fullest. Nutrition plays a part in that. Remember that nutrition is more than just food, however. We need a personalized and specific approach that helps us create a sustainable and enjoyable relationship to food.
This is about having the right support to help you understand how to create a sustainable and personalized plan is important to your long-term health and wellbeing. This is not about perfection, this is about you being supported by me, and by the way you use food and nutrition to support your body.
If you are feeling trapped by rigid nutrition rules while you are trying to navigate a medical condition, and you want to try a more effective approach, let us help you along the way. Scheduling a free consultation is the best way to improve your mental and physical health.
