Adding A Nutritionist to My Practice

Even as a therapist, I have doubts and fears.  It is true.  So, I have been a bit up in the air about sharing adding a Nutritionist to my private practice.

An opportunity came up recently that would allow me to add a nutritionist/dietitian to my practice.  I’m excited about it.  I am actually a bit disappointed because I’ve been getting a lot of confused reactions.  I try to explain that it is just another  option. If someone wants to talk to a nutritionist about food in addition to therapy or even as a whole separate thing, I can provide that for them.   I don’t plan on it being my niche or even brining it up unless it fits the situation.  However, my experience has shown me that eating, food, and body image come up more than not during therapy. I just think it is awesome to have the choice if the desire presents itself. (And I’m hoping to add a few more little options as time progresses.  Fingers crossed.)

I have several (maybe a bit rambling) thoughts on why I am excited to add a Nutritionist to my practice.

1)      I believe that we are more than our mind.  I believe our mind and body work together so many people might want some added insight to nutrition or that support when trying to eat the best for them.

2)      Messages about thin and fat and appearance are thrown at each of us all day long.  Everyone has an opinion about our appearance.  It doesn’t even matter if you are thin or fat or have an ugly nose or the most attractive person on this earth, someone will find something negative about our physicality and too often a part of us will wholeheartedly buy into the critique.  Also, sometimes, in our culture an individual is given the message that no matter what they do to their appearance it will never be enough.

3)      Most women I see and most women I know (and even a few of the men) have so much of their self-esteem and identity tied into their physical appearance.   . This makes me so sad because each of us is so much more than our appearance.  I have had people tell me that if someone is fat that they can’t imagine they could be happy.  Well, you know what, someone who is fat can be happy.  I’m happy. 

4)      Sometimes it is like there is no happy medium.  Either a person eats too much or not enough or not the right foods or has to think about food all the time.  My wish is that each of us could incorporate the nutrition that is best for us into our lives and not make food our identity

5)       I have spent my life struggling with weight; never in my recent memory even being close to what most would say is a ‘normal’ size. I will probably continue to struggle throughout my life with eating and food.  Although as many of you know, it can feel like a failure on my part but it really isn’t.  It is part of who I am and one of the struggles that I get to engage in and learn from in my life.  I may not be able or willing to do everything that would be helpful for me but I am certainly going to benefit from knowledge and learning more if I choose to.  I feel like as the therapist I work with people on acceptance of self and that it is not about our size (small or large) but on who we are and how we feel.  This was one of my doubts about adding a nutritionist to my practice.  The fear that people would be like "really- you?"  Then of course I realized it doesn't matter so much what people say but that I am true to myself and what I want to offer my clients.

6)      Many of us have distorted views of what we eat and how we look.  Our family and friends often even feed into this.  I often say having a neutral person to talk about our goals, life and fears with is essential.  Maybe it is just as essential to get a check up with a neutral person about our food habits and what we eat.

You might look at a couple of the bullet points and think “isn’t that an argument against having a nutritionist?”  I’d give a resounding “no”.  I believe that pretending food, eating and appearance issues don’t exist won’t make them go away.  I think balance is the key and we should have all the tools possible to live the best life we can live for us.

(More on the amazing nutritionist and such later!)

Random Tips on Coping With A Chronic Illness

I've been working on creating a tip sheet for working with chronic illness and this is what I have thus far and thought I would share.  (They are only random because it turns out I like to use the word random a lot!)

Tips for Living With A Chronic Illness

1 – It is Ok to grieve.  Grieving means you acknowledge the changes and will be able to embrace moving forward.  Know that grief will come and go and will generally lesson over time.

2 – Accept your illness.  It is what it is and accepting doesn’t mean you are happy with your illness but that you can understand that life sucks sometimes and that you have the strength to go on and even be happy.

3 – Stay productive.  You are tired and in pain and you just want to feel better.  Keeping a job or going out with the grandkids or spending time gardening may seem like impossible tasks.  Keeping active will improve your mood and even your health exponentially.  Try to do what you can.

4 – Take responsibility for your health.  Not only do you know yourself best, only you can follow the doctor’s recommendations.  Sometimes with an illness it is easy to feel like everyone has control over your life.  You may constantly be given directions such as “go take this test” or “don’t eat that” or “its not a big deal, it will only take a few hours.”   Take back the control.  This is your life.  It is not up to anyone else but you.

5 – Connect with your spirituality.   You are more than your illness.  Try connecting with whatever you believe in and try finding solace and comfort.  This can be an opportunity for self-reflection and looking at the bigger picture as it pertains to you.

6 – Accept help from others.  It is easy to say “I’m ok, I can do it.”  Most of the time when people offer to help they really want to help.  Give them an opportunity.  It is not a weakness to let someone help you out.

7 – Let yourself have bad days.  Everyone, if they are healthy or sick, have rough days.  Forgive yourself for having bad days.  Remember bad days or times will pass.  A bad moment doesn’t mean all day will be horrible and a bad day doesn’t mean there won’t be good days and moments coming up.

8 – Find joy where you can.  It may seem cliché but if you look you can find moments of joy all over the place.  The colors of the trees, clean sheets, the smell of cookies, hearing your favorite song, a hello from a friend, a funny cartoon, your dog being happy to see you, your child saying something hilarious – to just name a few.  Maybe it is just time to yourself or a short time without pain.   Work at recognizing and honoring moments of joy when they occur.

Nursing Assistant Week

Nursing Assistant Week June 10 – 16

My mom worked as a nursing assistant for many years and I don’t believe I’ve ever known anyone who worked as hard.  I also am a Social Worker in a dialysis center and the techs there have to be alert and competent and do a great job.

Thanks to all of the Nursing Assistant’s out there.

Hepatitis Awareness Month

I know this probably caught my eye because I work in a dialysis center and dialysis is always worried about Hepatitis B.  May is National Hepatitis Awareness Month.  For more information visit Hepatitis Org.

For information from the CDC on the importance of hand washing along with tips on hand washing visit CDC Handwashing