What’s It Like to Work With a Dietitian?

Lydia Bell, MHC

Sometimes I recommend clients work with a nutritionist in addition to our work together, to support concerns around food or eating. Today I asked Jasmine Hormati and Thanh Thanh Nguyễn from Mendinground Nutrition to address some common questions and concerns I hear from clients about what working with a dietitian is really like:

What can I gain from working with a dietitian?

In this day and age where nutrition information is just one click (or one social media swipe) away, it may feel unnecessary to reach out to someone for help with food and eating. However, a qualified dietitian can be there to tease out facts from misinformation, respond to your specific questions, and help guide you to reach your goals.

You may have tried to make changes on your own when it comes to food or exercise – it’s no secret that many people want to “eat better and be healthier.” You may have also experienced frustration when making these changes, feeling upset with yourself for not following through or lack of “self-control” when it comes to food. This is where dietitians come in.

Dietitians can help you explore challenges, motivations, and strategies to make those changes more sustainable. Unlike doctors who have little time to spend with their patients, sessions with dietitians tend to be longer, which allows for us to get to know you well. You can get more personalized support that actually works with your life.

Will I have to completely change the way I eat?

The short answer is no. When you work with a non-diet dietitian, our priority is that you can still enjoy ALL foods (including culturally significant ones) while keeping your goals in mind.

If there are some things you want to change about how you eat, we’ll support you through that. Making changes is hard, so we’ll work with you to gradually make small changes over time that are aligned with your goals (even if those goals aren’t fully aligned with what your doctors or people around you want them to be).

We may share ideas with you based on our assessment during our work together, but we always have our clients make the final call. You have the autonomy to decide what to do with your body and your life.

What does a typical nutrition counseling session look like?

We usually do a check-in with our clients to see what came up for them since we last saw them. Oftentimes, this leads to discussions about food, eating and the goals we set last session. Were they feasible? Were there any challenges that came up? If yes, we can work together to find another solution.

Additionally, we talk about what happened in between sessions like other stressors in their life (scheduling, work, family, sleep, etc.) because that informs the work we are doing together. If a client is going through a particular stressful situation, we may not add on more changes/goals and focus on them taking care of themselves instead.

Sessions are also an opportunity for us to answer questions our clients have about nutrition, digestion, gas/bloating/GI symptoms, etc. and we can provide answers and recommendations as appropriate.  

I had a shaming experience in the past with a nutritionist. How will this be different?

Our goal is to create a safer, non-judgmental space for our clients. We can’t guarantee full safety (we’re human and make mistakes too) but we do our best to make our clients feel supported so they can show up as they are and share feedback with us.

In our discussions, we ask for consent before providing our ideas or nutrition education. We check in to see how you feel about something we shared and take pauses in our conversation as needed if a topic is causing discomfort to recenter and ground.

We always tell our clients that they always have the option to not respond to a question we ask and tell us when we get something wrong. You are the expert in you and your life - not us. We know there are many factors that go into why someone chooses to eat a certain way or engages in certain behaviors. We explore that together from a place of curiosity and neutrality to understand why this is happening and if these actions align with your values and goals.

Thank you Jasmine and Thanh Thanh! Read more about their work here.