Change THE relationship with food for good

As a parent, it's so hard to see your child suffer emotionally and at the table. Anxiety, depression, focus issues, and trauma express themselves in day to day life, but also in your child's relationship with food and feeding. Watching your child struggle with challenges that are out of their control can leave you feeling lost as to how to help them. However, simple nutrition changes that support the nervous system can help you/your child stay calm and feel more regulated. I help individuals and families use food to feel better emotionally by supporting the “bio” part of the biopsychosocial origins of mental health symptoms through nutrition.

Embracare’s Nutrition Counseling Process

Nutrition Education

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Learning about your food

Depending on your knowledge base this could range from introductions to fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthier animal product options, to grocery tours, cooking demonstrations, and, if you have a medical condition, how nutrition influences your condition.

Behavioral Determinants

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Understanding your relationship with food

This is where we discover the “why” behind particular behavior choices and how that “why” came to be. Most of us have a multitude of daily factors that influence our food and lifestyle choices. Understanding these determinants is one of the most important aspects of sustainable change.



Practical Application

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Improving your relationship with food

Includes applying what we have learned about nutrition and behavior into our daily lives in an attainable fashion. This can include implementing your new knife skills in dinner preparation, creating a new recipe with a newly discovered food, or feeling more comfortable and confident when shopping in the grocery store. Practical application can also include intuitive eating practices, listening to our triggers, giving our traumas a little grace, and applying coping skills.

Trauma-Informed Nutrition

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Embracing your relationship with food

Trauma-informed practices acknowledge the impact that traumatic experiences, and chronic toxic stress, have on nutrition behaviors and overall health. Trauma can be a catalyst for chronic health conditions. Working from a trauma sensitive perspective creates a safe environment in which to work and offers a gentle approach to behavioral modifications.

Weight NEUTRAL

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your relationship with your body

Being a weight neutral practice means that the focus of my interventions are health driven, not weight driven. Weight loss is a secondary effect of improving your health, so let’s focus on the problem not the bandaid! Diets will be implemented when medically necessary (Diabetes, Cardiovascular, IBDs, Celiac, etc.), otherwise the focus will be on improving the nutrient content of your meals and learning to listen to your bodily cues for hunger and satiety. Weight neutral practices honor the variety of body shapes, sizes, and composition that exist and support the ideal that health can exist in a variety of bodies.

A plan that works for you

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My specialties

  • Digestive Issues (IBS, Celiac, Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, Bloating, Chronic Constipation)

  • Children’s Nutrition (Picky Eating, Trauma-Related Food Behaviors, Improving Nutrition)

  • Nutrition Support for Mental Health (ADHD, Anxiety, Depression)

  • Disordered Eating

  • Stress/Headaches

  • Behavioral Nutrition

  • Trauma-Informed Nutrition

 

Work With Grace