Phoebe L.’s Post

I'm tired today. Is anyone else tired? As much as I love my job, I find it disheartening sometimes. I am not the diet police. I will not police your food choices. We have stopped trusting ourselves and have become so fearful of food. You don't need my permission to eat, and you aren't a bad person for having a piece of cake. You're not a picky eater because you don't eat veggies often, and you prefer fruits. Diet and wellness culture have really caused us to distrust our bodies and our food choices. How can we go about repairing people's relationships with food and their bodies when these oppressive systems are so strong? How can we unlearn and untangle these messy concepts when they are so strongly ingrained in everything? Just having some Tuesday thoughts. Sending love to people who are needing it today, people who might be hating their bodies, who might be feeling guilt and shame over their food choices or who are trying to fight the system and are "over it" . We're all in this together.

It's #weightstigmaawareness week! Do you want to make your practice more weight-inclusive but aren't sure how? Join my "intro to weight inclusive care" webinar on Oct 25 https://lnkd.in/gfzVP6SR Did you know that weight stigma has major impacts on the health of people in larger bodies? Did you know that weight stigma causes shame and increases the risk of people developing an eating disorder? Did you know that anti-fatness leads to poorer health outcomes, poorer pay and less job opportunities? Come learn more about how to reduce harm and improve health equity !

I Love this post from @blossomcounselling and Josée Sovinsky, RD, RP that acknowledges the inherent systemic oppression of our healthcare system, and decolonizes the current approach to health care. True health care is community, empathy and understanding. Let's shift the narrative.

Happy Friday! I just wanted to share a quick blog post that was written in collaboration with my former dietetics student, Christina Lee highlighting the importance of having a weight-inclusive lens in healthcare. Thanks to Catherine Macdonald (She/Her) from the Alliance for Healthier Communities for asking me to write on such an important topic. I will also be giving an intro webinar on how to start this in your practice - the link is in the newsletter post .

I just received my 5 year pin for working at the community health centre (really though, I've been here for 6 but who's counting:) and I just wanted to reflect on how much I've changed since becoming a dietitian. Here are some takeaways : 1. Nutrition and eating are very nuanced subjects - nutrition is not black and white; there are many shades of grey here- we need to understand the complexities and subtleties when working with people, and meet people where they're at, vs trying to force nutrition interventions on people when they might not fit. 2. it's ok to change your mind . It's up to us to do the hard work, to learn and to grow and be ok with being uncomfortable. It's ok to challenge our beliefs when we get more information. - we don't always have all the knowledge available to us, and as nutrition information evolves we gain a better understanding of the situation. -what's important is that we always put our clients first, and remove any agendas that we may have 3. Nutrition and food are inherently political. Food, eating and body image don't exist in a vacuum. Ideas about health and wellness are shaped by colonialist beliefs and so are our food systems. We are doing a disservice to the people we serve if we choose to "not be political" in our approach. These oppressive systems are intertwined with how we are made to feel about our bodies, and it would be impossible to address specific aspects of food and eating without investigating the root causes. To ignore the political aspects of health is ignorant and privileged. 4. Advocacy is a big part of our work as dietitians. We need to be that voice to speak up for underserved populations and give them the information they need to make informed choices. We can help them to find their power. I feel lucky working with my clients in a setting that I find to be rewarding and valuable. To be able to work with people in a holistic manner is a wonderful experience. I just wanted to also leave this wonderful message by @alexisconason who goes by "the anti-diet plan ' on social media, who, along with so many other wise folks , helps me to keep learning, and encourages me to lean into that discomfort and push against the grain in order to become a better provider, and fight against oppressive systems that lead to health inequities.

Thank you Ragen Chastain, BCPA for your tireless work as an advocate for folks in larger bodies. thank you for educating us and showing us the harm that health care providers can perpetuate. We can all learn and improve so that we are not part of the problem.

I never use "non-compliant" because to me, that means you aren't doing your job properly. It's up to us to dig deeper and understand the whys and see how we can help our patients better.

Thank you to Mr. Lalonde, who identified the social determinants of health, and helped shift the focus of health to become more holistic, and recognizing the impacts of our lived environments. 50 years on, it seems we are still struggling to incorporate these concepts into our healthcare system. We need the idea of community now, more than ever. If we are to really tackle and address the systemic causes of health, we need to focus on more impactful changes that address poverty, the housing crisis, the lack of adequate food . How can we all work together to bring about meaningful, lasting, equitable change? How can we stop the victim blaming and de-emphasize the focus on individuals ? How can we take what we know and ensure that we build and strengthen support networks and resources so that people don't fall through the cracks?