What does a Registered Dietitian do when working with Clients

In March, each year, we recognize National Registered Dietitian Day.

While I love being a dietitian, I DREAD telling strangers what I do for a living.

When a stranger sitting next to me on an airplane or a parent at my kids’ school asks, “What do you do for a living?” I cringe.

I cringe because what I really do is often so far from what people think or associate with the word DIETitian.

And you know what’s even more surprising? Dietitians are essential members of an eating disorders treatment team, but our role is often vaguely understood and inconsistently defined.

So, what in the heck do I actually do as a Dietitian?!

I utilize counseling skills at the intersection of mind and body to help my clients develop a relationship with food that is self-led and values aligned so that they can lead a fulfilling life.

This type of nutrition counseling entails A LOT of different aspects of work:

• Provide guidance and collaborate with my clients to co-create an eating plan that helps them move away from ED-guided eating and toward self-led eating.
• Address and correct malnutrition.
• Support clients to cultivate greater capacity to discern physical from emotional needs while developing a compassionate and curious inner food voice.
• Strengthen my client’s confidence in self-nourishment free from the dictates of an eating disorder.
• Balance medical and psychological conditions alongside eating recovery.
• Support the development of a multi-dimensional sense of self.
• Engage in body image work and how body image impacts food and movement patterns.
• Support interoceptive awareness and embodiment practices.
• Heal beliefs and practices related to exercise and physical activity.
• Develop skills for self-care and nervous system regulation.
• Help clients develop greater insight into the deeper functions and meaning of the eating disorder and eating disorder behaviors.
• Plus I do a sh*t ton of team collaboration, clinical supervision, reading, conference attending, and ongoing learning…all of which I LOOOOOVE.

Ok, I could really, REALLY keep going. This list is NOT complete.

But you may have noticed what’s not on the list …

Telling my clients what to do and doling out food plans.

The work I engage in is fascinating, gratifying, complex, and collaborative.

And next month I get to delve deeper into my role as an eating disorder dietitian at the 3rd Annual Tri-State Eating Disorders conference!

I am humbled and excited to share about my journey to integrating an Internal Family Systems approach to my nutrition counseling which I believe has helped me and my clients in so many ways.

If you are a clinician and want to learn more about utilizing IFS in eating disorders treatment, consider (virtually) attending the conference.

And I’m not the only dietitian here at Marci RD who is speaking to a professional audience. Anita Dharwadkar, who works on the Marci RD Nutrition team, is speaking at the annual Massachusetts Dietetic Association with our friend and colleague, Anna Sweeney, on the topic of eating disorders and chronic illness.

As Dietitians, we love being able to share the wisdom and knowledge we gain through training and from our clients (especially our clients!). Because the work we do as dietitians is pretty much the best.

If you are someone or know someone struggling with eating disorders and needs help from a dietitian – nutritionist, please reach out and book a call. Anita  is currently accepting  new clients and we would love to talk about how we can help you heal. Reach out to Anita.