Merging Health and Body Positivity:

The Role of the RDN [and Dietetic Intern]

By Hailey Rausch

We live in a world of extremes and hard lines.

All in or all out.

Left or right.

Yes or no.

Fad diet or eating without a care in the world.

We tend to care too much or care far too little. Like many other problems this world faces, this type of mentality leads to detrimental impacts. Current and future registered dietitians face great difficulty when promoting and educating nutrition while maintaining body positivity – two areas of concern that I believe don’t belong as two separate entities, but ought to be united. So, how do we merge these two concepts?

Shifting the frame from weight to health. Yes, we have heard the facts time and time again regarding weight status, BMI, waist circumference, etc. and its impact on our health – but healthy looks different on everyone and it’s about time we embrace it. I know what you’re thinking, what about the people who are indeed embracing body positivity (as they should) but don’t have a clear understanding of what healthy is. This is where it gets a bit challenging. To combat this, eating nutritious food and being active can be promoted and taught in a way that showcases the myriad of health benefits that accompany them regardless of weight status. By taking a step back from the numbers talk, we can start eliminating the harsh extremes of all or none and start practicing moderation – which I believe will not only make us more approachable to obtain nutrition information from, but also will lead to more people wanting to embrace nutrition.

 Practicing mindfulness. Throughout my internship, I have found that even a little mindfulness can go a long way. Be mindful of the fact that what healthy looks like is going to be different from person to person. It is easy to revert to the “move more, eat less” regime, but this is yet again another extreme oversimplification. Additionally, we have been taught that there are no “bad” foods, but it took me a long time to realize that many less healthful foods are marketed in a way to resemble just that: “sinful brownies”. I even catch myself saying things like “dark chocolate is my guilty pleasure”. But why does eating a brownie, or dark chocolate, or whatever it may be, have to have any guilt attached to it? It doesn’t and that’s where we come in. Recognizing that what and how we promote nutrition and provide nutrition education or even how we talk about our own eating habits, whether it be in the hospital or on social media, greatly impacts not only the way others see our profession, but also the way others see themselves.

“It’s hard to do the hard thing. That’s why they call it the hard thing… Working on my ability to consciously be having a positive effect on myself and also on the people and the world around me is really important and I always want to be driving towards that.”

-         Hank Green

Passion for the emerging field in nutrition and dietetics. The thing is, none of this is easy. Shifting the frame from weight to health is going to take a lot of time and work on our part. And being mindful? Well it takes a heck of a lot more brain power. I do believe we can make this shift and work towards uniting the concepts of nutrition, health and body positivity if we do so together. I think it is safe to say that we are all in this profession because we care about people and we care about nutrition. I encourage all of us to let our passion for nutrition and dietetics to fuel our practice, to learn more, to do better and to be better.