Last week I had a phone consultation with a nutritionist. I feel like I’m sort of slogging along and not making any progress. I know this woman through other friends in town and know that she’s all about healthy, balanced eating, striving for “clean” foods, respecting our bodies and our metabolisms, etc. The friends who have worked with her on their nutritional programs and weight loss efforts have achieved good results and like what they’re learning from her. After thinking a lot about it, I decided that a consultation was a good idea and a potentially positive step forward.
I’m always leery of tipping over into a diet mentality. For me, I equate “diets” with huge restrictions and that thinking leads to negative feelings of deprivation. The chattering monkeys then hook up with the mind squirrels and I begin to think that I need to hoard food and protect at all costs my need and right to eat whatever I want. Sometimes just thinking about denying myself a certain food triggers my eating disorder.
Devising a healthy food plan with a broader approach calms my mind and buffers me from that diet mentality. Even though I ultimately restrict my food choices, the key is that the action remains a choice and not a demand. I do much better thinking, “Choose to eat more clean, unprocessed foods and emphasize fruit and vegetables over breads, potatoes and other starches” than I do when someone says, “No carbs. Only a little fruit. No more than XX grams of XXXXX or XX grams of XXXXX a day.”
It’s a mental and emotional balancing act, but when I approach it calmly, I reap physical benefits.
I like having a nutritional professional working along with me. You’d think after all this time, I could serve as my own expert, but I’m not. Left to my own devices, I can easily veer off in the wrong direction. I’ve made a lot of progress, true, and I’m much better informed than I was in the past, but there’s more improvement that I can make as I continue to move forward.
The nutritionist and I will speak again this week. She’s working on a plan outline for me. I know that I’m steering clear of the dreaded diet mentality because I’m looking forward to discussing the plan with positive anticipation instead of diet dread.
Weighty Matters 
It sounds like you’re consulting someone to help you create a healthy menu. I’d like that kind of help myself. Bon apettit.