Nutritional Counseling

Maybe you start thinking about food the moment you wake up in the morning. Perhaps you struggle to get dressed because none of your clothes fit how you want them to and you spend tons of time agonizing over your appearance in the mirror. Then when you’re at work, you might struggle to be productive because you can’t stop thinking about what you’ll eat. When the evening rolls around, you probably find yourself canceling plans because you’re afraid of eating around others and you want time alone to binge and purge.

Deep down, you might think: If I could just lose weight or improve my diet, life would be happier and I would be okay. Sometimes, it might even feel like your whole life revolves around food and weight. As a result, you may be thinking it’s time to get extra help.

Dietary restrictions and food allergies can make meal planning complicated.

Maybe you don’t necessarily feel bad about your body or your weight, but you have a dietary restriction or an allergy that’s led to a strained relationship with food. Perhaps you want to add more fruits and veggies to your diet, but you don’t want to cut calories. Or maybe you want to improve your health, but you don’t want to go on a diet.

Whatever your reasons are for wanting to cultivate better eating habits, we encourage you to connect with a nutritional therapist here at the Therapy for Women Center in Philadelphia. We specialize in helping women and non-binary people understand what their bodies need, add nutrition to their diet, and heal their relationship with food.

Unrealistic body standards have created a culture of disordered eating.

Eating disorders have been on the rise for decades, especially among women, as they face increasing pressure to attain a certain body type and are much more likely to be objectified by men. In our fatphobic society, we tend to equate health with body size and believe you can tell how healthy someone is just by looking at them.

While the body positive movement helped make positive strides, there has been a backlash to it with the rise of Ozempic and other weight loss drugs. On top of that, social media has only made body image issues worse. People document their lives far more than previous generations with photos and videos of themselves, and there are far more opportunities to be scrutinized than ever before. This is especially the case with teen girls, since they are being exposed to unrealistic body standards online at a very young age.

Even people who don’t have eating disorders or negative body image may struggle to sift through all the unhelpful advice in our culture and figure out what the best dietary choices are. That’s why consulting a nutritional expert is so valuable. A registered dietitian can help you let go of cultural notions about food and weight and find a routine that works for you.