A Dietitian’s Job Isn’t to Tell You What to Eat

The moment I tell you what to eat is the moment my plan becomes something I’m pushing onto you, instead of something that’s truly yours.

Many practitioners hand out plans and then feel disappointed when clients don’t follow them. It’s copy, paste, repeat, for hundreds of different people who all have completely different lives, bodies, and needs. I understand the intention behind it, but it rarely honours the person in front of you. Real change just isn’t as simple as following a script, and that’s okay. If someone’s selling you their “top 5 hacks,” it’s worth pausing and asking whether it’s really going to fit your life.

My job is to educate and empower you to figure health out for yourself, to gently guide you in a way that’s actually built around your body and your life, not some generic template. Now, I completely understand there are times I might encourage certain foods over others, depending on your circumstances. If you’re a long distance runner, I may be gently pushing more carbohydrates. If you’re recovering from illness, I might be encouraging higher energy foods to help you heal. If you’re living with constipation, I may be looking at your fibre intake. But the key difference is that this is done with you, not to you. A plan made with you, for you.

So many of us have tried diets or plans that didn’t stick, and it’s not because we failed. Most of the time it’s because the plan was too rigid. There was no room for joy in it, and it was never going to be sustainable for real life. Health looks different for everyone, and that’s a beautiful thing. I believe it should be a life without rigid rules, one that’s driven by joy, laughter, and connection instead.

This is where motivational interviewing comes in.
It starts with listening, really listening, and gently validating how someone has been feeling and how hard it can be just to show up for yourself some days. Change has to come from you, in your own time, and it can’t be forced on you by someone else.

A health professional who tells you what you’re doing wrong and insists you stop tends to see much worse outcomes than one who stays warm and non judgmental. Someone who helps you gently understand why a habit might not be serving your health the way you’d hoped, and who offers kind, realistic alternatives that actually fit your life.

The old model leaned on fear. Stop this, stop that, or you’ll get diabetes, heart disease, you name it. That’s not how good, compassionate practice works anymore, and you deserve better than that.