I have Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and a Minor in Restaurant Management. Colorado State University at Fort Collins, 1991. I had an experience early in my career that dramatically affect my approach to helping others and my career path. I was trained as a traditional dietitian. I had a strict set of rules to follow in order to be “professional.” These included: always wear
your lab coat; stay on the opposite side of the desk; be an authority figure; never engaging in personal chit chat; and never touching a client. I worked with an anorexic woman and followed all the protocols, but getting nowhere. The woman could repeat back to me everything she had been told verbatim, but was still losing weight. Then, during my last session with the woman, I had a brainstorm. Breaking protocol, I came around the desk and handed the woman a mirror, telling her to look deeply into her own eyes and say “I love you.” The woman could not do it at first, saying it was not true. But I persisted, telling her that if you repeat the words often enough, you start to believe it’s true. She did as I asked, and suddenly burst into tears. I hugged her and handed her some tissue, then had her do it again. I told her to continue doing this for the next 30 days. I walked away from this experience thinking that maybe this career path was not for me. I needed to be able to have warmer human interaction and the freedom to follow my intuition when helping others. Many years later, while eating out in a restaurant, a woman came up to the table. I did not recognize her until she introduced herself. It was the anorexic woman I had worked with. She wanted to thank me for all the help I had given her and told me that our last session was the break- through that helped her to start eating again. She was now a successful engineer, wife and mother. The woman’s words inspired me to help others through nutritional counseling again, but I knew it would have to take a more unorthodox form than what she had learned in college. I now works as private dietitian with a focus on body, mind and sprit. My goal is for every clients to achieve their ultimate goal of permeant lifestyle changes and improved life/health. It is important to me that the approach is personal, and that each person receives the individual attention he or she needs to succeed.
