We recently connected with Callan Wall and have shared our conversation below.
Callan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
As a registered dietitian, I was trained in what’s called the “weight-centric” paradigm, which means most of what I was taught in my schooling revolved around body weight being the center of most health problems. I started my career working for a private practice doing weight loss and nutrition counseling, and I started to feel like what I was doing was not a) working, or b) helping people. Fast forward 5 years later and I learned about an approach to wellness called Health At Every Size (HAES), which takes a weight-neutral approach to health and wellbeing and is evidence-based. What struck me the most when learning about this approach was this one liner: “our culture and medical system prescribes someone in a larger body the same behaviors we would tell someone with an eating disorder not to engage in”. This really hit home for me and has been a game changer in the way that I approach nutrition, health, and wellness with myself and my clients. After committing many years to unlearning and relearning, I no longer subscribe to the unrealistic and unsustainable, and actually quite harmful, diet culture messages in our society and even in our medical system. I now get to help my clients learn to accept their bodies and take a wellness approach that is rooted in self-care and compassion over self-discipline and restriction.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a registered dietitian and have been practicing since 2015. I actually got into this profession from what I now recognize as battling my own ‘orthorexia’, or the unhealthy obsession with being healthy. I played sports my entire life and was a collegiate soccer player, and was initially drawn to the field with an interest in sports nutrition, but am now passionate about helping folks recover from disordered eating and make peace with food and their bodies, and find a balance within their wellness behaviors that feels sustainable and is met with self-compassion. I think what sets me apart from other wellness professionals is my ability to combine evidence-based nutrition information with realistic recommendations for practical application, and valuing someone’s own lived experience and inner body wisdom in that process. I don’t treat people like they are subjects in a textbook and I am most proud of helping people feel safe enough to explore their vulnerable eating behaviors and dismantle harmful internalized messages and belief systems they have around nutrition and bodies. I a
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn the idea that weight = health. Weight does not equal health, behaviors do. I had to unlearn the idea that weight loss always improves health and had to learn that diet culture and the weight loss industry is a ~$72 billion dollar industry. This is something that is deeply embedded in the medical system and is hard to wrap the mind around because of how ‘normalized’ this idea is in our culture. I had to unlearn the idea that I (as a registered dietitian) am an expert of someone else’s body. I now know that THEY are the expert of their body. I now get to put my clients in the driver seat and I am in the passenger seat with the map. I might have ideas on which routes we can take and what pit stops may be along the way, but the client gets to decide what feels best for THEM, not me.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think authenticity has played a role in developing my unique following and reputation within my market. Showing up as myself, being honest, and letting go of trying to be perfect or have all of the answers has helped embrace the authenticity that I feel is so important.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tulawellnessjourney.com
- Instagram: @_tulawellness