We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melanee Dahl a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Melanee, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I didn’t take a straight path to becoming a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS). I didn’t grow up a “health nut.” I was an athlete in high school, but had little interest in nutrition. Truth be told, I had an eating disorder that flew under the radar for a good chunk of my life. During my senior year of college I began to have troubling symptoms. I went to my family doctor: who was excellent, and we explored every possibly avenue to explain my symptoms. Every test came back normal.

In an effort to help myself, I started practicing yoga. It was the only thing that provided temporary relief. I became a yoga instructor and started experimenting with holistic means of healing. That’s when I made the discovery that diet affected how I felt. It was a big eye opener for me. Unfortunately, I still had an undiagnosed eating disorder. So my interest in nutrition was extreme because it fueled my disorder.

It is strange that finding a passion for nutrition was at first both wonderful and dysfunctional in my life. Ultimately, I went back to school for my Master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition. After graduating, I was attending a symposium on eating disorders when I recognized that what I had suspected all along was true, I needed help for my eating.

Getting help for my own eating disorder, the excellent education I received in my master’s program, and an even better internship that I participated in after graduation turned me into the clinician I am today.

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 Certified Nutrition Specialist and Licensed Dietician Nutritionist. My own person journey has influenced me all along the way. I came to nutrition out of desperation and stayed because I love it.

In my clinic I work with clients one-on-one to make peace with food, look for nutritional causes to pesky symptoms, and help clients figure out how to tune back in to their body cues. My clients are women who have been struggling with mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. They have been yo-yo dieting and want a non-diet approach to nutrition. My clients are tired of being exhausted, having headaches, or gut issues. Many of my clients have PCOS or are in need of other support for Women’s health.

My history with food informs how I work with clients. Every client is screened for eating disorders or disordered eating. I see a lot of disordered eating in my clinic. While we know that nutrition can be powerful in helping our bodies stay healthy, the approach many people have heard about is not sustainable. Diet-culture and even the wellness industry teaches that we must restrict, avoid, and cut out full food groups. This often leads to a backlash of what is called the Restrict/Binge Shame Cycle. We eventually give in and then feel terrible about ourselves.

This is a terrible approach because it leaves people feeling worse about themselves and undermines our efforts to improve our health. A much better approach is to make peace with food, get in touch with what your body is communicating to you and honor that. We can make vast improvements in our nutrition without a “white knuckle” approach that eventually backfires.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I graduated with my Masters degree I was trained like most medical and nutrition professionals. Despite hoards of scientific evidence illustrating the harm of focusing on weight in healthcare, I was trained to believe we all need to lose weight. This was a significant issue in my own life. Every attempt I had made to “get healthy” (aka look thin) had ultimately caused me to climb the scale even higher. I was disheartened. How was I supposed to be a good nutritionist if I didn’t look the part?

Thankfully, I was introduced to some incredible mentors. I learned that our hyper-focus on weight is creating significant problems. I was not alone. In fact, the research shows that 95-98% of individuals who try to lose weight gain it all back and often more in a few years. That had certainly been true of my own experience.

I spent copious amounts of time diving into the research. Weight stigma is causing harm. The supposed health complications of being in a large body may have more to do with ill treatment – particularly by healthcare providers – than it does with size. Another major risk factor? Dieting.

Dieting causes us to gain the weight back and more. If we know dieting fails why is this still the number one advice given in healthcare settings? Gaining and losing weight over and over is called weight cycling and has been shown to cause more harm to our health than simply being in whatever size body we were in.

As I learned all of this I decided that my clinic would be weight neutral. I didn’t want to focus on weight loss when what people are usually really seeking is to feel well. It took some time to figure out how to pivot from what I had learned in school, but ultimately, I think the effort has been well worth it.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

I’m not sure, if I’m being honest. I absolutely love what I do, but I got here in large part because of a painful eating disorder. If I could go back I would never chose an eating disorder and all the consequences that came from it. Without that history, though, I’m not sure I would be the clinician I am today. I can look back and feel grateful for the experiences that led me here. However, I have a thousand interests. My personal journey is, in part, what drives me in my current profession. Without that history, I’m not sure if nutrition would have won out over the hundreds of other paths that I could have taken. What I do know is that I am profoundly grateful that my journey has brought me to nutrition.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://integrativefunctionalnutrition.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativefunctionalnutrition/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeFunctionalNutrition
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanee-dahl-ms-cns-ldn-21481b8/