Click here to listen on iTunes

Lori Short-Zamudio is a registered dietician with over 13 years of experience working with clients with eating disorders, Type 1 diabetes, and various GI issues.

Lori has shaped her work toward a ‘Health at Every Size’ focus. She assists clients in restoring their relationship with food and exercise so they can achieve body positivity in their daily lives.

Show Notes

1:45 - Why our conversation around health is problematic

“I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when I was 19 years old. And one thing I noticed at that time was that my body was getting smaller because I was sick and a whole lot of people commented on how much better I looked or how lucky I was that I lost weight, and I should preface this by saying I've never lived in a large body.

And so I think oddly, I did not go into dietetics because of Crohn's. When I was in school, I felt a huge disconnect between what we were learning and what I internalized in myself as what I felt health was.

Due to my disease, I had three feet of my small intestine removed; I had a bowel resection. I went a whole eight days without eating anything by mouth and my body weight went down to an extremely low, low body weight. I had people commenting on my body image being like, "Oh my God, what did you do? It's amazing. I need that diet." And I would reply,  "I don't understand. I had organs taken out." And so those experiences really colored my opinion on the intersection of diet culture and chronic disease.”

4:17 - Lori’s journey from diet culture heyday to today

“I grew up in the eighties and nineties, which was diet culture heyday (Jane Fonda and her 30-minute workouts and SnackWell's cookies). I was really steeped in diet culture, but then none of it made sense to me anymore: the diet culture, the nutrition, and then what I experienced with my body.

After completing my undergrad, I entered into an internship where I worked with a dietician who was working in the field of eating disorders. They introduced me to ‘Health at Every Size’ and it just felt right. I learned that we can talk about healthy foods. We can talk about good movement. We can talk about things that make us feel good because that was the one thing in all my treatment and I had found that nobody ever told me what to do to make me feel good.

I worked in eating disorders and I worked in Type 1 diabetes, and it was a very medical model. Now, I teach and am a professor at college, and I still do my private practice on the side. But, I think when I started to really dive into the theory and research behind things, it just kind of solidified it more.”

7:43 -  Should people with Crohn's disease follow a strict diet protocol?

“Everyone is different and I believe that we always need to meet a nutrition client where they are and not where we expect them to be.

One of the two things that I've learned in my career is one, a behavioral therapist that told me you just need to shut up and listen. The other one was by Dana Sturtevant, from Be Nourished when I was taking a course with her. It was the acronym, WAIT, why am I talking?

Because when you get told (as a client), "Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this," and it doesn't work, it, therefore, makes it the client's fault. It's just like when weight loss doesn't work, we blame ourselves and it's not the fact that the diet didn't work.

For example, if you speak to medical professionals, particularly with Crohn's disease, they say food doesn't matter because it's not going to treat your disease or cure your disease. Whereas if you speak to some other people, they say food matters totally and it's how we can heal everything.

I take the approach that food can make me feel good or food can make me feel bad, depending on what's going on in my body.

So it's taking that balance, I think, and really digging right down into what makes the client feel good and what doesn't make them feel good and pulling out all the symptoms of everything.

12:50 - Working together to find out what works best

I often ask people if they've ever tried anything in the past and if it's worked because oftentimes if they're coming to me, whatever they've tried hasn't.

And so I say, "Okay, so what did you do and how did it feel?" And we go through that process.

I also spend a lot of time talking to people about learning to trust their bodies.

It's amazing how many people when they start to eat something and the tears come down, "Wow, this tastes so good and I've just never let myself have it." So just getting people to create that joy with the food can sometimes really help bring out that process.

14:54 - Do you have any other resources to strengthen understanding of how to eat intuitively?

I would say I listen to a lot of podcasts. I've almost completed my Intuitive Eating certification, so really diving into intuitive eating.

With that, just really sitting with all the different modalities of learning to eat as children, because I think that as soon as we go to school and the bell rings and tells us when to eat, we forget and just kind of really learning how to be embodied. I've done some mindfulness work with myself, and I found that really helpful, just to learn how to sit still and listen to what my body's saying.

Loved what Lori had to say? Listen to the full conversation on the Making It Real Podcast, and be sure to head over to the Meal Garden Instagram and follow us so you get regular updates on practitioner stories and interviews.

Connect with Lori:

Instagram: @LoriShort-ZamudioRD

Podcast: The Nourished Circle

Website: unapologeticallymerd.com

Further Reading for Wellness Professionals:

Do Your Clients Understand How to Listen to their Bodies?

Mind Body Weight Release with Meal Garden

Intuitive Eating and Meal Planning: Are Both Possible?

What to do if Your Protocols Just Don’t Stick as a Health Practitioner

‍

Chronic Disease

‍