Importance of Patient-led Healthcare or “Why I don’t tell my clients what to eat.”
You know your body best, by FAR. You have lived in it every minute since you were born. Even your closest relative, partner, or friend could not possibly know you like you know you. How, then, could another person presume to know what type of eating would work best for you or what type of body treatment you would like?
Yet, it’s common in our culture to look OUTSIDE ourselves for answers to healing. When it comes to diet, we trust our physician, our nutritionist, even our neighbor, or something we saw on social media, more than we trust ourselves.
We listen to so-called “experts” while completely ignoring the body’s innate wisdom. For example, recent data suggests over 42 million Americans were on the Keto diet sometime in 2021. That’s almost 10 percent of all Americans! The keto diet was actually originally developed as a therapeutic diet that might be helpful in the treatment of epilepsy specifically. Unfortunately, the diet industry has co-opted the ketogenic diet and prescribes it to anyone and everyone. When I’ve asked my clients how it feels to be on Keto, they report the carb cravings are intense. They report it leads to obsession, binging, shame, and weight gain.
Yet, people often ignore their lived experience in favor of the “expert opinion.”
They may continue to pursue this low carb diet, long beyond workability, because they were told from outside sources it is the “answer”.
Patient-led care is where patients actively participate in their own medical treatment. Patient-led care focuses on honoring the patient’s own intuition toward healing. It focuses on placing the power of choice back in the hands of the patient. And it applies to what and how we eat just as much as other medical treatment.
“Yes, that makes sense, I know me best,” you may be thinking, “so what’s the point of asking for help?”
Why, even seek outside help?
Even though we know our body far more intimately than anyone else, our mind can have blind spots. A patient-led nutritionist can help us gently open-up to those blind spots, offering us clarity. For example, someone with a history of dieting or an eating disorder may be so immersed in “diet-mind,” they may not be able to access their body’s innate wisdom without support.
A patient-led nutritionist can offer us resources. They may be able to connect us to other specialists, treatments, or support that we otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
A patient-led nutritionist can support us to have a new perspective. For example, in my work, I feel one of the most important services I offer is to help my clients ditch diet culture. Changing a deeply seeded belief that is reinforced on the daily by our culture can be daunting and lonely work. In inviting my clients to see things differently, I can offer empathy, education, and the knowledge that there is a whole community of folks who support this different perspective.
Here are some tips if you want to begin your journey to have more ownership over your health. These tips apply to working with nutritionists and ALL health care providers.
Tips
*Express your needs. Talk with a new provider on the first visit (or before the visit) about your needs and wants for your relationship. Interview them a bit and end by asking, “do you think we’ll be a good fit?” Caveat: In this time, when so many people need care, I understand that you may not be able to work with your first choice of providers and may end up working with someone who is less willing to let you lead. If this is the case, it may be helpful to remind yourself that it's OK if this relationship isn’t the best fit, it is just temporary support. I invite you to then listen to their advice with a grain of salt. Have an attitude of “I’m just gathering more information. I get to make the final decision.”
* Request accommodations before, or at the very beginning of, an appointment. For example, many of my clients might express their need to not be weighed. People might say something like, “Please don’t weigh me unless it is medically necessary. If it is medically necessary, I need you to explain why and please don’t tell me the weight.” Then stand on the scale backwards. Another example of an accommodation might be, “I have PTSD from sexual trauma, so please let me know if you are going to touch me and talk me through whatever procedures you’re going to do.
* Jot things down. When you’re in a situation with a new practitioner, it’s easy to get flustered and go blank about your needs. Spend some time before the visit journaling about your main concerns. Then consolidate this into simple bullet points. Sometimes fewer is better, see if you can consolidate your list to the top 3 or so. Then bring these on a note card to your appointment.
*At all times: Practice self acceptance and kind self-parenting. Do your best to slow down and breathe. This may reduce desperation and the urge to look outside ourselves for an answer that really only WE have.
I was drawn to the name Heart Guided Nutrition for my business for just this reason. I want YOU to guide your own eating path while I play the part of witness to your journey. I know that patient led care, autonomy, agency, the power of choice may be one of the most powerful of healing ingredients. In patient-led care, instead of hoping (often falsely) that an outside expert will swoop in with a superman cape, YOU get to be the heroine of your own story.
To further explore this issue with a compassionate guide, reach out to Anna at Heart Guided Nutrition today.