Nutrition Coaching2024-10-11T15:03:12-07:00

Are you ready to liberate yourself from dieting and learn how to truly nourish yourself — mind, body and soul? I can help!

How would it will feel to:

  • Know that you are making the right choices for YOU, even in the face of confusing, and sometimes even conflicting, health and nutrition information (and “opinions” from, well, everyone)?
  • Make decisions about nutrition, physical activity and self-care that are driven by what satisfies you, brings you joy, feels good to your body and fits into your life, instead of by the question, “Will this help me lose weight?”
  • Have many ways to care for yourself when you have The Worst Day Ever, so food isn’t your main (or only) go-to?
  • Understand what truly lies beneath out-of-control feelings around food?
  • Trust your body’s wisdom about what it needs, rather than bouncing from one diet (or “wellness”) plan to the next?
  • Learn to show yourself more compassion and meaningful self-care?
  • Start to make peace with your body and feel more at home in your own skin?

6-Month Food & Body Program

My comprehensive signature system incorporates Intuitive Eating, mindfulness, self-compassion and body acceptance, and is based on a holistic view of health that considers both mind and body. It combines in-depth 1-on-1 counseling for your food, eating and body image concerns + a 12-module self-paced online program for additional support.

What I can help you do:

  • Cultivate a healthier, more compassionate relationship with food, movement and body, including mindful and intuitive eating and meaningful self-care in your here-and-now body.
  • Detangle yourself from disordered eating patterns, including compulsive overeating, emotional eating, chronic or yo-yo dieting, orthorexia and food addiction.
  • Understand how societal/systemic fatphobia has created the false belief that weight = health, and actually gets in the way of true physical, mental and emotional health.
  • Gain a greater sense of ease about how to eat and care for your health and well-being — as you define it — and increase your resilience against emotional storms and the seductive pull of diet culture.

What clients say:

“Working with Carrie has allowed me to reach my goal of having peace with food.” — A.C.

“Carrie’s warm support has given me a safe place to explore my issues around food and weight.” — Miriam R.

“Carrie Dennett is an amazing coach and mentor.” — Naomi W.

“She is compassionate, empathetic, and understanding and I highly recommend her program.” — Nikki F.

“Carrie helped me understand so much more about myself, and my health — way beyond food and exercise.” — Nicole F.

“For about eight years, I had been severely struggling in my relationships with food, my body and exercise. While I had started educating myself on the principles of intuitive eating and embraced the teachings, I didn’t realize how entrenched my restrictions and rules were. I also didn’t fully realize the scope of my problem: I had an eating disorder. … Carrie helped lay the foundation of recovery.”

Beth R.

“Over 75% of my life has been spent in food and body obsession. It’s been a preoccupation that has kept me away from the “right now” and connecting fully with others, including my family. What I found with Carrie’s six-month program was a partner in a journey to more freedom from dieting obsession.”

Cindy C.

What’s included (the nuts & bolts)?

Initial Session (75 minutes) 

In this video or phone session, we’ll take a deep dive into…

  • Your dieting history…
  • Your current eating patterns and self-care habits…
  • Your current and past social and family environments…

…and how they have influenced your relationship with food and body image today. You will leave with a better understanding of yourself, as well as initial steps to help you start creating a healthier, more balanced relationship with nutrition and self-care.

12 Follow-Up Sessions (35-45 minutes, every other week)

We’ll meet every other week for six months to continue exploring your food and body history as I help you unpack limiting beliefs, replace self-judgment with curiosity and self-compassion, and take practical steps towards better self-care. We can …

  • Talk about the previous learning module, or we can …
  • Talk about something else you want to learn or are struggling with.

Ultimately, you are in charge.

Before each follow up you will fill out a quick check-in form online. This allows you to reflect on your successes and challenges — and allows me to tailor our upcoming session to support you!

After each session, I’ll send you personalized recommendations based on our discussion, along with access to a new self-paced learning module.

Support Between Sessions

Most of your life happens between sessions, and consistent support is so important in helping you to achieve a healthier relationship with food and your body.

That’s why you’ll have access to me outside of our sessions via chat messaging to support you through any questions or challenges that come up, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, thanks to the free smartphone app that comes with this program!

Examples of reasons you might need support between sessions:

  • You need to vent about comments from a loved one about your body and/or your eating habits.
  • You’re not sure how to handle a poor body image day.
  • You’re feeling anxious about food, and maybe at risk of a binge episode
  • You want to share an “aha!” moment or a win.
  • You have a question.
  • Or…you just need a little encouragement (I’m totally willing to be the cheerleader in your back pocket…literally, if that’s where you keep your phone!).

You’ll also have access to an (optional) online intuitive eating journal, and if it’s helpful to you, I can offer feedback and suggestions.

Books mailed to your doorstep

To help support the work we’re doing in our sessions, I’ll send you a “self-care kit” of two books. Some books I commonly send to clients include:

  • “Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
  • “The Intuitive Eating Workbook: 10 Principles for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship With Food” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
  • “The Intuitive Eating Journal: Your Guided Journey for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship With Food” by Elyse Resch
  • “Intuitive Eating for Every Day” by Evelyn Tribole
  • “The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love” by Sonya Renee Taylor
  • “More Than A Body: Your Body is An Instrument, Not An Ornament” by Lindsay and Lexie Kite
  • “Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory” by Deb Dana
  • “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
  • “The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom” by Willa Blythe Baker

What clients say:

“Carrie has helped me lay the groundwork to have a healthy mind-body relationship and lifestyle.” ~ Naomi W.

“Carrie is non-judgmental and her ability to listen is exceptional.” ~ Carol T.

“Since working with Carrie, my relationship with food has gotten so much freer. I no longer fear having cookies in the house (or ice cream or chocolate, etc.).” ~ Nikki F.

“My anxiety and negative self-talk around food and my body are greatly improved. I feel happier. I feel free of chronic dieting.” ~ Pam S.

“Carrie’s program is great for anyone looking to heal their relationship with food, their body and exercise. She’s a coach, a mentor and a confidant. She’ll be your cheerleader in your journey.” ~ Beth R.

“Before working with Carrie, I knew that dieting wasn’t working for me, but I did not know what to do instead. I was floundering with conflicting health information and experiencing an increase in various health concerns. During my work with Carrie, I learned to trust myself, challenge my self-critical thinking and stop trying to control and structure my eating and exercise in a way that did not make me feel good physically or psychologically. Carrie herself is amazing. She is very knowledgeable, accepting and supportive.”

Susan C.

“What a wonderful experience to begin to recognize and reject the thoughts solidified in my mind from years of dieting. From recognizing the problem to thinking through and implementing the different principles of Intuitive Eating, Carrie is there to help support and guide you. Her non-judgmental approach is kind, refreshing and supportive. I would highly recommend the time spent with Carrie to guide you toward the goal of a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body.”

Susan D.

Your Journey Roadmap
(Learning Modules)

Module 0: Marking Your Starting Point2022-07-25T13:25:48-07:00

Your journey begins before we even have our first session. In addition to completing a comprehensive intake questionnaire about your nutrition and health history, you’ll also do a baseline assessment of where you are at as an intuitive (or perhaps not-so-intuitive) eater, including a look at your food rules…and your family’s attitudes about food and body when you were growing up.

Module 1: Unlearning (clearing the decks)2022-07-25T13:28:22-07:00

As we begin our work together, we’ll start with some unlearning. Specifically, you”ll start the process of untangling yourself from our culture’s diet mentality, hitting pause on any assumptions about the connection between health and body weight, and challenging society’s constant messages that health is all about “personal responsibility.”

Module 2: Flexing Your Mindfulness Muscle (and cultivating self-compassion)2022-07-25T13:28:16-07:00

One tenant of mindfulness is non-judgmental awareness, and you’ll learn how cultivating that trait is important for both mind and body. Mindfulness is also one of the three elements of self-compassion (the other two are self-kindness and common humanity), and you’ll learn how that will help be happier—and even healthier—than the elements that are the opposite of self-compassion (self-judgment, isolation and over-identification). We’ll also discuss how to create mindfulness and self-compassion practices, which might include meditation (although they don’t have to).

Module 3: Eating Isn’t Always About the Food (tuning in to your true needs)2022-07-25T13:28:03-07:00

Why do we sometimes eat when we’re not hungry…and is that necessarily a problem? We’ll cover when emotional eating might serve a purpose vs. when it’s simply working against your health and well-being. Your body has a lot of wisdom…if only you would listen to it! In this module we’ll discuss how to start building body trust, and you’ll learn about your untapped (or maybe just undertapped) superpower: interoceptive awareness. Together, these two elements help you hear and heed what your body is telling you.

Module 4: Meaningful Self-Care (preventing your well from running dry)2022-07-25T13:28:52-07:00

Self-care isn’t all chocolate cake and bubble baths. Self-care, when it’s really meaningful, can sometimes feel hard, oddly, but it’s worth it. We’ll look at what you need in your life to thrive, not just survive. And, because years of following diet rules can make you doubt your intentions at times (“Do I want that broccoli because ‘diet mind’ says I should, or because I want it ‘intuitively’?”), will look at the difference between making decisions from a place of self-care vs. self-control. We’ll also explore what it means to “regulate” your nervous system.

Module 5: Tuning in To Your Body’s Wisdom (listening to hunger and fullness)2022-07-25T13:29:30-07:00

How do you know when it’s time to eat…or time to stop eating? We’ll explore why hunger and fullness cues are natural and normal and how to use them to guide your eating without turning them into rigid rules. We’ll also cover why some people have trouble feeling these cues (perhaps due to trauma or simply years of ignoring them), and what to do while you encourage them to reemerge.

Module 6: Avoiding A Food Free-For-All (the importance of attunement)2022-07-25T13:29:58-07:00

Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated — or rigid — but much of the information out there makes it sound like eating for well-being has to be a full-time job, and if you take a day off then everything’s ruined. In this module, we’ll talk about why there’s no one perfect way to eat and how you can make peace with food while also supporting your health.

Module 7: Rediscovering Pleasure (why it’s not a dirty word)2022-07-25T13:30:31-07:00

Why do so many people think that pleasure = being out of control? In this module, we look at why pleasure is an important part of self-care, in part because it can help you form healthy habits that stick. This includes finding true food satisfaction and exploring what pleasures you may have been giving up in your life because you don’t feel comfortable in your skin.

Module 8: Mapping Your Journey (and what happens if you get off course?)2022-07-25T13:30:59-07:00

When things are going well, it’s easy to believe that they will continue going well, effortlessly. But life throws us curveballs, and sometimes you find yourself taking an unexpected detour onto a path you don’t really want to be on. The reality of making changes and forming new habits is that it’s not a simple linear process. There will be at least a few twists and turns and bumps in the road. In this module, we’ll cover how to develop a mindset that helps you get back on track easily, as well as how to tap into sources of internal motivation (including your deepest values) that can help you avoid getting derailed.

Module 9: Moving Toward Body Liberation (seeking embodiment)2022-07-25T13:31:26-07:00

Feeling better about your body isn’t just butterflies and rainbows…it’s important for overall wellness. But trying to become “body positive” isn’t always the best goal. You’ll learn other ways of making peace with your body, discovering (or rediscovering) enjoyable ways to move your body, and how to identify the impact of weight stigma (whether internalized, externalized or both) in your life so you can liberate yourself from oppressive standards. As part of this, you’ll learn how to identify if your social media feed is lifting you up or if it’s crushing your spirit, and how to change it up if it’s the latter.

Module 10: Discovering True Nourishment (more energy, less chaos)2022-07-25T13:31:52-07:00

We’ve talked about the “why” of eating…but what about the “what”? In this module, we’ll talk about “gentle nutrition” — a flexible and intuitive approach to eating that can help you enjoy your food and feel your best, rather than feeling like you want to tear your hair out. We’ll also cover how to stand up to the food police (especially the precinct that lives in your own head).

Module 11: Setting Boundaries (because no one will respect them if you don’t)2022-07-25T13:32:15-07:00

We’ll follow up on the previous self-care module by looking at how, and why, to set boundaries. This is important for protecting yourself against the harms of diet culture, as well as for fostering respectful relationships with yourself and others. You’ll get fresh ideas for dealing with diet talk, how to avoid the pull of old “time to diet” triggers, and how to advocate for yourself with healthcare providers (and others) who have outdated ideas about weight.

Module 12: Next Steps (assessing and reflecting)2022-07-25T13:32:48-07:00

In this final module, we’ll look back over the previous six months, assessing what has changed, what still has room for more change, and what logical next steps would be.

“Thanks to Carrie’s educational resources and gentle input, my understanding of whole body, whole person health has evolved to a place where I feel more at peace with myself. Now I know how to eat well for me. Harsh judgements are infrequent, and embracing my physical self is the new norm. I like this evolved version of myself because I spend far less time focusing on rigid food and exercise requirements. Instead, I invest my energy in being present, enjoying time with my family, and connecting with my friends.”

Nicole F.

“Before working with Carrie, I felt like a failure because I was unable to do the one task I needed to do for my health, lose weight. For years I bounced between losing weight and gaining it all back. From my work with Carrie, I now understand the wide breadth of what it means to have a healthy lifestyle. I stopped pursing weight loss and I joyfully eat a large variety of foods, from delicious veggies to satisfying desserts. I enjoy being athletic and I eat to support an active body. I have never had such an easy and balanced relationship with food.”

Miriam R.

Program Summary

  • 1:1 coaching sessions every other week for 6 months (13 sessions)
  • Unlimited chat messaging support between sessions
  • Monthly group calls with Carrie and other Intuitive Eating clients (coming soon!)
  • Private community groupfor peer support (coming soon!)
  • 12 self-paced online learning modules
  • Books mailed right to your door
  • Online resource library
  • Optional journal feedback

Program Investment

6 monthly payments of $499/month

(Total $2994)

As a small business owner, I always appreciate being paid in full up front. If you have the resources to pay in full, as a “thank you” I will apply 10% towards a scholarship fund for clients who are financially challenged. I will also add an additional book to your self-care kit.

Program Investment

6 monthly payments of $499/month

(Total $2994)

As a small business owner, I always appreciate being paid in full up front. If you have the resources to pay in full, as a “thank you” I will apply 10% towards a scholarship fund for clients who are financially challenged. I will also add an additional book to your self-care kit.

My Approach & Philosophy

I am a weight-inclusive, anti-diet dietitian who is trauma-, social justice- and Health At Every Size-informed. I believe that all bodies are worthy of care and respect, just as they are. As a certified Intuitive Eating counselor and a licensed Be Body Positive facilitator, I aim to help you feel more confident and empowered, and to help you break free of food and body obsession — and opression. I see my role as a guide, facilitator and sounding board, because YOU are the ultimate expert on yourself. I’ll collaborate with you to develop an individualized plan for nourishing yourself with food and self-care while providing a safe, supportive, non-judgmental environment for you to talk about your food and body concerns.

Ready? (Or think you might be?)

I’d love to chat with you. Click on the button below to request a 20-minute Food & Body Consult so we can talk about where you are today in your relationship with food and body, where you hope to go, and how I can help you get there. We’ll talk about what’s worked (or not worked) for you in the past, and I can answer any questions about my program that aren’t covered in the FAQ below!

Frequently Asked Questions

You can ask me questions about the program and how I work during our 20-minute Food & Body Consult (or email me via the “Contact Me” link below the FAQ), but you might find the answer to your question below!

Q: What is Intuitive Eating?2023-07-30T18:11:03-07:00

A: Intuitive eating, on one hand, is something we are all born doing, because as babies and toddler we “intuitively” eat in tune with our bodies’ hunger and fullness cues, and vary what foods we gravitate to over time. As adults, we often need to relearn how to eat intuitively, especially if we have a history of dieting, and that that’s the focus of the book “Intuitive Eating,” by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It’s a way of guiding your eating through your body’s internal wisdom (which is always there, even if it’s gone “dormant”) rather than through external rules and eating triggers. One of the intuitive eating principles is “permission to eat” and many people interpret that to mean the can give themselves permission to eat nothing but cookies. While that is technically true (you’re an adult, you can do what you want), that’s not what intuitive eating is about, I promise you…it does consider nutrition!

Q: What do “Health At Every Size,” “weight inclusive” and “non-diet” mean ?2022-05-28T12:59:41-07:00

A: Health At Every Size (HAES(R)) is a registered trademark of the Associations for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH). It’s the philosophy that anyone at any body weight/size can adopt behaviors and form habits that support or improve health and well-being — and that health is not determined by weight. The emphasis is on habits and behaviors that are sustainable, joyful and appropriate to each person’s circumstance. HAES also makes clear that pursuing health is not a moral imperative, and that many factors that influence health are not under our personal control. A weight-inclusive approach accepts and respects the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and rejects the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights — this is very different from the weight-centric approach, which emphasizes weight and weight loss when defining health and well-being. Non-diet means not manipulating food with the express intent of losing weight — obviously we all eat some type of diet!

Q: I’ve read the book “Intuitive Eating” and I’m not sure I “got it.” Would working with you help?2022-05-28T12:37:15-07:00

A: I have a number of clients who came to me after reading “Intuitive Eating” and even completing some (or all) of the “Intuitive Eating Workbook,” and felt like it didn’t quite gel for them. Some “got it” intellectually, but had trouble putting it into practice. Others found that diet mentality kept creeping back in no matter what they did. Still others found that parts of Intuitive Eating resonated…but other parts did not. That’s why working with a certified Intuitive Eating counselor (like myself) can help, so you have someone by your side to guide you, help you troubleshoot, and let you know when what you’re thinking in feeling is totally normal (even if it doesn’t seem that way)! If some parts of Intuitive Eating aren’t relevant to you (for example, some neurodiverse individuals have trouble noticing hunger, fullness and other body sensations), we’ll focus on the parts that ARE relevant for you.

Q: Will you give me a meal plan?2023-07-31T15:08:20-07:00

A: The short answer is no, because meal plans prepared by someone else (even me!) are not a real solution. The longer answer is that I would be happy to help you learn to meal plan, because it is a good skill to have, especially if you’re busy, trying to minimize trips to the grocery store, or trying to minimize food waste.

Q: Can you help me lose weight? (or, Will I lose weight?)2023-07-31T15:06:00-07:00

A: I’m an anti-diet dietitian, which means I don’t help people pursue weight loss because it has an extremely low rate of long-term “success.” However, I absolutely don’t judge people for wanting to lose weight, given the fatphobic society we live in. What I will do is talk to you about your goals and desired health outcomes, and what you hope or expect to happen as a result of weight loss (for example, more energy or stamina, better bloodwork, greater body acceptance). I can then offer you support and guidance to make changes and build habits that directly focus on those things.

Q: Do you offer Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT)?2021-05-19T11:57:31-07:00

A: I do offer nutrition coaching for people who want to try the low-FODMAP diet to manage symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but I don’t offer nutrition counseling for urgent, acute or currently uncontrolled medical conditions. If you are working with me as a Food & Body coach, and have a pre-existing nutrition-related medical condition that you are managing well, we can certainly discuss any issues that come up during our time together!

Q: Do you accept insurance?2023-07-31T14:50:56-07:00

A: No, for a variety of reasons that I won’t bore you with! However, I am a licensed dietitian in Oregon, and a certified dietitian in Washington state, and while I’m out-of-network with insurance, if you live in one of those states I can provide you with a “superbill” (aka an itemized receipt), so you can seek partial reimbursement from your insurance company, Healthcare Savings Account (HSA), or company wellness program. Contact your insurance company to learn more about this process.

It is important to know that superbills can NOT be generated for any Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage or Medicare + Supplement plans due to Medicare CMS regulations. For all other insurance plans there is no guarantee that they will pay any portion of the superbill, and also no guarantee any payments will “count” towards annual plan or out-of-network deductibles. Superbills may or may not qualify for submission to individual HSAs.

 

Q: Can I pay for just one Food & Body session with you?2023-07-31T15:12:19-07:00

A: It takes time to create sustainable, lasting behavior change, which involves building new habits that will serve you well and untangling yourself from old habits that have not been serving you well! Developing a healthy relationship with food and body takes sustained commitment, coupled with support and guidance. That’s why I ask you to work with me for a minimum of six months. However, if you’ve worked with me previously, we can discuss the option of occasional check-in appointments to help keep you on your journey.

Q: How do I know if your Food & Body Program is right for me?2023-02-19T10:26:18-08:00

Excellent question! My Food & Body nutrition therapy and body image counseling program is likely right for you if you want to make changes related to food and self-care that support your physical health and emotional well-being, and you either are willing to work towards letting go of the idea of pursuing weight loss, or you already have let it go. That said, the reason I offer a free intro call is so we can “meet” each other and decide if we’re a good fit for each other.

Q: What happens during the 20-minute Food & Body consult?2024-10-11T15:06:36-07:00

We’ll get to know each other a little, including your goals for nutrition coaching, and how I can help you with those goals. It’s a chance to see if we’re a good fit, and while I will offer some general suggestions, I won’t offer specific advice during this brief time together.

Q: What are your credentials?2023-07-31T15:02:40-07:00

I am a nationally registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) who is certified (CD) in Washington State and licensed (LD) in Oregon. I have my masters of public health (MPH) degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Washington. I’m also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and a licensed Be Body Positive facilitator.

I also have completed training on dietary management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with the low-FODMAP diet through Monash University in Australia, the leading research center on the low-FODMAP diet. I’ve also sought out additional professional training on trauma-informed care, neurodivergence, anti-racism, and social justice.

Q: Are you LGBTQ-friendly?2023-07-31T15:00:39-07:00

Yes!

Have another question? Contact me.

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