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The TBN Food Philosophy

The TBN Food Philosophy

Our upmost priority at The Balanced Nutritionist is to guide people to adopt a ‘real food lifestyle’ and work with them over time to ensure new, healthy habits ‘stick’ so that they stay happy and healthy long term.

We work very closely with our clients and we have a very good reputation because we care deeply for their success and long-term health.

We prefer to work with clients over several months, knowing that real change takes time. Eating healthy is not just about good food. Eating healthy = good food + a good relationship with food. Sure, we teach our clients how to recognize good nourishing food, but it’s equally important we assist them to reach a place where they can eat ice cream… without guilt or self-loathing… and not followed by a 5-hour debate on the best way to ‘work it off’.

My (Katie’s) professional journey to becoming a ‘no numbers nutritionist’ began due to the high number of clients I work with who are ‘ruled’ by the scales. This may look like…weighing too much (sometimes daily) and being absolutely distraught if the number looking back is MORE than or the SAME as it was before. 

  • having unrealistic expectations of the scales, and believing the number coming back is ‘never enough.’ 
  • being petrified of the scales and what ‘that number’ may be and never wanting to get on the scales ever. 
  • basically…. being ‘ruled’ by the scales 
 
 
Firstly, you are not a number and your weight does not define you. Secondly, weight is a very minuscule part of your total health picture. Thirdly, your weight does NOT reflect how you are feeling, how your energy levels are, how much ‘zest’ for life you have, how great your body is functioning, or how happy you are… and all of these are far more important measures of health (in my opinion). Finally (and perhaps most significantly) the way we think about weight and how we should look is unrealistic and irrational due to irresponsible messaging and inflated* promises from the ‘diet**’ industry.
 
*inflated is an understatement. The messaging is often false and almost always impossible.**I will not use the word diet again on this page. Or in conversation with you. 
 
Once I started offering my clients the option to NOT use weight at all as a measure of their progress I noticed something remarkable. Firstly, these clients were hugely relieved and ‘freed’ by my permission to not concern themselves with the scales. And secondly…their results were awesome! By ‘results’ I mean they were just so happy with their progress! Because they weren’t tied up in numbers, they could actually acknowledge how great they were feeling and all the other cool stuff that was changing because they were looking after themselves. 
 

These clients ended up with a really great relationship with themselves and with food. 

 
This is absolutely critical. You can not lead a balanced, healthy lifestyle until you achieve the above. It actually starts with mindset. 
 
 
In saying all of the above, if you are 100% secure in your own self and comfortable weighing yourself occasionally of course you can do that… it just won’t be a big focus of our time together.
 
 
As for calories… well that’s another variation of math in nutrition I am not keen on. Calories do not tell you how much nutrition is in a food. They do not tell you how the food interacts with your body. Being calorie focusing does not teach you to lean in and listen to your body. And let’s face it. You’ve probably done the calorie thing and it hasn’t worked, right? I mean… Do you really want to reduce the gorgeousness that is food to… numbers? I don’t, so I don’t do this kind of work. Instead:
 
  • I’ll help you enjoy more real food and much less processed food (because our body thrives on the fresh stuff)
  • Help you to understand what foods work really well for you and which ones aren’t making you feel great (which is highly individual)
  • Help you to get back in touch with your body and listen to its hunger and satiety cues
  • Help you stop dieting. And start living again. 

Our core philosophy can be summed up as follows:

1. Food has the capacity to prevent disease and the power to heal disease when given both time and respect.

2. Food comes from the ground, our trees, the ocean, and our animals. It is not from a packet, a manufacturing plant, a laboratory, or a drive-thru. This is not truly food.

3. Food brings families and friends together. It’s a means of celebrating those who prepared it, the resources that enabled it, and the people whom we share it with.

4. Food should always be prepared minimally, but with great care. It should be consumed mindfully and gratefully.

5. Real food, along with movement and mental well-being is the foundation for good health.

We practice and live with this philosophy in mind always. When we work with clients, it’s these values that are at the forefront of our mind, influencing our work with you. Read more about us here