Nutrition is simple, and also complex. If you just want to eat right to be as healthy as possible, the solutions are fairly simple. We can teach you the fundamentals of good nutrition, and more importantly, hold you accountable and help you implement a nutritional plan. The fundamentals of nutrition include eating whole, rather than processed, foods, having the right balance of macronutrients in your diet, and understanding what your specific body needs.
There are times when it is appropriate for nutrition to become more complex: You are fighting or want to ward off a certain disease, you need to reduce inflammation, you want to lose weight, or you’d like your diet to help relieve your anxiety, depression, or mood swings. If you’re an elite athlete, you may need a diet for peak performance. If you have food sensitivities, you need work-arounds that still allow you to have a balanced diet.
We are comfortable in the complex and in the simple. We don’t over-complicate food plans when there is no need to. And we subscribe to the concept that less is more at times, that the body has natural processes built into it to heal, and that food should complement and not interfere with the body’s natural tendency toward balance. We believe that if you have a basic healthy diet, you can get away with indulgences sometimes. We believe in moderation, not rigidity, in part because of the connection between gut health and anxiety/stress. Part of healthy nutrition is what you feed the mind, due to the many connections between our bodies, our chemistry, our diets, and our minds.
Consults with Megan Brown, our health coach, are $150/hr. You may schedule them by calling our office at 512-469-0535 or emailing us at admin@presencewellness.co.
Beyond the basics, we are interested in superfoods, supplements that can enhance your health in powerful ways, and uncommon knowledge about the intersection of food and health. These reside in the ‘complex’ category, yet some people have an interest to go beyond strong fundamentals. For the nutrition aficionados and health geeks out there, we offer genomic analyses and consults to target your nutrition to your unique genetic makeup. We pair dietary plans to specific mental health goals, such as reduction of depressive symptoms or of anxiety and stress. We understand the role that gut health and diet plays in neurotransmitter production in order to keep your brain sharp and healthy. And we research and offer the highest quality supplements to take your wellbeing to its optimal functioning.
While we do geek out on nutrition and on holistic wellness, we always return to the fundamentals. We are, after all, as humans, fancy animals, and sometimes the most natural and simple approach lets the body do its thing (in a good way), meaning to heal, grow stronger, and thrive. But at times, we want the body to do a different thing, or to move in a different direction. We will respect your goals when it comes to nutrition. You can orient your consults around establishing strong fundamentals and keeping things simple, or we can geek out with you and get complex to optimize in specific areas. Your choice, with our support. Schedule your first session with our health coach, Megan Brown, and we’ll see you soon!
Food for Thought
These are some reasons to engage in nutritional consults
Change the Way You think about Food
We offer food-positive, body-positive nutrition counseling to develop a healthy, flexible, and joyful relationship with food. Whether you’re working out and wanting support for recovery, struggling with anxiety and needing help with understanding what foods will support your mood, a mom trying to stay energized, or partners coming together to support health as a way of life, we tailor a diet that’s nutritious, delicious and exactly what you need to meet your goals. Our approach is based on the principles of intuitive eating and health at every size (HAES®), accepting and respecting the natural diversity of body sizes and shapes and rebuilding trust between your brain and body.
Fueling Your Brain to Feel Your Best
Food affects our mood daily, and can shift the balance of our neurochemistry. Understanding how you fuel your body and what foods have which effect can support your brain and mood. Managing stress is important to maintaining both physical and mental health, and food plays a significant role. Stress impacts everyone differently, and chronic stress can impact a person’s eating habits. From gut health, to nutrient timing, to foods that help you de-stress, our focused recommendations will help bring calm to your nervous system.
Relieve Anxiety & Depression
Did you know that most neurotransmitters are produced in your gut, and the way you eat—and some natural supplements—can dramatically impact their production and availability to your brain? In that sense, your diet acts like a medication, working in the direction of your treatment. If you need more serotonin, there is a diet for that. More dopamine? Same. Anxiety and depression tend to respond well to decreasing stimulants and depressants such as caffeine and alcohol, and increasing fish oil and B vitamins. There are also dietary plans and supplements for improving your sleep, which can have a very significant impact on mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
Depression can show up in life and will affect how we interact with food and with our overall goals for health and wellness. Our approach to depression and nutrition is multifaceted. From a change in appetite, cravings, and willingness to prepare and shop for food, to balancing macronutrients and vitamins, depression-specific-recommendations will be covered in your weekly nutrition counseling sessions.
Get Back to Healthy
Did you know that 95% of your dopamine receptors are in the lining of your stomach? According to a Harvard Medical blog, your food can chemically affect your mood and is even linked to mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. Needless to say, you really are what you eat. This is why we get to know you on a personal level. Along with your eating habits, we look at your exercise patterns, sleep habits, stress level and other things that impact wellness.
Get back in shape, get back to high energy—and get back to healthy!
Lose Weight
Some make weight loss sound simple—it’s just a calorie game, right? Losing weight can be quite complex, and we definitely recommend working with an experienced dietician. For example, weight gain can be due to many factors, and it may be important to address any root causes of weight gain or weight-maintenance so that you’re not working against any processes the body has in place. Some physical issues or diseases cause the body to keep or gain weight. Some hormonal imbalances also cause the body to gain or keep weight. Digestive issues, enzyme production, and gut health all play a role.
Second, it is important to understand the factors that impact weight loss. It’s not as simple as counting calories. Most diets don’t work, because people go back to old habits at some point, the body puts the weight back on, and in the meantime, you may have damaged your gut health, the body’s natural balance, or your optimal cellular health in the process, and possibly developed some bad body image or eating habits in the process. Our relationship to food is mental and physical, and understanding the mental game is important to maintaining lost weight.
A significant factor in weight loss is metabolic rate—the natural rate at which you burn calories throughout the day. Ideally, you learn to eat and exercise in a way that maintains a fast metabolism, rather than slowing it down. Another significant factor is age and hormones. Understanding your hormone profile can explain why certain weight may be hard to shed, and how to bring your body into balance to support your weight loss goals. Weight loss is also determined by when you eat, not just total daily calories, and by what kinds of foods you eat. It is also impacted by hydration, and we don’t just mean how much water you drink. Finally, understanding your body type, tendencies, and even genomics can help to tailor a smart and effective weight loss plan for you.
Weight loss is also impacted by exercise and other physical activity, and there again, there are nuances that can have a significant impact, such as whether you burn glucose first with cardio before you engage the types of exercises that can access fat.
Not everyone should be trying to lose weight. We also help you assess if you are a candidate for weight loss and how to do it safely. We steer you away from dangerous supplements and medications that can exacerbate heart issues, anxiety, stress, and gut health problems. We encourage you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body. And we help you target and move toward your goal effectively, informed by science and biochemistry, so you get to know your body and have a better owners manual for it.
Eating Shouldn’t Be Complicated
We will evaluate the critical details of your life that pertain to diet and determine optimal ways that your diet and relationship with food can promote current and future health. We customize a plan and set nutritional goals in order to support your overall health. We also evaluate exercise, sleep, stress level and other factors influencing wellness. Your plan will include both practical and educational elements, and follow-up consults allow us to discuss implementing and refocusing the plan as we go. We aim to keep things as focused and as simple as possible so your plan is easy to follow while still matching your goals. As nutritionists, we believe food can be an approach to treatment of certain ailments. In cases of nutritional deficiencies, we may also recommend a vitamin supplement to correct the problem.
Nutritional Philosophy
Our passion is to help people LOVE real food, EAT without guilt, discover their HEALTH, and ENJOY all that life has to offer. We love to eat, and we hope to pass on that love to all of our clients. We are passionate about teaching our clients that you can be healthy at any size, and there is no such thing as a perfect weight. We strive to help our clients achieve a healthy state of wellness by finding their correct balance of food, exercise, rest, and community. We believe in a positive and supportive environment where everyone has a place at the table.
You would be hard-pressed to find a nutrition concern or topic that we have not dealt with before, helped someone with, or encountered personally. Whether you have a serious health concern or just want to chat about food, we are happy to support you in your journey to greater wellness.
