Meet Maggie Perkins: A Health at Every Size Dietitian
Meet Maggie Perkins, a registered dietitian who will be working with Current Wellness! We are so excited to introduce her work to our community. Read more about her unique perspective on nutrition and how she uses Health at Every Size principles with her clients.
How does nutrition support wellness?
Humans must eat to live. We spend much of our time planning, preparing, and eating food. The relationship we have with food can greatly influence our wellness. A positive relationship with food includes feeling confident in the way you feed yourself, having low stress around food, eating a wide variety of foods, and enjoying eating. There is an incredible amount of incorrect, misleading, or misunderstood nutrition information that can leave us feeling confused, guilty, obsessed, and/or stressed. The stress and worry around eating can actually impact our health more than the food itself! Learning how to listen to your body, build trust in it, and feed yourself in a way that makes you feel your best will lead to positive health behaviors that support overall wellness.
How did you become involved in your work as a dietitian?
When I was 12, my girl scout troop had a dietitian guest speaker and I decided right then and there that I wanted to be dietitian. I’m so glad that I pursued dietetics because my job is a source of great happiness in my life. I enjoy talking about food with people and appreciate the connection that it brings.
From the beginning of my nutrition education, I was interested in weight science. While I was getting my Masters in Nutrition Science, I discovered intuitive eating and Health at Every Size. The research for these approaches has significant outcomes in improving nutrition quality, the relationship with food, and health markers. Now these approaches are my specialties and I get to witness the effectiveness they have on eating behaviors.
I enjoy working with all types of people on their journey to food freedom but I especially love working with families because of the powerful impact family has in food and health. As a Health at Every Size dietitian, I’m constantly working to dismantle diet culture and it’s amazing to see parents learn and then teach their children about a healthy relationship to food and body positivity.
How can clients work with you?
I am offering Current Wellness members a free “Body Positive Nutrition” workshop in December 2020. During this hour-long workshop we will discuss approaches that promote positive relationships with food and the body. Stay tuned for more details!
At my private practice, Tomata, I provide nutrition counseling to adult individuals or two adults in the same household. I work with clients who have weight concerns and want to end chronic dieting, need Medical Nutrition Therapy for high cholesterol or blood pressure, experience anxiety around food, have questions about starting a baby on solid foods, and/or need assistance managing picky eating. I also offer nutrition education webinars for parents on managing picking eating and starting baby-led weaning.
For more information about services, please visit www.tomata.org. I look forward to seeing you around the Current!