Emily Hahn
your non-diet dietitian
The first place most people’s minds go when they hear ‘dietitian’ is food police. This makes sense - in the past half-century the dietetics profession has made quite the reputation for itself.
I created Alitus Health to offer an alternative to this more traditional “food police” model…
Why non-diet?
As a (somewhat) fresh new graduate, I offered the ‘traditional’ model of dietetics: restrictive meal plans & weight loss tracking. With an increasing sense of ‘ick’, I realised this model actually strengthened body shame, disconnection from the body, and an obsession with food in my clients. I began to suspect that I could not continue practising this dietetics approach and do no harm.
So, I did what any self-professed nerd would do… I turned to the scientific literature for an alternative, more nourishing approach that offered space for my clients to heal, rather than hurt.
Enter Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating & Embodiment.
I set to training in these 3 frameworks, all built upon the substantial body of research explicitly demonstrating the separation of weight from health, and the value of learning to nourish the body from a place of compassion and mindful self-care.
I knew this was what I wanted to offer my clients. An approach to eating, chronic disease management, and self-care that honoured the inherent wisdom of the body and fuelled a rich life outside of an obsession with food & obtaining the perfect body.
If not weight-loss, then what?
Alitus (Latin): nourish. support. sustain
Nutrition therapy at Alitus Health is an invitation to reconnect with the wisdom of your body. Our bodies literally hold within them molecular memory from billions of years’ worth of cellular evolution on this planet.
At Alitus Health, we celebrate all bodies, & hold deep gratitude and awe for all that they have to teach us. We view symptoms and behaviours as wise signposts to our deeper needs.
In nutrition therapy, we combine our knowledge of nutritional, physiological, and psychological sciences with your expert knowledge of moving through the world in your body. We focus on empowering you with an understanding of your body, its symptoms, and how your current relationship with food influences these, so that you can begin to move through the world with greater peace, joy, and power.
Nutrition Therapy
at Alitus Health
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We don’t prescribe restrictive diets, meal plans, or weight loss protocols.
Occasionally there might be clinical indication for elimination protocols (such as for food intolerances). In these instances, we use approaches that are minimally restrictive and provide ongoing support to ensure you have all the tools and resources you need to nourish your body safely, sustainably, & most importantly, joyfully.
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A trauma-informed perspective views trauma-related symptoms and behaviors as our best and most resilient attempt to manage, cope with, and rise above our experience of trauma.
Our approach is gentle, non-judgmental, and deeply nourishing as we frame your experiences and relationship with food in a way that helps you understand them.
Every step is an invitation, not an instruction.
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Weight neutral support recognises that weight and health are discrete. Our practice incorporates the principles of health at every size:
Healthcare is a human right for people of all sizes, including those at the highest end of the size spectrum.
Wellbeing, care, and healing are resources that are both collective and deeply personal.
Care is fully provided only when free from anti-fat bias and offered with people of all sizes in mind.
Health is a sociopolitical construct that reflects the values of society.
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Embodiment is a way of being, in which being is understood as residing in and manifesting from the body as we experience the internal (i.e., physiological, emotional, cognitive), external (i.e., interpersonal, social, cultural), and existential dimensions of life.
Restrictive practices and unkind self-talk take us further from the body… we come to view the body from only an external gaze (viewing the house from the outside rather than inhabiting it) or spending all our time in the mind (living in the attic).
An embodied approach to healing offers ways of coming home to the body. From here, we can build emotional resilience, respect, gratitude and compassion for ourselves and our body, and move towards a deeply peaceful, nourishing, and joyful way of moving through the world.