May 30, 2024 • 50 mins
BALANCING ATHLETICS, NUTRITION, AND MENTAL HEALTH: A JOURNEY FROM NOVA SCOTIA TO BRITISH COLUMBIA
Join us in celebrating her successes, exploring the challenges faced, and gaining inspiration for your own journey. Remember, the path to success is a collaborative one, and you are not alone.
Since recording, we can give a big Congratulations to Kaitlyn for graduating from her Master's program and becoming a Counselling Intern while she awaits for her formal RCC designation!!
Main Topics:
- Journey To Becoming A Dietitian
- Body Image
- Transitions and Impact
- Rehabilitation and Role of Nutrition
- Relationship Between Nutrition And Mental Health
This podcast episode features an in-depth conversation with a registered dietitian who shares her journey from studying nutrition in Nova Scotia to her current practice in British Columbia. The discussion covers her academic path, including an accredited dietetic practicum and work in acute and community care settings. She also highlights her athletic background in volleyball, the impact of sports on her interest in nutrition, and her transition into private practice. The conversation delves into topics like the importance of balanced nutrition, the challenges of maintaining a healthy relationship with food, the mental health aspects of transitioning out of competitive sports, and the role of community and networking in both personal and professional growth. Practical tips for parents, athletes, and anyone looking to improve their nutritional habits are also shared.
Useful references and links:
Continue the conversation and connect with us on social media:
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www.nourishingthewholeperson.com
www.therapyplace.ca/kaitlyn-franklin-rcc
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:41):
Get ready to be inspired,motivated, and empowered.
The journey begins now.
before we get into sort of anyof the meat and potatoes, can you
share a bit about your journey?
What has it been like toget to where you are now?
Kaitlyn (01:02):
Yeah, definitely.
So to start I did my undergradat Acadia in Nova Scotia.
So I started kind of my like postgraduateacademic kind of career out there.
So I graduated with my bachelorof science in nutrition.
And then I Went and did a one yearaccredited dietetic practicum in a little
(01:25):
town in Nova Scotia called Yarmouth.
So I worked kind of there and that waslike around the pandemic time, so I
finished off my year practicum there.
And then I worked for a littlebit out in Yarmouth before coming
back to BC, where I'm from.
And then I started like workinghere kind of in acute care.
So like hospital as well as likecommunity care kind of as a dietitian
(01:49):
while I've been finishing off my.
Masters.
As well.
So it's been a little bit of coast tocoast kind of with, with how things
went, but yeah, yeah, it started outin Nova Scotia and kind of finishing
on the other coast back home.
Meghan (02:03):
Oh, fun.
That's, that's definitely one wayto see sort of the country and
coast to coast, like you said.
So you're from BC, is that right?
And what part of BC are you from?
Kaitlyn (02:14):
Yeah, so I'm from Nanaimo, like we moved out here when I was pretty young,
so I basically say that like I'm from hereso yeah, I grew up in Nanaimo, went to
high school out here, and then just kindof wanted to get away, wanted to go play
volleyball somewhere different so that'skind of what led me to my career, like in,
as a registered dietitian, kind of as wellas yeah, as well as just wanting to play
(02:35):
in a different league and with differentathletes and things like that, so, yeah.
Meghan (02:40):
So it sounds like sports was an important part of your life did you play
pretty competitive then in, in sports?
And volleyball was your sport ofchoice, like your favorite one to play?
Kaitlyn (02:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So I'll go into it like abit, a bit more with things.
So I played, like, out here,like, locally, like, club and
stuff, kind of, all throughout.
And then I knew I always wanted to playuniversity and I had the opportunity,
actually, to play basketball orvolleyball but I chose volleyball, kind
of, at that youth sport level whichis what, kind of, took me to Oat East.
But that's, kind of, where my,like, career as a dietitian and,
(03:15):
like, the interest around itreally came from, because I knew
that I needed to fuel myself.
For my sport, right.
And I knew that nutrition playeda really big part in how I would
perform and how I would recover.
So that kind of led me down the roadof like, okay, what is this food?
Like, what is, why does itmatter when I eat this food?
Why does it matter?
You know, in pre and post kindof recovery and things like that.
(03:36):
So that's where my interest definitelykind of came from within, like it was
built from athletics as far as kindof why I wanted to become a dietician.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Meghan (03:47):
All right.
And so that's so sports essentiallyis what led you into dietitian
being a registered dietitian.
And that is basic based onyou realizing for yourself how
important nutrition was for.
An athletic person, so to speak,and getting you through really long
(04:08):
gym days and tournaments and needingall that energy and everything.
And so when did you leave that volleyballand sports and sort of start to
really transition into going to school
. Kaitlyn: Yeah, great question.
So I played volleyball until mythird year at Acadia and, and from
(04:33):
there I had two more years, but Ichose to stop playing and just focus
on academics, recognizing that thedietetic program was heavy in science.
So I was just way too busy, honestly,with labs and classes as well as training.
So I very much took a step back fromathletics, which was totally fine.
Challenging recognizing thatI have been involved with
volleyball since I was like 11.
(04:55):
So, going from like 11 till 21, whereyour whole world was kind of volleyball,
it was a big change to kind of step out.
As far as that kind of goes with things.
Which is What kind of tied meinto the other piece of my field,
which is where I'm finishing up mymaster's in counseling psychology.
So tying in that mental healthcomponent was another factor that
(05:15):
was really, really important.
Because I was able to experience firsthandthe change that an athlete kind of goes
through when they are so committed to asport for so many years and it's their
entire life and their entire identity.
And then all of a sudden it'sjust not, and it's like, Oh, yeah.
What is this like for you?
What, who are you?
What are you like?
So I did a lot of like selfdiscovery in that sense.
(05:36):
Right.
And yeah during those last two yearsuniversity, and then I was like, okay,
I definitely want to find a way tocombine some dietetics as well as like
counseling, recognizing that they're bothso important within, within athletes.
Yes.
It's.
It's incredible the amount of mentalhealth components that come into play
(06:00):
with transitions, whether it's athleticsor any other kind of transition in life.
But I could only imaginebeing so active all the time.
And that's like somethingyour body is doing.
And now you're sort of Thrown intothis whole different aspect of sitting
and being sedentary with schoolwork.
(06:23):
So how did you find that transition?
Not just like the mental side ofit, but the physical side of it?
Kaitlyn (06:31):
I feel like a lot of athletes can kind of relate to, to how good
movement feels in their body, right?
But it, but it's kind of findinglike a new, a new joy and a
new love and movement, right?
So historically, right, athletics for mewas very much of like in the gym, Like
lifting weights or it was doing yourconditioning or it was practicing, right?
So it was very structured, very likeyou do this at six, you do this, you
(06:53):
know, at two kind of as things go on.
But recognizing that my body doesfeel better when I move it, right?
So it's kind of transitionedfrom it's not so much of like a
structure to like a okay, what?
What does my body feel good doing?
And how can I provide that to my body?
Right?
Like, is it taking a walk with my dog?
Right?
Is it still going to thegym and lifting weights?
(07:15):
Right?
Is it doing some hot yoga?
Right?
And recognizing that everykind of athlete is different.
But I do encourage, you know,younger athletes and especially,
you know, as you're transitioningout of sport to spend some time, you
know, thinking about what movements.
Do you feel good in your body?
And what feels good about them, right?
So kind of bring in thatcuriosity standpoint.
Cause I mean, as, as a lot ofathletes know, we're, we're just
(07:35):
kind of trained to be in the gym and,you know, then to cardio and then
to practice and things like that.
Right.
So yeah, become curious kind ofwhat feels good, but it is a change.
Meghan (07:45):
So in March of 2023 is when you decided to enter private practice.
So there's another transition for you.
How did you move out of sort ofschooling and then your practicum
and into the private sector?
Kaitlyn (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, so I'm still working.
So I have my private practice thatI started like March of 2023, but
I am still working within likethe health authority here as well.
So I'm kind of doing both justin that transition stage, but I
knew that I wanted to be able toreach a wider variety of people.
people.
And I knew that I wanted to get involvedwith some of the amazing clinics
(08:25):
that are kind of around Nanaimo.
So I look at these like multidisciplinaryclinics that have chiros and physios
and OTs and sometimes like neuropathicdoctors and, you know, like a variety
of kind of healthcare professionals.
And I was like, okay, we'remissing some dietitians, right.
And recognizing that dieteticsis very important, right.
For athletes, as well as a lot of people.
(08:46):
people, right, as well aspeople in general, right?
So I was like, okay, how canI kind of branch out and get
connected with these, right?
And private practice has definitelyallowed me to do that and become
kind of some independent contractorswith some of these, like, amazing
facilities that have already,already been developed and created.
Meghan (09:04):
So it sounds like there's some collaborations happening.
So is there, Is there onemodality that you find that you're
collaborating with a little bit more?
Is it the dietician side?
Is it the counseling side?
How does it all sort of flow together?
Kaitlyn (09:21):
Yeah.
So right now it's just privatepractice as a dietician.
So I finished up my master'sin two and a half months.
So I'm not a registeredclinical counselor yet.
So I don't practice any counseling yet.
That's a, that's a future,future Caitlin stuff.
Hopefully by the summer is kind ofwhen I'll be in RCC and go from there.
So right now my privatepractice is all dietetics.
(09:42):
And primarily, honestly, like sportsnutrition is a big one, right?
So a lot of like sports.
presentations and things like thataround the community here as well as
kind of working like one on one withanyone in the community that's kind of
looking for some, some nutrition support.
Meghan (09:59):
Great.
And there's a few goals that youhave with your private practice.
Do you want to touch on whatsome of those goals look like?
Kaitlyn (10:09):
Yeah, I feel like goals are always one of those challenging
things because they're alwaysforever growing and changing, right?
I don't know if you kind ofhave found, found the same with
your goals in your business.
As far as kind of changingand things like that.
But yeah, I would say honestly, likemy, my goals right now is just to
(10:31):
like become curious and explore andto fill some gaps that have been.
That are presenting as far as like,long term and things like that, like,
I am very open to opportunities andkind of seeing what's out there.
I do have, you know, a few thingsthat, you know, I want to kind of be
able to complete as far as that goes.
But how I get there, it's yeah,it's really kind of up in the air
(10:54):
and I'm really excited just tosee, you know, where this goes and
recognizing that I haven't even beenin private practice for a year, right?
So there's, and there's already been somuch change and so much change just in
how I format things and talk to peopleand support people and things like that.
So, yeah, I think it's really hardfor me to narrow down like three goals
that I'm hoping to achieve just becauseeverything, like, I'm just so curious
(11:15):
about, about so many different things.
Meghan (11:18):
That's such a great place to be in though, like where you are
right now, that curiosity, becauselike you said, things change so much.
I mean, your environment just learningwith other people, the collaborations
that you might come up with canreally change sort of that trajectory.
I think it's always great to justbe curious no matter where we're
(11:41):
at in whichever stage we're at ofa goal anyways, because sometimes
it's, it's about the process anyways.
So enjoying the processof getting from A to B.
Kaitlyn (11:53):
Yeah, exactly.
Meghan (11:56):
Sorry, I'm just going over some of these great notes that you gave me.
My printer died, so I don'thave my, my one sheet here.
I'd love to talk to you alittle bit more sort of, this is
going to go back a little bit.
So rediscovering a sense ofself and a sense of purpose
outside of sport, as well.
(12:18):
Sort of tying into the struggling withbody image and relationship with food, I
think that talking about that can reallyhelp a lot of entrepreneurs as well
because it is kind of a fast pace, sortof, we see a lot of hustle and grind.
I'm not even sure I likethose words right now, but.
Essentially, there's a lot going on andI feel like a lot of and with social
(12:43):
media, the aspect of social mediaand the highlight reel I feel like
talking about that relationship withfood and struggling with body image.
It's a great conversation to have.
Kaitlyn (12:57):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Thank you for kind of bringingthat back as I, I very much agree.
Yeah, starting kind of from theathletic side of things, right.
And.
identifying, you know, that senseof purpose and stuff like that, that
definitely, you know, mentally, right,there is that big piece as well,
right, as well as physically, right.
So recognizing that your body doeschange after athletics, right, which
(13:17):
is And I do want to normalize that,you know, everyone kind of has their
own relationship with their bodyfor, you know, a variety of reasons.
And there's a variety offactors that influence, right?
Why a person's image why a personmight have a certain image of
their own body and their ownrelationship with their body, right?
(13:37):
Athletics, right, is a big one thatas an athlete, especially, especially
a high performance athlete, right?
When you're transitioning out,like your body does change, right?
Because you're not in thegym for, you know, six, seven
hours plus in a day, right?
You're not moving as much,you're not eating as much.
So your relationship with foodand your body definitely does
change and, and it's hard, right?
(13:57):
Like just to normalize that,that it's quite challenging.
Yeah.
And then kind of bringing itlike towards even to like a lot
of the work I do now, right?
Is it.
Recognizing that even if you are anathlete or not, or like if you've had
athletics in your background in some wayor, or if you haven't, right, having a
relationship with food and food in yourbody can be really challenging, right?
(14:20):
And once again, I think it goesback to many factors, right?
Like when you dive into theliterature, you know, it talks a
little bit about like diet culturethat you were surrounded with.
Like, as you're growing up,right, it talks about different
relationships that you might haveexperienced kind of growing up, right?
It talks a little bit about,like, any like, trauma that a
person has been through, right?
Like, there's so many factors that caninfluence why a person looks at food
(14:43):
and thinks of food in a certain wayand how that kind of impacts, like,
their body image or their image oftheir own body and things like that.
But a lot of the work I do now, right,is, is really tying in that mental
and physical parts with it, right?
And recognizing that foodshould be enjoyed, right?
Food is something that,as humans, we need, right?
(15:03):
It's mandatory.
It's, it's not an optionas far as that goes.
But it's kind of finding a way that, thatfeels good for you and yeah, that you
feel, that you feel okay kind of eating.
Meghan (15:18):
Yeah, well, I think that's so important because a lot of, well, in my
experience and now being a mother withtwo children who eat very differently,
all the things that came upfor me as a kid, I'm trying
to do differently for them.
(15:41):
And just, of course, in theselast few years, the focus on.
The why we're eating intuitive eatingthose sorts of things that weren't
necessarily focused on when I wasyoung actually understanding what
full feels like versus make sureyou eat everything on your plate.
(16:07):
And I mean, that's a huge thing.
I've.
Tried over the course of, youknow, since my kids were starting
to eat to sort of go with that.
Go with the sort of likeeat until you're full.
Don't worry about whatever'sleft on your plate.
Either I gave you too much, or maybeit doesn't look or taste in a way
that serves you in this moment.
(16:28):
And that's totally okay with me.
I think, like you said, there is.
So much.
That connects it all.
And as far as image goes, I thinkit's important to, like you said as
well, make sure that you're tappinginto sort of, and realizing and
(16:49):
understanding that there's so much behind.
Like image is one thing, but it's likethat it makes me think of that picture of
the iceberg, like image is sort of likeat the top and then under and that's like
the surface and then underneath that isall the other things and food is one of
those things that can relate to it as wellas emotions and how we were raised and
(17:15):
the belief around food as well as money.
Like, I don't know if in yourexperience, if finances play a role
in either what people are choosingto put in their body or what they
one, at the grocery store, and two, Ican't afford not to finish my plate.
Kaitlyn (17:40):
Yeah, I yeah, I think you touched on, and I think we should spend a little
bit of time talking about that lastpart that you just spoke about, right?
And food insecurity rate is big, right?
It's food costs areonly increasing, right?
Which is making, you know, it evenmore challenging to say, like,
okay, if I have to stay withinthis budget, what can I afford?
Right?
And I often spend a lot of time talkingabout, like, okay, we All right.
(18:04):
You know, can make this recipe.
What is the cost breakdownlook like, right?
How can we, you know, provide a proteinthat is a little bit cheaper, right?
And things like that and, and recognizingtoo, you know, without like going into
things like in a, in a big way, right?
That there's a lot of differentresources, like the, like buying frozen
vegetables instead of fresh, right?
So many people are like,I can't buy frozen.
(18:25):
And I'm like, frozen are just as good.
Right?
Like if they're cheaper and there'ssomething you know that you can
afford and that you are okaywith the texture and taste and
everything like use frozen, right?
And same thing with fruit, right?
Especially in the winter when it's reallyexpensive for for fruit and vegetables.
Right?
I often encourage people rightto look at some plant based Bye.
Plant based protein options, right?
So those are like your kidney beans,your chickpeas, you know, any, any kind
(18:50):
of beans and things like that, right?
And see if you can incorporate a coupleplant based protein meals, right?
Into your, into your week, recognizingthat they are typically cheaper
than chicken right now, right?
And there's some like amazing recipes.
Honestly, I, I utilize a lotof like Canada's food guide.
And I don't know if you've ever exploredthat, but it, it breaks it down into like
(19:10):
30 minute recipes, like 10 minute, likethey do vegetarian, like they have like
a bunch of different kind of sections.
So it's, it's really, really, it's areally great resource for a lot of people.
And then you just kind of click thething and then scroll through it and
they have so many amazing recipes.
Like just laid out there forfor people to kind of use.
So yeah, those are just like a few ofthe kind of conversations that I tend
(19:32):
to have with people right around howcan we best support costs, recognizing
that yes, food is quite expensive.
Meghan (19:39):
Well, and I think they all tie into because I mean, if you go on.
Again, you're seeing all thefitness influencers and people
talking about anything like that.
And then there's the food isbeing shown as far as what is
going into somebody's diet.
(19:59):
And you're like, Oh, well, I guess that'swhat I have to eat to look like that.
But wait a minute.
Okay.
That's actually quite a bit offood or that's expensive protein.
And You know, I mean, in myexperience, there's lots of talk
about macros all the time and gettingin a certain amount of protein.
(20:21):
So how does one go from gettingsort of that meat based protein?
And if that's expensive, how do we moveinto plant based protein to get the
same sort of amount of nutrition thatis needed to fuel our bodies, but taking
into account the financial aspect of it?
Kaitlyn (20:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And honestly, this conversationties really, really well into like
general talks about nutrition, right?
So I'll just share a little bit aboutkind of the common approach that I
take when I'm supporting anyone, right?
And this is like when Ilay the foundation, right?
So recognizing that if we don'thave adequate sleep, nutrition like
(21:08):
hydration, things like that, right?
It kind of Throws everything elseoff that, that, that goes above it.
Right.
So this is kind of like what Iuse when I, when I say like, I'm
laying the foundation, right?
You can get more specific, obviously.
And depending on the person, youknow, they might need to, right?
If you, you know, have diabetesor if you have a heart condition
or things like that, right?
Your nutrition does haveto be a bit different.
But this is the foundationfor the general population.
(21:30):
So a lot of the approaches I use use thatbalance plate on Canada's food guide.
So super easy, you know, person can justtype it in into Google and it comes up.
But essentially what it is, is it'sa lovely picture of a plate, right?
And half of the plate is filledwith those fruit and veggies, right?
A quarter is filled.
With your carbohydrates or yourgrains and a quarter is filled
(21:50):
with those proteins, right?
So I'll go in a little bit about whatwhat each of them do just to kind
of give a bit of background, right?
So recognizing that carbohydrates, right?
They are a primary source of energyfor like our brain and our nervous
system Okay, so carbohydratesare divided into two large
categories, complex carbohydratesas well as simple carbohydrates.
So think about it like a complex carbis like the whole grains, it takes
(22:14):
a while for your body to digest,it lasts longer, and then a simple
carbohydrate is like like a fruitsource bar, some gummies, like those
quick sugars that also kind of count.
So they both have a purposeas far as that goes, right?
We do encourage more of the complex carbskind of around meals and like simple
carbs, you know, maybe if you're aboutto go work out or something like that and
you just need a bit of that simple sugar.
(22:35):
So that's the one quarter of the plate.
The other quarter of theplate is the proteins, right?
So proteins as we know are madeup of amino acids and they're
essential in a person's diet.
Right.
So proteins help build and repairskin, muscle and other tissues.
So proteins are found in a wide variety offoods such as plants and animal sources.
So Canada's Food Guide actually doesrecommend consuming a variety of
(22:57):
plant based proteins as well as animalbased, depending on kind of the person.
Right.
Obviously, recognizing if you dofollow a vegetarian or a vegan diet,
right, you're going to consume all ofplant based and that's completely OK.
But just on average for the averageperson, we do encourage, right.
That variety of the plant based aswell as animal kind of protein options.
Right.
So the next one kind of is the beautifulcolors of the fruit and veggies, right?
(23:23):
The rainbows.
Exactly.
Yes.
So that provides us like witha lot of the, our vitamins
as well as a lot of fiber.
Right.
And I'll do just a littlekind of thing about fiber.
So.
Fiber is an essentialcomponent in a person's diet.
So fiber helps regulateblood sugar levels.
It helps reduce constipation.
It helps lower cholesterol levels.
So on average a woman needsabout 25 grams of fiber a day
(23:46):
and they all need about 38 grams.
Just as like a, a little heads up tokind of just check and into how much
fiber, you know, a person is consuming.
So the idea, right, is thateverything fits, right?
Recognizing that when we have that balanceplate that, you know, is that beautiful
image from Canada's food guide, right?
All the food fits, right?
So you have your carbohydrates, you haveyour proteins, and then you also have
(24:09):
your variety of fruit and vegetables.
And I will note too thatthere are fats as well.
And fats are really important withina balanced diet to regulate hormones
and provide a person with energy andabsorb like fat soluble vitamins.
So when choosing like fat sources, weoften recommend like unsaturated fats.
So oftentimes like canola oil, flaxseedoil, olive oil things like that
(24:30):
compared to kind of your saturated fats.
But the overall idea, right,is that everything fits.
Meghan (24:37):
Wonderful.
That's so helpful.
I think
having that image of the plate, youknow, it's something that over the
years, I mean, I try, okay, kids, youknow, let's fill up on these beautiful,
colorful sort of fruits and vegetables.
And just talking about my own sortof experience, I have one child
(24:58):
that loves her carbohydrates.
Like, my mom nicknames her bread basket.
She was a kid.
That's just like whatshe naturally goes to.
So in the morning, it's definitelycereal and she doesn't use dairy.
So it's oat milk.
(25:19):
And just recently, It kind of likeI saw something on social media
and it was like, then the oatsare also another carbohydrate.
So it's like double whammy, doublewhammy of like glucose spike for her.
And I mean, I never reallythought about it any other way.
(25:41):
It was just like, Hey, my daughter'seating and she's fed and she's.
Seemingly happy.
So then I try very hard to pushfruits and vegetables sort of
throughout the rest of her day.
In a very loving nonjudgmental way,I do that because again, I don't, I
relationship with food is something thathas affected me my whole entire life.
(26:05):
So I'm trying very hard tonavigate this with my own kids in
a different way than it was for me.
But I think Having those resources andremembering that there is a food guide
and sometimes sort of going back tothose basics of filling up the plate and
(26:26):
having those bright fruits and vegetablesand, and then kind of filling up those
other quarters, it's really Great wayto sort of reframe everything again.
Kaitlyn (26:38):
Definitely.
Definitely.
And I really want to touch on,you know an important part that,
that you can have shared, right?
Is, is when you're tryingto feed your kiddos, right?
And you're trying to also, you know,not force them into eating anything,
but you're also recognizing that, youknow, primarily for breakfast, they
might be consuming carbohydrates, right?
First, I want to take a moment andjust normalize that that's really hard.
(26:59):
Parenting is hard and building arelationship with food for your kiddos
can be quite challenging, right?
And I think it's really, really importantto talk about that and that piece that
goes kind of along with parenting, right?
And I think it's so amazing thatyou are trying to be supportive,
right, of your kiddos choices andgive them that independence, right?
But also at the same time, you know,aware that, you know, they might not
(27:22):
be having as many fruit and vegetables.
So then it's kind of like, okay,what can I do to best support that?
Meghan (27:28):
Yeah, well, and that's the thing, you know, as a, as a parent, as
someone and many other entrepreneursalso have schedules that are kind
of, can be all over the place.
They're also trying to gettheir kids from A to B.
They've got, you know, to get,They're home from after school and
then they're going somewhere else.
So, filling up the nutrition piecewith also sort of a busy life, but also
(27:54):
trying to foster this great relationshipfor them with food at the same time.
I think this is why I really was ampedto sort of have a conversation with you
because it was one of those things where.
I know that there are probably lotsof people out there that do have
(28:16):
more structure but there's also kidsthat do have either sensory issues.
Mm-Hmm.
. And so being a mom of kids who dohave sensory issues, but also trying
to honor, so also trying to honorthat for them as well as nutrition.
Do you have, any tips, and I love thatyou said, let's normalize this because it
(28:42):
is, you know, and I've, I've read lots ofthings where, you know, a kid might only
eat Kraft dinner for like a year straight.
And I'm, this is no joke, like thishappens in a lot of households is
Kraft dinner is the dinner meal.
And there's not a lot offruits or vegetables happening.
So is there.
(29:03):
Anything that you can add to that,you know, I mean, cauliflower.
I've heard of being addedinto rice cauliflower.
I've heard of being added into thatcraft dinner to sort of hide it, but.
Kaitlyn (29:21):
Yeah, I think you're touching on a great point.
So I will share that first off.
This is an area that I haveonly spent a bit of time in,
so I am by no means an expert.
However, I do have a few kind oftools and tips that when I work with
families, right, these are some, somekind of important things that I do,
but I will highlight, right, thatevery kiddo is individual, right?
(29:42):
So it is really important that if you arenoticing that your kiddo is with textures
tastes You know, even kind of eating.
It is really important to kind of reachout to your health care team, right, to
utilize your pediatrician, to utilize, youknow, your OTs, to utilize your SLPs, to
utilize the dieticians that are, you know,very specific in, in this area, right,
(30:03):
because there can be a lot of support forkiddos who have struggle, who struggle
with like sensory and textures Out there.
So it is really important to kind ofremember that right that it can be very
hard to to manage this all on your own.
And I always, always encouragefamilies when possible to reach
out to their health care team andsee what resources are out there.
(30:24):
Yeah.
So to start otherwise, a lot of thework I do, I pull from Ellen Satter.
I don't know if you're familiarwith who that is at all.
I believe she's, I think she'sa dietitian who, she's also
something else as well though.
Anyway she does a lot of her work, you canjust like type her into Google, a lot of
her work is around like building that likeautonomy for kiddos with eating, right?
(30:47):
So it's bringing back in theirchoice, it's recognizing that, you
know, their, Bringing away fromfood for a certain reason, right?
So, like, what is that reason, right?
And then she talks about, you know,a few different, like, techniques
and strategies and things like that,but, like, parents can, can try
and utilize to best support kind ofthat, like, healthy feeding with it.
But I do recommend kind of looking,and she has, like, some books on there.
(31:08):
She has some, like, webinars, some videos,and things like that but it can be really
helpful to, it can be really helpful forparents to kind of see, you know, Feeding
could be like in their house, right?
And what a meal time setting can belike and just normalizing that it
is really hard to kind of do it byyourself which is where, you know,
this whole, like the Ellen Satter,like Institute has been created, right?
(31:29):
Is to help families with, with feedingsome kiddos with, you know, sensory and
texture and kind of things like that.
It's a great resource.
Meghan (31:38):
Thank you so much for sharing that.
I will definitely Google andanything that I think would be
worth putting in the show notes.
I'll definitely do that.
That actually just made me also startthinking about the connection between food
and mental health, because if it's allsort of connected, our gut and everything,
(32:02):
do you, do you have tips or Just even justa general sort of comment, so to speak,
on what that can look like as far as
helping create a balanced nutritionto help the mental health side of it.
Kaitlyn (32:25):
Yeah, yeah, I first want to say that that gut health and mental health
like combined are such a wide category.
So there is no way that I would be able tokind of touch on everything to begin with.
But I do just want to like, build someconnections for some people, right?
So as we know, when a personyou know, experiences like
(32:46):
anxiety or depression, right?
There are different chemicalimbalances right within their brain.
It's not uncommon forfood to be one of those.
tools that are used to kindof help support that, right?
And, you know, it can be usedkind of in several different ways.
Like sometimes people turn away from food,sometimes people turn towards food, right?
And once again, it really goes backto, like, your foundation, right?
(33:09):
And thinking about, like, what has yourrelationship been like with food, right?
And what is going on in yourlife and recognizing that, like,
food usually isn't, you want toThe, the main concern, right?
Usually it's other things kind ofgoing on, but it's one of those
like byproducts of it, right?
Like you're noticing a changein your eating habits, right?
So as an example, right?
I can kind of talk through whena person is stressed, right?
(33:32):
As we know our, Like there's, whena person is stressed, we usually
have cravings for what I said, thoselike simple carbohydrates, right?
So those ones that just taste good, theybreak down really quickly, they don't
really provide us with a lot, right?
And over time, you know, we knowthat by consuming a lot of these
simple carbohydrates, which, youknow, can be chips, candy, right?
(33:53):
Things like that, right?
We usually don't feel the best.
Right.
So we do know that it does impact, right,our gut microbiome and does kind of help
lower our mood and things like that.
Right.
But it is providing a personwith something, right?
So a lot of the work I do, I, Iapproach that with people, right?
We, we, we approach it in such likea, like, there's no judgment, right?
It's more just like what, what turnedyou towards wanting to eat, I don't know,
(34:17):
the whole bag of dried mangoes, right?
As an example, right?
Compared to, you know, what, What wouldit have been like for you to reach
for something different or to likego for a walk or things like that.
Right.
So every action is providinga person with something.
Right.
And I think that's where it'simportant to become curious about.
Meghan (34:38):
I love that.
Back to the curiosity again,because I feel like that sometimes
if we just take a second to justask ourselves these questions
and being open and curious.
We really can.
Even if we do end up eating thewhole bag of mangoes after we
(35:00):
answer that question, so be it.
But having that minute toreflect in the moment, I think,
actually helps for future.
So for future, why am I going toeat this whole bag of mangoes?
Oh yeah, last time I came up to this,it was this and I was feeling this
way and this is how I felt after.
(35:22):
Do I want that same situationor scenario to happen?
I think that's great.
We've talked a lot about a lotof sort of like the nutrition
and touching on that, as well asthe mental health side of things.
I'd really like to sort of get intotips that you can share with listeners
(35:46):
for staying motivated during someof their lows, or perhaps getting
through some other challenges.
One of the things that you hadmentioned previous is just finding
some balance and some self compassion.
So do you mind sharing a little bitof what that looks like for you?
Kaitlyn (36:04):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think a personcan kind of interpret that.
In many different ways, right?
When I was kind of talking about this,right, I was thinking about to tie this a
little bit back to like athletics, right?
So I was really thinking about howwhen an athlete leaves a sport, right?
It's not uncommon to have a bitof an identity crisis, right?
(36:25):
And think about like,Oh, what, what is it?
You know, what is, who am I?
What am I doing?
Things like that, right?
And, you know, at times.
Lows can kind of come with that, right?
And I don't want to puta label on it, right?
Like I don't want to say every athlete,you know, is depressed and things like
that, or every post athlete, right?
By no means, that's not what I mean.
I mean, I'm just, openly kind of talkingabout how a person can experience, right,
(36:47):
a lower, a lower mood as they are goingthrough some pretty hard change, right?
And yeah, the, the message, right?
Like if I were to go back, youknow, five years to kind of
talk to past Caitlin, right?
The, the message, you know, I wouldhave definitely told myself is to
Like use that compassion, right.
To recognize that my whole life,I was dedicated to the sport and
(37:10):
it was very much of who I was.
And to use a bit of that self compassionthat it is hard to no longer identify,
right, as a, as a youth sport athlete,which was kind of my life, right?
And to use that compassion in thesense of knowing that my mood was
lower and that was okay, right?
To using a bit more of like themindfulness practices, right?
(37:30):
And become curious about like, okay,like, why am I feeling this way?
What, what, what is kind of.
Bringing, bringing that on, right,as well as, you know, what else
do I want to bring into my life?
Right?
So if you kind of think of like a piechart, like when I'm, when I'm working
with a lot of athletes, like I kind ofbreak it down into a pie chart, right?
And I separate like life into,you know, whatever, five,
(37:53):
six different kind of ways.
And usually right within athletes.
Athletics takes up a quite a largepart of that like pie chart, right?
And then all of a suddenit takes up a smaller one.
It's not necessarily gone, right?
Because you can coach, youcan still add movement, right?
There can still be a lot of waysthat you're involved in your sport.
But it does take up a smaller piece.
(38:15):
So recognizing that when somethingtakes up a smaller piece, something
else needs to take up a larger piece.
Right?
So for me, it was reallyexploring, you know, like who
I was and what I wanted to do.
Right?
So I went into coaching a little bit.
I tried that out for a bit, youknow, I tried out like a couple
of different fitness classes thatI had never done because I was
like, let's try out some hot yoga.
I have never tried that.
(38:36):
Right?
Let's try like somecycling, things like that.
And I just really approached itwith like an open mind, right?
Where I was like, You know, I, I, there'sno right or wrong way to kind of grow, but
I do recognize that, you know, my athleticpart of my pie chart is, has shrunk, so
it needs to, my, my pie chart kind ofneeds to be filled with something else.
So what is that going to be?
Meghan (38:58):
I love that.
It, I think so many people can relateto that sense of this took up so much
of my pie and okay, how do I keep thisin my pie and not feel like it needs
to like be removed altogether becauseI still love this part of myself.
(39:21):
How can I switch gearswith keeping that in?
So that's great.
I want to touch on community as well.
That's a huge, I think, necessityfor us humans to be in community, to
have community and to feel supported.
We've talked a lot about sortof supporting ways of our mental
(39:47):
health and nutritional health.
And this is, I feel likesuch another piece of it.
Community is, I mean,
When we, well, I know in myexperience, when I'm not feeling
like I'm connected to a community, Ijust feel so much more low in mood.
And then that affectsalso nutrition as well.
(40:09):
I mean, it all kind of, it's,it's it's, it's, it's, it's.
It's a circle.
It's a pie.
It's a circle.
Kaitlyn (40:17):
as we know, humans need connection, right?
Connection helps fulfill, you know, acertain part of like our pie chart, right?
And recognizing that everyone'sa bit different, right?
So we have extroverts versus likeintroverts and things like that, right?
Or kind of the combination of both, right?
But At the end of the day, we needsome type of connection, right?
Recognizing that we are humans and thatit's important for us to have some type.
(40:39):
So I think this is a really good timeto honestly kind of filter it into like
my business approach, which is as I was.
branching out intoprivate practice, right?
I didn't know, like personally, Ididn't know a lot of dieticians who
had gone into private practice, right?
I knew of them, but Ididn't know a lot of them.
Like they weren't my friends,like anything like that, right?
(41:00):
So for me, as I was kind of goingthrough a lot of change in the sense
of like how to build a website, youknow, what services do I want to offer?
Where do I want to offer these services?
Things like that.
Connection was like a big piece for me.
Cause like, There couldhave been none, right?
So for me, it was very much beingvulnerable and like reaching out to
dietitians who have been in privatepractice for years and say like, Hey!
(41:22):
Just starting out.
What are your thoughts on this?
How do you do this?
Right?
And honestly, like I will share that Likethe majority of the people that I talked
to were so friendly and so open and wereso like congratulations for starting like
on your own like that's amazing like hereare some tips that like if I could go
back 10 years I would have told myselflike get connected with this person.
(41:43):
So networking is definitelya big, big, big deal.
Big piece of kind of thatprivate practice world, right?
Because it can be quite isolating.
And things like that, right?
And then also, too, in community, right?
It's been, like, for me, like, reachingout to a lot of Like, once again,
being vulnerable and reaching outto a lot of different like multiple
multidisciplinary teams, right?
So a lot of clinics that are alreadyestablished in Nanaimo and saying
(42:05):
like, Hey, what do you guys offer?
Have you ever thoughtof dietitian services?
Or like, what about likesome nutrition talks?
Like, what do we think about this?
Right?
And I mean, sometimes they're like,yeah, we don't have space in our clinic.
Right.
But honestly, like, I think over like90 percent of them have been like,
yeah, when do you want to do this?
This sounds great.
Like, how do you want to do that?
And like they're just so eager tokind of build a recurring community.
(42:26):
So yeah,
Meghan (42:27):
I love that because just as you were talking as well nutrition is often
To me, seemingly only ever connectedwith gyms, like, so if you go to a
gym, there's often an add on for sometype of a nutrition plan, but in other
aspects, as far as like a chiropractoror that sort of rehab places that have
(42:54):
like the rehab side of everything.
There often isn't, which to mecan also be such a huge bonus and
I'll just quickly sort of my ownexperience with a back injury.
I know that reducing the weight onmy bones and, and everything is,
(43:16):
would all have helped me in recovery.
And probably.
for your.
Potentially speed up recovery becauseexercise was hard because it was painful.
But that wasn't something that was anot offered in that clinic, but just
not even talked about in general.
(43:36):
It's just something thatwasn't even talked about.
And then it was like, Oh, well, I knowI should do this, but where do I go?
How do I incorporate that intomy rehab and and recovery?
Just quickly, because we are sort ofon that last few minutes before time.
Is there any other points thatyou wanted to touch base on for
(43:58):
this time that we're together?
Kaitlyn (44:01):
I think honestly, that kind of what you just shared right about
the like your back injury and kind ofyour experience, you know, with seeing.
A few different professionalsand stuff like that, right?
Like, you're, you are correct thatnutrition, right, is something
that isn't always that first, Ineed to go and see this and fix
this and look into this, right?
But I, I do want to talk about howimportant of a piece it is, right?
(44:24):
And it is a very important pieceof a puzzle, recognizing that
all humans need to eat, right?
And depending on, you know, whatyou're kind of going through, right?
And what your diagnoses are, there canbe food that can support you know, You
know, you moving through life, right?
As far as that kind of goes.
And I don't want to get like into kind ofdifferent foods for a specific diagnosis.
So I'm just going to kind of keep itlike general, but that is what like
(44:46):
a registered dietitian does, right?
As we spend, you know, fouryears kind of studying, right?
The science of food andthe makeup of food, right?
And the metabolics in your body.
And then we complete, youknow, that one year dietetic.
Okay.
Like practicum, right?
Where we're like, physically workinghands on learning more about how
food can be incorporated right intoa person's life and things like that.
(45:07):
So I think it's so important to lookfor like a resource who has that
background around kind of nutrition,because there is so much misinformation
around nutrition kind of out there.
And yeah, like I don't want to speakfor you or anything like that, right?
But I, I will say, right, thatrecovering from injury, right?
(45:28):
Whether you're an athleteor just a person, it can be
quite challenging, right?
And oftentimes food habits, youknow, might not be the easiest to
kind of support, recognizing thatyou're kind of going through some
other change in your body, right?
So that can be an ideal time tohave a chat with a dietician, right?
And say like, Hey, you know,what, what, what can I do to
kind of help support myself?
Right.
Or, you know, my doctor said, I'm.
(45:49):
Really inflamed like what does thatmean right like a dietitian can can help
kind of chat about things like that.
Right.
Yeah.
Meghan (45:57):
And that's such a great point.
It really is because I think, in myexperience, it's It almost didn't
seem like an accessible thing.
So, if someone, for instance, feltlike, okay, I'm ready to go speak
to a dietician, would they need,do they need a referral from their
(46:17):
doctor to get it covered underany kind of medical side of it?
Or is this being in privatepractice, does that mean that it's
something that they just go for?
Sort of find you and call you up and goover what they need with you directly.
Kaitlyn (46:33):
Yeah, I'm going to speak to how I kind of do things with that because
there are, there are a couple differentroads, but with my private practice
world Extended benefits, right, aresomething that a lot of people use.
So if you have any extended like healthcoverage and things like that I always
suggest that people phone up and ask,right, because oftentimes, you know,
plans have like four, six, sometimesa thousand dollars, right, which can
(46:54):
get you quite a few sessions kind ofwith a dietitian as far as that goes.
I know it's like bookingand things like that.
There is like utilizingDietitians of Canada.
Right.
That's a great kind of resourceto Google through and see if
there's a dietitian in your area.
Also in BC specifically, there's likeBC dietitians that you can Google.
And it just like pulls up, like there'sjust a big list of like a bunch of us.
(47:18):
And then you can kind of look through,you know, what exactly you're looking
for and stuff like that, or youcan like type in your area as far
as that kind of goes with things.
So What I encourage people to do,right, is to type into Google, right,
either go on Dietitians of Canada, orgo on, you know, BC Dietitians, or I
mean, like, I'm local in Nanaimo, so,like, my website, too, with, like, the
nourishing, the whole person, right, andthen oftentimes reaching out to that,
(47:43):
to that person and then the other partthat I always encourage people to do
before is to just check their extendedhealth plan, right benefits, right?
And just kind of check how much youdo have covered just because then
you're kind of transparent, right?
With the dietitian that you're workingwith going into things and when they're
best able to set up a plan or somefollow up sessions to kind of best
support you and your needs and kind ofwhat you're hoping to get out of things.
Meghan (48:04):
Wonderful.
Thank you for that.
And thank you.
I think we're, we'relike right on time here.
So we'll thank you so much forbeing part of this podcast and
showing up in your expertise.
It's been such a great timechatting with you about everything.
I really think that there's so muchfor people to take away with their busy
(48:28):
lives, whether it's based in business.
Being an entrepreneur orjust sort of anything else.
There's so much informationyou shared so much.
Thank you for being here today.
Kaitlyn (48:41):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was lovely talking with you andthank you for giving me the space to
be able to share a little bit aboutkind of what I do and how I got into
private practice and all that stuffthat kind of goes along with it.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Thank you for joining this week's episode of Anchor Your Dreams.
I hope you enjoyed today'sconversation as much as I did.
A big thank you to our incredible guestsfor sharing their wisdom and insights.
If you resonated with today's episodeand want to explore more about
turning your dreams into reality,Be sure to subscribe to the podcast.
We have a lineup of amazing guestsand valuable content coming your way.
(49:35):
Don't forget to connectwith us on social media.
You can find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Share your thoughts, insights,and your own journey using the
hashtag anchor, your dreams.
Head over to our websiteat meganmcquillen.
com in the podcast section, where you'llfind the show notes, resources, and
information about upcoming episodes.
(49:56):
Before we wrap up, I want to express mygratitude to each and every one of you.
Your support means the worldto me, and I'm thrilled to
be on this journey with you.
Remember, anchored dreams becomegoals, anchored goals become results.
Until next time, dreambig and stay anchored.
Get ready to be inspired,motivated, and empowered.
The journey begins now.
before we get into sort of anyof the meat and potatoes, can you
share a bit about your journey?
What has it been like toget to where you are now?
Kaitlyn (01:02):
Yeah, definitely.
So to start I did my undergradat Acadia in Nova Scotia.
So I started kind of my like postgraduateacademic kind of career out there.
So I graduated with my bachelorof science in nutrition.
And then I Went and did a one yearaccredited dietetic practicum in a little
(01:25):
town in Nova Scotia called Yarmouth.
So I worked kind of there and that waslike around the pandemic time, so I
finished off my year practicum there.
And then I worked for a littlebit out in Yarmouth before coming
back to BC, where I'm from.
And then I started like workinghere kind of in acute care.
So like hospital as well as likecommunity care kind of as a dietitian
(01:49):
while I've been finishing off my.
Masters.
As well.
So it's been a little bit of coast tocoast kind of with, with how things
went, but yeah, yeah, it started outin Nova Scotia and kind of finishing
on the other coast back home.
Meghan (02:03):
Oh, fun.
That's, that's definitely one wayto see sort of the country and
coast to coast, like you said.
So you're from BC, is that right?
And what part of BC are you from?
Kaitlyn (02:14):
Yeah, so I'm from Nanaimo, like we moved out here when I was pretty young,
so I basically say that like I'm from hereso yeah, I grew up in Nanaimo, went to
high school out here, and then just kindof wanted to get away, wanted to go play
volleyball somewhere different so that'skind of what led me to my career, like in,
as a registered dietitian, kind of as wellas yeah, as well as just wanting to play
(02:35):
in a different league and with differentathletes and things like that, so, yeah.
Meghan (02:40):
So it sounds like sports was an important part of your life did you play
pretty competitive then in, in sports?
And volleyball was your sport ofchoice, like your favorite one to play?
Kaitlyn (02:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So I'll go into it like abit, a bit more with things.
So I played, like, out here,like, locally, like, club and
stuff, kind of, all throughout.
And then I knew I always wanted to playuniversity and I had the opportunity,
actually, to play basketball orvolleyball but I chose volleyball, kind
of, at that youth sport level whichis what, kind of, took me to Oat East.
But that's, kind of, where my,like, career as a dietitian and,
(03:15):
like, the interest around itreally came from, because I knew
that I needed to fuel myself.
For my sport, right.
And I knew that nutrition playeda really big part in how I would
perform and how I would recover.
So that kind of led me down the roadof like, okay, what is this food?
Like, what is, why does itmatter when I eat this food?
Why does it matter?
You know, in pre and post kindof recovery and things like that.
(03:36):
So that's where my interest definitelykind of came from within, like it was
built from athletics as far as kindof why I wanted to become a dietician.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Meghan (03:47):
All right.
And so that's so sports essentiallyis what led you into dietitian
being a registered dietitian.
And that is basic based onyou realizing for yourself how
important nutrition was for.
An athletic person, so to speak,and getting you through really long
(04:08):
gym days and tournaments and needingall that energy and everything.
And so when did you leave that volleyballand sports and sort of start to
really transition into going to school
. Kaitlyn: Yeah, great question.
So I played volleyball until mythird year at Acadia and, and from
(04:33):
there I had two more years, but Ichose to stop playing and just focus
on academics, recognizing that thedietetic program was heavy in science.
So I was just way too busy, honestly,with labs and classes as well as training.
So I very much took a step back fromathletics, which was totally fine.
Challenging recognizing thatI have been involved with
volleyball since I was like 11.
(04:55):
So, going from like 11 till 21, whereyour whole world was kind of volleyball,
it was a big change to kind of step out.
As far as that kind of goes with things.
Which is What kind of tied meinto the other piece of my field,
which is where I'm finishing up mymaster's in counseling psychology.
So tying in that mental healthcomponent was another factor that
(05:15):
was really, really important.
Because I was able to experience firsthandthe change that an athlete kind of goes
through when they are so committed to asport for so many years and it's their
entire life and their entire identity.
And then all of a sudden it'sjust not, and it's like, Oh, yeah.
What is this like for you?
What, who are you?
What are you like?
So I did a lot of like selfdiscovery in that sense.
(05:36):
Right.
And yeah during those last two yearsuniversity, and then I was like, okay,
I definitely want to find a way tocombine some dietetics as well as like
counseling, recognizing that they're bothso important within, within athletes.
Yes.
It's.
It's incredible the amount of mentalhealth components that come into play
(06:00):
with transitions, whether it's athleticsor any other kind of transition in life.
But I could only imaginebeing so active all the time.
And that's like somethingyour body is doing.
And now you're sort of Thrown intothis whole different aspect of sitting
and being sedentary with schoolwork.
(06:23):
So how did you find that transition?
Not just like the mental side ofit, but the physical side of it?
Kaitlyn (06:31):
I feel like a lot of athletes can kind of relate to, to how good
movement feels in their body, right?
But it, but it's kind of findinglike a new, a new joy and a
new love and movement, right?
So historically, right, athletics for mewas very much of like in the gym, Like
lifting weights or it was doing yourconditioning or it was practicing, right?
So it was very structured, very likeyou do this at six, you do this, you
(06:53):
know, at two kind of as things go on.
But recognizing that my body doesfeel better when I move it, right?
So it's kind of transitionedfrom it's not so much of like a
structure to like a okay, what?
What does my body feel good doing?
And how can I provide that to my body?
Right?
Like, is it taking a walk with my dog?
Right?
Is it still going to thegym and lifting weights?
(07:15):
Right?
Is it doing some hot yoga?
Right?
And recognizing that everykind of athlete is different.
But I do encourage, you know,younger athletes and especially,
you know, as you're transitioningout of sport to spend some time, you
know, thinking about what movements.
Do you feel good in your body?
And what feels good about them, right?
So kind of bring in thatcuriosity standpoint.
Cause I mean, as, as a lot ofathletes know, we're, we're just
(07:35):
kind of trained to be in the gym and,you know, then to cardio and then
to practice and things like that.
Right.
So yeah, become curious kind ofwhat feels good, but it is a change.
Meghan (07:45):
So in March of 2023 is when you decided to enter private practice.
So there's another transition for you.
How did you move out of sort ofschooling and then your practicum
and into the private sector?
Kaitlyn (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, so I'm still working.
So I have my private practice thatI started like March of 2023, but
I am still working within likethe health authority here as well.
So I'm kind of doing both justin that transition stage, but I
knew that I wanted to be able toreach a wider variety of people.
people.
And I knew that I wanted to get involvedwith some of the amazing clinics
(08:25):
that are kind of around Nanaimo.
So I look at these like multidisciplinaryclinics that have chiros and physios
and OTs and sometimes like neuropathicdoctors and, you know, like a variety
of kind of healthcare professionals.
And I was like, okay, we'remissing some dietitians, right.
And recognizing that dieteticsis very important, right.
For athletes, as well as a lot of people.
(08:46):
people, right, as well aspeople in general, right?
So I was like, okay, how canI kind of branch out and get
connected with these, right?
And private practice has definitelyallowed me to do that and become
kind of some independent contractorswith some of these, like, amazing
facilities that have already,already been developed and created.
Meghan (09:04):
So it sounds like there's some collaborations happening.
So is there, Is there onemodality that you find that you're
collaborating with a little bit more?
Is it the dietician side?
Is it the counseling side?
How does it all sort of flow together?
Kaitlyn (09:21):
Yeah.
So right now it's just privatepractice as a dietician.
So I finished up my master'sin two and a half months.
So I'm not a registeredclinical counselor yet.
So I don't practice any counseling yet.
That's a, that's a future,future Caitlin stuff.
Hopefully by the summer is kind ofwhen I'll be in RCC and go from there.
So right now my privatepractice is all dietetics.
(09:42):
And primarily, honestly, like sportsnutrition is a big one, right?
So a lot of like sports.
presentations and things like thataround the community here as well as
kind of working like one on one withanyone in the community that's kind of
looking for some, some nutrition support.
Meghan (09:59):
Great.
And there's a few goals that youhave with your private practice.
Do you want to touch on whatsome of those goals look like?
Kaitlyn (10:09):
Yeah, I feel like goals are always one of those challenging
things because they're alwaysforever growing and changing, right?
I don't know if you kind ofhave found, found the same with
your goals in your business.
As far as kind of changingand things like that.
But yeah, I would say honestly, likemy, my goals right now is just to
(10:31):
like become curious and explore andto fill some gaps that have been.
That are presenting as far as like,long term and things like that, like,
I am very open to opportunities andkind of seeing what's out there.
I do have, you know, a few thingsthat, you know, I want to kind of be
able to complete as far as that goes.
But how I get there, it's yeah,it's really kind of up in the air
(10:54):
and I'm really excited just tosee, you know, where this goes and
recognizing that I haven't even beenin private practice for a year, right?
So there's, and there's already been somuch change and so much change just in
how I format things and talk to peopleand support people and things like that.
So, yeah, I think it's really hardfor me to narrow down like three goals
that I'm hoping to achieve just becauseeverything, like, I'm just so curious
(11:15):
about, about so many different things.
Meghan (11:18):
That's such a great place to be in though, like where you are
right now, that curiosity, becauselike you said, things change so much.
I mean, your environment just learningwith other people, the collaborations
that you might come up with canreally change sort of that trajectory.
I think it's always great to justbe curious no matter where we're
(11:41):
at in whichever stage we're at ofa goal anyways, because sometimes
it's, it's about the process anyways.
So enjoying the processof getting from A to B.
Kaitlyn (11:53):
Yeah, exactly.
Meghan (11:56):
Sorry, I'm just going over some of these great notes that you gave me.
My printer died, so I don'thave my, my one sheet here.
I'd love to talk to you alittle bit more sort of, this is
going to go back a little bit.
So rediscovering a sense ofself and a sense of purpose
outside of sport, as well.
(12:18):
Sort of tying into the struggling withbody image and relationship with food, I
think that talking about that can reallyhelp a lot of entrepreneurs as well
because it is kind of a fast pace, sortof, we see a lot of hustle and grind.
I'm not even sure I likethose words right now, but.
Essentially, there's a lot going on andI feel like a lot of and with social
(12:43):
media, the aspect of social mediaand the highlight reel I feel like
talking about that relationship withfood and struggling with body image.
It's a great conversation to have.
Kaitlyn (12:57):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Thank you for kind of bringingthat back as I, I very much agree.
Yeah, starting kind of from theathletic side of things, right.
And.
identifying, you know, that senseof purpose and stuff like that, that
definitely, you know, mentally, right,there is that big piece as well,
right, as well as physically, right.
So recognizing that your body doeschange after athletics, right, which
(13:17):
is And I do want to normalize that,you know, everyone kind of has their
own relationship with their bodyfor, you know, a variety of reasons.
And there's a variety offactors that influence, right?
Why a person's image why a personmight have a certain image of
their own body and their ownrelationship with their body, right?
(13:37):
Athletics, right, is a big one thatas an athlete, especially, especially
a high performance athlete, right?
When you're transitioning out,like your body does change, right?
Because you're not in thegym for, you know, six, seven
hours plus in a day, right?
You're not moving as much,you're not eating as much.
So your relationship with foodand your body definitely does
change and, and it's hard, right?
(13:57):
Like just to normalize that,that it's quite challenging.
Yeah.
And then kind of bringing itlike towards even to like a lot
of the work I do now, right?
Is it.
Recognizing that even if you are anathlete or not, or like if you've had
athletics in your background in some wayor, or if you haven't, right, having a
relationship with food and food in yourbody can be really challenging, right?
(14:20):
And once again, I think it goesback to many factors, right?
Like when you dive into theliterature, you know, it talks a
little bit about like diet culturethat you were surrounded with.
Like, as you're growing up,right, it talks about different
relationships that you might haveexperienced kind of growing up, right?
It talks a little bit about,like, any like, trauma that a
person has been through, right?
Like, there's so many factors that caninfluence why a person looks at food
(14:43):
and thinks of food in a certain wayand how that kind of impacts, like,
their body image or their image oftheir own body and things like that.
But a lot of the work I do now, right,is, is really tying in that mental
and physical parts with it, right?
And recognizing that foodshould be enjoyed, right?
Food is something that,as humans, we need, right?
(15:03):
It's mandatory.
It's, it's not an optionas far as that goes.
But it's kind of finding a way that, thatfeels good for you and yeah, that you
feel, that you feel okay kind of eating.
Meghan (15:18):
Yeah, well, I think that's so important because a lot of, well, in my
experience and now being a mother withtwo children who eat very differently,
all the things that came upfor me as a kid, I'm trying
to do differently for them.
(15:41):
And just, of course, in theselast few years, the focus on.
The why we're eating intuitive eatingthose sorts of things that weren't
necessarily focused on when I wasyoung actually understanding what
full feels like versus make sureyou eat everything on your plate.
(16:07):
And I mean, that's a huge thing.
I've.
Tried over the course of, youknow, since my kids were starting
to eat to sort of go with that.
Go with the sort of likeeat until you're full.
Don't worry about whatever'sleft on your plate.
Either I gave you too much, or maybeit doesn't look or taste in a way
that serves you in this moment.
(16:28):
And that's totally okay with me.
I think, like you said, there is.
So much.
That connects it all.
And as far as image goes, I thinkit's important to, like you said as
well, make sure that you're tappinginto sort of, and realizing and
(16:49):
understanding that there's so much behind.
Like image is one thing, but it's likethat it makes me think of that picture of
the iceberg, like image is sort of likeat the top and then under and that's like
the surface and then underneath that isall the other things and food is one of
those things that can relate to it as wellas emotions and how we were raised and
(17:15):
the belief around food as well as money.
Like, I don't know if in yourexperience, if finances play a role
in either what people are choosingto put in their body or what they
one, at the grocery store, and two, Ican't afford not to finish my plate.
Kaitlyn (17:40):
Yeah, I yeah, I think you touched on, and I think we should spend a little
bit of time talking about that lastpart that you just spoke about, right?
And food insecurity rate is big, right?
It's food costs areonly increasing, right?
Which is making, you know, it evenmore challenging to say, like,
okay, if I have to stay withinthis budget, what can I afford?
Right?
And I often spend a lot of time talkingabout, like, okay, we All right.
(18:04):
You know, can make this recipe.
What is the cost breakdownlook like, right?
How can we, you know, provide a proteinthat is a little bit cheaper, right?
And things like that and, and recognizingtoo, you know, without like going into
things like in a, in a big way, right?
That there's a lot of differentresources, like the, like buying frozen
vegetables instead of fresh, right?
So many people are like,I can't buy frozen.
(18:25):
And I'm like, frozen are just as good.
Right?
Like if they're cheaper and there'ssomething you know that you can
afford and that you are okaywith the texture and taste and
everything like use frozen, right?
And same thing with fruit, right?
Especially in the winter when it's reallyexpensive for for fruit and vegetables.
Right?
I often encourage people rightto look at some plant based Bye.
Plant based protein options, right?
So those are like your kidney beans,your chickpeas, you know, any, any kind
(18:50):
of beans and things like that, right?
And see if you can incorporate a coupleplant based protein meals, right?
Into your, into your week, recognizingthat they are typically cheaper
than chicken right now, right?
And there's some like amazing recipes.
Honestly, I, I utilize a lotof like Canada's food guide.
And I don't know if you've ever exploredthat, but it, it breaks it down into like
(19:10):
30 minute recipes, like 10 minute, likethey do vegetarian, like they have like
a bunch of different kind of sections.
So it's, it's really, really, it's areally great resource for a lot of people.
And then you just kind of click thething and then scroll through it and
they have so many amazing recipes.
Like just laid out there forfor people to kind of use.
So yeah, those are just like a few ofthe kind of conversations that I tend
(19:32):
to have with people right around howcan we best support costs, recognizing
that yes, food is quite expensive.
Meghan (19:39):
Well, and I think they all tie into because I mean, if you go on.
Again, you're seeing all thefitness influencers and people
talking about anything like that.
And then there's the food isbeing shown as far as what is
going into somebody's diet.
(19:59):
And you're like, Oh, well, I guess that'swhat I have to eat to look like that.
But wait a minute.
Okay.
That's actually quite a bit offood or that's expensive protein.
And You know, I mean, in myexperience, there's lots of talk
about macros all the time and gettingin a certain amount of protein.
(20:21):
So how does one go from gettingsort of that meat based protein?
And if that's expensive, how do we moveinto plant based protein to get the
same sort of amount of nutrition thatis needed to fuel our bodies, but taking
into account the financial aspect of it?
Kaitlyn (20:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And honestly, this conversationties really, really well into like
general talks about nutrition, right?
So I'll just share a little bit aboutkind of the common approach that I
take when I'm supporting anyone, right?
And this is like when Ilay the foundation, right?
So recognizing that if we don'thave adequate sleep, nutrition like
(21:08):
hydration, things like that, right?
It kind of Throws everything elseoff that, that, that goes above it.
Right.
So this is kind of like what Iuse when I, when I say like, I'm
laying the foundation, right?
You can get more specific, obviously.
And depending on the person, youknow, they might need to, right?
If you, you know, have diabetesor if you have a heart condition
or things like that, right?
Your nutrition does haveto be a bit different.
But this is the foundationfor the general population.
(21:30):
So a lot of the approaches I use use thatbalance plate on Canada's food guide.
So super easy, you know, person can justtype it in into Google and it comes up.
But essentially what it is, is it'sa lovely picture of a plate, right?
And half of the plate is filledwith those fruit and veggies, right?
A quarter is filled.
With your carbohydrates or yourgrains and a quarter is filled
(21:50):
with those proteins, right?
So I'll go in a little bit about whatwhat each of them do just to kind
of give a bit of background, right?
So recognizing that carbohydrates, right?
They are a primary source of energyfor like our brain and our nervous
system Okay, so carbohydratesare divided into two large
categories, complex carbohydratesas well as simple carbohydrates.
So think about it like a complex carbis like the whole grains, it takes
(22:14):
a while for your body to digest,it lasts longer, and then a simple
carbohydrate is like like a fruitsource bar, some gummies, like those
quick sugars that also kind of count.
So they both have a purposeas far as that goes, right?
We do encourage more of the complex carbskind of around meals and like simple
carbs, you know, maybe if you're aboutto go work out or something like that and
you just need a bit of that simple sugar.
(22:35):
So that's the one quarter of the plate.
The other quarter of theplate is the proteins, right?
So proteins as we know are madeup of amino acids and they're
essential in a person's diet.
Right.
So proteins help build and repairskin, muscle and other tissues.
So proteins are found in a wide variety offoods such as plants and animal sources.
So Canada's Food Guide actually doesrecommend consuming a variety of
(22:57):
plant based proteins as well as animalbased, depending on kind of the person.
Right.
Obviously, recognizing if you dofollow a vegetarian or a vegan diet,
right, you're going to consume all ofplant based and that's completely OK.
But just on average for the averageperson, we do encourage, right.
That variety of the plant based aswell as animal kind of protein options.
Right.
So the next one kind of is the beautifulcolors of the fruit and veggies, right?
(23:23):
The rainbows.
Exactly.
Yes.
So that provides us like witha lot of the, our vitamins
as well as a lot of fiber.
Right.
And I'll do just a littlekind of thing about fiber.
So.
Fiber is an essentialcomponent in a person's diet.
So fiber helps regulateblood sugar levels.
It helps reduce constipation.
It helps lower cholesterol levels.
So on average a woman needsabout 25 grams of fiber a day
(23:46):
and they all need about 38 grams.
Just as like a, a little heads up tokind of just check and into how much
fiber, you know, a person is consuming.
So the idea, right, is thateverything fits, right?
Recognizing that when we have that balanceplate that, you know, is that beautiful
image from Canada's food guide, right?
All the food fits, right?
So you have your carbohydrates, you haveyour proteins, and then you also have
(24:09):
your variety of fruit and vegetables.
And I will note too thatthere are fats as well.
And fats are really important withina balanced diet to regulate hormones
and provide a person with energy andabsorb like fat soluble vitamins.
So when choosing like fat sources, weoften recommend like unsaturated fats.
So oftentimes like canola oil, flaxseedoil, olive oil things like that
(24:30):
compared to kind of your saturated fats.
But the overall idea, right,is that everything fits.
Meghan (24:37):
Wonderful.
That's so helpful.
I think
having that image of the plate, youknow, it's something that over the
years, I mean, I try, okay, kids, youknow, let's fill up on these beautiful,
colorful sort of fruits and vegetables.
And just talking about my own sortof experience, I have one child
(24:58):
that loves her carbohydrates.
Like, my mom nicknames her bread basket.
She was a kid.
That's just like whatshe naturally goes to.
So in the morning, it's definitelycereal and she doesn't use dairy.
So it's oat milk.
(25:19):
And just recently, It kind of likeI saw something on social media
and it was like, then the oatsare also another carbohydrate.
So it's like double whammy, doublewhammy of like glucose spike for her.
And I mean, I never reallythought about it any other way.
(25:41):
It was just like, Hey, my daughter'seating and she's fed and she's.
Seemingly happy.
So then I try very hard to pushfruits and vegetables sort of
throughout the rest of her day.
In a very loving nonjudgmental way,I do that because again, I don't, I
relationship with food is something thathas affected me my whole entire life.
(26:05):
So I'm trying very hard tonavigate this with my own kids in
a different way than it was for me.
But I think Having those resources andremembering that there is a food guide
and sometimes sort of going back tothose basics of filling up the plate and
(26:26):
having those bright fruits and vegetablesand, and then kind of filling up those
other quarters, it's really Great wayto sort of reframe everything again.
Kaitlyn (26:38):
Definitely.
Definitely.
And I really want to touch on,you know an important part that,
that you can have shared, right?
Is, is when you're tryingto feed your kiddos, right?
And you're trying to also, you know,not force them into eating anything,
but you're also recognizing that, youknow, primarily for breakfast, they
might be consuming carbohydrates, right?
First, I want to take a moment andjust normalize that that's really hard.
(26:59):
Parenting is hard and building arelationship with food for your kiddos
can be quite challenging, right?
And I think it's really, really importantto talk about that and that piece that
goes kind of along with parenting, right?
And I think it's so amazing thatyou are trying to be supportive,
right, of your kiddos choices andgive them that independence, right?
But also at the same time, you know,aware that, you know, they might not
(27:22):
be having as many fruit and vegetables.
So then it's kind of like, okay,what can I do to best support that?
Meghan (27:28):
Yeah, well, and that's the thing, you know, as a, as a parent, as
someone and many other entrepreneursalso have schedules that are kind
of, can be all over the place.
They're also trying to gettheir kids from A to B.
They've got, you know, to get,They're home from after school and
then they're going somewhere else.
So, filling up the nutrition piecewith also sort of a busy life, but also
(27:54):
trying to foster this great relationshipfor them with food at the same time.
I think this is why I really was ampedto sort of have a conversation with you
because it was one of those things where.
I know that there are probably lotsof people out there that do have
(28:16):
more structure but there's also kidsthat do have either sensory issues.
Mm-Hmm.
. And so being a mom of kids who dohave sensory issues, but also trying
to honor, so also trying to honorthat for them as well as nutrition.
Do you have, any tips, and I love thatyou said, let's normalize this because it
(28:42):
is, you know, and I've, I've read lots ofthings where, you know, a kid might only
eat Kraft dinner for like a year straight.
And I'm, this is no joke, like thishappens in a lot of households is
Kraft dinner is the dinner meal.
And there's not a lot offruits or vegetables happening.
So is there.
(29:03):
Anything that you can add to that,you know, I mean, cauliflower.
I've heard of being addedinto rice cauliflower.
I've heard of being added into thatcraft dinner to sort of hide it, but.
Kaitlyn (29:21):
Yeah, I think you're touching on a great point.
So I will share that first off.
This is an area that I haveonly spent a bit of time in,
so I am by no means an expert.
However, I do have a few kind oftools and tips that when I work with
families, right, these are some, somekind of important things that I do,
but I will highlight, right, thatevery kiddo is individual, right?
(29:42):
So it is really important that if you arenoticing that your kiddo is with textures
tastes You know, even kind of eating.
It is really important to kind of reachout to your health care team, right, to
utilize your pediatrician, to utilize, youknow, your OTs, to utilize your SLPs, to
utilize the dieticians that are, you know,very specific in, in this area, right,
(30:03):
because there can be a lot of support forkiddos who have struggle, who struggle
with like sensory and textures Out there.
So it is really important to kind ofremember that right that it can be very
hard to to manage this all on your own.
And I always, always encouragefamilies when possible to reach
out to their health care team andsee what resources are out there.
(30:24):
Yeah.
So to start otherwise, a lot of thework I do, I pull from Ellen Satter.
I don't know if you're familiarwith who that is at all.
I believe she's, I think she'sa dietitian who, she's also
something else as well though.
Anyway she does a lot of her work, you canjust like type her into Google, a lot of
her work is around like building that likeautonomy for kiddos with eating, right?
(30:47):
So it's bringing back in theirchoice, it's recognizing that, you
know, their, Bringing away fromfood for a certain reason, right?
So, like, what is that reason, right?
And then she talks about, you know,a few different, like, techniques
and strategies and things like that,but, like, parents can, can try
and utilize to best support kind ofthat, like, healthy feeding with it.
But I do recommend kind of looking,and she has, like, some books on there.
(31:08):
She has some, like, webinars, some videos,and things like that but it can be really
helpful to, it can be really helpful forparents to kind of see, you know, Feeding
could be like in their house, right?
And what a meal time setting can belike and just normalizing that it
is really hard to kind of do it byyourself which is where, you know,
this whole, like the Ellen Satter,like Institute has been created, right?
(31:29):
Is to help families with, with feedingsome kiddos with, you know, sensory and
texture and kind of things like that.
It's a great resource.
Meghan (31:38):
Thank you so much for sharing that.
I will definitely Google andanything that I think would be
worth putting in the show notes.
I'll definitely do that.
That actually just made me also startthinking about the connection between food
and mental health, because if it's allsort of connected, our gut and everything,
(32:02):
do you, do you have tips or Just even justa general sort of comment, so to speak,
on what that can look like as far as
helping create a balanced nutritionto help the mental health side of it.
Kaitlyn (32:25):
Yeah, yeah, I first want to say that that gut health and mental health
like combined are such a wide category.
So there is no way that I would be able tokind of touch on everything to begin with.
But I do just want to like, build someconnections for some people, right?
So as we know, when a personyou know, experiences like
(32:46):
anxiety or depression, right?
There are different chemicalimbalances right within their brain.
It's not uncommon forfood to be one of those.
tools that are used to kindof help support that, right?
And, you know, it can be usedkind of in several different ways.
Like sometimes people turn away from food,sometimes people turn towards food, right?
And once again, it really goes backto, like, your foundation, right?
(33:09):
And thinking about, like, what has yourrelationship been like with food, right?
And what is going on in yourlife and recognizing that, like,
food usually isn't, you want toThe, the main concern, right?
Usually it's other things kind ofgoing on, but it's one of those
like byproducts of it, right?
Like you're noticing a changein your eating habits, right?
So as an example, right?
I can kind of talk through whena person is stressed, right?
(33:32):
As we know our, Like there's, whena person is stressed, we usually
have cravings for what I said, thoselike simple carbohydrates, right?
So those ones that just taste good, theybreak down really quickly, they don't
really provide us with a lot, right?
And over time, you know, we knowthat by consuming a lot of these
simple carbohydrates, which, youknow, can be chips, candy, right?
(33:53):
Things like that, right?
We usually don't feel the best.
Right.
So we do know that it does impact, right,our gut microbiome and does kind of help
lower our mood and things like that.
Right.
But it is providing a personwith something, right?
So a lot of the work I do, I, Iapproach that with people, right?
We, we, we approach it in such likea, like, there's no judgment, right?
It's more just like what, what turnedyou towards wanting to eat, I don't know,
(34:17):
the whole bag of dried mangoes, right?
As an example, right?
Compared to, you know, what, What wouldit have been like for you to reach
for something different or to likego for a walk or things like that.
Right.
So every action is providinga person with something.
Right.
And I think that's where it'simportant to become curious about.
Meghan (34:38):
I love that.
Back to the curiosity again,because I feel like that sometimes
if we just take a second to justask ourselves these questions
and being open and curious.
We really can.
Even if we do end up eating thewhole bag of mangoes after we
(35:00):
answer that question, so be it.
But having that minute toreflect in the moment, I think,
actually helps for future.
So for future, why am I going toeat this whole bag of mangoes?
Oh yeah, last time I came up to this,it was this and I was feeling this
way and this is how I felt after.
(35:22):
Do I want that same situationor scenario to happen?
I think that's great.
We've talked a lot about a lotof sort of like the nutrition
and touching on that, as well asthe mental health side of things.
I'd really like to sort of get intotips that you can share with listeners
(35:46):
for staying motivated during someof their lows, or perhaps getting
through some other challenges.
One of the things that you hadmentioned previous is just finding
some balance and some self compassion.
So do you mind sharing a little bitof what that looks like for you?
Kaitlyn (36:04):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think a personcan kind of interpret that.
In many different ways, right?
When I was kind of talking about this,right, I was thinking about to tie this a
little bit back to like athletics, right?
So I was really thinking about howwhen an athlete leaves a sport, right?
It's not uncommon to have a bitof an identity crisis, right?
(36:25):
And think about like,Oh, what, what is it?
You know, what is, who am I?
What am I doing?
Things like that, right?
And, you know, at times.
Lows can kind of come with that, right?
And I don't want to puta label on it, right?
Like I don't want to say every athlete,you know, is depressed and things like
that, or every post athlete, right?
By no means, that's not what I mean.
I mean, I'm just, openly kind of talkingabout how a person can experience, right,
(36:47):
a lower, a lower mood as they are goingthrough some pretty hard change, right?
And yeah, the, the message, right?
Like if I were to go back, youknow, five years to kind of
talk to past Caitlin, right?
The, the message, you know, I wouldhave definitely told myself is to
Like use that compassion, right.
To recognize that my whole life,I was dedicated to the sport and
(37:10):
it was very much of who I was.
And to use a bit of that self compassionthat it is hard to no longer identify,
right, as a, as a youth sport athlete,which was kind of my life, right?
And to use that compassion in thesense of knowing that my mood was
lower and that was okay, right?
To using a bit more of like themindfulness practices, right?
(37:30):
And become curious about like, okay,like, why am I feeling this way?
What, what, what is kind of.
Bringing, bringing that on, right,as well as, you know, what else
do I want to bring into my life?
Right?
So if you kind of think of like a piechart, like when I'm, when I'm working
with a lot of athletes, like I kind ofbreak it down into a pie chart, right?
And I separate like life into,you know, whatever, five,
(37:53):
six different kind of ways.
And usually right within athletes.
Athletics takes up a quite a largepart of that like pie chart, right?
And then all of a suddenit takes up a smaller one.
It's not necessarily gone, right?
Because you can coach, youcan still add movement, right?
There can still be a lot of waysthat you're involved in your sport.
But it does take up a smaller piece.
(38:15):
So recognizing that when somethingtakes up a smaller piece, something
else needs to take up a larger piece.
Right?
So for me, it was reallyexploring, you know, like who
I was and what I wanted to do.
Right?
So I went into coaching a little bit.
I tried that out for a bit, youknow, I tried out like a couple
of different fitness classes thatI had never done because I was
like, let's try out some hot yoga.
I have never tried that.
(38:36):
Right?
Let's try like somecycling, things like that.
And I just really approached itwith like an open mind, right?
Where I was like, You know, I, I, there'sno right or wrong way to kind of grow, but
I do recognize that, you know, my athleticpart of my pie chart is, has shrunk, so
it needs to, my, my pie chart kind ofneeds to be filled with something else.
So what is that going to be?
Meghan (38:58):
I love that.
It, I think so many people can relateto that sense of this took up so much
of my pie and okay, how do I keep thisin my pie and not feel like it needs
to like be removed altogether becauseI still love this part of myself.
(39:21):
How can I switch gearswith keeping that in?
So that's great.
I want to touch on community as well.
That's a huge, I think, necessityfor us humans to be in community, to
have community and to feel supported.
We've talked a lot about sortof supporting ways of our mental
(39:47):
health and nutritional health.
And this is, I feel likesuch another piece of it.
Community is, I mean,
When we, well, I know in myexperience, when I'm not feeling
like I'm connected to a community, Ijust feel so much more low in mood.
And then that affectsalso nutrition as well.
(40:09):
I mean, it all kind of, it's,it's it's, it's, it's, it's.
It's a circle.
It's a pie.
It's a circle.
Kaitlyn (40:17):
as we know, humans need connection, right?
Connection helps fulfill, you know, acertain part of like our pie chart, right?
And recognizing that everyone'sa bit different, right?
So we have extroverts versus likeintroverts and things like that, right?
Or kind of the combination of both, right?
But At the end of the day, we needsome type of connection, right?
Recognizing that we are humans and thatit's important for us to have some type.
(40:39):
So I think this is a really good timeto honestly kind of filter it into like
my business approach, which is as I was.
branching out intoprivate practice, right?
I didn't know, like personally, Ididn't know a lot of dieticians who
had gone into private practice, right?
I knew of them, but Ididn't know a lot of them.
Like they weren't my friends,like anything like that, right?
(41:00):
So for me, as I was kind of goingthrough a lot of change in the sense
of like how to build a website, youknow, what services do I want to offer?
Where do I want to offer these services?
Things like that.
Connection was like a big piece for me.
Cause like, There couldhave been none, right?
So for me, it was very much beingvulnerable and like reaching out to
dietitians who have been in privatepractice for years and say like, Hey!
(41:22):
Just starting out.
What are your thoughts on this?
How do you do this?
Right?
And honestly, like I will share that Likethe majority of the people that I talked
to were so friendly and so open and wereso like congratulations for starting like
on your own like that's amazing like hereare some tips that like if I could go
back 10 years I would have told myselflike get connected with this person.
(41:43):
So networking is definitelya big, big, big deal.
Big piece of kind of thatprivate practice world, right?
Because it can be quite isolating.
And things like that, right?
And then also, too, in community, right?
It's been, like, for me, like, reachingout to a lot of Like, once again,
being vulnerable and reaching outto a lot of different like multiple
multidisciplinary teams, right?
So a lot of clinics that are alreadyestablished in Nanaimo and saying
(42:05):
like, Hey, what do you guys offer?
Have you ever thoughtof dietitian services?
Or like, what about likesome nutrition talks?
Like, what do we think about this?
Right?
And I mean, sometimes they're like,yeah, we don't have space in our clinic.
Right.
But honestly, like, I think over like90 percent of them have been like,
yeah, when do you want to do this?
This sounds great.
Like, how do you want to do that?
And like they're just so eager tokind of build a recurring community.
(42:26):
So yeah,
Meghan (42:27):
I love that because just as you were talking as well nutrition is often
To me, seemingly only ever connectedwith gyms, like, so if you go to a
gym, there's often an add on for sometype of a nutrition plan, but in other
aspects, as far as like a chiropractoror that sort of rehab places that have
(42:54):
like the rehab side of everything.
There often isn't, which to mecan also be such a huge bonus and
I'll just quickly sort of my ownexperience with a back injury.
I know that reducing the weight onmy bones and, and everything is,
(43:16):
would all have helped me in recovery.
And probably.
for your.
Potentially speed up recovery becauseexercise was hard because it was painful.
But that wasn't something that was anot offered in that clinic, but just
not even talked about in general.
(43:36):
It's just something thatwasn't even talked about.
And then it was like, Oh, well, I knowI should do this, but where do I go?
How do I incorporate that intomy rehab and and recovery?
Just quickly, because we are sort ofon that last few minutes before time.
Is there any other points thatyou wanted to touch base on for
(43:58):
this time that we're together?
Kaitlyn (44:01):
I think honestly, that kind of what you just shared right about
the like your back injury and kind ofyour experience, you know, with seeing.
A few different professionalsand stuff like that, right?
Like, you're, you are correct thatnutrition, right, is something
that isn't always that first, Ineed to go and see this and fix
this and look into this, right?
But I, I do want to talk about howimportant of a piece it is, right?
(44:24):
And it is a very important pieceof a puzzle, recognizing that
all humans need to eat, right?
And depending on, you know, whatyou're kind of going through, right?
And what your diagnoses are, there canbe food that can support you know, You
know, you moving through life, right?
As far as that kind of goes.
And I don't want to get like into kind ofdifferent foods for a specific diagnosis.
So I'm just going to kind of keep itlike general, but that is what like
(44:46):
a registered dietitian does, right?
As we spend, you know, fouryears kind of studying, right?
The science of food andthe makeup of food, right?
And the metabolics in your body.
And then we complete, youknow, that one year dietetic.
Okay.
Like practicum, right?
Where we're like, physically workinghands on learning more about how
food can be incorporated right intoa person's life and things like that.
(45:07):
So I think it's so important to lookfor like a resource who has that
background around kind of nutrition,because there is so much misinformation
around nutrition kind of out there.
And yeah, like I don't want to speakfor you or anything like that, right?
But I, I will say, right, thatrecovering from injury, right?
(45:28):
Whether you're an athleteor just a person, it can be
quite challenging, right?
And oftentimes food habits, youknow, might not be the easiest to
kind of support, recognizing thatyou're kind of going through some
other change in your body, right?
So that can be an ideal time tohave a chat with a dietician, right?
And say like, Hey, you know,what, what, what can I do to
kind of help support myself?
Right.
Or, you know, my doctor said, I'm.
(45:49):
Really inflamed like what does thatmean right like a dietitian can can help
kind of chat about things like that.
Right.
Yeah.
Meghan (45:57):
And that's such a great point.
It really is because I think, in myexperience, it's It almost didn't
seem like an accessible thing.
So, if someone, for instance, feltlike, okay, I'm ready to go speak
to a dietician, would they need,do they need a referral from their
(46:17):
doctor to get it covered underany kind of medical side of it?
Or is this being in privatepractice, does that mean that it's
something that they just go for?
Sort of find you and call you up and goover what they need with you directly.
Kaitlyn (46:33):
Yeah, I'm going to speak to how I kind of do things with that because
there are, there are a couple differentroads, but with my private practice
world Extended benefits, right, aresomething that a lot of people use.
So if you have any extended like healthcoverage and things like that I always
suggest that people phone up and ask,right, because oftentimes, you know,
plans have like four, six, sometimesa thousand dollars, right, which can
(46:54):
get you quite a few sessions kind ofwith a dietitian as far as that goes.
I know it's like bookingand things like that.
There is like utilizingDietitians of Canada.
Right.
That's a great kind of resourceto Google through and see if
there's a dietitian in your area.
Also in BC specifically, there's likeBC dietitians that you can Google.
And it just like pulls up, like there'sjust a big list of like a bunch of us.
(47:18):
And then you can kind of look through,you know, what exactly you're looking
for and stuff like that, or youcan like type in your area as far
as that kind of goes with things.
So What I encourage people to do,right, is to type into Google, right,
either go on Dietitians of Canada, orgo on, you know, BC Dietitians, or I
mean, like, I'm local in Nanaimo, so,like, my website, too, with, like, the
nourishing, the whole person, right, andthen oftentimes reaching out to that,
(47:43):
to that person and then the other partthat I always encourage people to do
before is to just check their extendedhealth plan, right benefits, right?
And just kind of check how much youdo have covered just because then
you're kind of transparent, right?
With the dietitian that you're workingwith going into things and when they're
best able to set up a plan or somefollow up sessions to kind of best
support you and your needs and kind ofwhat you're hoping to get out of things.
Meghan (48:04):
Wonderful.
Thank you for that.
And thank you.
I think we're, we'relike right on time here.
So we'll thank you so much forbeing part of this podcast and
showing up in your expertise.
It's been such a great timechatting with you about everything.
I really think that there's so muchfor people to take away with their busy
(48:28):
lives, whether it's based in business.
Being an entrepreneur orjust sort of anything else.
There's so much informationyou shared so much.
Thank you for being here today.
Kaitlyn (48:41):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was lovely talking with you andthank you for giving me the space to
be able to share a little bit aboutkind of what I do and how I got into
private practice and all that stuffthat kind of goes along with it.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Thank you for joining this week's episode of Anchor Your Dreams.
I hope you enjoyed today'sconversation as much as I did.
A big thank you to our incredible guestsfor sharing their wisdom and insights.
If you resonated with today's episodeand want to explore more about
turning your dreams into reality,Be sure to subscribe to the podcast.
We have a lineup of amazing guestsand valuable content coming your way.
(49:35):
Don't forget to connectwith us on social media.
You can find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Share your thoughts, insights,and your own journey using the
hashtag anchor, your dreams.
Head over to our websiteat meganmcquillen.
com in the podcast section, where you'llfind the show notes, resources, and
information about upcoming episodes.
(49:56):
Before we wrap up, I want to express mygratitude to each and every one of you.
Your support means the worldto me, and I'm thrilled to
be on this journey with you.
Remember, anchored dreams becomegoals, anchored goals become results.
Until next time, dreambig and stay anchored.
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