[Recast] Ep 74 – Anti-Diet Approaches to New Years Resolutions with Angie Dye

Hola amigos! Welcome back —–

Intuitive eating is not just for recovery from chronic diets, it can be used in everyday nutrition care and medical nutrition therapy. Tune in to hear Angie discuss a gentler nutrition approach for athletes, digestive issues, and raising kids.

Highlights of this episode:

• Intuitive Eating with Athletic Performance
• Intuitive Eating with Digestive Issues
• Intuitive Eating with Kids
• Introducing Our Guest
• Key to Success: Goal Setting Tips

Introducing Our Guest 

Angie Dye is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). She is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Angie works one-on-one with clients at her nutrition practice, Carpe Diem Nutrition, in Hershey, PA. Areas of expertise include Sports Nutrition, Digestive Health, and Intuitive Eating. She enjoys helping athletes optimize their performance with nutrition, and has seen the benefits in every level of athlete from youth, up to the ultra-endurance level. Angie believes in the power of food as medicine and loves working with clients on ways to use this important tool to improve their overall health. For her clients with digestive disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Irritable Bowel Disease and Celiac Disease, this means finding foods and patterns of eating that assist with symptom management while ensuring nutritional adequacy of the diet prescription. For her clients exploring Intuitive Eating, this can mean working on letting go of old dieting rules and learning to trust the body’s own hunger and fullness cues.

Angie holds a Master’s Degree in Nutrition Science from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Prior to starting her private practice, Angie worked as a Clinical Dietitian at the University of Chicago Hospitals. She also served as adjunct faculty at Loyola University in Chicago.

Angie loves being a wife and mother of 3 delightful teenagers. She has a passion for cooking and loves sharing simple, healthful and delicious recipes with her family, friends and clients. She has always loved sports, and completed her first triathlon in 1999. She continues to compete in endurance sports and is currently training for Triathlon Age Group Nationals and Ironman Florida. Angie and her family are passionate about dog rescue and have fostered 9 dogs in the past 3 years, one of whom wiggled her way into the family.

FULL DESCRIPTION (*not a transcript):

[00:00] Announcements!

We guide clients to make peace with food and their bodies. We have a team of HAES trained RD nutrition professionals and work with a team of psychologists within David’s private practice, Orozco Nutrition. If you are struggling in diet culture or want guidance with nutrition, please do not hesitate to reach out. We want to hear from you.

We are taking a short break this September to work behind the scenes to bring you, the listeners, even better content. We’ll be re-casting episodes that we think are relevant before that holiday season comes. This episode is originally #74 from February 3, 2021. Listen to how David developed his practice over time with Episode 100.

[3:25] Angie’s Background

In 2011, Angie’s started her private practice. She focuses on digestive health, sports, performance training, and intuitive eating. She trains herself for has been on Triathlons and Ironman’s.

[9:30] How does Intuitive Eating work with athletes?

Angie thinks athletes may seek her out because of her intuitive eating approach. Athletes decide what makes their performance soar. Angie does not give them a meal plan. She points out that athletes can be very Type A with their training, which can carry over into their food. Whether it’s the media or their teammates, athletes get a lot of messages about food, which she helps them untangle messages about food.

David asks how Angie works with men who want to “lower weight” and get “big muscle.” Angie explains, I always ask them, “what is your why? Why are you training for this? Is it to lose weight?” If it is to lose weight, that is a roundabout way to do things. Training that focuses on weight is self-defeating. The weight is irrelevant.

David and Angie reminisce how Simon Sinek popularized the exploration of “why” to guide actions and how Dr. Daniel Siegel coined the term “mindsight” if you can teach insight and empathy, they can integrate more wellbeing.

RDs who are skeptical of intuitive eating or gentle nutrition may not understand it. She quotes, “gentle nutrition isn’t the surprise at the end of intuitive eating, it’s woven through the entire process.” That quote may be from Alissa Rumsey, who advocates for gentle nutrition on her blog. Athletes learn their needs through their mindful body connection. For people who don’t get it, that’s ok. We [intuitive eating counselors] get it.

They agree, there’s no one size fits all approach with the diversity of human beings. Dean Karnazes, a popular ultra-marathon runner, ate a whole pizza while running. While that is a unique case, it goes to show how diverse the world can be.

[19:02] How does Intuitive Eating work with Digestive Health?

Angie loves digestive health, everything from how you feel when you eat to pooping. Her expertise is with IBS, IBD, fatty liver, and everything in-between. She still uses intuitive eating principles with medical nutrition diets like low FODMAP. Angie sees how intuitive eating methods like interoceptive awareness, help her clients find the foods that fit them and those foods that do not serve them. Exploring how do these foods feel in “my” body while digestion occurs, everything from mouth to…well, the end. David agrees that intuitive eating pairs nicely with the 5r protocol of gut health (Reduce, Reintroduce, Repeat, Re-inoculate, and Relax) to help clients with digestive issues.

Angie sees clients who are relived to have a safe space to talk about the bathroom experience. She saw an estimate that 30% of athletes have digestive issues. Those conversations can be too embarrassing to talk to your loved ones about. They recall how Dr. Oz and Oprah had an impact about the “perfect poop” with the solid S shape, causing unnecessary fear in the public’s mindset about bowel movements.

[27:07] Where did your business name come from?

Her business, Carpe Diem Nutrition, was inspired by a loved expression of Angie’s, she may have first heard it from Dead Poet’s Society. Angie was inspired by Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN, who advocated for RDNs to have passionate in your brand. Angie approaches nutrition one day at a time, instead of perfection in a week, month, or year. She sees bigger lifetime changes with the small bite concept. One day at a time allows the true transformation. You cannot do your health in the future, only in the present.

[32:30] How has Intuitive Eating influenced your parenting feeding style?

Angie’s children have grown up without labeling foods as good or bad. She helps them listen and interpret their inner signals. She avoids forcing them to eat anything. She is so grateful her training was easily carried over into her own home; she feels like a better parent.

What about the challenges? Angie says that being locked in the house during the pandemic has spawned more consults due to boredom snacking. Most of the time, if a person does not really know what intuitive eating is, then it is truly confusing. Intuitive eating is not about all the Twinkies or chips, but providing a balance of foods. It’s not a free-for-all without consequences. During practicing intuitive eating, dieting may still sneak in. If you are still dealing with your own challenges or radical acceptance, then it will be more difficult to help others (like your kids) with intuitive eating. Sometimes what we think we do vs. what we do, is different. She helps parents unpack why negative feelings exist around what others eat, including their own children.

[38:27] What are some ways to get around the New Year’s Resolution diet plans?

Angie says, what if we rolled into January with positivity? What are 2-3 things you want to add to your day for health. However, find something that brings you joy, not punishment or something you dread. David and Angie acknowledge that they find this easy to do this because they are in socially acceptable bodies and already very active. They work with their clients where the client is at and find how where they want to be. Angie reminds us that movement does not have to be 45 minutes of hardcore intensity, especially when that is not your baseline. David exposes the 10,000 steps recommendation that got popular as a sales pitch. The actual studies show various amounts, depending on the person.

[46:25] What is ONE thing we can do going forward for our health?

Angie says to ask yourself, “what are the things you think are going well with food and movement?” And then, “what are the things you struggle with and could make it easier?” Maybe you can figure it on your own, but maybe you need that guidance from a professional, and that’s okay! Most people do not realize RDs take health insurance most of the time and insurance covers it. This makes a beneficial health cost very affordable. Dieting route can misguide you on things you are already doing well. Give yourself credit for what you are doing well!

[53:57] Closing Announcements! 

We are going to be taking a short break, and recasting some really great episodes to guide us through the upcoming months of holiday season. When we come back, we are going to have an even better show, that really invites you to be in the conversation.

Make a free 15-minute phone call if you want to work with us on your nutritional health in a weight-inclusive, anti-diet culture way.  Get the ball rolling by emailing us at info@orozconutrition.com or call 678-568-4717.

Where do I go from here?

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Links from This Guest: 

• Carpe Diem Nutrition
• Angie’s Facebook
• Angie’s Instagram
• Angie’s Twitter

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