3 Things to Look for when Choosing a Dietitian to Help with your PCOS

You have questions.  You were just diagnosed with PCOS and you have no clue what to do next!  Or you have been diagnosed for awhile, but still feel like you’re not exactly sure how to manage your PCOS symptoms. You have questions and are looking for professional nutrition support, but where to go?

How do you know who to talk to?  Here are 3 things to keep in mind when looking for a dietitian to work with:

1.     A Registered Dietitian, RD, is a licensed nutrition professional who has been educated and trained to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy. Nutritionists, or nutritionalists, or coaches are not licensed professionals and might not be educated or trained to provide the kind of education and support that you deserve.

2.     A dietitian that has been informed by Health At Every Size® principles and uses a weight-inclusive approach.  Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and can be heathy in various different sizes and weights.  Focusing on weight as a metric of health can often mean missing the real ways health can be affected by lifestyle and genetics.  Focusing on weight can increase your risk of disordered eating.  Using a HAES approach lets you know that you will be treated with respect and not made to feel badly about your body.  Often PCOS is blamed on weight and that is JUST Not FAIR!  People of all sizes can have PCOS and trying to lose weight can make you miserable unnecessarily

3.     A dietitian who recognizes that limiting or restricting foods will not help you manage your PCOS long-term and can actually make things worse.  You deserve to get enough to eat of the foods you love in a way that supports your health and well-being.  Make sure you talk to your RD about intuitive eating approaches so that you can enjoy food freedom!

Laura Watson is a registered dietitian at Simple Nutrition who would love to help you navigate your PCOS diagnosis.  She recognizes that PCOS can affects you in so many ways, including you mental and physical health.  Click here to schedule a free 20 minute a Discovery Call with Laura to learn more about how to feel more empowered to manage your PCOS!