How to think about "progress" when it comes to your nutrition
TW: Disordered eating
Once you’re further down your nutrition care path, you might be feeling something a lot of other patients struggle with once they’ve started figuring out routines and what they need in their diet: frustration. A lot of patients worry about how they’re making “progress” — for some, their progress is slow and hard to see while others make so much progress that it opens up new emotions and thought processes that they might not have considered before. It gets even more precarious when the patient has a history of disordered eating, trauma, or any other mental health issue that becomes a factor when we work together. But progress isn’t just a number on a scale or a lab chart. As a nutritionist, I also look for other markers that show me how a patient is progressing beyond their lab work results.
Maybe they are less anxious overall in how they speak and in their movements (in person or online) and tension starts to subside (generally less white knuckling through sessions).
Some may have more of an ease when it comes to deciding what/when to eat, cooking, groceries, etc. In particular, I note a change in distorted thoughts when I speak to them, especially, all or nothing thinking, overgeneralizations, mental filtering, discounting the positive, should statements, labeling and personalizations. Of course, there are over 50 cognitive distortions that we, as people, might experience but here are the main ones I see:
All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing things in black-and-white categories, with no middle ground. For example, a minor mistake means you are a complete failure.
Overgeneralization: Drawing a broad, negative conclusion based on a single event. For example, thinking "I'm always awkward" after a single awkward interaction.
Mental filtering: Focusing exclusively on the negative aspects of a situation while ignoring the positive.
Discounting the positive: Rejecting or explaining away positive experiences or accomplishments, often by attributing them to luck or thinking "they're just being nice".
Jumping to conclusions: Making negative interpretations without sufficient evidence, such as assuming you know what others are thinking (mind reading) or that a situation will turn out badly (catastrophizing).
Emotional reasoning: Believing that your negative emotions reflect the truth of a situation. For example, "I feel like a failure, so I must be one".
"Should" statements: Having rigid rules about how you or others "should" or "ought" to behave, leading to guilt or resentment.
Labeling and mislabeling: Assigning a fixed, negative label to yourself or others based on one or a few incidents, like calling someone a "loser" after a single failure.
Magnification and minimization: Exaggerating the importance of negative events and minimizing the importance of positive ones.
Personalization: Blaming yourself for events that are not your fault or are outside your control.
Obviously, this is not one-size-fits-all, but if you’re looking for progress that can’t technically be quantified, here’s what I look for:
You’ve noticed that your food and body image take more of a backseat in your brain, which allows you to focus on other areas of your life. Perhaps it's going for more walks, going to the gym, going back to school, new job, new interest, allowing for rest, etc.
You’re making yourself a priority & setting boundaries. Not meaning you forget everyone else, but you remember you are important and taking care of yourself is important.
You have more flexible thinking & body attunement. For example: “When I eat this higher fat yogurt, I notice I feel fuller longer than I do with lower fat yogurt or when I add a fruit to my breakfast.” Or “I feel satisfied until my snack or lunch or when I have a snack before bed that includes some protein, so I sleep through the night.”
You’re becoming more aware of your body and thoughts much like the above, but also being able to zoom out and see the bigger picture of what they do day to day helps their overall health and how to move through life in re: food and nutrition
Your decision tree becomes clearer: “I am hungry” or “it’s been 5 hours and I am starting to feel ____, I will eat ____.” Or “I’m not quite ready to eat yet, but I have a block of 2 hour meetings and I am normally hungry then so I will eat ____ now so I am not overly hungry and feeling ____ after my meetings.” Or “I have a busy week ahead, I will look to my list of simple meals for these days and order out on these days.” Something like that. It looks different on everyone.
You start to look ahead to the future and how you want your overall health to look like. You really have a grasp of what healthy means to you, you’re confident in your nutrition choices, and you trust yourself to make the best decisions for your situation.
Also, as a fellow HSP (highly sensitive person), I notice that there is a lightness in the session, the patient might start to speak slower and pause to find exactly what they want to say. They might say, “oh wait, no that’s not what I meant, or that didn’t feel right, I meant this.”
So just remember that progress can be different for everyone, and any progress is valid and worth celebrating in your nutrition journey!