Christine McPhail MSc RD

Home
Canada
Ottawa, ON
Christine McPhail MSc RD

I am a non-diet, weight inclusive, and Health At Every Size® aligned Registered Dietitian and Co-Founder of Blossom Counselling Centre.
(1)

02/15/2024

Food is NOT healthy or unhealthy🎯

This one of the most basic messages inclusive providers use in our practice with clients. It seems simple and trivial BUT many people spend a lot of their time and energy moralizing food and dealing with shame and anxiety related to their food choices. That is a BIG deal.

All foods can be healthy in their own unique way. Healthy means they are good for our body, mind, soul and/or all of the above. All food provides nourishment and our body is pretty good at using what we give it AND we can learn what foods make us feel our best overall. Health should include our emotional and spiritual state (if that's your vibe) just as much as as our physical state.

The next time you notice guilt or shame coming up, you can acknowledge that comes from diet culture and remind yourself that whatever you are eating is good for you in its own unique way ❤

02/02/2024

For those who are new around here....hello! ❤

I'm Christine, a weight-inclusive Registered Dietitian and Psychotherapist (Qualifying), working in private practice in Ottawa, ON. I am a white, q***r, straight-sized, cis-woman with lived experience of mental health struggles. My practice is grounded in principles of inclusivity, anti-oppression, trauma-informed care, and weight inclusivity. I love supporting people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent communities 🌈🧠

I use an integrative approach to therapy with the humanistic approach as a foundation combined with cognitive and behavioural/third-wave approaches, narrative and feminist approaches. As a dietitian, I use anti-diet and weight-inclusive approaches. My areas of interest are: 2SLGBTQIA+ concerns, anxiety, eating disorders/disordered eating, body image, identity and life transitions.

Outside of my work, I really enjoy dancing (ballet in particular), practicing yoga/meditation, reading, painting, horseback riding, gardening, watching TV and movies, writing, hiking, and exploring the local food, event and art scenes! 🌿

Visit the link in my bio to learn more!

I am currently accepting new therapy clients only*

04/24/2023

It's ok to grow slow.⁣
It's ok to slow down and rest.⁣
It's ok to not do it all, all the time.⁣
⁣
May you find compassion and peace in not rushing your growth. You can't rush it really even if you want to. All we have is now and small gradual and non-linear changes/realizations and it's not often until later that we can see how much we've changed and what we've outgrown.❤️

03/17/2022

Thank you to and t for courageously sharing your experiences of repeated harm from (The author of the book Health at Every Size) and for continuing to engage in so much emotional labour, when people dismiss your experiences. You deserve better.⁣
⁣
We see a pattern of harm with Lindo Bacon's interactions towards marginalized communities and they need to be held accountable but it doesn't stop with them. HAES was made for and by fat people (well before Lindo wrote their book), especially marginalized folks but it's clear that there are a lot of white, thin providers centred in discussions around HAES, profiting from it, and trying to lead it or worse trying to saying that being a HAES provider doesn't mean they want to have discussions around social justice. As a straight sized, white, provider, I am complicit in this harm too.
⁣
Let this be a reminder to myself and other thin, white providers that we need to step aside and make space for those people that HAES was actually meant for. We should not have a choice as to whether we examine our own privileges and we have an obligation to learn and do better. We need to ensure our learnings are coming from people with marginalized identities and that they are being compensated fairly. We need to believe people when they say they have been harmed before defending the person doing harm.⁣
⁣
In solidarity⁣ ❤️

03/09/2022

Medication is a valid coping tool. PERIOD ❤👌

12/03/2021

📢PSA:

I keep seeing posts of people sharing how much they've overworked themselves to accomplish goals as if it's a badge of honour. It isn't. It's a sign that there is something fundamentally wrong going on and I find it to be quite sad how normalized this is.

The world glorifies overworking, overextending, and self-abandonment to each of our detriments AND some people have to overwork themselves just to survive and it's not a choice. It's heartbreaking and unjust.⁣ I like to believe we are on this planet for much more.
⁣
You deserve a life where your sense of self doesn't hinge on productivity or external validation. Your worth is inherent. You are not superior or inferior. You are enough and so is everyone else.⁣
⁣
I hope you can find a small way to come back to yourself. To know that we can all move forward in a different direction ❤

08/31/2021

Eating disorder treatment and intentional weight loss strategies NEVER go together 🚩
⁣
AND weight management is the "polite" way of engaging in weight stigma and fatphobia all under the guise of "health".⁣
⁣
Don't be fooled! Health is not dictated by body size🚩

08/06/2021

Dieting and/or focussing on manipulating your body will always steal your time, money and well-being. There is a big difference to engaging in health promoting behaviours (if you so choose to, healthism is real and you are under no obligation)out of the satisfaction and physical/mental benefit you get from them vs. having the number on the scale dictate your behaviours and worth. Health is WAY more complicated than that ✌
⁣
Other than trying to dismantle fatphobia in my practice more generally I also never...yes never...use weight loss as a goal because it isn't a problem inherently nor is it in our full control and quite simply it isn't an actual behaviour. Instead, I help clients learn about the impacts of systems of diet culture and fatphobia, the myths around health and weight, and then I help them navigate what behaviours are actually beneficial for them personally 💪
⁣
⁣
So if you needed it...this is a friendly reminder that you deserve a fuller life than the one diet culture has served you ❤

07/22/2021

Diet culture thrives on undermining our individual autonomies 😬
⁣
It tries to make you think that you can't trust yourself to make decisions about your body, food and movement. Diet culture can tell us we need to rely on external rules, programs and people in punitive and degrading ways but it can also subtly hint that it knows what's "best" for us BUT only you know what's best for you. ❤
⁣
That's the point. Diet culture wouldn't survive if we didn't lose trust in ourselves or question our self-worth, health, etc. 🚩
⁣
Kick diet culture out by ditching dieting/fatphobic books, tools, IG accounts etc. and notice how this makes you feel 🌈👌

07/21/2021

A red flag for sure!⁣🚩
⁣
Your life is a precious one and your time is too. Eating in a way that feels personally good for you is a unique journey of experimentation and discovery and it is influenced by levels of privilege✌
⁣
Make no mistake that health, if you choose to pursue it, does not come in the form of tallying up numbers and tuning out of your body. It comes from your environment, your socioeconomic status, your mental well-being, your relationships and yes nourishment and movement (Notice I didn't say weight because NO weight is not an indicator of health).👊
⁣
BUT no one can know how much energy you need at any given point in time because it is always changing (This includes dietitians and tracking apps). Your body knows best but it may take time to learn to tune in patiently and with trust❤

06/24/2021

❤***I want to acknowledge the privilege of this statement. It is not possible for everyone to follow their values entirely***⁣❤
⁣
I find this approach very grounding for all types of behaviour. It's a filter to help you decide if how you are living aligns with your values and where you might want to make some changes 👌
⁣
Be patient and kind to yourself, when you examine your behaviours. This is not pressure to "do more" or to "perfect" alignment with your values but instead it's about finding joy and meaning in the everyday and deciphering when you are being drawn into oppressive systems that dictate how you are supposed to act, feel and be instead of doing what's truly right for you 🌈
⁣
What do you want to do? What's important to you?

Happy exploring!😎

05/28/2021

I love this metaphor when discussing mechanical eating (thanks to Shawna Melbourn Registered Dietitian!)❤⁣
⁣
In the early stages of recovery, your body is likely malnourished and your body's cues are not super reliable. It will take time to build trust between your mind and body and the longer you stay malnourished the harder it is to build up a stronger recovery mind 🧠
⁣
Mechanical eating provides you with structure that challenges ED thoughts/urges, can give you permission to eat more AND slowly but surely gives your mind and the body the nourishment it needs to really do the hard mental and work of healing 🌻
⁣
Everyone is on their own journey and you can keep this structure if that works best for you but you can also explore "taking the cast off" and exploring more autonomy and flexibility if it is safe to do so ❤

05/13/2021

EDs serve as a coping mechanism so when your ED voice gets loud...Ask yourself, what is my ED voice trying to protect me from? Are you afraid of rejection? Are you trying to have some peace? Have you faced judgement or a lack of acceptance? The list goes on...⁣😬
⁣
If we know the ED is trying to protect us (with faulty methods of course) then maybe we can acknowledge the message and ask ourselves what we can do next that aligns with our recovery and values?⁣ ❤
⁣
Everytime we go against the ED and tune into our needs and values, we get stronger and the ED loses some of its power👍🌈

04/13/2021

Your eating disorder is your own worst critic 🤔
⁣
It is the mean voice that tells you that you aren't good enough while also telling you how punishing your mind and body will make you feel better. Eating disorder behaviours do help us feel better temporarily but there is always going to be whiplash because nothing is ever good enough for the ED and we are always going to feel the physical and mental consequences too 😥
⁣
Your body and what you eat are NOT truly the problem though. Renourishment is so so important of course but that isn't the root. An ED is about the food and it's also not. The relationship we have with food is one piece of the relationship we have with ourselves, which includes our experiences of trauma and oppression ❤
⁣
These are the roots and we have to unpack those issues as well as re-build our relationship with food 🙌

Address

301 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, ON
K2P1R9

Website

https://www.christinemcphailnutrition.com/contact

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Christine McPhail MSc RD posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.