let’s demystify nutrition! together!

Jun 12

Written By Sydney

Dive into a real, human conversation with Colleen Shields, Converge’s beloved Registered Dietitian.
Colleen is passionate about providing care that truly makes a difference. Whether you need better fuel for your training, tools for a healthier life, or solutions for that weird gut issue you’ve been dealing with, Colleen is here to help.
Enjoy this insightful Q&A to learn how her approach can support your journey to better health.

Q&A with Colleen Shields, RD

What should I expect in the first session?

During this session we start with you leading the show, allowing time for you to express what you’re looking for. (If you don’t know yet, that’s ok!) I then gather a comprehensive history from you including dietary intake, relationship toward food, relevant medical/clinical history, physical activity, social determinants, and more.
After gathering a unique picture of you as an individual, we'll work together to create 1-3 actionable goals or behavior changes for you to leave with. Depending on your goals, I’ll then write up a care plan for your own reference. This may be a write up of some nutrition education we covered, sports nutrition guidelines, example meals and grocery lists based on nutrients or food groups you need, positive reinforcement statements to help reframe mindset around food and body. . . whatever you need!

What happens after the first session?

After the initial assessment, I recommend a minimum of 2 follow up sessions. This allows me to check in on your current goals, provide emotional support, answer questions and offer further nutrition education, navigate and adapt to barriers, create new goals… We then keep meeting (usually ~every 2-4 weeks depending) as needed!

What can I expect to gain from nutrition counseling?

My favorite answer is “it depends”. Nutrition is so individualized to the person. While I have evidenced based recommendations, the way it’s implemented and adapted into each person’s life can vary widely.
When you come to me with a goal, I’m not just looking at your diet but also your relationship to food, your ability to implement change, multiple body systems and how they may be interacting with the food you eat, your motivational readiness to enact change, and more. This may sound overwhelming, ya? The good thing is that I deal with all of these layers and then break it down into simple and sustainable goals or behavior changes for you.
Nutrition is both simple and complex at the same time. What you can’t expect though is some kind of quick fix. Sometimes we may work together to take apart a puzzle, put the pieces together again, and then realize we’re missing a piece and have to start over again. Sometimes things flow seamlessly. It depends on a lot of factors, but my hope through it all is to simplify nutrition for you so that you gain what you need and leave behind what you don’t.

Who do you work with? How do you approach nutrition?

Everyone and anyone! I highly align with our mission at Converge to enable all ages and identities to play without limits (whatever that play may be to you!) I have a strong interest in nutrition for endurance and mountain sports, women’s health and physiology, and helping to foster a positive relationship between food and body for all humans.
Whoever you are, I hope to help demystify the amount of nutrition (mis)information out there so you can create simple, sustainable, and nourishing practices within your life that allow you to honor your own body intuition. I strongly believe that the more you know about your body and understand how its functioning, the better able you will be able to implement sustainable changes into your life. While I may have the nutrition expertise (which, I would like to note does not mean I always have the answers - and I won’t pretend to. Sometimes I’m learning with you!), you are the one living in your body and you know it best. I’m simply here to guide and support as best I can.

Talking about nutrition can make me kind of uncomfortable, because I’m worried that I’m going to be told to restrict foods, track my weight, and count calories. How do you approach this?

I get ittttt. Quite honestly, sometimes I even get wary when telling people I’m a Registered Dietitian because of this same stigma. Unfortunately a lot of nutrition is portrayed as this but I can tell you that you don’t have to worry about that when coming into Converge. I’ve adopted an approach from another dietitian I follow and instead of focusing on things to restrict or remove, I try to focus on ways to add to your diet. (I also want to note that nutrition doesn’t just include the physical aspects of the foods we eat, but also the emotional, social, and cultural pieces too).
I would only have someone omit something from their diet if it was clinically indicated (like an allergy, following a protocol to test for food intolerances, medical condition, etc.). Sometimes, I will have people journal about their foods (along with hunger and fullness cues, gut symptoms, emotions + mental state) for up to 3 days in order to get a bigger picture depending on what we’re working on and depending on if you’re comfortable with it.
I also will not weigh you when you come into the clinic. I try to take a weight neutral approach in the sense that I don't believe weight defines you or that nutrition is the sole factor that defines your weight (it's very much not). Weight and our bodies (size, shape, image) can hold a lot of different meanings for different people, and can change throughout different phases of our life. I will meet you where you are and let you lead the conversation. If you want to talk about it, great. If you don't want to talk about it, great. If you have a troubled history with food and body want to address it in small steps, great.

How do I know what service is right for me?

Our Snack Pack, 3-Month, and 6-Month Nutrition Counseling programs depend on how much interaction, support, and nutrition education you want and need! I realize that sometimes you don’t know this until you get started, so we can always start with the initial 90 minute assessment and then choose from there. If you still are unsure about even starting, I offer free 15-minute Discovery Calls so we can chat human to human vs computer to human.

Services Overview

Chat with Colleen for 15 minutes to see whether nutritional counseling might be a fit!
Let's get to know you! What's your history, how do you move, what are your goals?
Three levels of engagement , depending on your needs and resources:
- Snack Pack
- 3 month package
- 6 month package
*All packages include an initial assessment