Hi, friends! Welcome to More to Life Nutrition Counseling.
Based in Central Iowa, More to Life Nutrition Counseling, LLC is a private practice owned and operated by me (Melissa Arnold). I am a registered dietitian working with clients to heal their relationships with food and their bodies through nutrition counseling. In our work together, we take an in depth look at past and present food, body image, movement and health history, discuss beliefs and behaviors surrounding each of those areas, and together create an actionable plan that promotes a more kind, curious and compassionate relationship with your body and yourself.
Who may benefit from nutrition counseling?
Here are some questions to consider:
Do you find you spend a lot of time thinking about food and your body?
Are you confused by the many mixed nutrition messages out there?
Do you feel you could do so much more if you didn’t spend so much time trying to change your body?
Do you engage in harmful or problematic behaviors around food/exercise, but you aren’t sure what to do or how to stop?
And finally, do you want to have a more peaceful relationship with food, your body and ultimately, yourself?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, know you aren’t alone.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed and confused about what to eat, and to have poor body image, in a world that’s obsessed with “wellness” and ultimately praises thinness. Here’s the truth though:
There is no “perfect” way of eating, and there is no body that is better than another.
Bodies come in a multitude of shapes and sizes. Body diversity is wonderful and something to truly celebrate! However, instead of embracing all bodies as they are, we’ve been taught to believe smaller bodies are good and larger bodies are bad. Of course, this is not true, but it’s a hard thing to unlearn.
The beauty is, though, unlearn and change these harmful beliefs. Who’s ready to do some unlearning?
If you’d like more information, feel free to shoot me an email with your questions. I’m not here to tell you what to do. Instead, consider me your guide, prompting you with questions and presenting as a listening ear. Ultimately, it will be you making your own discoveries and decisions about what is best for you and your body in order to thrive in your healing journey.
Areas of Specialty
Eating Disorder recovery
Eating disorders are clinical mental illness that meet specific diagnostic criteria. They are serious and can be life threatening, especially if not treated. I know they seem scary and shameful to talk about, but there is no shame here. This is a safe space for open, healing discussion, and we will work together, one step at a time, to create your recovery. We’ll start by focusing on nutrition rehabilitation, with the end goal of eating intuitively. It won’t always be comfortable, but discomfort is part of being human, and it is well worth it. If you have an active eating disorder I do require that you are also working with a therapist and primary care physician as part of the treatment team in order for you to get the safest care possible. If you do not have one I am happy to refer you to a provider near you!
Body Image healing
It is completely understandable to struggle with your body image, and the truth is that most of us do. The world we live in tells us there is one way to have a body, and that all other bodies are less acceptable and should be striving for the “ideal.” However, this is a false narrative resulting from a social construct. All bodies are worthy of respect, acceptance and care exactly as they are, including yours. It’s often promised that if you change your body, your body image will heal itself, but this is not often the case (for many reasons). Instead, we have to work from the inside out. If you’re looking for actionable steps to heal your body image, without having to change your body, I’m here for you. I’ll provide you with the tools you need in order to start healing your relationship with your body today.
Disordered Eating/Chronic Dieting
Disordered eating may seem like a confusing term as it is quite similar to eating disorder. Eating disorders, disordered eating, and “normal eating” exist on a spectrum. There is a lot of fluidity and nuance in the space between clinical eating disorder and “normal eating". That is where we find disordered eating behaviors, often learned from years of chronic dieting. Disordered eating behaviors are external rules you may have about what/when/how much you can eat (among others); things like cutting out food groups, not eating after a certain time of day, tracking your intake, etc. In the recovery process from disordered eating, we work together to minimize and eventually remove these behaviors, and replace them with more health-promoting habits based on internal cues from your wise body.
Contact me for more details!
Want to learn more? Fill out the form below along with your message and any questions you may have and I’ll get back to you promptly. I look forward to chatting with you!