Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Harris.
Hi Elizabeth, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Sure, hi. I switched careers to get a master’s degree in nutrition science and become a registered dietitian in my mid-40s. Health and wellness had always been a passion for me (I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in high school so I understood the importance of taking care of your health and well-being from a young age), and the timing finally felt right to pursue my passion and turn it into a profession.
Shortly after I passed the RDN licensing exam, I opened a private practice in Annapolis MD. For a hot second, I worked with clients whose primary goal was weight loss. But to be honest, I didn’t like it. Something within me just didn’t feel right about making weight the focal point of my work or people’s health.
I also noticed that people could be making all sorts of great changes to their eating, exercise, or other health habits but if the number on the scale didn’t change as quickly or as much as they would like, they would feel frustrated and tempted to give up. “Elizabeth,” they’d say, “it’s not working.”
This made me sad because of course it was “working.” They were making impactful changes in their health habits. With three teenagers, I also couldn’t ignore how many people in our orbit had very fragile relationships with food and how much-disordered eating is normalized and promoted in diet culture.
I knew there had to be a better way to help people elevate their eating, health, and well-being. Buoyed by the research, I shifted my practice to a weight-inclusive, Intuitive Eating model of nutrition care and immediately saw the tremendous impact on people’s lives and overall health.
Now, I help people break up with dieting and diet culture so they can heal their relationship with food and their bodies and nourish and prioritize their whole (physical, mental, and emotional) health. I show folks how to shift their focus from losing weight to elevating their well-being by emphasizing health-promoting behaviors instead of the scale.
My motto is “self-care, not self-control.” Because food is meant to be enjoyed, movement should make you happy, and we’ve all got better things to do than counting carbs or calories!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Business building is not for the faint of heart! Many of the hurdles I work to overcome as an entrepreneur parallel the challenges or struggles that I help my clients overcome on their journeys to having a happy, healthy relationship with food that supports their nutrition, health, and wellbeing.
Here are 6 of the most meaningful parallels as I see them:
Flexibility is essential. Rigid business plans aren’t very useful — as the Covid pandemic so pointedly taught us, you’ve got to be able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances and challenges. Likewise, strict, inflexible eating plans don’t work long-term either… if your approach to food can’t mold easily around vacations, holidays, stressful life events, or busy periods, it’s likely doomed from the get-go.
Progress isn’t linear. There are ups and downs and twists and turns on the road to building a business. The same goes for changing eating habits and strengthening your relationship with food and your body. The ability to learn and grow from setbacks or missteps is what ultimately determines success. I always tell my clients, there is no failure when it comes to nourishing your body—only helpful feedback!
Satisfaction matters. A lot. I couldn’t show up for my clients day after day if I didn’t truly love and feel fulfilled by my work. It’s equally as difficult to show up for yourself and your wellness choices day after day if you’re muddling along, trying to do or eat what you think you’re “supposed to” instead of enjoying what tastes good, is meaningful for you, or feels good in your body.
Mindset is everything. It’s fairly straightforward to teach my clients which foods are nutrient-dense or will help address specific medical or nutrition needs. However, helping them shift their mindset is the key to helping them translate that knowledge into sustainable behavior change. Ditto in business — mindset is a huge factor in a business owner’s success or failure!
Growth happens outside your comfort zone. I couldn’t do what it takes to be successful in business without challenging myself and going way outside of my comfort zone. Likewise, giving up dieting and shifting the focus from weight to health-promoting behaviors and overall health and well-being might feel scary, but ultimately, it’s life-changing.
Success takes many forms. Income is one way to measure business success, but flexibility, growth, client feedback, and my favorite—impact—are perhaps even more meaningful. Success in nutrition and Intuitive Eating is measured in multiple ways too. My clients:
- Find consistency with their eating and wellness habits
• Quiet food and eating guilt
• Learn to trust their bodies and their food choices
• Enjoy foods they love in ways that taste and feel good
• Enhance their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing
• Improve their lab markers
• Better their body image
The list—and benefits—go on!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Elizabeth Harris Nutrition and Wellness?
In addition to being a dietitian and certified Intuitive Eating counselor, I also co-host the podcast Wellness Rebranded with a personal trainer and mental health therapist (it’s available on all major platforms). I run a private practice in Annapolis Maryland where I offer nutrition counseling and body image healing services.
I provide my clients support and guidance to cultivate a happy, healthy relationship with food that addresses their most pressing food and eating challenges and health needs. I want to help people cut through the diet culture noise and confusion so they can stop feeling confused or frustrated and start feeling empowered to nourish and prioritize their whole health and overall well-being.
How are some of the ways I can support you:
- One-to-one nutrition, Intuitive Eating, and body image counseling services.
- Small Intuitive Eating coaching groups (my Thrive Tribe).
- VIP “whole health” strategy days.
- Employee or team wellness programs.
- Raising kids with food and body confidence — a self-paced course.
I pride myself in offering compassionate, non-judgmental, weight-inclusive care that meets my clients wherever they’re at. I don’t just want to tell you what to eat or what to do to lose weight. I want to show you HOW to eat (and feel good about food and how you’re caring for your body) for the rest of your life.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Yes, I believe that taking measured, calculated risks is a critical component of achievement and personal success.
I majored in Russian language and Slavic and East European Studies as an undergrad. I took a huge risk when I was in college and studied abroad in Russia (even though I’d never left New England and didn’t fully speak the language). Then, I moved back to Moscow with my husband shortly after we got married. It was an incredible, life-changing experience. We’ve always loved traveling, going to new places, and taking the roads less traveled, which is its own form of risk-taking.
From my perspective, it was also a huge risk to go back to grad school and switch careers in midlife (while raising 3 kids), to open a private practice as a new dietitian and become an entrepreneur, and to buck toxic diet culture and conventional, weight-centric approaches to health and nutrition to provide neutral, weight-inclusive care (even though there’s lots of research and evidence on the benefits of Intuitive Eating and this approach).
When you take risks, you go outside your comfort zone, and that’s where the biggest, life-changing growth and self-discovery happen!
Contact Info:
- Website: elizabethharrisnutrition.com
- Instagram: @elizabethharrisnutrition
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthandhealingwithintuitiveeating
- Other: 5-day challenge, Discover Intuitive Eating https://elizabethharrisnutrition.com/5day-challenge
Image Credits
Maureen Porto Photography
