Nutrition

The food that we put in our body can impact the way we think, feel and behave. Nutritional support is particularly important for young adults undergoing major life transitions, struggling with eating disorders or facing challenges with mental health and substance use.

At FSL, developing healthy eating habits and relationships with food is central to our treatment focus. Our treatment is grounded in mindfulness and the belief that each young person has the capacity for a mindful relationship with food and their body.

Types of Nutritional Support For Young Adults At FSL

Our nutrition philosophy at FSL is grounded in an Intuitive Eating, Freedom From Diet Culture, and Health at Every Size ® framework. Our aim is to guide our clients in healing their relationship with food and movement and to help them understand their body’s wisdom. We do this all while removing aspects of shame and guilt that can often accompany food and behaviors. Our registered dietitians and clinicians provide respectful, individualized, and stigma-free care to help clients find freedom from body image issues, food rules, disordered eating, and eating disorders. We believe that each young person has the capacity to develop a comfortable relationship with food and their body which is central to treatment focus

We embrace the evidence-based Health at Health at Every Size ®, as research consistently shows that weight and BMI cannot be used as measures of health. Rather, we look to behaviors, mindset and other indicators of overall well-being. This model respects and celebrates body diversity, challenges cultural assumptions, and rejects weight bias and weight stigma, which further helps clients develop peace with their bodies.

Intuitive Eating is an individualized nutritional philosophy that focuses on healing a person’s relationship with food and their body. By incorporating Ten Core Principles, clients will identify obstacles that may prevent body respect. They will trust, address and improve negative thought patterns in addition to learning to respond to hunger and fullness cues.

Diet culture refers to a rigid set of expectations that values thinness and attractiveness over physical health and emotional well-being. Diet culture often emphasizes negative behaviors like labeling “good” versus “bad” foods, calorie restriction, and normalizing self-deprecating talk. Diet culture can be a significant risk factor for body dysmorphia, disordered eating, eating disorders, and other mental health issues, which is why we strive to ensure The FSL is a diet culture-free environment.