Gloria's Philosophy
Gloria Williamson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) at Your Life Nutrition, commits to immersing herself in each of her clients’ cultures and identities in order to gain a full understanding of their backgrounds. In doing so, Gloria is able to better assess the possible contributing factors in her client’s concerns.
Gloria feels lucky to work in dietetics because of how limitless the field is in its ability to validate individuals’ experiences and give the body the attention it deserves. Particularly, Gloria points to the current conversations acknowledging how white-centered dietetics has been and continues to be. From these conversations Gloria notes that, “all of the different voices and ideas that are coming through are continuing to expand the field in a way that I love so much.”
In addition, Gloria values that dietetics allows her to learn from others as she recalls that, “I have had the most striking moments as a dietitian when I was discovering what I didn’t know.”
One of these moments came when Gloria was preparing to cook a meal with members of a post-foster care program. Gloria had laid out the vegetables, chicken and rice when someone asked, “where did these ingredients come from?” When Gloria replied that she picked them up from the market, they followed up with, “no, where in the market do they sell these things?” This humbling instance proved Gloria’s belief of what everyone knew to be false. She found this realization foundational to break down her remaining assumptions of others’ experiences.
As an RDN, this lesson guides Gloria to always ask questions so that she is not making assumptions about what clients have, what they want to do, and what they can do.
Additionally, Gloria’s approach to each client is very family-centered where “family” can be defined in many different ways. This is apparent in a mantra of Gloria’s: “returning peace to the dinner table,” as it was inspired by her observation that reducing the everyday anxiety of families makes such an important impact. She values that “returning peace to the dinner table,” takes the focus off of the perfectionism and hyper-vigilance that comes with health culture. It is about allowing your dinner table to be a peaceful place, which may be different for each person.
Gloria loves the sensory experiences that come with crunchy and colorful Autumn leaves.
When it comes to bringing peace to the dinner table or any aspect of a client’s life, Gloria believes it’s crucial to look at the whole system around the individual. She does this so that she can fully evaluate, “the different factors that they are going to be addressing in order for clients to feel better in their bodies.”
One way Gloria does this is by practicing trauma informed care. This type of care means that she is, “not ever going to make her voice louder than the person’s own when it comes to how they care for their body. If she tells them she knows what's best for their body, she is reinforcing trauma if there is trauma there.” Yet, trauma present or not, this client-first approach is effective with all clients.
Gloria recognizes that taking the leap to seek help can be difficult, but wants everyone to know, “you deserve to spend your energy that you put towards your concerns about food on other things that have more meaning to you.” To potential clients, she asks, “Where can we go together to give you more space for the things that really matter to you?”
Click here to learn more about Gloria.