Sasha Silver
Sasha Silver approaches each client with curiosity and the understanding that everyBODY is different and has different nutritional needs. Caught up in diet culture in the past, Sasha can empathize and connect with clients who are currently in a similar space.
Entering the world of nutrition and dietetics as a personal trainer, Sasha’s initial goal was learning how to eat “healthy” and stay in shape.
It wasn’t until her last year of her nutrition undergraduate program that her view of health and dietetics changed, when a professor introduced her to intuitive eating. Learning about intuitive eating completely flipped how she educated clients about food.
Shortly after completing her Master’s in nutrition and dietetics and becoming an Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), Sasha moved to Amsterdam for a year to work as a personal dietitian for a family with a young boy with type 1 diabetes. This experience pushed Sasha out of her comfort zone both geographically and professionally. She soon realized that the nutrition standards she learned in school didn’t necessarily directly apply to real life, especially with the many factors in her young client’s life that required constant modifications to his nutrition plan.
She began to see that there is never one answer to a nutrition concern, but many! It takes patience and curiosity to explore the best course of action for each person.
Upon her return from Amsterdam, Sasha took a position at an eating disorder clinic. Pleasantly surprised, she realized the eating disorder space is where “I want to be in because it is more about food therapy than specific nutrient intake. That’s where I thrive.”
In developing her expertise in eating disorder support, Sasha learned that nutrition and health are not reduced to nutrients alone. Instead, eating is a behavior and it is vital to incorporate the psychology of food when looking at total body health. Sasha expanded this specialty to include clients who struggle with their food relationship in ways less familiar, such as ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder). Although this is most commonly identified in children and teens, there are many adults who have been struggling for decades, but it went unidentified.
Sasha explores the psychology of food with each client who’s dealing with an eating disorder. Together they can better understand how this informs their readiness and capacity to nourish themselves.
Additionally, Sasha has years of experience working specifically with children and teens, mainly influenced by her undergraduate degree in child and family development.
Sasha decided to bring her specialties to Your Life Nutrition (YLN) because of how integral collaboration is to the practice and how it pushes her to be a better dietitian. Not only is she able to work with experts in specialties outside of her own, but Sasha also is working alongside YLN team members who are pioneers in their field and are redefining what health is.
The resources afforded to her as a part of the YLN team allows Sasha to explore more paths to interact with people and clients aside from her one on one counseling sessions, such as the “5 Minutes with a Dietitian” YLN video project as well as support groups. Sasha appreciates that “being a part of this group allows me to expand my reach so much further than I could alone.”
With the support of the YLN team, Sasha strives to challenge her clients to redefine their idea of health and foster a synergistic relationship between the physiology and psychology of nutrition.
Learn more about Sasha’s nutrition counseling philosophy.