The Intersection of Digestive Health and Intuitive Eating with Claire Carlton, RD

Since everyone’s situation is different, there is no single protocol that can address each person’s digestive issues. Today’s guest helps her clients heal their gut by building their own mindful eating habits through intuitive eating.

 

About Claire Carlton

Claire Carlton is a Registered Dietitian specializing in nutrition for digestive disorders. She works with women 1-on-1 in her virtual private practice, Nourish with Claire. As a specialist in nutrition for gastrointestinal health, she guides clients through her signature Gut Health Blueprint framework to unearth the root of chronic symptoms and help them discover lasting wellness. 

With a Master’s degree in Nutrition combined with additional training in the areas of Integrative and Functional Medicine Nutrition and Intuitive Eating, Claire has created a holistic approach that focuses on one’s relationship with food while integrating nutrition and lifestyle strategies that address the root cause of their health concerns. Her method allows clients to step away from diet culture while they create mindful and sustainable habits to support their health and wellness goals.

 

Recognize What Nourishment Means to You

In this episode, Claire explains how she helps her clients get lasting results with a comprehensive approach. It starts with a thorough assessment to determine what’s going on in their gut and their relationship with food.

Once it is understood what’s actually going on, Claire works with her clients to recognize their internal queues concerning how to nourish their bodies. Once that’s done, we can start learning and implementing habits that both fit into your lifestyle while providing healing relief.

 

Solutions Through Mindful Eating

Claire has a lot of strategies that she uses to help strengthen the brain-gut connection. When you mindfully chew your food, notice aromas, and pay attention to the food's textures, flavors, and colors, digestion actually does improve. This all gets down to creating more awareness around the sensory experience that eating truly is. 

Meditation is also a way to enhance the gut-brain connection. It forces us to slow down and come out of stress mode. Anything that engages the vagus nerve (which connects the gut and brain), such as gargling, singing, laughing, and taking cold showers can also help strengthen this important connection.

What mindful practice can you start doing to help your digestive health? Leave a comment on the episode page!

 

Got a question you’d love to hear me answer on the show? Leave me a voice message here!

 

In This Episode

  • How Claire found her passion in intuitive eating and digestive health [3:35]
  • Why functional nutrition and intuitive eating complement each other [7:18]
  • The benefits and limitations of medical testing [9:58]
  • Focusing on identity to help drive behavioral change [12:45]
  • Behaviors that can lead to gut issues [16:30]
  • How stress impacts gut health [22:10]
  • Strategies to improve the gut-brain connection [25:02]
  • Why bloating should not be normalized [27:35]
  • How nutrition, mindfulness, and the microbiome come together to create better digestive health [31:24]
  • Why intuitive eating is best when it’s individualized [35:30]
  • Advice for learning how to work with gut health patients [39:52]

 

Quotes

“When we can figure out what exactly is going on in a client’s gut, what imbalances are there, we can tailor interventions specifically for that rather than just continuing to guess and pull foods from their diet.” [9:19]

“It’s not your fault that you’re binging or you’re ‘overeating’ at the end of the day. It’s a primal response to being under-nourished.” [18:30]

“Tolerance to food is going to improve when you support the gut. Then you can bypass a lot of those restrictive diets working on your gut health and microbiome.” [38:08]

 

Review Fed and Fearless on Apple Podcasts! Send a screenshot of your review to hello@lauraschoenfeldrd.com or send me a DM on Instagram and I’ll send you my Overcoming Undereating eBook. If you post your favorite episode in your Insta stories and tag me @LauraShoenfeldRD, I’ll also send you my 14-Day Calorie Challenge Recipe Guide!

 

Links

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