Get to know your Bright Diets Team
June 10, 2020
In the light of recent events this month we are focussing on building community. We have created a new Facebook Group ‘Bright Bods’ to help support each other to make healthy habits normal as well as inspire you to look after you. So please become a Bright Bod too by joining our group and inviting your friends.
In the coming months we want to share more about the team at Bright Diet’s so this month’s blog we are interviewing our Director, Carin Clegg.
Why did you become a Dietitian?
Being from a Greek-Australian family, eating healthy, home cooked meals everyday was very important and just normal. As I had helped in the kitchen from a young age I became interested in what was in food and how it affected people’s health and I mainly wanted to help people.
I have learnt a lot about what is in our food, not only it’s nutrient content but also various food components for managing health conditions including chemicals (naturally occurring or added) where it relates to adverse food reactions such as in food intolerances and conditions like IBS. Now I am starting to become more interested in how our food is made relating to conventional farming vs organic, biodynamic or chemical free farming practises. So the learning seems to never end!
Why did you become a fitness professional?
I realised that my work life became quite sedentary and this was just not who I was. I wanted to have more of a balance of doing something more active and fun at work in addition to my dietetics work. Even though I struggle to keep up with the dual qualifications with a young family I want to keep it up so I have fun at work and can offer my clients a better quality experience by seeing me for both dietary and exercise support.
Why Bright Diets?
Initially it was because I love colours, they make me feel happy and energised and I know that when I have a plate of colourful foods, with lots of veggies, I am excited to eat it with the added bonus that the meal is health promoting. Bright has multiple meanings and I like that. Bright also means clever and I want everyone to be clever about their eating. There is so much nutrition mis-information out there and everyone’s nutrition needs are different for a huge range of reasons so in order to be clever about your eating one needs to consult an expert (and not ‘see’ Dr Internet) for individualised assessment and guidance.
Is there anything you don’t like about being a health professional?
The one thing I really dislike is being judged about what I choose to eat or choose not to eat and that my food choices are not respected as people think I am different to them believing I am ‘healthy’. In reality I have a positive relationship with all foods and I can be a bit picky with what types of foods I enjoy eating and I am choosy in what foods I like to indulge in, not only for my personal health reasons but also for environmental reasons. I believe the media plays a big role in how people feel about foods and what is thought to be a normal way of eating. This is something I help my clients with, becoming more aware of why they eat certain foods so they can get back their control over their eating habits. In clinic I assess one’d diet without judgement as I know we all have usually multiple reasons behind why we do things and it is very difficult to change.
What do you love about being a health professional?
Over the last few years mainly due to becoming a fitness professional and working in private practise I have realised that when I help people with their eating and health I am also helping them transform their lives, lifestyles and sometimes parts of their personalities.
I love helping people to understand more about their food and health and hence be in control of their eating so they can do things they never thought they could do or do the activities that they love such as travel, play sport, run around after their grand kids or just feel well enough to do normal social activities. At the end of the day I love helping people feel happy in their day to day lives.