Nutrition & Lifestyle
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Did you know that nutrition and lifestyle can play a major role in your mental health?
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Whether you are struggling with disordered eating habits, receiving gender affirming medical care, or just want an improved relationship with food and body, our holistic, team approach is here to help.
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Find your grit
Find your joy
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Why nutrition and lifestyle?
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Focusing on a healthy relationship with food, movement, sleep, and your physical health can significantly improve your mental health
An unhealthy relationship with food, over-exercising, and harmful body image issues may be preventing you from living a life of freedom and happiness.
You can ease the physical and mental distress of medical procedures and chronic illness through diet and lifestyle choices.
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At Grit Therapy, we utilize a team approach involving a registered dietitian and a mental health therapist to help you understand how to support and heal your spirit, mind, and body
Working with our dietitian and one of our therapists can help you resolve related issues with food, body image, self-esteem, health, well-being, gender identity and gender transition
How can nutrition support my mental health?
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The link between our physical and mental health is undeniable. There is a reason that wee keep hearing the words "holistic" and "integrated" when it comes to our physical and mental health. At Grit Therapy, we believe that addressing the whole human including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health is the best way to provide informed, quality mental health care.
Check out all of the ways your diet and lifestyle can affect your mental health:
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Blood sugar regulation: Drops and spikes in blood sugar affect mood, energy levels, and other hormones, all changing your ability to deal with physical and emotional stressors.
Inflammation: Food allergies or intolerances cause inflammation in the gut, brain, and other tissues, causing mood disruptions and altering our body's ability to fight infection, utilize micronutrients, and feel our best physically and emotionally.
Relationship with food and body: By establishing a healthy relationship with food and a mindful eating practice, one can eliminate false beliefs about food, thereby improving mental health surrounding disordered eating habits and body image.
Individual eating plans: Knowing how to eat for your individual needs can take pressure off other aspects of life. For example, by discovering what foods trigger your IBS, you can move through life knowing what will make you feel good physically and emotionally, rather that fearing foods due to pain, bloating, and irregular BMs associated with eating.
Lifestyle Choices: Healthy lifestyle choices, like prioritizing efficient sleeping habits, healthful physical activity, cultural connection to food, and social community can support positive mental health and are all intertwined with food.
Working with our dietitian can help with a range of difficulties including:
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Eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and orthorexia
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Negative relationship with food, like emotional or mindless eating
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Struggles with body dysmorphia & gender dysphoria
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Emotional distress like depression, anger, and anxiety that are related to nutrition and lifestyle
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Lifestyle adjustments related to gender affirming medical treatment
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Chronic illness that can be supported or prevented through diet and lifestyle
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Food intolerance
Creating Trans Wellness
Join Grit for a FREE webinar:
where dietitian Kyle Dodgion, MS, RDN (He/Him) and Grace Skattebo, MA, LPC (She/Her) discuss the intersection of food and nutrition, mental health, and their impact on transitioning healthfully.
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Discover the role a wholesome diet can play during medical gender transition, and how nutrition therapy combined with mental health counseling can bolster your overall health.
Learn more about you can support yourself or a loved one through diet and lifestyle in concert with mental health services. Whether you or your loved one is considering medical transition, or just needs additional support, click here to watch our free webinar and sign up today for your free consultation!
Nutrition and lifestyle for the LGBTQIA+ Community
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According to Ferrero et al., "Sexual and gender minorities have a higher risk for health and nutrition-related disparities across the life course compared to the heterosexual or cisgender population. Experiences of stigmatization and discrimination are associated with diminished mental health quality and psychological distress, which are risk factors for developing various eating disorders."
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Meet Your Dietitian!
Kyle Dodgion, MS, RDN (He/Him)
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I am a registered dietitian who is fiercely devoted to helping people learn from the transformative power of food. I work with individuals from different lived experiences, ages, and levels of health to help manage nutrition related complications of gender affirming therapies, chronic illnesses, disordered eating habits, and harmful body image.
At Grit Therapy, I work with individual teens and adults in Summit County to tailor nutrition therapy to each individuals' unique nutritional needs. I have a special focus on the LGBTQIA+ community, especially gender diverse teens and adults considering or undergoing gender affirming hormone therapy and medical transition.
As a dietitian I believe in weight inclusivity, mindfulness with food, and listening to our body's intuitive hunger and fullness cues. I also know that specific nutrients can help or hinder your health goals. I provide client centered nutrition intervention combined with motivational interviewing (MI), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and behavior modification to identify and treat nutrition and lifestyle issues that affect your emotional and physical health.
Colorado born and raised, I completed my undergraduate degree at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSUD), my Dietetic internship with Aramark in Philadelphia, PA, and my Masters of Science in Human Nutrition from the University of Alabama. When I am not wearing my dietitian hat, you may find me hiking with my husband and golden retriever/malamute mixed dog, Fitz, indoor rock climbing, or soaking in one of Colorado's many hot springs.
Serving the LGBTQIA+ Community​
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At Grit Therapy, we hold a deep commitment to serving the LGBTQIA+ community with informed, ethical, and equitable treatment. We know that those who are LGBTQIA+ have more difficulty accessing physical and mental health care that competently addresses their unique needs. As allies and members of the community, we seek to serve our clients in the following ways:
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Healing body dysmorphia and/or disordered eating related to sexuality and/or gender
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Educating parents, youth, and individuals about the significant changes bodies will experience during gender affirming care
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Creating a nutrition and lifestyle plan that supports gender affirming care
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Offering up-to-date care in more rural communities
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Providing lived experience through practitioners that identify with the community
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Closing the disparity in physical and mental health treatment for gender and sexual minorities
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Begin Working with a Dietitian in Summit County, CO
Talk therapy isn't the only option in supporting your journey to health and well-being. Our team would be honored to support you from our Silverthorne, CO-based therapy practice. We provide a team approach that supports the whole person. To start working with our dietitian, please follow these simple steps:
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Reach out to Grit Therapy using the form below
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Schedule a free phone consultation
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Start your first session with Kyle
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Determine if additional mental health support is needed
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Other Services Offered With Grit Therapy
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Nutrition and lifestyle support isn't the only service offered at our Silverthorne, CO-based therapy practice. Other mental health services include addiction counseling, therapy for depression, anxiety and panic, trauma, EMDR, and eating disorders. We also provide parenting support groups, parent coaching, support for pregnancy and postpartum, LGBTQIA+, & help clients of all ages. This includes teen therapy, family therapy, sliding scale therapy, and older adults. Learn more by visiting our blog or about page!