Nicole Eikenberry, MS, RDN
About
Pronouns: she/her
Occupation and Specialty: Dietitian
Location (Clinic/hospital): Mindful Food & Motion, LLC
Location (City): Office is located in St. Paul. Virtual appointments available for people in MN, WI, and ND.
Offers Telehealth: Yes
Contact Information: https://www.mindfulfoodandmotion.com; nicole@mindfulfoodandmotion.com; (651) 383-5997
Bio: Nicole is a weight-inclusive practitioner who specializes in working alongside people to help heal their relationship with food, eating, body, and self. She has been a registered dietitian for 25 years and has never stopped learning and evolving. She incorporates skills learned as a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Certified Body Trust Specialist, and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, as well as countless hours training in various therapeutic approaches, trauma-sensitivity, neurodiversity, social justice and body liberation, and eating disorder treatment to support people where they're at and together build awareness, perspective, increased choice and agency toward individualized and self-determined well-being.
Approach to care
What does it look like for you to provide care to patients in larger bodies? How is, or isn’t, your approach different from how you care for patients in smaller bodies? If you work with children, how is or isn’t your approach different when working with children?
I recognize and name that I have not had the experience of living in this world in a fat body. Even if I did, I wouldn't assume that I knew someone else's experience, and I don't assume I know a thin person's experience either. So I listen. I am honored to hear each person's lived experience, their body story, and the felt impact of it all and how that influences current thoughts and behaviors around food, eating, body, movement, and self. It's not always so easy to talk about and folks have different comfort levels, language, and timelines that guide our way. I have sought out learning opportunities from people of many sizes, particularly larger bodies, as well as other intersecting identities such as queer, trans, BIPOC, and neurodiverse, to open my eyes and mind to the social justice aspects that I have not learned first hand because of my privilege. That perspective can be included in our work and potentially offer options for proceeding for clients that may be more true and respectful than the typical societal, cultural, or capitalistic norms they have experienced and potentially harmed by. Although I will sometimes work with older teens, I do not work with children. Often the motivation for someone seeking this work is to offer a different experience for their own children than they themselves had growing up.
What is your perspective on how weight is or is not related to health?
There are as many definitions of "health" and motivations toward (and resistance to) as there are people, so this is question is as complicated and relative as each individual. Generally, both weight and "health" are less in our "control" than we may wish or are led to believe. One cannot ascertain someone else's "health" by looking at them, weighing, or calculating a BMI. Weight stigma is real and harms bodies of all sizes, but significantly and particularly larger ones. Clinically, sudden or/and significant weight changes (either down or up) can potentially be indicative of a biological process and can be considered as data that may or may not warrant further investigation. It is interesting how much our thoughts may vary vastly and momentarily about our relatively stable-weighted and shaped bodies; and how entwined each person's ideas of eating, health, and worth are with their own weight and in comparison to others. This quite often impacts "health".
Finish this sentence: “Fat people are…”
people.
How do you, your clinic, and the healthcare system you work in use BMI (i.e BMI cutoffs for accessing certain services, BMI on charts and printouts, etc)? Is this flexible?
I don't calculate, use, nor support the use of the BMI; however my clients often are subject to judgments, quality of life impacts, and medical care decisions based on their BMI.
If a patient declines to be weighed, how do you and/or your staff proceed?
I don't weigh people.
If a patient declines to discuss weight loss, nutrition, and/or exercise, how do you proceed?
Clients are always in choice as to when or if we discuss anything. As a private practice out-patient dietitian, my services are opted into, and can be declined at any time without penalty. These topics are generally understood to be part of the focus of our work, as described by my website and upon meeting, but everyone has their own preferences, and I honor client autonomy as well as I can, within personal and professional safety and ethics. Resistance is often wise and worthy of exploration if and when someone is ready to. I want to make sure clients have adequate and aligned support outside of my care if needed or desired.
What does the physical accessibility of your office space look like? What kinds of accommodations are present for people in larger bodies? Are there things you wish were in place that are currently not?
I am able to meet with people virtually, but if in-person is preferred, my office is located in a small building with off-street parking in St.Paul. There is one flight of stairs (no elevator) to get to my regular office. I have access to private ground-level space if needed. My office couch is firmly supportive of higher weights. I am unfortunately limited in my ability to offer aligned support with various needs including but not limited to language, sight, hearing, mobility, cognition, age, and to some degree finances.
What do you do to allow fat people to feel comfortable and welcome in your office?
(See above regarding space.) I hope that I am able to communicate (verbally, non-verbally, and through my website/online presence and any correspondence) that I am welcoming and interested in fat people's lives and well-being. I have learned and evolved a lot in the years of doing this work, and I think there is a certain level of my own comfort with both common as well as unique experiences that my clients intuit and eventually trust that I can handle with openness and compassion. I also hope they trust I have a true shared interest in their embodiment and empowerment in thoughtfully and confidently shaping a more liberated future, both individually and collectively, for this messed up beautiful world of ours.
If you’d like to use this space to talk about any identities (gender, race, size, sexuality, etc.) you hold and how this relates to your care, please do so.
I am a thin, white, divorced, middle-class, cis-het, well-educated, able-bodied and athletic, neurodiverse, home-owning, parent of two college-attending adults, neurodiverse woman in her 50's who loves her work although struggles to sit still and find balance while also devoting time and energy to: family, friends, keeping house and simply getting by; and passions like reading, riding bikes, and playing bass.