My Story
For most of my life, my relationship with food was rocky to say the least. I was diagnosed with an eating disorder at a really young age (we’re talking 7-8 years old) and did not have access to treatment for financial reasons.
Over the next decade, I struggled in silence, alternating between severe restriction and over-exercising in the form of fad dieting AND binging on food in the secret of my room.
I was encouraged by my clinicians, family, and peers to continue engaging in harmful behaviors in the name of weight loss and “health”.
As time went on, I learned to despise my body, because I believed it was the cause of the pain and trauma I continued to experience.
It took another decade to heal and unlearn all of the fatphobic, diet-culture BS I had been taught in my adolescence. In college, I finally received treatment to address my eating disorder and body image concerns.
It took a TON of patience and self-compassion, but I slowly learned I deserved to nurture and nourish my body. I learned to trust myself as the expert of my body and to advocate for my needs (especially in the health care system).
And now it is my passion to do the same for those struggling with food and body image concerns. I became a dietitian, because I want to be that one clinician who actually believes you- who treats you as the expert of your body.
I became a dietitian, because I truly believe that no matter your weight, you deserve to have a peaceful, compassionate relationship with food and your body.
My Philosophy
You Are the Expert of Your Body
Lived experience matters! I mean, you’ve been living in your body since birth- who is going to be the better expert other than you?! I hear too often from my clients that their clinicians doubt or make assumptions about their behaviors based on their appearance. OR they encourage disordered eating behaviors in the “name of health”. Instead, I truly value creating a client-centered relationship with you! Your opinions, values, and experience matter in the approach we take in healing your relationship with food and your body image.
You Are More Than Your Weight
Let’s be honest- our society is pretty freaking fatphobic. SO MUCH VALUE is placed on the number on the scale and on the tag in your jeans. If you do not fit into the “social norms” of size and beauty, you are met with the pain and trauma associated with weight stigma and discrimination. Overtime, you may even internalize these external beliefs, seeing weight loss as your only path to health and happiness. I truly believe you are more than your weight. Together, we will work to redefine your definition of health, challenge internalized fatphobic beliefs, and transform the way you speak to and treat your body.
You Deserve to Be Treated with Compassion, Empathy, Dignity, and Respect
The intersectionality of your different identities (unfortunately) may have negatively impacted the level of care you received in the past and even now. At my practice- no matter your weight, disability, race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or religion- you deserve treatment that encompasses the values of compassion, empathy, dignity, and respect. I do my best to create a space that allows you to feel safe, seen, and heard.
What I Don't Do
Assist With Weight Loss
The desire to lose weight is not a bad or shameful desire. It honestly makes sense considering how AWFUL people in fat bodies are treated. They are ridiculed, stigmatized, and bullied for the size of their body. If this has been your experience, it seems logical to want to further avoid this pain and trauma by losing weight.
There are a couple of reasons why I do not assist with weight loss. The first being, there isn’t great research that demonstrates a strategy for sustainable weight loss (meaning the weight is kept off) beyond five years and does not further harm your relationship with food. For this reason, I do not believe it is ethical to accept money for something that is not sustainable and may cause harm to you.
The second being- focusing on weight loss as the primary goal tends to negate the benefits of newly established health behaviors. For example, say you are sleeping more, coping with stress using movement or self-care, and eating more fruits and veggies. As a result, you are feeling more energized, stronger, and happier. If the scale reflects weight gain, you may believe you have failed despite feeling more energized, stronger, and happier. Over time, continuous disappointment by the scale can decrease your confidence and sense of empowerment in making behavior changes that can positively improve your quality of life while nurturing your relationship with food.
Create Meal Plans
Food is such a personal thing. There are many reasons why you may choose to eat certain foods- culture, religion, taste preferences- just to name a few. If I were to make a meal plan for you, even with these factors in mind, it still may not meet your needs or feel doable for you.
Plus, as much fun as I am to work with, I am pretty sure you do not want to work with me forever. Rather than providing a meal plan, I will teach you the skills needed to create satisfying meals and snacks that meet your unique needs, so you will have the confidence to do so on your own in the future.
About Me
Hiya! My name is Anna Jones (she/her)- I am a fat-positive, non-diet registered dietitian nutritionist whose mission is to change the way we nurture and nourish our bodies.
I have spent my entire life in a fat body and with that have been on a diet for the majority of that time. No matter how hard I tried, how hard I worked, I could not seem to lose weight. Instead, all I seemed to gain was a never ending list of food rules, obsessive thoughts about what and how much I was eating, and an overwhelming guilt that destroyed my self-esteem.
I couldn’t help but think- there has to be another way. Flash forward a Master’s degree and an internship- I became that other way!
Soon after becoming a dietitian, I accepted a position at a brand new bariatric clinic. I knew this patient population was at a particularly high risk for developing an eating disorder and wanted to take a different approach to nutrition therapy.
I used intuitive eating as inspiration by reducing the restrictiveness of the bariatric diet and helping patients heal their relationship with food prior to surgery.
In early 2020, I was furloughed from my position due to the pandemic. Although I was initially devastated, I decided to use this as an opportunity to follow my dream of starting my own private practice and Musings of the Witty Avocado, LLC was born! Since then, I have been using an intuitive eating and Health at Every Size® approach to help my clients find peace with food and their bodies (and loving every minute of it!).
My passion for this work extends outside of my private practice. I am currently on the Weight Inclusive Initiative Committee and DEI Board to create learning tools to train future dietitians the weight-inclusive, non-diet approach. Our goal is to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) harm from weight stigma in nutrition therapy.
When I am not working, you can find me hiking or playing video games with my partner, snuggling our cat Pumpkin on the couch while reading a book, creating some form of art, or attempting to teach myself how to sew clothes (it’s a work in progress). I love binging both science fiction and fantasy movies and TV shows (Christopher Eccleston is the BEST Doctor). The way I express myself is by covering my body in as much color as possible through my clothes and makeup.
Credentials and Involvement
- Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Master of Public Health in Nutritional Sciences from University of Michigan
- 1200-hour Dietetic Internship through Univeristy of Michigan School of Public Health
- President and President-Elect of Southeastern Michigan Dietetic Association (2019-2021)
- Weight Inclusive Toolkit Initiative and DEI Board (2021-present)
