St. Louis Nutrition Counseling and Intuitive Eating with Shannon Hayes Buescher
We all know mental health and physical health go hand in hand.
They’re totally linked together. And on the mental health side, I see a wide range of how diet and eating can interact with child, adolescent, and young adult anxiety and anger management. Some kids come in with picky eating that’s anxiety driven. Some teens I work with find that controlling their food feels like a way to control their perfectionism - and, of course, it’s an unhealthy coping tool.
That’s why I’m so excited to have interviewed Shannon, a nutrition counselor here in St. Louis.
Shannon works with teens and adults to help them build healthier approaches to eating and diet and body image. She understands that anxiety and eating go hand in hand (which is why we recommend teens and adults with disordered eating meet with a nutritionist and a therapist at the same time!) And I love how passionate she is about teaching people how to make real, healthy choices in their lives.
Learn more about Shannon below!
What kind of treatment do you provide?
I provide nutritional counseling. It’s a much more therapeutic approach to looking at food than what someone may expect with seeing a dietitian. I help people heal from the diet culture and look at the ways they have been impacted with how they use food, exercise and the relationship with body. Intuitive Eating is all about reconnecting to your body and using it as the guide to tell you when, how much and what to eat. It’s connecting into your body to tell you how it wants to move, as well as look at the rules you may be following with food and exercise and uncover the reasons you eat emotionally. It’s very much a mind, body approach. I offer one on one session, both in my office and virtually, online Intuitive Eating groups and workshops.
What ages do you work with?
I work with adolescents to adults. I am very passionate about helping late adolescence/teenagers to feel good about their body and to teach them all the wisdom that it holds.
At around 10 years old, there can be more questioning about body, even though this can happen earlier. It’s so important to set the stage early, on what it means to take care of your body in a way that isn’t diet language (ie don’t eat sugar, you shouldn’t have carbs, no junk food) and to teach kids to listen to their body when its hungry, when its full, when it doesn’t feel well after eating a certain food or amount of food. All of it is data that their body is giving them.
It is also helping the child feel good about their body, especially if they are in a larger body. We come in all shapes and sizes, even though we are told the only acceptable size is thin. With society and maybe the messages at home, a child in a larger body may feel that their body is not okay and is “wrong.” It is bringing it back to educating about the body during adolescence and the pubescent cycle and honoring their body by taking good care of it, instead of punishing it for what it must naturally do.
Often, one or both of the parents may be dieting or has an unhealthy relationship with food and their body, and it trickles down to the child. I help both the parent and child, as well as, anyone at any age that is wanting to heal from dieting and find peace with their body and food relationship.
What can parents expect to leave with after working with you?
When I work with a child, I really help the child to listen to their body and to help them see that they can trust their body. Parents often tell their kids how much food they must have, what they can and cannot eat, or maybe that they need to lose weight. This creates a really unhealthy relationship with food and body. I educate the child about where their body is in the lifecycle of how their body changes and discuss what this typically looks like. It is important that child understands that changes in their body is normal and natural and not wrong. Our society overemphasizes weight gain to be this bad thing with the prevailing weight stigma that exists. Kids that grow up feeling like their body is wrong will always feel that way and often the ones that fall prey to the crash diets, eating disorders, disordered eating and weight yo-yo-ing. I guide parents in how they can support their child. This may be by having certain foods present in the house, their language and dialogue with food and body talk. I help them to feel like they have the tools to support their child in our work together.
Who are your favorite types of clients to work with?
My favorite type of client is one that has been on the diet cycle roller coaster. It’s an honor to be on a person’s journey of healing from food and helping them discover this whole other part of them that dieting has masked. I love seeing the “clicks” that happen when someone realizes how wrong these diet rules are and how their body does in fact know what it is doing. I enjoy working with people that have always been in a larger body and want to find that peace inside themselves. As well as adolescents that are struggling to find a peaceful relationship with food and body. I am often the first person to tell them that their body is okay and have no judgement. There is such a gift in this acceptance and can unfold into this beautiful self-discovery of compassion and approval that they find within.
What happens in the first appointment with you?
In the first appointment, I take an assessment of where someone is with food. I ask a lot of questions about what their behaviors are with food and exercise, as well as belief systems that they may have about these as well. We look at what foods they are avoiding, physical symptoms they are experiencing and discuss why they are following what they are. We discuss goals and what they are wanting to get out of our meetings.
Could you talk a little about your approach and how it plays into your work with people recovering from anxiety?
It’s helpful to know that food is often used when someone has anxiety. A big part of when I am helping someone, is to become aware of when this is happening. I have clients check in with their body and to acknowledge if what they are feeling is actual hunger or anxiety. When someone feels anxious, its often in their chest and stomach, so food can feel like it is soothing that. Working with a therapist that treats anxiety and learning other coping tools is extremely helpful, so there are more tools in the toolbox to use, rather than just turning towards food. I never take the option of food off the table, but rather encourage them to use these other tools first. This can help ride out the wave of the heightened anxiety. The food may still happen, but it is usually a smaller amount of food, than if they just used the food to cope with the anxiety.
I help people be able to become more connected into their body and recognize maybe some of the logistical set ups that might be happening with food, such as waiting too long to eat or not eating enough. It’s all about connecting and learning the messages your body is sending you and eventually learning to trust your body. This trust can alleviate some of the anxiety that gets created with weight and food choices.
What do you wish people knew about getting treatment for anxiety and disordered eating?
That it is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself. You do not need to live in turmoil with your anxiety or with food and your body. There are so many tools that you can be shown that work and help you to heal and regain all that the anxiety and disordered eating/dieting has taken away from you. You find you in the process. And discover so many strengths, interests and parts of you. Treating both anxiety and disordered eating/dieting shows you how life can truly be versus wearing the dark cloak that they both can wear.
Why did you choose to become a dietitian in St. Louis?
I moved to St. Louis, from Upstate New York where I grew up and completed my undergrad work for my dietetic internship and Master’s degree at Saint Louis University in 2000. After my internship in 2001, I worked at gym in Frontenac where I did personal training and nutritional counseling. I received my Masters in Sports Nutrition and always envisioned working with athletes, being a former high school and collegiate athlete myself. At the gym, I saw a lot of the standard weight loss clients, some sports nutrition, but also saw many female athletes that had eating disorders. The couple that owned the gym I was working at, were both registered dietitians and the wife saw people that struggled with eating disorders. She really coached me on how to work with this population. I stayed with them for a little over four years, and then was asked to join McCallum Place in 2004, an eating disorder center here, in St. Louis. In conjunction with working at McCallum Place, I also opened my private practice. I stayed at the eating disorder center for a little over 2 years and left to pursue my private practice full time and continue that today. I’ve worked with eating disordered clients for the past 17 years. In 2016, I became a certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, being one of two that holds this certification and training in the St. Louis area. This is what I am now specializing my practice in and actively pursuing a more public figure role with media appearances, articles and lectures on Intuitive Eating and the harm that the diet culture causes on the relationship with food and body.
How can people learn more and contact you?
They can go to my website www.hayesnutrition.com and join my newsletter. They can also follow me on Facebook, under Hayes Nutrition, where I do weekly Lives, talking all about Intuitive Eating and fostering a healthy, kinder relationship with food. I am also on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Share one fun fact about you that most people don’t know.
I am a twin (fraternal)!
Social Media links:
LinkedIn: Shannon Buescher
Curious to learn more about anxiety and nutrition? You can reach out to Compassionate Counseling St. Louis right here on our website. We provide anxiety counseling for children, teens, and college students. And during our consult, if we’re not the best fit for your needs, we want to connect you with someone awesome - like Shannon! We provide counseling and therapy in Clayton, Missouri.