Kristina Isaac, RD

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Camrose, AB
Kristina Isaac, RD

Nutrition support for women recovering from an eating disorder, disordered eating, chronic dieting, or simply desiring a more peaceful relationship with food.

11/19/2025

Contrary to what we may hear these days, our bodies were made to use carbs.
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Now, the brokenness of our world and bodies introduces all kinds of nuance and special circumstances. But it doesn't change the fact that carbs were created good and our bodies were designed to use them.
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I know there are a million 'buts'... but lets sit with this truth for a bit first.
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11/06/2025

I've been thinking about this phrase a lot lately -

***"Not now" doesn't mean "not ever."***

I think we could find a way to apply it to every area of life. But lets chat about exercise.
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I just ran my first half marathon distance. 14 years ago, exercise was a hard no. I was allowed to walk to and from classes or go on a leisurly walk, but anything structured just didn't work with €D recovery. Exercise served my €D instead of serving my body, and that's not how it's supposed to go. I needed a full break in order to heal.
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But, just because it was a 'no' in that season, didn't mean it would be a 'no' forever. If you find yourself in this place, know that this is true for you too. A break from intentional exercise could be the healthiest thing for you. "Not now" doesn't mean "not ever".
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For the record, I'm all about finding ways to incorporate movement into recovery. But that movement needs to serve you - it can't be a means of manipulating your body or compensation for eating.
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(And for those of you wondering where the final 0.05 km is - after 19 weeks of training I still didnt realize a half is 21.1 🤦🏼‍♀️ So I walked the last 0.05 😆).
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10/29/2025

There's no right answer here, but there is one that comes with having a peaceful relationship with food.
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If you find yourself answering "a", "b", or "c," getting to "d" doesn't happen overnight. But it can happen as you:

🍬 learn to nourish your body (aka. eating enough),

🍭leave dichotomous thinking behind (e.g. "good food" and "bad food"), and

🍬practice unconditional permission to eat alongside gentle nutrition.

And if all that sounds confusing yet intriguing, we should chat 😉
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10/22/2025

It is extremely difficult (impossible?) to renew an undernourished mind. I think we all want to change how we think about food before we change how we eat. But in the case of restrictive eating patterns (even if that ends in a binge), changing how we eat will pay huge dividends in changing how you think about food.
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I know my little diagram is pretty complex, so let me break it down 😉 When it comes to having a renewed mind and a nourished body, its a positive feedback loop. Renourishment supports renewing your mind according to Gods truth. And a renewed mind supports the hard work of challenging restrictive habits and patterns of eating so that you are living in line with His truth about who you are and his good gift of food.
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disorder recovery

10/15/2025

Reflecting on my own recovery, seeing what other recovered or "normal" eaters ate was SO helpful. It gave me permission to explore food that was satisfying and tasty. It gave me ideas to expand variety. And it reminded me that I wasn't alone - there were other women out there enjoying a turkey sandwich for lunch and ice cream for dessert.
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So here are a few meals and snacks from the last little bit. Some were so tasty. Some were 'meh.' All of them fuelled my body. (Now if I could only remember to take the picture before I eat, these could happen more often 😉).
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10/01/2025

And this is true for all €Ds - AN, BN, BED, and EDNOS.
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So why use BMI as part of the defining characteristics or diagnosis? Well, it can be an indicator of severity (but not always), meeting diagnostic criteria can be a requirement for insurance providers (in the US, not Canada), and it can help providers monitor recovery.
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BUT there are a whole host of other symptoms aside from weight! If your weight doesn't fit the image attached to a certain disorder, your situation is no less serious.
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If you are preoccupied with food, if how you feel in your body affects how you eat (or vice versa), if you are experiencing guilt and shame when eating - seek help. Open up to a trusted friend or mentor. Find a healthcare provider who understands €Ds.
But don't dismiss your struggles based on your weight. 💜
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09/24/2025

May I encourage you to soak in these words for a minute? (Romans 12:1-2)
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God's word is our greatest defense against the lies of our enemy. Lies such as:
• If you weighed less, you'd be happier.
• You're weak for eating 'x' food
• You'll never be free from constantly thinking and worrying about food.
These are from him - the one who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.
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As Christians, we have this incredible gift, this incredible tool at our disposal. We have God's word, which renews our minds in line with his good and acceptable and perfect will.
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So when you despair that you will never be free, when the tapes of guilt, shame, fear, and self-deprecation play over and over in your mind, remember:
• God created man in his own image... male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27)
• Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. (Matt. 7:7)
• ...we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15)
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Feast on God's truth. Ask, seek, knock. Take your eyes off yourself and place them on your faithful Father who will certainly finish the good work He began.
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May he renew your mind according to His goodness, acceptable, and perfect will.
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09/12/2025

We have so much information at our fingertips. Which means we all know a lot.
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I love this line from the Intuitive Eating book - "You cannot have an experience through knowledge; rather you need to go through it, bite by bite."
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But knowledge translation is hard and uncomfortable. It means understanding your specific struggles, knowing your vulnerabilities, the functions of your €D, and having clear, manageable, attainable, goals. They're often small, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other goals.
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And it usually means letting someone in. Finding someone to keep you accountable, to hear your fears, to check in on you.
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But you can get there, as long as you take that first bite and keep going one bite at a time.
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08/27/2025

Can I take a couple of minutes to make a case for variety at each meal? I was doing some continuing ed a couple of months ago and this has been niggling in my brain every since.
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Hunger, fullness, and appetite are complex! I think there's this idea that if we just get the right number of calories and make sure we frontload with protein and fiber, we should walk away from each meal satisfied and ready to go for the next 6 hours. Or we think that maybe we can trick our bodies with fewer calories if we focus exclusively on protein and fiber 😏
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But, oh my, is there ever a lot going on.
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First, protein and fiber are great! Please do eat them and enjoy. But, feeling full doesn't always translate to feeling satisfied. AND different nutrients impact fullness in different ways.
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A couple of examples:

1. You can be full, but because you didn't let yourself eat what you really wanted to at a meal (I.e. extra salad instead of garlic bread with your spaghetti), you're not satisfied.

2. The hormones CCK and PYY are both satiety (fullness) hormones. They both signal to your body that you're full. However, CCK responds to protein and fat, while PYY is related to overall caloric intake. It's not just a matter of eating enough, AND it's not just a matter of eating enough protein.

3. NPY is a hormone that influences our drive to eat carbohydrates. NPY levels are higher in the morning after our nighttime "fast".
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What do we do with this? Variety. Eating a variety of foods we enjoy and that nourish us. It's eating from each macronutrient group at each meal. It's including that piece of chocolate as part of variety in your meal. It's eating ENOUGH of a VARIETY of foods. Both are important.
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P.S. 6 hours is a very long time to go between meals/snacks. Try every 3-4 hours and no longer than 5 hours. That one's for free 😉
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08/18/2025

So many people struggle with their relationship with food -- often spilling into their relationship with fitness/exercise and their body. Research proves that dieting does not work, in fact, yo-yo dieting is proven to be one of the most harmful things we can do to our body. Maybe it's time to book a session with Kris Isaac, our Registered Dietitian. With a non-diet approach, she will help you move towards healing your relationship with food. Call the office to book a session, or do a free 15 minute consult to see if Kris is a good fit for you. Call 780-487-3456 or check out her bio on our website: https://freshhope.ca/edmonton-counselors/

08/15/2025

We had 24 hours, so we packed our tent and did a scramble. And it was so good.
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(I'd highly recommend packing Subway for a mountain top picnic 😋)

07/30/2025

This one's a little lengthy, so stick with me if you'd like :) But it's a topic that has been, and will continue, to be on my mind. Maybe it's on yours too.

Address

Rng Road 203
Camrose, AB
T0B3L0

Website

https://kristinaisaacrd.com/, https://freshhope.ca/services/eating-disorders/, https://l.bttr.to/7JYWr

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