Meet David Wiss | Registered Dietitian Nutritionist & Mental Health Scientist

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Wiss and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have worked clinically with people for 11 years through my private practice, Nutrition in Recovery. It became obvious that I developed a niche for helping people with mental health challenges, such as disordered eating, addiction, anxiety, trauma, and ADHD. I built the Wise Mind Nutrition app to help people use nutrition and lifestyle medicine to improve their mental health. I wanted to incorporate a food log that does not rely on calories and macronutrients, a program that includes modules, assignments, additional reading, recipes, etc, and a feature where users can connect with their practitioner, coach, friends, or family. The point of the app is to make my services available at a very low cost and reach more people.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Most nutrition information is centered around dieting and using calories and macronutrients in a math-centric approach. Wise Mind Nutrition is different because we emphasize the qualitative components of food, such as the degree of processing, colors present, and internal cues of hunger and fullness. Additionally, the nutrition work aims to improve mental health rather than biomedical outcomes. It has been an uphill battle because most people are unaware of food’s impact on mood and brain health. Therefore, the challenges have been creating the paradigm shift to educate the public about nutritional psychiatry and psychology. I have learned that research findings take a long time to integrate into popular narratives. I have also learned that healthcare reform and changing norms can take decades. I want the world to know that nutrition is more than fitness and appearance. I have witnessed many people transform their mental health using nutritional approaches, and this is a viable approach to improving quality of life that is often overlooked, partially because it often takes a while to notice the difference. Be patient!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In Los Angeles, I would start by visiting Malibu’s beach. We would eat seafood in Malibu and stay at an AirBnB in Topanga Canyon. It would be imperative to visit Erewhon in the Pacific Palisades and stock up on the finest groceries one can buy. The following day, we would visit the Sports Club LA (Equinox) on the west side and go into the cold plunge before working out and getting massages. The next day, we would find a hike in Malibu and spend the day at the AirBnB, playing with the kids. From there, we would then order food and spend the evening by the outside fireplace. After three days of relaxing, visiting Catalina Island so the kids could have an adventure would be fun. After returning, we would switch to an AirBnB in Silverlake, attend a kundalini yoga class in the morning, explore the east side of LA for the final two days, and hit downtown LA on the final night for a live show.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to Shoutout Kim Dennis, MD, co-founder and chief medical officer of SunCloud Health. I have worked closely with Dr. Dennis on creating integrated treatment approaches for individuals with co-occurring eating and substance use disorders, along with other commonly co-morbid conditions such as mood disorders and trauma. SunCloud Health is a treatment facility based out of Chicago, IL that I speak highly of.

Website: https://wisemindnutrition.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdavidwiss

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdavidwiss/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmf_KiCMK03wpCEfUpnLig

Other: https://www.nutritioninrecovery.com/

Image Credits
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