Meet Liz Carrara | Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian

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

Hi Liz, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Access. Starting an outpatient nutrition counseling practice allowed me to bring eating disorder treatment to my local community. A suburban community that lacked specialists yet had a great need for care. Starting my practice also offered the opportunity to raise awareness amongst other local healthcare professionals and school administrators about the need for eating disorder prevention, education, and treatment.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Liz Carrara Nutrition specializes in the nutritional treatment of eating disorders.

Through the lens of Intuitive Eating principles, this work helps clients reconnect with their internal cues of appetite regulation: hunger, fullness, satiety, and satisfaction. Often, our environment, family dynamics, work schedule, etc. interrupt our ability to attune and trust these cues. Reconnecting and learning to trust your body often takes time, exposure, and help. I am here to provide that guidance!

The more we avoid something we fear, the stronger our fear becomes. It is through supported therapeutic exposure we can begin to re-establish a trusting relationship with food, our body, and ourselves.

Why do we fear some of these foods and not trust our bodies? Often this disconnect is rooted in a deeply complex fear of fatness, obesity, or the falsely connected health complications we perceive as a result of body size. Due to this, I practice using a Health at Every Size approach, where all bodies are welcome & deserve to be treated based on their relationship to food vs. their weight/size.

I am passionate about challenging the influence that the diet industry and fat-phobic medical system bestow on our communities.

Opening my practice required discomfort and risk. Having the courage to take this step was in part due to bearing witness to the bravery my clients show up with each week. They demonstrate a willingness to challenge comfort in order to change and become great.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Carpe Diem! Here is a great day around my area: My practice is located in Ridgewood, NJ, conveniently close to both “the great outdoors” of NJ and also New York City. We would first start with a New Jersey bagel from Bagelicious in Ridgewood (Taylor Ham, Egg, and Cheese Saltpepperketchup). Next stop would be Ramapo Reservation in Mahwah, NJ for a beautiful hike. We would then head into the City to have lunch at Hop Lee restaurant in Chinatown and walk the Brooklyn Bridge. After having a drink or two at Bar 169 in Chinatown, we would walk around SoHo shopping. We would end the day at Kura restaurant on St. Marks with a traditional Omakase dinner.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to my colleagues at Balance Eating Disorder Treatment Center in New York City. Without your mentorship, guidance, and encouragement I wouldn’t have been able to see this within myself.

Website: lizcnutrition.com

Instagram: @lizcnutrition