Credentials: RD, PhD Language Spoken: English Location: Virtually across Ontario
Clients sometimes feel that mainstream eating disorder treatment approaches don’t align with their unique intersectional identity (e.g. being a person of colour AND an immigrant). This can make it difficult to build trust in the therapeutic relationship and for the client to feel hopeful in finding a way forward.
As a registered dietitian I know not everything can be learned from a textbook or even the current research evidence available. Instead, I lead with a person-centred and holistic approach throughout the nutrition care process. I meet clients where they are and use their identities and lived experiences to inform and adapt evidence-based methods.
I aim to create a brave space where folks feel empowered to explore and overcome the deeper challenges related to their relationship with food and body image.
Adults, Parents, Families
Cultural Identity: I am interested in the influence of our cultural identity on our relationship with food and body image. Growing up in the South Asian Canadian community I felt that my cultural foods weren’t “healthy” and that it was normal for friends, family, and even strangers to comment on my weight and appearance. A lot of folks can relate to this, and I have spent years working to understand this phenomenon better, I aim to help clients explore and overcome similar challenges.
Diet Culture: Before becoming a registered dietitian I worked in the dietary supplement industry, which allowed me to see the inner workings of a major driving force behind diet culture that is so entrenched in our society. I aim to help clients recognize and overcome the harmful messages they may have internalized to help improve their relationship with food and body image.
Parenting: As a father who also works in the family nutrition space, I am fascinated by the complex familial dynamics influencing our children’s eating habits. I believe this is an important time window where the cycle of Intergenerational food and body image trauma can be broken or passed on. I strive to create a safe space to help parents not only explore and unpack their own story but to also put strategies in place in their role as parents.
The Balanced Practice has a supportive and dedicated multi-disciplinary team with diverse lived and professional experiences that ultimately serve to provide the best care for clients.
Sarthak is a Registered Dietitian and a graduate from the Applied Human Nutrition program at the University of Guelph. He completed his dietetic internship through the Hamilton Health Sciences program with Brescia University College. Sarthak also has research experience as he is a graduate from McMaster University with a Master’s in nutrition and aging, and a Doctorate in nutrition and exercise physiology from the University of Guelph. Over the past four years, Sarthak has worked with various eating disorder organizations including Body Brave, Sheena’s Place, and the National Eating Disorder Information Center (NEDIC) to provide more accessible and culturally-safe eating disorder care to members of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) community.
Call The Balanced Practice at (613) 695-0306 to set up an appointment with Sarthak today!
We offer different services in order to meet you exactly where you are at and provide you with the most appropriate level of support to reach your goals (no one-size-fits-all here). Our team works closely together and with other healthcare professionals to make sure we can provide you with the very best care.
Here at The Balanced Practice, we get it. We believe that you deserve more joy, more connection, and more fulfillment. After all, life is meant to be experienced fully (and not spent feeling stuck in our own heads). And we want to help, our team is available during the day and into the evening!
