Katherine Metzelaar MSN, RDN, CD (she/her)

“There is something about the way that Katherine works with you that gets straight to your core. It’s uncanny (in the best way). She has a way of listening deeply and providing space for you, then reflecting back to you in the most clear, helpful way. She will ask follow up questions to help you “get curious” and find other ways to look at experiences, memories or challenge the “truths” you may have accepted in the past, but are now ready to unlearn. There were multiple times where I would describe an experience or memory, and then she would help me call out a feeling that I couldn’t find on my own, but it matched the memory or experience so perfectly. Often the feeling was so spot on it was like she could help me see something that I had been blocked from seeing before - but now I could.I found a lot of relief in the space she provided for me to explore my experience, my raw emotions and be fully validated in them.

We all have so much to unlearn after what society has taught us about our bodies, food, the space we take up. Anyone who is curious about unlearning the limiting beliefs we’ve been taught, and learning how to find joy and sureness and peace in who they truly are and what they want at their core can benefit from working with Katherine!

She always provided a safe space where I could really go deep if I chose - or stay more surface level on days that I needed that. There was never any judgement for all of the big feelings I had, only someone to hear me, guide me closer to finding my truth in this confusing and misguided world, and reaffirm whatever my truth might be in that moment.
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“I scheduled an initial visit with Katherine to help me have less anxiety around what my body looked like, have less confusion around food, and overall feel better. I had been struggling with body image, restricted eating, over exercise, and negative self talk since I was a child. I was nervous and skeptical about talking to anyone about what I was experiencing.

Working with Katherine changed my perspective, and I wish I would have known about Katherine sooner! Katherine is so great at meeting you where you are at and taking you through the healing process at a pace that I feel promotes real changes that can be felt on a daily basis and maintained. She helped me find clarity in how I want feel, and what I want to experience with the relationship between my body, food, information around food, and my relationship with others. She help me make changes that I did not think could be changed.

Katherine truly cares, and has helped me make so many positive changes in my life. I would highly recommend her to anyone that is looking for more happiness and freedom in their life.”

“I have struggled with body issues, dieting and food for the majority of my life. The approach Katherine took was unlike anything else I have tried before. She helped me to appreciate my body and acknowledge all the things that it is capable of doing. My relationship with food has also changed through our work and I no longer feel like I am at war with food. I have started to enjoy cooking and look at food now as fuel instead of something scary. Katherine helped me to change my perspectives around health and she did it with a mixture of kindness, empathy and education. I am very grateful for my work with Katherine and I am so proud of my relationship with my body and food now. To change my thoughts I needed the science and emotional intelligence Katherine provided.”

““I learned that our bodies can be used and appreciated for so much for than just “looking hot/thin/fit” and trying to make ourselves smaller. I learned that most of the time when we are struggling with body image there is something deeper there, and it is worth exploring what is bothering us internally/emotionally, rather than focusing on the way we look. I now know that my time and energy can be used for SO much more than being micro-focused on working out and eating “clean”. As women (or any person struggling with this, but women in particular) we are targeted to put so much focus on our bodies and looks, rather than our careers or personal growth, and it can really set us back. Taking back that time I am sure will be instrumental in my career/personal relationships. Another key takeaway I had was to challenge old narratives. Just because we have always talked to ourselves in a certain way or ate/looked/moved our bodies in one way does not mean it needs to continue that way. Being able to challenge my own thoughts and notions was something I never thought to do, and it has definitely humbled and empowered me to think bigger.” ”

“There’s so much freedom in preparing for a major even like this wedding and not having to think about shrinking my body for it! I know it wouldn’t have been the same had the wedding happened last fall before working with Katherine. I even canceled my gym membership a few weeks ago after realizing that I had (happily not gone in 6 months. It’s so exciting to see how far I’ve come!”

“I was fortunate to find Katherine at the very beginning of my recovery, a time when I most needed someone with her compassionate and kind presence. I was very raw, overwhelmed, and quite frankly, felt more than a bit unstrung.Working with Katherine was like getting a self-compassion booster; I was able to see and hold my painful history with food in a whole new way, understanding that it was the most intelligent, rational thing I was capable of doing at the time.One of the biggest insights I experienced through our work together was that my behavior with food was driven by anxiety, and beneath the anxiety was a feeling that I did not want or feel able to face. Both the anxiety and the food were the distraction from something more painful. The ongoing obsession triggered by restriction and dieting was also a distraction from feeling. I can hardly overstate how pivotal this has been in my recovery. What is unique about Katherine is the depth to which she listens. I was able to feel and acknowledge things in our sessions that I had never (consciously) felt or acknowledged before. I believe that is the hallmark of a healer; their presence and capacity to be with facilitates healing. This is such a gift in the realm of healing and growth related to disordered eating and other struggles with food and body image. This kind of healing is the gift of working with Katherine.
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“Katherine’s approach towards thinking about the individual as a whole is relevant regardless of whether or not you have experience with eating disorders. She is very welcoming and easy to talk to; I felt comfortable with her from day one. With the pressures and external messages constantly bombarding us about food and body image, seeing Katherine allows me to explore both the surface-level messages I want to reject as well as deeply internalized unhealthy messages that I didn’t even realize exist. It’s so refreshing to regularly talk to an expert like Katherine who can help quell my anxieties, and it is calming throughout the week to know that I can rely on my regular sessions with her to discuss any moments of negativity with food and body image. Katherine is very wholistic in her practice. She gives you space to explore your struggles not only through the lens of food and body image, but through the lens of all the events happening in your life, how they might impact your emotional state, and therefore how they might impact your eating habits or thoughts around body image. This allows us to address food alongside deeper emotional issues together rather than just putting a “bandaid” over any deeper struggles by solely trying to “fix” surface level patterns. This approach feels essential to my journey, and I am so grateful that Katherine encourages me to think this way.”

“From my time with Katherine I learned to recognize and identify my self-deprecating thoughts associated with food. Through her facilitation of reflective questions, I came to my own realization that my restrictive behaviors were merely a distraction from processing emotions. I connected with Katherine in hopes of regaining the skills to eat intuitively again, and realized I had a lot of work to do in shifting my paradigm to find the emotional headspace for a balanced approach to well-being.”