Meet Anna Wilke, Ms, Rd, Ld | Registered Dietitian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anna Wilke, Ms, Rd, Ld and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started my business to help people have a healthy relationship with food and use nutrition to feel their best. In my years as a registered dietitian (RD), I identified two main problems that I believed I could help people solve.

1. While working in clinical nutrition for several years, I noticed a gap in the care that patients are receiving. When people receive a medical diagnosis that requires diet change, they often are not given all the nutrition education and tools they need to make that change. What little nutrition help they get typically comes from their doctor, not a registered dietitian. Doctors are obviously essential in our healthcare system, but they receive very little education in nutrition in medical school. This often leads to overly restrictive eating patterns and difficulty managing health conditions. It can feel overwhelming and disappointing to patients, and many people feel like they will never be able to enjoy their favorite foods again.

2. In my time as a RD, I have been asked for nutrition advice more times than I can count. Whether it was friends, family, or someone I just met, everyone wanted to know what they needed to be doing to improve their nutrition. I found that most people thought that they needed to be on a diet, cut out specific foods, or follow other restrictive eating patterns in order to be healthy, and that is not the case. Restrictive dieting is actually the number one predictor of weight gain and 95% of diets fail. When my friends and family (and strangers) heard this they were somewhat discouraged, and honestly I don’t blame them, because if all the things we are told will make us healthy actually fail, what are we supposed to do? I frequently found myself discussing intuitive eating and how we can nourish ourselves well without restriction.

I decided to start my business to address these two problems. I aim to uncomplicate nutrition for my clients in both individual and group settings. For those who need to manage a medical condition, I provide one-on-one medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling through an intuitive eating lens. I help my clients manage their health conditions without feeling confused or restricted. For those who want to ditch dieting for good and learn to nourish themselves well, I created The Food Freedom Club (FFC). The Food Freedom Club is a 9 week group nutrition counseling program to teach my clients everything they need to know about nutrition and how to make it work for them.

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?
What I am most proud of in my nutrition practice is the feeling of freedom that my clients experience after working with me. I have had dozens of clients share that they physically feel better after working together. More importantly, they feel a great sense of relief after healing their relationship with food – they have made peace with food and understand that authentic nutrition is eating what you want AND what you need.

One of the most important parts of my nutrition philosophy is that all foods fit into a healthy diet. I teach all of my clients that there are no foods that are off limits and that they can actually be more healthy, both physically and mentally, when they allow themselves access to all foods. You’ve probably heard the popular concept that food is fuel for the body and I agree that a nourishing diet is important to support our energy and our health. I also believe that food is so much more than just fuel. Food is also a way to connect with others, celebrate, and remember where we come from. When we label foods as “good” or “bad”, or when we are hyper-focused on losing weight it creates unnecessary stress around eating and can suck the joy out of food.

There have absolutely been challenges throughout the process of starting my business and there will continue to be. I am by no means an expert on starting and running a business but I know I am further along and better off than I would have been if I waited until I felt like an expert to start. At no point during my education to become a registered dietitian was I taught anything about running a business, but I am so fortunate to have supportive family and friends surrounding me that have helped me learn throughout this process.

I am so excited to continue to help my clients ditch dieting for good, heal their relationship with food, and experience food freedom whether they are managing a medical condition or simply want to feel their best! I look forward to continuing to grow my business to make my process accessible to more people!

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.
Most of my recommendations are food related, but what else would you expect from a dietitian? I love taking my friends to try my favorite restaurants and coffee shops. Atlanta has so many of both so it is hard to choose! When I have friends in town I try to take them to one restaurant I love and one new place. Some of my go-to restaurants are St. Cecelia, Little Sparrow, Le Bilboquet, Little Rey, The Chastain, and Fellow’s Cafe – they never let me down. One of my favorite things to take people to do is exploring all the different neighborhoods around the city. I love to walk in shops, try new neighborhood restaurants and we almost always find a coffee shop to try. My go-to coffee shop is Brash, but I have been loving Coffeeman recently too!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am very fortunate to have many friends and family members who have supported me through the process of starting my own business, so many that it would take hours to list each one. It may be cliche, but the people who deserve the most credit are my parents, Scott and Kim Wilke.

My parents have always been supportive of my education and career. They encouraged me as I created my own business and launched my programs. In fact, my dad was way ahead of me and mentioned the idea of starting a business years before I even considered it. They have truly been there every step of the way, from proofreading my website and brainstorming names for my programs, to helping me advertise. This absolutely would not have been possible without them!

Website: https://annawilkerd.com

Instagram: @annawilkerd

Facebook: Anna Wilke RD