Mendinground takes an approach to nutrition that is deeply rooted in understanding and appreciating food as more than just sustenance. We are centered around the principles of intuitive eating, emerged from our own experiences with the cultural and body image challenges we face within our own culture.
We aim to create a sanctuary for individuals from all backgrounds to explore their relationship with food without the burden of judgment. Our practice brings a rich blend of expertise as Registered Dietitian Nutritionists and a nuanced understanding of cultural impacts on diet.
Our mission is to cultivate a nurturing environment that supports clients in their journey to become peaceful and joyful eaters. Whether addressing conditions like binge eating disorder, the repercussions of chronic dieting, or simply fostering a healthier relationship with food, Mendinground is dedicated to providing personalized, empathetic support.
We are committed to a compassionate and adaptive approach to nutrition that honors the individual’s unique needs and backgrounds.
You'll not only find professional guidance but also a community that values each step toward healing and self-acceptance.
We are non-diet, weight-inclusive dietitians who believes that you are inherently worthy as you are.
We will support you with your goals using a nonjudgmental, client-centered approach.
We believe that no one has to explain themselves for what they choose to eat, how they choose to move their body (or not), or what they look like.
Our approach to working with clients focuses on you and your experience so that we can support you in reconnecting with yourself and learning how to rely on your body’s wisdom. We offer self-care practices, mindfulness tools, and self-compassion skills in sessions to support our clients.
Our mission is to empower individuals on their path to recovery from disordered eating and eating disorders through a nurturing and collaborative approach.
We understand that systemic challenges impact our clients, which is why we are dedicated to fostering an anti-oppressive environment in both our practice and business operations.
We recognize that parts of our identities holds privilege. Our privileges include being able-bodied, cisgendered, heterosexual, and food secure. We acknowledge these to let you know where we are coming from. While our lived experience are as such, we have learned from and continue to invest in trainings and supervision from people of diverse backgrounds. We value your lived experience and recognize that it may be different from ours.
We believe everyone deserves access to respectful care and will hold space for you to show up exactly as you are. If you’d like to work with another provider, we completely understand and will do our best to connect you with someone who might better support you.
As part of our dedication to anti-oppressive work, we are a part of Project Heal and Diversify Dietetics, accept insurance, and offer sliding scale spots.
When I first started to learn about nutrition in undergrad, I let the food police take over.
I was at UC Berkeley (Foodie Central) and my education focused on the issues with our food system and how individuals could make “better choices” for their health.
I took classes with some powerful people in the food movement, like Michael Pollan and Raj Patel, while being enveloped by the local food movement that Alice Waters promotes.
This was also around the time the city passed the first soda tax bill in the US.
I was also learning that a person’s zip code was a better indicator of their overall health than their genetic code (so there were some helpful things). To sum it all up: Big Agriculture and the food industry did not have our best interests at heart. The ‘best’ way to eat was local, organic, and whole foods.
I love food and eating unapologetically.
In fact, that’s why I became a dietitian! I wanted to talk to people about food because food is so much more than just fuel and nutrients.
It’s tradition, culture, history, comfort, pleasure, and so much more!
I wasn’t always this way though.
Growing up as an Iranian-American, I often found myself playing tug-of-war with my heritage and American culture.
I struggled with how my body looked, often wondering why I couldn’t get rid of my “rice pooch” on my stomach.
I wanted to fit in with my peers and to look like the celebrities I was seeing on TV - hello 90’s television and the era of nonfat/low-fat food!
Jasmine Hormati (she/her) is a Registered Dietitian based in New York, NY.
She specializes in disordered eating recovery and body image work by using an intuitive eating and weight-inclusive approach to help clients heal their relationship with food, their bodies, and reclaim their inherent worth.
Jasmine earned her Bachelors of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies form University of California, Berkeley and her Master of Science in Nutrition and Public Health from Teachers College, Columbia University.
She is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor.
I was lucky to be introduced to intuitive eating shortly after my time at Berkeley and it just clicked for me.
It made so much sense! I then began a long journey of unlearning all of the food rules I picked up that no longer aligned with my values.
I started to relearn to trust myself around all foods, nourish my body in ways that felt good, and began to appreciate my body as it is.
I realized how much diet culture is ingrained in our society and has led many people to have difficult relationships with food and their bodies and contributes to bias in healthcare. I had to unlearn a lot of my traditional dietitian training (which was to “fix”) and instead focus more on supporting clients and holding space for them.
hiking
baking
playing board games
Harry Potter
Star Wars
Marvel
As the daughter of Iranian immigrants, I’ve been reconnecting with my culture by cooking Iranian food - especially tahdig (the crunchy rice that forms at the bottom of the pot)!
Thanh Thanh Nguyễn, MS, RDN, CDN (she/her) is a Vietnamese registered dietitian based in New York City. She specializes in disordered eating and eating disorders recovery, as well as nutrition management for diabetes, PCOS, fertility, and prenatal care. She is passionate about helping clients reconnect with their bodies and healing their relationships with food. Thanh Thanh practices through a non-diet and weight-inclusive approach that incorporates affirmative and anti-oppressive values. She supports her clients to reclaim joy in food and eating, and in taking care of themselves.
Thanh Thanh earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University, and her Master of Science in Nutrition Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. In her free time, she likes to paint her nails, tend to her houseplants, and go for walks in the park.
Hi, I’m Thanh Thanh, a Vietnamese dietitian! I practice from a non-diet, weight-inclusive approach, and I believe food and eating should be joyful for everyone.
My approach to food and nutrition care is shaped not only by my education, both formal and informal, but also by my cultural background and my personal journey in reconnecting with many cultural dishes.
In Vietnamese culture, it is common and culturally acceptable to comment on others’ body and weight, even using these comments as greetings. As I was growing up, this poised me to believe that our body size and weight is one of the most important aspects of ourselves. I understand how it feels to think that we have to constantly work at fitting our body into this (small) mold of what is deemed healthy and ‘pleasant to look at,’ because our body is a big part of how we present ourselves to the world.
Unsurprisingly because of this, early on in my nutrition education journey, I felt the need to eat the “healthiest” way possible, and gave up on a lot of foods that “feed the heart” and mean a lot to me emotionally. Over time as I learned more about weight-inclusive healthcare, I gave myself permission to enjoy these foods again (go white rice!), and learned how to take care of myself properly without giving in to these external factors.
This really fuels me to not just help others in their journey to rediscover joy in food and taking care of their health, but also to help dismantle the cultural belief that we need to constantly be restricting food, watching our weight, and exercising purely for aesthetic reasons.
Wherever you are in your food and body image journey, I will walk with you and support you without any judgements. Our work together will center your identities and lived experiences as I support you in reconnecting with your own body wisdom, and reclaiming that joy in food, movement, and self-care.
In our 1:1 virtual nutrition counseling sessions, we’ll explore the ‘why’ behind your desire to change (or not change), and help you better understand yourself in the process. I also draw on different therapeutic tools to help you separate your thoughts from your perception of yourself, and assist you in looking inwards to parse out what is and isn’t important to you. I like to incorporate mindfulness practices and self-compassion tools to help you reconnect with your physical body as well.
This process will take time. It is not linear, and can be hard and frustrating. As your dietitian, I will be alongside you as you unpack feelings, process ‘setbacks’, take time to be patient with yourself, and celebrate small wins along the way. We will work together to find doable, sustainable actions for you to take care of yourself, however big or small. Everything you do along the way in the journey to rediscover that joy and peace with food, connect with yourself, and live a gratifying life matters.
trying new foods & learning about new cuisines
painting my nails
taking care of my plants
coffee
plant parenting & propagation
language & etymology
green beans
cá kho (Vietnamese braised fish)
canh khoai mỡ (Vietnamese ube soup with minced pork)
mendinground nutrition sits on the traditional and unceded lands of the Lenape people, now called New York, New York. We honor the people who originally stewarded the land and are committed to creating a more equitable world.
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