Ep 38. When “Metabolic Balance” Isn’t Balance: Diet Culture, Clinical Protocols, and the Naturopathic Dilemma

I’m unpacking how “personalised” protocols like Metabolic Balance slip diet culture into naturopathic care. We’ll unpack the things clients say that can signal disordered eating beneath the surface, the ways practitioners can cause harm (even unintentionally), the pitfalls of elimination diets, and why supplement fixes can’t heal restriction.

✨ Download the free guide for practitioners and join the Body as Earth waitlist!

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Two ways disordered eating shows up in naturopathic care: the client brings it into the consult room, or the practitioner endorses it (ouch).
• Why Metabolic Balance and other “clinical” weight loss programs cause more harm than healing.
• The fine line between elimination diets and harm - especially for neurodivergent clients.
• How supplement-heavy approaches can mask restriction.
• What truly non-diet, trauma-informed naturopathic care looks like.

Resources and Links:

 ✨ Download my free practitioner guide: Working with Clients with Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

🌿 Join the waitlist for my 2026 course: Body as Earth: A Root-Cause Approach to Disordered Eating for Naturopaths (you’ll be added automatically when you download the guide!)

📖 Prefer to read, or want all the research references? Find the article for this episode over on my blog!

That other article I referred to in this episode: Detoxification: so NOT about juice fasts & colonics

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath 

Grab your FREE practitioner guide + jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

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