Exam Room Nutrition: Where Busy Clinicians Learn About Nutrition
As a clinician, your patients are asking:
“What should I eat for diabetes?” “How do I lose weight?” “My child is so picky. What do I do?” But here’s the problem—you probably didn’t learn much about nutrition in school. The National Academy of Sciences recommends 25 hours of nutrition education for med students. Most of us? We got maybe 5.
Enter Exam Room Nutrition. Hosted by Colleen Sloan, a PA and RD with over a decade of experience, this podcast gives you clear, actionable strategies to tackle those tough nutrition questions with confidence—even when you’re pressed for time. From picky eaters to diabetes management, I’ll renew how you approach nutrition.
Exam Room Nutrition: Where Busy Clinicians Learn About Nutrition
132 | It’s Not Your Job to Make Patients Change
It’s not your job to make patients change. Your job is to create the environment where change feels possible.
In this conversation, I sit down with Staci Belcher, RDN, an Internal Family Systems–informed dietitian, to unpack how to use curiosity, compassion, and counseling techniques to unlock motivation. You’ll learn practical ways to apply behavior change psychology and motivational interviewing principles in real exam-room conversations.
Staci shares how resistance often hides wisdom, why fear-based motivation backfires, and how to use curiosity and compassion to help patients reconnect with their own inner drive to change.
Grab the Cheat Sheet here: examroomnutrition.com/saythis
Key Takeaways:
- How to respond when a patient says, “I know what to do — I just can’t do it.”
- What to do when resistance shows up (and what it really means).
- Small phrases that lower defenses and open the door to change.
- The emotions your patients bring into the exam room — and how to spot them.
- How to protect your own emotional energy between visits.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in that ping-pong match of “I can’t” vs “You should,” this episode will completely reframe how you approach behavior change.
Any Questions? Send Me a Message
Connect with Colleen:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Sign up for my FREE Newsletter - Nutrition hot-topics delivered to your inbox each week.
Disclaimer: This podcast is a collection of ideas, strategies, and opinions of the author(s). Its goal is to provide useful information on each of the topics shared within. It is not intended to provide medical, health, or professional consultation or to diagnosis-specific weight or feeding challenges. The author(s) advises the reader to always consult with appropriate health, medical, and professional consultants for support for individual children and family situations. The author(s) do not take responsibility for the personal or other risks, loss, or liability incurred as a direct or indirect consequence of the application or use of information provided. All opinions stated in this podcast are my own and do not reflect the opinions of my employer.
