Hello! I’m Paige Becker. I am a registered dietitian who has been practicing since 2016.

I offer individualized nutrition care that considers the whole person: mind, body, and spirit.

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A little background:

I originally chose to study nutritional sciences due to my own insecurities in high school. I was always drawn to art and self-expression, and dressing myself was a creative outlet I had the chance to engage in every day. Unfortunately, my access to fashion media was mostly via teen girl magazines, which convinced me I needed to be skinny if I were to care about fashion. 

 

My creative urges felt like they were at odds with my appetite– I really, really liked food! This led to some dieting, an obsession with nutrition, a lot of interesting baked goods (black bean brownies anyone?), and the decision to major in Nutritional Sciences at Penn State (I’m originally from Pittsburgh, PA). I figured this field of study made sense since I enjoyed working with people, and I wanted a job in which I felt I could make a positive impact. But to be honest, I also wanted to learn how to stay thin while still enjoying food.

 

Luckily, my disordered eating habits never spiraled out of control, likely because of my (mostly) stable upbringing and being part of an Italian American family that is obsessed with good food. (I finally learned, upon studying abroad in Italy my senior year, that you can’t be shy with the olive oil, nor can you substitute beans for flour, if you truly want good food!)

 

As I recovered from my own disordered relationship with food, I struggled to stay passionate about the field of nutrition. After college, I followed my artistic leanings to Portland, Oregon to complete my dietetic internship, but I found myself fantasizing about being in a creative field and questioning the true impact of most dietitian roles.

 

Fortunately, I had briefly heard of intuitive eating during my internship, so I was vaguely aware of an alternative path. Shortly into my first job as an outpatient dietitian, I found that the lies and false promises of diet culture were indeed the greatest risks to my clients’ health, and that helping them combat these forces would be the best way to make a positive impact. I wasted no time learning all I could about intuitive eating and Health At Every Size, and I shifted my counseling style right away. This was the only way to practice as a dietitian that made sense to me – any other way began to feel unethical and contrived.

 

Since 2016 I have worked only in outpatient counseling settings, both in a general capacity and at an eating disorder treatment facility, always practicing in an anti-diet, weight-inclusive manner. I’ve now been in private practice seeing clients virtually for over two years. 

 

As well as working as a dietitian, I now spend part of my week in the ceramic studio. I find that the slow, intentional nature of this artistic practice positively influences my ability to show up for my clients. When I’m not working with clients or sculpting clay, I enjoy gardening, eating tasty food, walking in nature, biking around town, singing poorly, and spending time with friends and my young dog Nalu.

 

Thanks for getting to know me! 

To hear more about my counseling approach and interest areas, head over to my Services page.