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You have likely witnessed or experienced meals provided in hospitals, nursing homes, community health centers, or private practices, all crafted by a qualified professional Dietitian (RDN).

These experts possess a comprehensive understanding of food intake, including the vital roles of macronutrients—carbohydrates, proteins, and fats—and micronutrients—vitamins and minerals—within the human body. They are well-versed in how food impacts overall health and plays a crucial role in preventing and managing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Staying at the forefront of the latest scientific research and evidence-based nutrition practices empowers them to offer credible and accurate recommendations, as emphasized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

When it comes to your overall health, you deserve the expertise and care of a dedicated nutrition professional.

Meet Carina Myatt, MS, RDN, LD, NASM-CPT

Carina holds a Master’s of Nutritional Sciences, is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a Licensed Dietitian, and is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a Personal Trainer.

What motivated you to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist?

When I began college, I was pre-med, with the intention of pursuing a career as a doctor or pharmacist. But what I found along the way is that many disease states can be prevented and/or treated with nutrition and lifestyle intervention. The more I learned about how the body worked, the more I became fascinated with the role of the food we consume daily and its impact on our health. I also faced challenges with fueling properly for sports and finding a healthy relationship with food. So, alongside studying nutrition, I got to heal my relationship with food and now get to help others do the same. Ultimately, I decided to pursue this career because most days it doesn’t feel like work; it feels like exactly where I was always supposed to be. It is using food to nourish and empower patients to feel their best and live long lives.

Can you share a time when you faced a food-related challenge, and how you overcame it?

For many years, I experienced a rollercoaster of conflicting food messages, believing that eating less was better, being skinny was ideal, and restriction was the key. During sports seasons, I became a chronic underfueler, and I later found myself caught in cycles of bingeing and restricting, which made me feel out of control around food. It has taken me many years of healing and education in nutrition to mend my relationship with food. I have come to see food not as the enemy, but rather as a powerful tool to fuel my performance and overall energy.

Can you share how you would help your patients break down goals and ensure long-term lifestyle changes?

There is a difference between the outcome/goal a patient wants to accomplish and their willingness to change behaviors/habits in their daily lives. My approach is to meet them where they are. Many people have the knowledge or have some already positive health habits. My job is to continue cultivating what is already benefiting them and then implement new habits, like eating more fiber or protein, or getting more sleep, and building upon them. Also, helping them find sustainable habits. If they HATE cooking, possibly outsourcing some meals or giving them super simple recipes.

What are some common nutrition challenges your clients face, and what are the ways you help clients overcome these challenges?

The biggest challenges I see my clients face are figuring out how to manage their time and changing their mindset from perfection to consistency. Eating enough macronutrients and micronutrient-rich foods is not only important for weight loss but also for body composition, metabolic regulation, hormone support, and your gut microbiome. Not knowing what to cook or buy at the grocery store, not understanding how foods affect their blood glucose regulation, metabolism, and how to fit movement into their day.

Many times life happens, and giving my clients or patients the tools to overcome those obstacles while still sticking with nutritious food options, getting rest, and moving their bodies is where the long-term results come from.

Navigating the conflicting messages my clients hear all over social media and finding the simple and individualistic plan that works for them.

Primarily, I take the step approach to educate, elaborate, individualize, plan, and manage. So, depending on where the client is, we take small, doable steps to get them to where they need to be. Let’s say they struggle with grocery shopping and have a limiting belief that they are unable to buy groceries that will actually get used. I would then educate them with a virtual grocery tour, provide grocery lists and recipes, help them plan their own personalized grocery list, and then follow up with how that week went.

What are healthy food choices while balancing a busy lifestyle, would you recommend?

More often than not, plan meals that are recipe-specific. If you go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of healthy food and have no plan for it, food waste is bound to happen. Having a simple plan you can execute for you and your family is key to success

Eat at home when possible! This saves money, calories, and helps you know what is going into your food. If you have to eat out, seek out restaurants that list ingredients, calories, and serve foods you would eat at home.

Shop a variety of whole food sources. Shop for lean quality meat proteins, aim for a variety of in-season frozen or fresh produce, and add a variety of fiber-rich grains/carbs such as chickpea pasta, brown rice, and sprouted bread.

Stock your staples: keep stock of chia seeds to add to dishes, nuts and seeds, favorite dairy products, snackable fruits, and veggies. Then build the rest of the meals outside of that

Incorporate healthy fats versus fat from processed meats/foods. These include nuts/seeds, nut butters, avocado, avocado oil, and extra virgin olive oil.

What is your approach to “good” and “bad” foods?

In my experience over the last 10 years, I have seen that labeling any food as bad can make it taboo. Instead, I try to reframe a food that may not align with their goals if eaten regularly and say, This food may not make you feel full or may not give you proper energy for that workout. Then, they can see the food as neutral and understand that consuming it is ok, but will have natural consequences, such as a possible sugar crash, bowel dysfunction, or bloating.

“Many times life happens, and giving my clients or patients the tools to overcome those obstacles while still sticking with nutritious food options, getting rest, and moving their body is where the long-term results come from.”

Empowering, Informed, and Passionate about helping You!

How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle yourself?

I work out 5-6 times per week chasing strength, functionality, and endurance. Currently, I will do strength training 3-4 times per week in CrossFit or functional strength training and running. Outside of my exercise regime, I aim for quality 7-9 hours of sleep, 10-15k steps per day, and rest time built into my very busy days. As a mom, it’s hard to balance it all! For nutrition, I am very consistent with eating my 3 solid meals where I prioritize fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Typically, I am also including an afternoon snack depending on my training load that day. My biggest challenge is making sure I prioritize rest and balance.

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What do you find most rewarding about your work?

The relationships I build over time with both my nutrition and personal training clients. They not only get to share their nutrition and lifestyle goals but also their motivations, their fears, and their lives with me. It is a very special and important position that I do not take for granted.

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What does an overall healthy body look like?

This is different for every “body”. Trying to put an idealistic body on a pedestal is the epitome of diet culture. We are all beautifully made and differently made. For many women, feeling confident in their body and being able to move it well and with joy is what I believe is “healthy”.

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Movement is key to our overall health. What does this mean to you?

We as a society are movement-deficient. Our sedentary jobs and lack of walkability in many areas have caused people to not move throughout their day. It is my hope that more and more corporations allow for “exercise snacks”, encourage walking at lunch, or provide an exercise establishment on the job site. Additionally, lifting heavy weights is vital to both women’s and men’s health as we age, as it helps protect our bones and sustain muscle tissue, allowing us not only to live but also to thrive.

Prioritize rest and balance.

On the mental side of physical movement:

There have been ties to movement as we age and decrease the risk of dementia related disease. It has also been shown to decrease the risk of depression, anxiety, and other various mental stressors. From a personal standpoint, I firmly believe it kept me from falling into postpartum depression, and it helps me cope with the mental burden daily of being a mom and a business owner.

What does a typical day look like for you in your practice as well as a mom and wife?

I typically wake up between 4:30 and 5 AM, have my coffee, read my bible, and head to either train a client personally or go run with friends. I then get home, fix breakfast for myself and my 2 daughters, and get everyone ready for the day. During the school year, I take both girls to their schools and then begin my work day. My work day varies but typically consists of answering client messages, a short workout between meetings, and conducting nutrition consults.

After I pick up my girls I put my mom hat on again, continuing to do some work while they play. Then I fix dinner, clean up, do baths and we all hang out before bed.

It is a beautiful and crazy life but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Do you believe in balance?

We all wear many hats, and each has different capacities at various stages in our lives. Finding what “balance” means to the individual is important to setting themselves up for success. Many times, people take too much on and find themselves disappointed when they fall short of the “perfect balance” they had planned.

What are your future goals for your career in helping others? And what would you like to see?

I would love to connect with more local physicians and practitioners. I know there are so many people here in the Permian Basin who could benefit from nutrition counseling and would love to be able to help them. Other goals include continuing to grow my practice and doing more cooking/culinary-related endeavors.

It is truly a privilege to be in the profession I am in. So many of my clients have shared their stories of hurt, past failures, and current struggles. And I get to be their encouragement and a listening ear to find resolution and success. We serve an awesome, gracious, kind, loving, relationship-seeking God, and I hope that I can show up each day to reflect even a speck of his character to others.

One of my favorite verses:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -Galatians 2:20