Aidan:

Hello and welcome to the Ideal Nutrition podcast. My name is Aidan Muir, and I am here with a new co-host.

Torwen:

Hello everybody. I’m so excited to be here.

Aidan:

We are here with Torwen Eerkens, who has been with Ideal Nutrition for just over six months. She is our new co-host, and we will be doing a bunch of episodes going forward. We will start with an interview format today. I don’t know where I want to start with this. The first thing is your Dutch last name.

Torwen:

I am completely Dutch. I speak Dutch. I was born in the Netherlands. My whole family is there. Yes, I am Dutch.

Aidan:

Incredible. So you speak Dutch at home? And you have told me that you also speak French.

Torwen:

I do. It is an interesting story. I did French immersion at school. I did all my subjects from Year 8 to 10 in French.

Aidan:

Did you still have to do English?

Torwen:

That was the only one in English. I think there was one other elective or something like that.

Aidan:

How did they start with the French content? When you first walked into a science class, how did that start?

Torwen:

Some of us had never spoken French. We set the chairs in a big circle and went through numbers. It was supposed to be Year 8 maths. So slowly, very slowly.

Aidan:

Did that have any impact when you went into Year 11?

Torwen:

I think so. I became very close with that small class. It also felt freeing. Everything felt easier as soon as we dropped French.

Aidan:

Incredible. And you have been to the Netherlands?

Torwen:

I have. We used to go back all the time. I was supposed to have a gap year in Europe after school. That never happened. I have been back heaps of times.

Aidan:

What about France?

Torwen:

We did an exchange there as well. I spent time with a French family and went to a French school. It was very cool.

Aidan:

After school, you went on to study dietetics. You said you did not have a gap year because of COVID.

Torwen:

I did have a gap year, but I worked. I worked instead of travelling, which was not the worst thing. I did a 180 from what I planned after school.

Aidan:

What was the original plan?

Torwen:

So, I deferred law and business. I saw myself as a bit of a corporate girl. I met a dietitian while working in Longreach. We got on great. She told me a lot about dietetics. I thought that sounded right for me.

Aidan:

The goal of this episode is to get to know you. Next episodes will return to the normal content format. Somebody gave me feedback the other day. They said they listened to every podcast we had done, going backwards. They would go back 200 episodes to one where we talked about ourselves. This will be the first and only one for a long time, I reckon.

Torwen:

It would be nice for everyone to get to know me a little bit.

Aidan:

For dietetics, one reason is you met a dietitian. I feel there is more here.

Torwen:

I always considered healthcare. Dietetics balances patient-centred care and evidence-based practice. You can help people with wellbeing and performance. That was one part of it for me. Life is pretty crazy. I was diagnosed with coeliac disease after choosing dietetics. I realised how much impact food could make. I thought this was definitely it.

Aidan:

You have spoken about your experience seeing a dietitian. Every dietitian has a base understanding of coeliac disease. Not many specialise in it. My mum has coeliac disease. I grew up in a gluten free household and had familiarity. I think I have seen one or two clients for coeliac disease. I am not a specialist in that space. What was that experience like, and how did it shape your career?

Torwen:

Unfortunately, I had a pretty average experience with my dietitian. It was take these coeliac disease handouts and off you go. Good luck with it. We never addressed long-term gut health or nutritional deficiencies. Those are important with coeliac clients. It made me very aware, and I wanted to work in the space. Not solely coeliac disease. There are many other areas, but I love supporting coeliac clients.

Aidan:

It makes me think of going above and beyond. It is easy to give handouts. Specialising helps you know tips and tricks for new diagnoses. It is also that you can relate. Being relatable makes the experience better for a client. You studied and graduated and did placements. Was there anything interesting in placement? I was not going to go that direction, but was there anything?

Torwen:

A few things. I did a paediatric placement and really enjoyed it. I am open to working with paediatrics in the future. I enjoyed that side of things. I also knew hospital dietetics was not for me.

Aidan:

I am the same. I do not know if I have shared this on the podcast. I had a really bad experience in my hospital placement. My supervisor was in the last five weeks of her job. I do not think she wanted to be there. I felt she also did not like me. The combination was rough. She sent me out on the wards to read client notes.

She had me page her, which felt crazy in 2015. I would page her when I was ready to see a patient. She would find a flaw in my notes. She told me to fix the flaw and walked off. She came back and said, lunchtime now. It was 12 p.m., and I had done nothing. I wanted to see a patient.

Torwen:

Placement is strongly influenced by how invested your supervisor is.

Aidan:

I was open minded, but I did not want hospital work. That experience made me doubt if I could work in a hospital. I did not feel equipped because I lacked experience. After placement, this is your first job out of uni. I know this, but how did we get connected?

Torwen:

I get asked this often by dietetic students. Let us start at the beginning. I started a nutrition Instagram at uni. You value that, and you are big in the Instagram dietetic space. I had not been posting much at the end of placement. You and Sammy posted about an internship for The Runners Blueprint. My friends sent it and said it would suit me. I sent you a message, and we got connected.

Aidan:

Who sent it to you?

Torwen:

Friends who were unrelated sent it, not dietetic students.

Aidan:

Something that tipped us towards hiring you was Shale. I was at a run club, and Shale said, Torwen is good.

Torwen:

That is funny, because I was in Roma on placement with his girlfriend.

Aidan:

That is the connection. Internships are hard. When something has a low return on investment, I struggle. I have to spend time teaching people what to do. You just did things, and they were good. That is what I want.

Torwen:

After that, I did that internship. You had advertised for a gastro dietitian. I heard through the grapevine you had not found the right person. We went for coffee, and I pitched myself.

Aidan:

I saw a gap for an IBS specialist or gut health dietitian. My vision was content focused on that and social media work. Many people do well in that space. I think we could do that. In your case, I do not think that is what I want us to do. From the podcast perspective, I want us to be broad.

Torwen: One hundred per cent.

Aidan:

There is still a huge space for that. Hiring people is hard. I have seen this recently. In women’s health, I would love another women’s health dietitian. We have one now, but it is hard to find more. You would think it is easy to find people specialising there because there is such need.

Torwen:

Absolutely.

Aidan:

So, how has working at Ideal been?

Torwen:

It has been great. I have really enjoyed it. Everyone looks up to Ideal in the dietetics industry. It is hard to know what it is like if you do not work there. It is very much the same as you would hope. It is inspiring. Everyone knows a lot and is available to chat. It has been fantastic, and I have enjoyed it.

Aidan:

I feel we do not talk about it heaps to other dietitians. What has been most interesting so far? Clients or social media, where do you want to go?

Torwen:

It has been a balancing act. I have enjoyed the client side of things. I am doing a bit of gastro. I am also seeing athletes and people in women’s health. Weight loss too, a bit of everything. I have always enjoyed the client side. It is nice to balance it with creativity in social media. That has been really cool.

Aidan:

Dietetics can be hard. It is hard if you see clients back to back forever. I noticed early in my career not many dietitians are seeing clients five years after graduation. It got me thinking about why that is the case. One reason is money. Maybe they are not earning enough. It is hard to find jobs. Another is they may not enjoy the work.

Maybe it is not what they thought. Burnout from doing the same thing repeatedly is huge. That is the thing I wanted to solve for myself. I graduated in 2016, and I still enjoy seeing clients. For me, that is a huge success. If five years is the marker, I am almost ten and still enjoy it. Balancing it with social media helps me enjoy it. Being able to do other things helps.

Torwen:

Many Ideal dietitians would agree with you. Seeing clients five days a week with no outlet is different. I one hundred per cent agree with you.

Aidan:

I do not think it needs to be social media. It just needs to be something different. The creative aspect helps. Many dietitians are very creative, yet dietetics is a science-based career. There is a lot to think about there. Now we will go through interesting client experiences.

Torwen:

I have had a few. I talk a lot about poo or stools in my practice. Consistency and colour and all of that. A client offered to send photos of their stool. I could take a look myself. We had a great laugh, and I kindly declined. I said she could describe it to me. It was pretty funny.

Aidan:

Classic gut health dietitian. Have you had any like that? Not really on that surprising front. This is not the most interesting. It is just the first thing that comes to mind. I often talk to clients about relative energy deficiency risk. With women, are they at risk of being too lean? They might have lost their period.

If they are on contraception, we cannot tell if they are losing their period. Sometimes I will say a line. I cannot tell over Zoom how lean you are. One person got up and stripped down a little. They showed their body and said, that is what I look like. I rated that confidence. Perfect, and you can see for yourself. I am friends with that person today. In our first consult, she said, this is what I look like. Rapport building and getting straight into it.

Torwen:

Now I know.

Aidan:

Most people on our team are into some form of sport. I like that lens. It keeps us grounded through a few angles. It is easier to prescribe nutrition when you also pursue a sport. What are your athletic pursuits?

Torwen:

That is a great question. Recently, training has been a bit slack. I have been injured and dislocated a shoulder. In terms of training pursuits, I like triathlons. Cycling has been the big thing for me. I really enjoy that. I am doing a 160 km ride this weekend. That will be fantastic. I am also keen to focus on body composition. I want to put on a bit of muscle. That is where the next goals are going.

Aidan:

How much are you gymming at the moment?

Torwen:

Three to four times a week, pretty consistently. The endurance side has fallen off a little.

Aidan:

I have scrolled back on your Instagram and seen heaps of gym content. Way back.

Torwen:

Back when I felt okay filming.

Aidan:

Now we will wrap up on a combined one. What is our goal with the podcast? Who wants to go first?

Torwen:

You take this.

Aidan:

Do you have a goal?

Torwen:

I definitely do.

Aidan:

I will do mine first. I want to put out simple nutrition information covering a range of topics. I want it more comprehensive than basic nutrition content. I want to go a little deeper, yet stay easy to understand. I am not trying to be the best at any of these things. There is a middle ground where people can get value.

That is all I am trying to do. This is my job and my business. I view this through the lens of the absolute floor. If people listen to this. Hopefully they get some value from it. I like that. If I put out free information and help someone, that is great. That ties to enjoying this job for more than five years. The ceiling is that this drives traffic towards Ideal Nutrition. There is a reason we have 15 dietitians, and content is part of it.

The floor is that I feel good. The ceiling is that this helps the business. There is no strict goal behind those things, which I like. It keeps it broad and lets me follow my interests. I can talk about what I want. I enjoy the process without getting caught up in outcomes or metrics.

Torwen:

You are being extremely humble. Your free content has helped more than one person. I agree with you. Giving an evidence-based lens matters with so much misinformation. Breaking it down so it is practical and simple helps understanding. That is my goal as well.

Aidan:

I will wrap up on this. This has been Episode 220 of the Ideal Nutrition Podcast. I would massively appreciate ratings and reviews. I ask every episode because it helps so much right now. I have put on my Instagram story a simple request. If you want to help, this is the thing that helps me. I would massively appreciate it.

We have had a bunch of reviews in a single day. We have gone from about 50 to number three on the charts in a day. We see download numbers go through the roof. I massively appreciate it. If you do that, it would help both Torwen and me. Apart from that, thank you for this.