About Hannah Deacon: Nutritionist, Personal Trainer, Visionary, and Dietitian

Hello and welcome to my page! I am Hannah Deacon, a Registered Dietitian (RD), Personal Trainer (CPT). I am also the author of my cookbook “Wellness on a Plate: When Healthy Meets Quick” and Craving Change Facilitator (Craving Change^™). With my Craving Change Facilitator (Craving Change^™) designation, I use cognitive-behavioural Therapy (CBT) strategies to address emotional eating as well as behaviour change to enhance success.

I am from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and went to the University of Alberta. I graduated from the University of Alberta with a double major, one focusing on aspects of food safety, production, and quality, while the other focusing on aspects of clinical nutrition.  I also completed an accredited integrated dietetic internship in several areas including diabetes, and weight management to name a few at several hospitals.

I believe that diet, fitness and mental health all go hand in hand, which is where my three designations come in.

As of May 2021, I completed a 1-year post-graduate program in Nutrition for Sport and Performance through Niagara College and have become a Certified Sports Dietitian. I have had my private practice, Hannah Deacon- Dietitian and Fitness Coach, for almost 5 years now and have worked in several areas of dietetics such as diabetes and weight management at the Royal Alexandra Hospital prior to starting my private practice. I also taught Nutrition for Lung Health for 4 years at the Edmonton General Hospital and taught the Applied Nutrition Science course at Elevated Learning Academy.

I have been featured on multiple platforms such as Todayville Edmonton for “local stories of resilience and hope” offering advice on staying healthy and positive as well as featured on Virgin Radio and interviewed by Edify Magazine and “What’s Your Hustle Podcast”, to name a few. I love working out, hiking, salsa dancing and creating new recipes that are delicious, healthy and quick to make.

My Story- Why I decided to become a dietitian

I have always known that I wanted to become a dietitian- this belief was confirmed when I was in grade 9. What inspired it was a couple of things.

When I was at a young age, my dad was diagnosed with diabetes and he went to see a dietitian. I remember how much she helped him with managing his diet and blood sugars at that time. I would say that was my first inspiration.

My second inspiration comes from the fact that at the age of 13, I struggled with emotional eating. I was very involved in sports. I was my school’s long-distance running champion and Sports leader. I also performed in dance from a young age. This all came with body image struggles as a teenager.

It all started with the desire to learn to help people and to help myself. I was adamant that there was a way to heal because I couldn’t live my life in this cycle of dieting and stress-eating. I also wondered how much further I could have gotten with my athletics had I focused on better nutrition versus the dieting cycle I was in. When I started my first year of university was my first step of awareness and healing. I worked on myself for years and I can finally say that I have a completely healthy relationship with food now.

This is why I am very passionate about helping people develop a healthy relationship with food and break-free from emotional eating and the preoccupation with food all the time. I am in this to change lives and help people gain the confidence and tools to live a healthy lifestyle and achieve their goals especially weight-loss, and sports nutrition.

I went on to the University of Alberta, where I completed my double major and then completed my integrated dietetic internship as mentioned above. In 2018, I also completed a Certified Craving Change Facilitator course, which is all about managing emotional eating using a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approach. Most of my clients (90% or more!) struggle with some form of emotional eating; (I also did in the past as mentioned in my story) so my certification helped me learn more about the different strategies to manage emotional eating and developing a healthy relationship with food.

Due to my passion for sports and sports nutrition, I always spent countless hours researching by reading evidence-based articles on sports nutrition to better educate myself but that was not enough for me. I wanted to learn more. In 2018, I went on to become a Certified Personal Trainer/Personal Training Specialist and then competed in novice bodybuilding while at the same time competing at the Worlds for salsa dancing! In addition to my research and becoming a CPT/PTS, it was going through the experience of being in both endurance (salsa dancing 2011-present, long distance running 2003-2007) and strength (novice bodybuilding 2018) sports that really helped me better understand the field. As of May 2021, I completed a virtual Nutrition for Sport and Performance program at Niagara College to become a Certified Sports Dietitian in order to help recreational athletes as well! Most of my clients are active to begin with or after setting fitness goals together become more active, which is why this knowledge allows me to support my clients through that part of their journey as well!

I currently have 8 years of experience as a dietitian and I definitely love my job! Working as a Registered Dietitian has been a very rewarding experience as seeing people succeed is something that bring me much joy! I use a client-centered approach, which involves clients in their goal-setting. I ensure my client-satisfaction by being professional, compassionate, adaptable and maintaining confidentiality. I use motivational interviewing strategies to help and empower my clients! I provide my clients with customized nutrition guidelines and help them with setting realistic and achievable goals in line with their goals.

I like to blog on several topics as well so be sure to take a look at my blog site. You can also follow me on Instagram (hd_dietitian) and like my Facebook page (Hannah Deacon- Dietitian and Fitness Coach) for daily nutrition and fitness tips as well as motivation, recipes and positivity.

In June of 2020, I published my cookbook: “Wellness on a Plate: When Healthy Meets Quick”. To read more information about my cookbook and purchase a copy, head to the PRODUCTS tab of this website! For a signed copy, email me directly at wellnessbyhd@gmail.com

Feel free to contact me through the contact form or email me at wellnessbyhd@gmail.com – I am looking forward to making a difference in your life.

In health,

Hannah Deacon, B.Sc., RD, CPT