Meet Registered Dietitian, Wan Xu

Wan Xu BSc, RD

Calgary Registered Dietitian & Online Nutritionist

Specialty: Disordered Eating, Mental Health, Emotional Eating, Intuitive Eating, ADHD, Asian Diets, Weight Concerns, Chronic Disease, and Women’s Health

Pronouns: She/Her

Wan is a non-judgmental, client-centered and weight-inclusive Dietitian. She enthusiastically believes that everyone can eat healthfully and soulfully (but how we define this will look very different from one person to another). She’s proud of being a practical Dietitian who’s skilled in simplifying complex science into easy-to-understand ideas and strategies you can take home and implement seamlessly. She enjoys connecting with a wide range of clients, especially those who struggle with mental health concerns, eating disorders and those that have a complicated or stressful relationship with food and their body. Validation, compassion and empowerment are ways Wan engages her clients to help them move forward on their eating and health journey at a pace they can manage. You can count on her to obtain feedback so that she can adjust her approach to best meet the needs of her clients.

Wan was born and raised in Shenzhen, one of the biggest cities in China and is fluent in Mandarin and English. She came to Canada alone to pursue her nutrition degree at the University of Saskatchewan. This unique experience was indeed challenging but has also inspired Wan to support others from different cultures on the best way to bridge healthy eating with their favorite cultural foods.

Wan completed her accredited dietetic internship through the Saskatoon Health Region and has experience working with both adult and pediatric populations.  She has worked in Saskatchewan and Alberta as a Mental Health and Eating Disorder Dietitian supporting people with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID, yo-yo dieting recovery and emotional eating support. She has also supported people with other mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, trauma, bipolar disorder and personality disorder, to enhance their nutrition and health.  Given Wan has experience working in both hospital and community settings she has facilitated care collaboration among a range of healthcare providers such as physicians, pediatricians, psychiatrists, mental health therapists, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists and pharmacists.

Wan is registered with the College of Dietitians of Alberta, the College of Dietitians of British Columbia, and Dietitians of Canada. Because of her special interest in mental health, Wan has also completed various levels of trainings such as intuitive eating, mindful eating, Health At Every Size, as well as continues to deepen her understanding in therapeutic treatment methods used by therapists she collaborates with including cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, family-based therapy, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, acceptance and commitment therapy, narrative therapy, and solution focused therapy.

Wan lives in Red Deer, Alberta with her partner, who is also a Dietitian. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, dancing, swimming, berry-picking, and of course, being a foodie and exploring the tastiest foods in town. For fun Wan likes to show her pediatric clients images of her adorable collection of stuffed animals to show them they can still be a kid at times in a grown-up world. Despite missing the ocean and humid warm weather she grew up with, she has embraced winter in Canada and enjoys sledding (if checking out Christmas lights doesn’t count).