Meet Julia Fulk! Julia is a Health at Every Size-aligned dietitian who is dedicated to helping people heal their relationship with food and body. Read to learn about her love of ceramics and how she became interested in nutrition.
Where are you from and what is your favorite thing about that place?
I grew up in New Hampshire and I feel like my favorite thing about New Hampshire is just how much nature there is. There’s the ocean, mountains, lakes. The mountains are especially my favorite, I grew up hiking a lot and camping a lot. Whenever I visit I always try to go on a hike or go to the beach. The weather is also really great because you get all four seasons, and fall is really pretty. Then it’s not too hot in the summer, so overall it’s really great.
What was your favorite food as a child and what is your favorite food now?
My favorite food now … I always say sandwiches. Cause there are so many good sandwiches, like Banh mi which is one of my favorite things. Or a good BLT. Or a Torta. I just feel like there’s so many good sandwiches in every culture, and every culture has its own sandwich. Growing up I remember always being really excited for Thanksgiving because of green bean casserole. I know it’s kind of random but it’s still one of my favorites.
Are you a coffee or tea person?
I drink coffee more often, so I guess I’m a coffee person. I’m drinking iced tea right now that I just made. When it comes to tea I’m definitely more of an iced tea person. But I have coffee every morning.
Do you like to cook? What are your go-to meals?
I love cooking. It’s why I chose to study nutrition, cause I started cooking when I was in middle school or high school and I loved it. I still love cooking. I feel like in terms of go-to dishes … I make salmon a lot in different ways. I’ll make a sushi-baked, rice bowl thing. That’s been a go-to thing recently- flavoring the salmon kind of like how you would a poke bowl and then bake it. Other than that, my other go-to’s are homemade pizza. My husband will make pizza dough. But honestly, I like to have a lot of variety so not repeating a lot of meals.
What’s the last thing you read or watched that you were in love with?
I would say my favorite book I’ve read this year so far was probably … Remarkably Bright Cultures, which was a really good book. It takes place in the Pacific Northwest and it’s about an octopus and a woman and their relationship with each other.
Do you have any hobbies outside of work?
I do pottery. That’s probably my biggest hobby right now. I started doing it in 2019 right before the pandemic happened. And then I picked it back up again when the studio opened in 2021. So I’ve been doing it pretty consistently since then. It’s a good form of stress relief for me, which is originally why I started doing it. Other than that I really like anything outside, like camping, biking, and exploring new areas.
What’s your favorite ceramic piece you’ve made?
I really like this mug [holds up a mug]. I’m really proud of it and how it came out. It’s really comfortable to hold. So this is one of my favorite pieces … I’ve also recently been making berry bowls as gifts and soap dispenser containers. So those have been fun recently. I basically just make functional things, but I’m trying to make more things for gifts.
How did you become interested in nutrition?
When I was in high school, maybe middle school, I started cooking more for my family and trying out new dishes. And really liked being in the kitchen and trying new things. I’ve always loved trying new foods, cooking with people, sharing meals with people. Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday because of that.
Then when I was trying to decide what to study in college, my mom suggested nutrition. Or becoming a dietitian and I had never heard of it. It felt like a really good balance- I liked science and thought I wanted to be a nurse. So it felt like a good tie between an interest in science and health care while tying food into that. And then I went to school. There were actually several points when I was unsure if it was the right thing, but I never changed paths. There was always something that didn’t feel right to me and I didn’t really know what that was. And then I took a gap year between undergrad and my internship, but I ended up doing my internship anyway and then during that time, I learned about Health at Every Size and intuitive eating. And then I was like, “Ah,” this is what had been missing. Learning about that it made a lot more sense why I had always been uncomfortable with traditional nutrition and dietetics teachings. Then when I started working I became interested in working with eating disorders.
So far, what’s your favorite part about Courage to Nourish?
I feel like so far, everyone who works here is supportive so I like that supportive team environment. I worked in residential before, so a lot of times you’re seeing people for 6-8 weeks, and then you never hear from them because they leave residential. And so you don’t really get to see the long-term effects of working towards recovery, so I really like being able to work with people longer and really see those changes happen while building those longer relationships.
What is something that you wish you knew about nutrition when you were younger? Or what is something that you want people to know about nutrition?
I think something I wish more people knew about nutrition, is that our society makes everything more complicated than it needs to be. Sometimes there are people who have chronic diseases or type 1 diabetes, who do have to be more aware and conscious of their food decisions. But in general, for the general population, nutrition is made to be way more complicated than it actually is. And I wish more people knew that, especially when it comes to younger people. I wish more people to not overthink food and just enjoy it for what it is … just not be influenced by diet culture.
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Courage to Nourish is a group of eating disorder specialized dietitians. We have in person locations in Alexandria, Virginia, Columbia, Maryland. and College Park, Maryland. We offer virtual services across the state of Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. We offer individual nutrition therapy. As well as support groups. We would love to guide you in building a better relationship with food.
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