Charlottetown holistic nutritionist Rachelle Wood launches a new online program that provides her personalized approach in an easily accessible way

The Guardian- April 29 2010  mmackay@theguardian.pe.ca     
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The weight loss tally for Prince Edward Islanders through Rachelle Wood’s self-named nutrition company is 55,000 pounds and counting. Now this Charlottetown-based holistic nutritionist and Canadian School of Natural Nutrition graduate is spreading her wings to the Internet. She’s upping the ante with the launch of See Results, a new weight loss program and client management tool for nutritionists designed to reach even more people. “Basically I couldn’t clone myself, so I cloned my program,” laughs Wood, who has maintained a 100-pound weight loss after years of being overweight.

From her business start five years ago, Wood took a customized approach to weight loss that would suit an individual’s personal needs, goals and health issues. “As a holistic nutritionist, I believe we are all biochemically unique so I don’t think two people should be following the same program. I think the person’s special dietary requests as well as their lifestyle factors and genetics should play a part in their meal plan,” she says. (“And so) I’ve generated templates of meal plans for everything from people with diabetes, heart (issues) and wheat allergies to vegans and vegetarians. And I decided to package that together and to sell it to other nutritionists.”

The See Results program was two years in the making, with a P.E.I. tech firm called Thinking Big onboard from the start. Wood has since added more than 35 people to her confidential client list, from British Columbia and Alberta to Newfoundland. “The online program is more designed for the busy professional, for somebody who is on the computer all day anyway,” she says. “It just gives them another method for tracking their success. (And) they know that they are working one-on-one with a nutritionist because a lot of the other weight loss programs out there don’t have nutritionists running them.”

Program participants submit a questionnaire form that helps Wood or a qualified holistic nutritionist who has purchased the program to generate meal plans and grocery lists specific to their preferences and needs. “They weigh in once a week and put their information into the computer system and that sends me a report,” she says. The program also includes a food journal where they track what they’re eating and an assigned homework section, both of which are overseen by the nutritionist monitors.

One woman journalled that she had a rough weekend due to an out-of-province trip that sabotaged her weight loss efforts. “So I’d respond to that with tips for the next time she is travelling and to let me know in advance so I could help her plan and I would refer her to one of my blog posts about travelling and eating on the road,” Wood says. “Travelling is one of the hardest times to stay on track with your program, but if you do talk with a nutritionist prior then you can have a plan of attack.”

Kerry Howarth of Priests Pond signed up for Wood’s 10-week in-person nutritional program two years ago and was pleased with the results. However, the program took a backseat as summer arrived and she and her husband were immersed in their bed-and-breakfast and cottage business. “This year there was just something that said I really need to do this. I’ve been struggling with weight coming on to 40 years now . . . ,” says Howarth, who has done a number of other weight loss programs previously but decided that the online aspect of the See Results program and Wood’s overall approach suited her best.

“She’s so inspiring. She’s been there herself, having lost over 100 pounds, and that provides credibility to people as well, knowing that she’s been there and she knows what you’re going through.” An admitted carboholic, Howarth struggles with these cravings. But with guidance from Wood she has been able to wean herself off the unhealthy carb choices. “I’ve just completed three weeks (of her program now) and my cravings are all but gone,” she says. The online program provides Wood’s trademark one-on-one approach in a different way which helps when Howarth needs it most, such as when she had a backslide into carb consumption and wrote about it in her private See Results journal. Wood quickly responded with supportive comments. “It’s like picking up the phone but not. It’s the same kind of contact. It’s not immediate, but it’s there when you need it,” Howarth says.

To satisfy the weight-losing public’s need for mobility, Wood and the Thinking Big tech company are even going a step further by developing a Blackberry and iPhone application for the See Results program.

To date, Wood has sold three See Results systems to three other graduates of the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition where she now teaches. “I have big plans. I hope it goes coast to coast.”

Get in touch - For more information about Rachelle Wood Nutrition or See Results, visit www.rachellewood.ca or www.seeresults.rachellewood.ca.


mmackay@theguardian.pe.ca