Welcome!
My name is Carlos Fragoso (he/him), and I'm a registered dietitian nutritionist and food therapist based out of NYC. I have turned my passion into my work by providing one-on-one nutrition counseling to anyone who is looking to transform their relationship with food! I want to provide you with a space where you can come for accountability, ask tough questions while feeling safe, and where you can have fun and feel okay messing up!
As someone who has struggled with yo-yo dieting, poor body image and low self-esteem, and going to extremes to make changes to my body (though the changes were always short-lived), I get how difficult living in our bodies can be. Couple that with how confusing nutrition is these days with the overload of information and constant messaging in the media of how we should look - we can sometimes find ourselves living in food hell!
Through years of education and experience as a dietitian, I have learned the facts, tools, mindset shifts (and more) to help myself overcome these struggles, and that's what I'm here to share with you! More so what I want to share with you - as someone who knows all of the facts, tools, mindsets, and STILL falls off the horse sometimes - just how you can pick yourself up, getting stronger each and every time.
I'm so glad you're here!
My Philosophy
We are all born with the innate ability to sense our hunger and fullness - free from stress, guilt, or anxiety about what/how much we eat. We’re also born without a sense of body image - not worrying about how clothes fit or how others perceive us. As we develop through childhood and adolescence, not only do we gain a sense of body awareness, but many of us also develop negative feelings towards food and our bodies. This is, in many ways, a direct result of diet culture.
What is diet culture, you ask? Diet culture is a set of societal standards that places greater value on thinness and weight loss than it does overall physical and mental health. It promotes thinness and/or weight loss as a social currency, to the point that it equates our appearance to our moral virtue. This ultimate goal of thinness and weight loss leads to negative body image, a stressful and confusing relationship with food, and disconnection for your body. Diet culture teaches us that foods are either “good” or “bad” and that we should associate those values with your own self-worth. Diet culture disproportionately effects women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, individuals in larger bodies, and people with disabilities.
Diet culture may look like your parent or guardian expressing dissatisfaction with their own bodies during your developmental years, people commenting on your food choices, using exercise as penance for what you eat, and thin or muscular people dominating things like magazine covers, social media, movies, TV shows, etc.
The impact of diet culture may result in chronic dieting, frequent weight fluctuations, difficulty maintaining weight, overwhelming food noise, avoiding social situations, being hyper-vigilant about your eating, food avoidance, or eating disorders.
What can we do about this? My belief is that if I teach you the facts about nutrition and help you understand what your body needs and craves, then we can transform your relationship with food and your body. If we can achieve this, you will never need a diet - ever again.
While the philosophy is simple, getting there is hard work - but that's why you have me!
My Approach
I am a naturally compassionate and empathetic person, but I am also highly motivated and encouraging, which are all qualities I imbue into my work as a dietitian.
I do not offer a "quick fix" or temporary diet plan, I do not qualify foods as "good" or "bad," and I do not generally counsel on restrictive diets (unless medically necessary).
What I do offer is a novel and science-backed approach to nutrition that puts you in the driver's seat, so that you can forget about all of the conflicting information you see online or hear about, and can free yourself from the confines of what society has told you what you should look like.
I refer to myself as a "food therapist" because of the inextricable connection between food, body, and mind. I create a space where you can talk about your innermost thoughts and feelings about food and body image, so that you and I can get to the heart of things and effectuate change.
What You Can Expect
Our work together will be dynamic and based entirely on your unique needs. No person is the same, and so no treatment plan should be the same!
We will work on the foundations of nutrition, learn how to nourish yourself appropriately, break through unhelpful mindsets and self-limiting beliefs, identify and change habits that hold you back, and develop new habits that are supportive and productive. The end goal is to create a long-term solution that allows you to live a life of pleasure, purpose and power.
After our work together, my goal is for you to feel confident moving forward on your own, liberated from diet culture and in control of your body. You won't worry or spend time and money on fad diets, health "hacks," or internet trends. You'll move on feeling a sense of clarity and peace with your body and food.
More About Me
As the founder of Nutrethos, I have been working as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for over five years. I have extensive experience in clinical care and individual nutrition counseling, and I am also a former group fitness instructor at Equinox. I earned my Bachelor's in Psychology at New York University (NYU) and later went on to earn my Master's in Clinical Nutrition at NYU. I completed clinical rotations at NYU Langone Medical Center and worked at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City after receiving my Master’s degree.
When I'm not counseling clients, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, moving my body (weight training, group fitness, yoga), cooking, trying new restaurants, and tasting different wines. As an avid traveler, having visited over 15 countries and even living in China for five months, I recognize the important relationship between food, body, and culture.
