Alyson Roux

Alyson is a clinical nutritionist who specializes in working with clients supporting healing their relationship to food combining Intuitive Eating, a Health at Every Size® approach, and an integrative nutrition therapy toolbox. Her northeast Los Angeles-based practice offers nutrition therapy for chronic dieting and eating disorder recovery, behavioral and mental health, gastrointestinal and digestive health, as well as fertility support for those in recovery from ED. With her previous background working in the arts and entertainment industry, Alyson has special interest in working with artists and health behaviors. 

TRAINING

  • Maryland University of Integrative Health, Masters of Science (MS) in Nutrition and Integrative Health

  • Smith College, BA in Biology and in Theatre

  • University of Washington, MFA in Directing

ASSOCIATIONS / ADDITIONAL WORK

PUBLIC SPEAKING / TEACHING

My Story

I had it all; I had worked for Tony and Oscar award winning theatre and film companies, directed and produced projects in cities across the country, and taught at some of the most prestigious drama schools in the U.S. Then one day, working for the head of a major Hollywood movie studio, as I tried to start another 12+ hour workday, the nagging low back pain I had pushed through for years could no longer be ignored. I couldn’t sit down without what seemed like the worst possible pain running down my legs. I could barely feel my toes, let alone give them a wiggle. Grabbing my blackberry piling up with emails, I painfully drove to the doctor. I had no idea at the time, but I was never going to return to the job that I had fought so hard for, and all of those blackberry emails would (gasp!) have to wait...

After years of hustling on sets, and alternatively long hours of sitting at a desk a disc in my back decided to give up. All of a sudden I was disabled, I couldn’t even eat sitting down, stand still, drive, tie my shoes and just like the disc in my back, my social life and career disintegrated. Months of being in bed, multiple rounds of epidurals, one major surgery, and almost a year of physical therapy later I reemerged able to sit for limited periods of time, and a much stronger, very grateful person.

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The thing is, I've been there; exhausted, stressed out, forgetting to eat, eating too much to just stay awake for a few more hours of work, having to go to ten cocktail parties in a week and worrying how to stay on a "healthy diet," and putting off exercise because 30 minutes of being alone and watching Hulu is too precious. I learned the hard way how keeping your head down and just focusing on career can backfire. You can't be great at what you do if you don't have your health. 

Over that year I was fairly homebound and hurting, so to keep busy I started taking online courses in Nutrition and Health; an encouraging new path emerged. I thought about what had happened to me because of how I treated my body at work, and I thought about all the people I knew that just in that year had suffered from serious, but potentially preventable illness: cancer, stroke, heart attacks, autoimmune conditions.  I realized that I wanted to help brilliant, creative, hard working people live long lives and avoid preventable chronic disease. Now I channel my passion for food and nutritional knowledge into helping other creative professionals reach their health goals in safe, effective, practical ways.

When not breaking down diet culture, or advocating for my clients and their bodies, I enjoy teaching Health Education to BFA students at AMDA college, and assistant teaching Organic Chemistry and Advanced Pathophysiology and Nutritional Biochemistry Clinical Assessment at Maryland University of Integrative Health. I also love hanging out with my dog and husband out and about in Northeast LA.