RUTH EDWARS is an experienced health professional with a strong track record of delivering high-quality care in traditional medical and hospital environments.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Ruth initially studied Psychology. She focussed on researching the causes and treatments for eating disorders. From an early stage, she had a keen interest in dietary treatments for mental health conditions. After graduating, Ruth decided to pursue a career in nursing. Ruth had always been an extrovert with excellent people skills and wanted to apply her knowledge in a clinical setting. Ruth recalls that nursing school was a challenging experience, but ultimately a rewarding one as it gave her the opportunity to learn and develop with people from many different backgrounds.
After qualifying, Ruth spent three years working in various challenging and fast-paced nursing roles, developing her clinical skills and learning a great deal from her supportive co-workers. In fact, Ruth says that some of her best teachers during these years were the patients themselves; she found it incredibly rewarding to support people through their illnesses and see them recover. Working with people experiencing life threatening illnesses provided perspective to challenges in her own life. Ruth was inspired by her colleagues to complete her Masters and focus on digestive illnesses. She saw this as a great way of combining her earlier research passions with her clinical work and experience.
Ruth started thinner.cc after years working with patients suffering from digestive system disorders. She became fascinated with studying the health benefits and positive clinical outcomes associated with changes and improvements to peoples’ diets. Ruth wasn’t just interested in the physical and clinical effects of diet; her psychology background and a deep understanding of the challenges that can stop people making positive changes in their lives have provided Ruth with a unique perspective as both a health practitioner and academic. Not only does food influence our health, but it can also have positive and negative impacts on our moods.
For Ruth, thinner.cc is a place where she can share her unique insights and help people understand the real benefits that changes in their diet can bring. Part of this involves challenging peoples’ misperceptions about what healthy eating really means; when talking to patients, she often finds that they feel that they need to make significant changes to their lifestyle to see any effect. Ruth says that this isn’t accurate, small and incremental changes to reduce unhealthy food and increasing the right aspects of your diet can yield amazing results. Through thinner.cc, Ruth hopes to help her readers achieve their diet goals and lead healthier happier lives.
Ruth lives and works in Rochester, New York with her husband and son. When not writing about food and medicine, she is a slow (but improving) runner and yoga enthusiast.
