Jeanne Bedard
Head of Dietetics & Clinic Manager
Jeanne is a Registered Dietitian with Dietitians of Canada and is a graduate of McGill University’s School of Dietetics & Human Nutrition, in Montreal. In her career she has provided nutritional services in outpatient, inpatient, homecare and virtual healthcare settings in the Middle East, Central America and Canada.
She values achievable nutritional advice for her clients based on sound scientific information. She believes that everyone can make meaningful health improvements with the right guidance tailored to their life and style. She is always keen to help patients find balance and demystify fad diets and trens.
Since 2007, she has worked extensively in nutrition and metabolic health, nutrigenetic counselling, disordered eating and eating disorders. As support to her counselling experience, she is certified in Motivational Interview, a client-centered counselling style for facilitating change, by PsyMontreal and in Weight and Body Image by Equilibre. She is a passionate advocate of traditional food and sustainability.
Since relocating from Canada to the Middle East with her husband in 2017, she has co-authored a book on nutrition and mental wellness to be published by Montreal University Press in 2019. Simultaneously, she founded an environmental action movement called DEAP on behalf of which she held public health conferences at schools and corporate businesses and led a network of 2000 multi-national volunteers taking actions for the benefit of the food system and health in the gulf region.
In Canada, she worked for a private nutrigenetic counselling firm called Biogeniq where she developed personalized nutrition plans based on clients’ genetic profiles, health risks, lifestyle, cultural preferences and goals. Prior to that, she spent 3 years at the Montreal Mental Health Institute as a Clinical Dietitian empowering mental health patients through motivational interviews and individualized nutritional plans adapted for patients with illnesses such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, renal & liver failure, dysphagia, depression, anxiety, and other mental health illnesses.
While a Clinical Dietitian, Jeanne took her experience abroad where she spent 2 years in Haiti managing a large nutritional education project promoting breastfeeding and infant nutrition with 400 Haitian women and their families. She developed and launched a food guide endorsed by the Ministry of Public Health of Haiti with a strong emphasis on traditional foods. Jeanne also trained culinary schoolteachers and hospitality professionals on food safety best practices.
In addition to her patient & client-based experience, throughout her career Jeanne has been delivering presentations, workshops and conferences for various communities and groups including family cooperatives and even the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. She is a lover of all things “food” and keeps it simple by removing the stress and complexity traditionally associated with “diets” and ensuring her clients are able to achieve their health goals without going hungry.
Professional Memberships (National and International):
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Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD);
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Dietitians of Canada (DC);
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Professional Order of Dietitians of Québec (OPDQ);
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Advanced Food Safety (CRFA, HACCP) by TrainCan Inc.
She speaks English, French, & Haitian Creole fluently and is learning Arabic in her spare time.