Meet our founder and lead dietitian, McKenzie Caldwell, MPH, RDN.

My Story

Hi! I’m McKenzie - dog mom, mountain lover, recovering perfectionist and registered dietitian nutritionist. My pronouns are she/her. I’m originally from California, but have hopped around the US since graduating high school and am currently living in Charlotte, NC. I love the Carolinas!

I’m a foodie, and also a huge science nerd. While I’ve yet to be pregnant myself, there is something seriously amazing about the placenta. Oh yes, I am that big of a nerd - women’s health nutrition had me caught hook, line and sinker from my freshman year of college. I was exhausted from a night of studying and trudging through the snow to the lecture hall, but let me tell you, learning about iron transport across the placenta that icy morning was so incredibly energizing. Female reproductive health is just plain cool! That passion followed me through grad school where I completed a maternal and child health leadership training, soaked up all that I possibly could relating to prenatal nutrition in my classes, completed rotations in women’s health, and wrote my master’s paper on gestational diabetes.

Now in practice, I continue to learn so much from my clients every single day. In staying up to date with the latest research on nutrition and reproductive health, I also finally figured out that I have a hormonal condition called PMDD, and have been able to find healing with the same mind-body approach I use with my clients. Women’s bodies are powerful, and we deserve so much more than the traditional medical system offers us.

I’ve also had my own struggle with disordered eating. As a kid, I absolutely loved getting in the kitchen and baking cookies with my mom, but around age 12, my inner perfectionist decided to take hold of all the diet culture messages I was being exposed to. Nutrition became a book of rules, instead of a way to support my daily activities and life goals. It wasn’t until grad school that I discovered Health at Every Size® and intuitive eating; two paradigms that truly changed my own life and had a profound impact on the way I practice as a dietitian. I finally went to therapy and started to live my life according to my own values instead of the rules diet culture had given me. Healing my relationship with food helped me break free from perfectionism and find peace and flexibility instead. It helped me find my power. Now, I’m committed to helping you find yours.

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