Motivational Interviewing in Nutrition and Fitness

by Clifford, Dawn; Curtis, Laura

• ISBN13: 9781462557745
• ISBN10: 1462557740
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-07-29
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

The go-to reference and practice guide for using motivational interviewing (MI) to enhance conversations about nutrition and fitness is now in a thoroughly revised second edition with 70% new material. Easy to incorporate into everyday interactions, MI offers simple yet powerful tools for helping clients work through ambivalence, break free of diets and quick-fix solutions, and overcome barriers to change. Extensive sample dialogues illustrate the dos and don'ts of counseling clients about meal planning and preparation, exercise, body image, disordered eating, and more. Supplemental reproducible handouts can be downloaded and printed from the companion website. In addition, instructors who adopt the book for courses receive access to PowerPoint slides, worksheets, and exam questions.

New to This Edition

• Chapters on medical nutrition therapy, health coaching, follow-up sessions, and counselor health and boundaries. 
• Restructured to reflect developments in MI and the authors' training approach; includes new and revised sample dialogues. 
• Increased attention to weight stigma and social determinants of health, such as racism and unequal access to health care. 
• Expanded companion website, now including resource links and an online-only chapter, "What to Do When There's Little Time," in addition to 17 handouts. 

This book is in the Applications of Motivational Interviewing series, edited by Stephen Rollnick, William R. Miller, and Theresa B. Moyers.

Author Biography

Dawn Clifford, PhD, RD, is Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Northern Arizona University and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). Her research focuses on MI, health coaching, and weight-inclusive approaches to health and well-being. Dr. Clifford has been published in Nutrition in Clinical Practice, the Journal of American College Health, the Health Education Journal, and the Recreational Sports Journal. In addition, she has created continuing education curricula in MI. Dr. Clifford is a recipient of the Outstanding Dietetics Educator Award from Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors, a practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Laura Curtis, MS, RDN, is Lecturer in Nutrition and Food Science and Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at California State University, Chico, where she teaches in the areas of nutrition counseling, medical nutrition therapy, and food service management. In addition to her teaching, Ms. Curtis maintains a small private practice, providing nutrition counseling for those struggling with disordered eating as well as medical nutrition therapy for a variety of nutrition-related conditions. She pairs motivational interviewing (MI) with a weight-inclusive approach to nutrition counseling anchored in the principles of intuitive eating and eating competence.

Table of Contents

Introduction
I. Motivational Interviewing Basics
1. The Complexities of Change
2. The Spirit of Motivational Interviewing
II. Mastering the Skills of Motivational Interviewing
3. Open Questions
4. Reflective Practice
5. Affirmations
III. The Four Tasks of Motivational Interviewing
6. Engaging
7. Focusing
8. Evoking
9. Planning
10. When Clients Aren’t So Sure about Change
IV. Putting Motivational Interviewing to Work
11. Motivational Interviewing in Medical Nutrition Therapy
12. Motivational Interviewing in Nutrition Counseling
13. Motivational Interviewing to Address Weight Concerns
14. Motivational Interviewing in Fitness Counseling
15. Motivational Interviewing in Health Coaching
V. Beyond the Basics
16. Follow-Up Sessions
17. Counselor Health and Boundaries
References
Index