Abstract

The nutritional standards that currently guide nutritional care in the U.S. work on a male-female sex binary. This system generalizes the nutritional needs of humans to averages based on sex when many other factors are in play. Standards of transgender health also lack, focusing on hormone replacement therapy and surgery, barely, if at all, mentioning nutritional considerations. This is especially important for this population so practitioners can support transition goals, changes that occur during medical transitions, and the prevalence of eating disorders. Literature suggests that this population does not have access to this information, but seeks it out often, resulting in misinformation and potential harm. Through semi-structured multi-sited interviews and immersive participant observation through food based methods, this research explored the perceptions of nutrition counseling specific for the trans and gender-diverse community (TGD) from both the clinician and TGD patient perspectives to identify opportunities for education and intervention. The results suggest that TGD patients do not have the information available to them and believe that this would be especially valuable in the beginning stages of a medical transition. Additionally, clinicians believe that a multidisciplinary and individualized approach to nutrition care for this population would be beneficial. The researcher suggests future research and advocacy focus on gender-inclusive, multidisciplinary, and individualized nutrition counseling for the TGD population. 

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