Skillr Profile: Diksha Chhabra

Diksha Chhabra is a registered dietician and lifestyle coach on the SKILLR App. She spoke with us about her transition from fashion to nutrition, why she takes a holistic approach to goal-setting and more. 

Alexa Goins: Can you tell me your name, your pronouns and what you do on SKILLR?

Diksha Chhabra: Okay. My name is Diksha. It's spelled as D-I-K-S-H-A and pronounced as Diksha (d-ee-k-sh-aa). And last name is Chhabra. I'm a registered dietician and a lifestyle coach with SKILLR. And my pronouns are she and her.

Alexa Goins: Awesome. And how did you get into your field?

Diksha Chhabra: Wow, that's a long story. I think science has always been my forte. I like science. And when I was in grade 11, 12, again, having a history of plenty of people in my own family related to more medicine, I thought, oh, yeah, I can take medicine as one of my careers, but apparently I did not get through that. And long story short, I ended up getting into home science college and then there was nutrition as one of the majors there. And typically, in India, you have a cutoff in terms of the baseline marks. And with two marks, I could not get into that field either. I ended up getting textiles and clothing. So, I did my master's in that and I did my bachelor's in that as well. But I think somehow inside, I still got connected to having nutrition or medicine as one of the fields I would like to pursue my goal in.

So, eventually, I got married, came to the US and my husband told me, “Here's Wayne State, what would you like to pursue?” And I was like, "Well, if I get a chance, I would like to do nutrition." So, I ended up going through the two year dietetics degree. And then once I got that, I became a dietician.

Alexa Goins: That's so interesting. So, you were in fashion and then you switched to this field?

Diksha Chhabra: Yes.

Alexa Goins: That's quite a transition.

Diksha Chhabra: Yes, it is. And I think somehow it was still my wish to do something in the field of medicine or related to, again, anything nutrition wise. So, that spark was still there. And then the moment I had the opportunity to do it, I was like, well, I would love to go back into this field that I always wanted to be a part of.

Alexa Goins: That's really cool. What does a typical day look like for you in your profession?

Diksha Chhabra: I have had different caps in terms of I've worked in different scenarios. So, when I used to be an inpatient dietician, that is a typical day. You start with the workload, you have patients to see. And you go over your list and you teamwork with other dieticians and take care of the workloads. Lately, I have been associated with online teaching. So, my typical day looks like I've been teaching CDC approved classes for participants who would like to learn mindful eating and staying active. So, I've been their coach. I've been their support GPS person in their journey to help them do that. So, my typical day starts with, again, how many classes I have during the day. And then I get to see their logs. The logs especially means that they send me the food, or maybe it is an app they're working with or typical plate of food that they eat and different meals.

I will go over those, send them my comments and trying to understand what is the scenario or what is the reasoning behind why they choose what they choose. And I think that has been a big part of my own learning as well, that mindful eating has many more factors than just the food on the plate itself. So, understanding those, being their support, answering their questions, or if they send me chat messages about their life or stress factors. So, just being their accountability partner takes most of my time on a daily basis. So, if I might have an hour class to do, then I might have a half hour break, then I'll have another class. And then at the end of the day, I'll get everybody's food logs and I will look and browse over them, answer questions if I have any. But typically, it's now pretty much all virtual, not in person anymore.

Alexa Goins: How do you feel about that transition to more virtual work?

Diksha Chhabra: It is a learning curve for me. For me, I think I like the fact that it helps me have a personal and professional balance, especially the way my kids do require me to be present at certain times, of pickups and drop offs or all those other responsibilities as a parent. So, I think the virtual world, really, I feel like I can still work in a virtual setting, continue to improvise my own professional goals and work towards them, yet have again, the ability to continue to help my kids when they need me. So, the work and life balance was really something I felt like virtually helped me a lot.

Alexa Goins: Yeah, I feel the same way about virtual work. What's your favorite thing about teaching people about nutrition?

Diksha Chhabra: My favorite thing to teach them is that it is doable. You have to trust the process. I have done it on my own, struggled with my own journey of how to eat better, relationship with food. Scale has not been my best friend, but eventually I had a relationship with how I understood what sustainability means, rather than quick fixes. So, I think that is something I would definitely like to be that support person for that participant or client saying that if I can do it, anybody can. It just needs you to have a mindset to work towards your goals and trust the process, give time some time and it will happen.

Alexa Goins: I love that, because mindset can just be so important in accomplishing any goal. So, love that. what are some common challenges that people run into when trying to create new nutrition habits?

Diksha Chhabra: First of all, I always say they probably don't understand the why. They probably look at quick fixes, maybe unrealistic expectations, like somebody else they have seen across on a screen, have lost all that weight. And then suddenly, you put that in your own perception. Oh, my gosh, it is three months, I will do the same thing. But apparently, we all are very, very unique individuals, very, very unique DNA, very, very unique challenges. We might have factors that resist changes. But to understand all that, you have to learn to give... Again, people think that we extrapolate one of our perceptions about somebody else's results into us. When I teach classes, I always say, you first have to commit to yourself that I will become the best version of myself, not anybody else, not a celebrity, not people around me, because I have a totally different setup of things that will work for and against me.

So, when you have realistic expectations, you do feel better about your progress. Secondly, probably people feel like that they cannot achieve things because of their previous history of failures that they might have, but setbacks or challenges actually prepare you better for future. So, people hesitate, like I have tried so and so, pattern of philosophy of eating, and I have failed it, so this time it's also going to be the same old issue. And after two or three months, I'll spend the money and ill end up not getting anything, and I'll gain the weight back. But for me, in my own journey, I felt like, one, again, slow steady progress, realistic goals, smaller goals. Than long term, we put a lot of pressure in terms of I'm going to lose 50 pounds in a year or in 50 pounds in three months, that's unrealistic.

I would say I would lose maybe half a pound, one pound per week if that is there. If not, scale is not the only thing that guides your life. Mindfulness means social, emotional, psychological, physiological wellbeing. It's not just, today I step on the scale. There are plenty of reasons why your scale is behaving the way it is. And I have, myself got through that point of it's okay, today's scale is there, I'm going to focus on something else that is my non-scale victory. So, those challenges, if you keep telling you, you feel stress about failure, stress about past history, of not achieving results, and again, what if and how long that could be sustainable for. So, that's where we teach a lot of these techniques of two participants to get more practical, look at other factors in life, which is included in the mindful leading and staying active, and finding reasons behind why these have happened and not dictate to your life. Scale is not just one thing that gives you any answers. There are plenty of reasons why it's behaving the same way it is.

Alexa Goins: I love that. It sounds like you really encourage your clients to take a very holistic approach to their goals.

Diksha Chhabra: Correct.

Alexa Goins: Which is so important. On SKILLR, we're all about learning and growing and taking small steps to gain new knowledge and skills, so what's one thing that you're learning about right now or interested in learning about?

Diksha Chhabra: I love SKILLR as a platform, because the access to so much of expertise at a touch of a button is amazing to me. I mean, let alone for me, like considering again, coming from a nutritional background or a lifestyle, you look into eating healthy patterns. But then at the other time I might see, well, mindfulness is a great thing, and if I need somebody who can teach me a motivational 5, 7, 10 minute session, that helps me to come back into my momentum, through SKILLR, I can do that. And I would love to learn more and more in terms of gaining that knowledge. And I mean, again, we were privileged to get these sessions available for free through this platform to get in touch with other Skillrs. And maybe my expertise is in a certain area, but somebody else is in theirs.

So, we could have actually the team build, where again, a holistic approach makes it a lot more doable in terms of... If somebody wants to learn music to help them calm themselves down so that they don't feel food as their comfort, I can have actually somebody I can refer it to saying, "Hey, how about you? Are you interested in, say salsa dancing as your activity?" Which is again, something I would encourage you. You don't have to go to the gym to work out, you can learn salsa. And music is vibration, and if that helps you calm down and your comfort food changes into comfort activity, I have a reference for you. I can refer you to someone and you can go ahead and get in touch with that person. So, that whole team building approach to provide people results that they're looking for, is something I would like to learn more and more as I get involved in Skillr community.

But having that access to all these people with different expertise is mind boggling to me, like, oh my gosh, I could totally use this person's expertise to refer it to my client saying, "Hey, how about if you really want to get into bodybuilding? I'm not a person who will teach bodybuilding, but you can find somebody on SKILLR who can do that." And they can have an instant match and they can continue to do their journey. Because sometimes having one single expertise and not having reference for others, make you feel lost. And that coming from one platform is something I'm really excited about.

Alexa Goins: I haven't thought about it, in terms of being able to refer to other people, other experts on the app. That's a really nice way to think about it, learning in community and approaching things holistically. So, I have a fun question. Complete the phrase: “When I'm not working as a nutritionist, I'm...?”

Diksha Chhabra: Yes, that is my fun part. I do wear many hats. A hat of a mother who has been raising two children with severe food allergies. I have a passion for learning a lot about food allergies and food sensitivity, so I am pursuing more education in that related field. I love to walk barefoot on grass, first thing in the morning and have my cup of coffee to get into my zen mode, to start the tone for the day. Since COVID, I've cut down on my running and skills, but I do love to do my 5K, 10K runs with my friends at times. So, meditation, reading books, plenty of things that I love to do, but usually I think mindful cooking is something I'm trying to get to, with the ease of making my meals within 15 minutes, rather than putting so much effort.

Pre-planning how my next week is going to look, all these kinds of things are something that keeps me busy if I'm not working as a nutritionist. But knowledge is something I would always strive to learn more, because everything that connects me back to the nutrition background, but yet it gives me a holistic approach, is something I would like to give my clients. Because that way you put all the pieces of the puzzle together and it makes more sense. We focus on one piece of the puzzle and lead the other, the results might not be what you're looking at. So, having that knowledge is something I would always strive towards.

Alexa Goins: Is there anything else that you want to share about yourself or about SKILLR?

Diksha Chhabra: Like I said, I think as part as what my goal as a Skillr on this app is to, like I said, to provide holistic approach where I can be the GPS for the Seekrs who are coming in, to give them accountability and support, to make it realistic and sustainable for them. Saying that, like I said, I have been privileged to have mentors and support in my life who have continued my journey the way I am. And I would like to reach out to the Seekrs in the same way. But like I said, there is one thing that I've really felt good about this platform, and I feel like is the holistic approach of how we can bring in experts from various fields, yet move towards a common goal.

Coming back to like an example of the same healthy eating. So, if you have a person who's looking into, I really need to find out what kind of protein I need to do on a daily basis because I'm weight lifting, I don't have to feel like, oh, my gosh, now I have to send that person a research study and this and that. I can absolutely say, "Hey, go on a eat and fit link. Just go and see, find out anybody who excels in that field. Have 5, 15, 20 minutes of the first initial conversation." But I feel like that way I am extending my support to that seeker as well, who wants mindful eating, but also looking in a very, very specialized field of staying active.

Or I said, a dance thing. Dance is great vibrations. It helps me to de-stress. I'm not looking for eating a pint of ice cream. I can refer it to that person and I'll feel like, wow, I've done my extended GPS support accountability part. So, that's what I would love to do for Seekrs and continue this journey. And I'm very excited to learn more about this platform.

Alexa Goins: Oh, we're so excited that you're on it. So, thank you so much for your time. It was so nice to talk to you.

Diksha Chhabra: Same here. Thank you again for this opportunity.

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