23 May How often should you see a nutritonist? Advice from a NYC Dietitian

Medical nutrition therapy varies from patient to patient depending on health and wellness needs. At NYC Nutritionist, we can help you determine the best appointment frequency for your unique needs.

How long should you work with a dietitian?

We believe that the sooner you feel empowered to make the best nutrition choices for your body and needs, the better. Each person who walks through our door gets the individualized care they need. We meet you where you are and work with you to reach your goals. Here’s how:

Initial appointment:

This 60-minute appointment is where we get to know you, your health history, your medical history, the relationship you have with food and body, your nutritional status, dietary habits, medications, and more. In this session, we can establish what you want to achieve through nutrition therapy.

Diagnosis:

Understanding the WHY of your wellness and weight challenges is key to our nutrition program. We take a functional approach to nutrition. One of the functional dietitians on our team will analyze the confluence of factors that might be making you feel unwell or exacerbating symptoms as a result of autoimmune problems, digestive disorders, hormone imbalances, weight gain or loss, ADHD symptoms, and more. Based on this analysis, we can determine specific nutritional issues or conditions needing intervention.

Goal Setting:

We help you establish SMART goals — Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. What you want to achieve depends on what you’re struggling with.

• Weight Loss: Fad diets and gimmicks begone. Skinny does not equal healthy. We are weight-inclusive dietitian nutritionists and diet-neutral. If one of your goals is weight loss, we can help you. Our recommended weight loss program supports losing between 1/2 and 2 pounds/week. This can take time. However, sustainable nutrition habits can last a lifetime when implemented well.  Our focus is wellness, not the numbers on the scale. We might recommend 5 or 10 sessions, depending on your unique needs. We offer follow-up sessions every few months to keep you on track and provide you with the support you need. We also have online groups, so you can receive evidence-based information from dietitian nutritionists and connect with a community interested in implementing healthy eating plans.

• Digestive Health Problems: Nutrition therapy for IBS, Crohn’s, diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, and food sensitivities requires individualized plans from a dietitian for symptom management. Some GI conditions require special diets, like low FODMAP, gluten-free, or other elimination diets. The duration of your MNT depends on how severe your condition is, whether you’re still undergoing diagnostic tests, and if you’re struggling with concurrent issues, like disordered eating

• Eating Disorders or Disordered Eating: Compassionate eating disorder care is a marathon, not a sprint. Weight restoration, healing your relationship with food and body, developing structured meal plans, addressing food anxiety, helping normalize eating behaviors, and providing ongoing support are just a few of the things we do in our outpatient treatment program for disordered eating and eating disorders. This can take time. Healing takes time.

• Diabetes Management: Chronic conditions like diabetes (Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational Diabetes) require dietary interventions, nutrition education, and ongoing support from a dietitian nutritionist. If your child has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, if you’ve been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or gestational diabetes, we can help. Depending on the type of diabetes you have and your needs, we can help you learn to manage your condition with individualized diet plans that regulate blood sugar levels.

Nutrition Intervention:

Once we establish SMART goals, together we will develop a personalized nutrition plan based on your lifestyle, favorite flavors, family traditions, budget, and more. This may include dietary changes, meal planning, and supplementation.

Monitoring:

We will track progress toward your unique goals and adjust the plan as needed.

How long you need to see a nutritionist, and how many sessions you need, all depend on you and your health goals. Contact us, and start feeling better today!