Are you ready to find freedom with food and discover your healthiest and happiest self?
Are you tired of struggling with your relationship with food and your body? Do you spend most of your time thinking about the foods you don’t allow yourself to eat or wishing you just knew how to eat “normally”? Do you want to feel more comfortable in your body and move around the world with increased ease? Are you looking to manage a chronic health condition, but don’t want to go on yet another diet?
Eating Disorder Recovery
Nutrition therapy is vital in recovering from any type of eating disorder including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED). Christina will work with you to develop a plan for achieving optimal nutritional status, eliminating eating disorder behaviors, and creating a more balanced and positive relationship with food and body.
Christina works with folks who have a diagnosed eating disorder, folks who otherwise meet the criteria but have never been diagnosed, as well as those who are in a state of “quasi” or partial recovery.
Intuitive Eating Counseling
Intuitive Eating, as described on the Intuitive Eating website is “a self-care eating framework, which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought and was created by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995. Intuitive Eating is a weight-inclusive, evidence-based model with a validated assessment scale and over 100 studies to date.”
Christina is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and has done extensive training with Tribole and Resch.
Medical Nutrition Therapy
The foods we eat play a role in managing certain health conditions. Medical nutrition therapy is performed by a registered dietitian who utilizes evidence based practices to provide individualized nutrition recommendations and therapies to help people manage certain disease states or medical conditions (i.e. diabetes or cardiac disease).
Christina will work with you to add new health promoting foods and behaviors into your life.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What Should I Expect When I Meet with Christina?
Seeing a registered dietitian for the first time can be nerve wracking. You may be nervous I’ll judge your food or lifestyle choices or ask you to follow a super strict diet that eliminates all of your favorite foods. This is certainly not the case.
In our initial 60-minute session, we’ll get to know each other and start to uncover your relationship with food and your body. We’ll start to come up with a big picture plan and identify the areas you would like to focus on in our work together.
Our follow-up sessions are 50 minutes and will focus on introducing strategies to help you move towards your goals, working through barriers, and revisiting and adjusting your goals to help you and propel you forward.
Generally, I meet with clients weekly for the first month to really dive into the work, and from there we can decide together how frequently to meet whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
What Kind of Clients does Christina Work With?
I work with adults who live in Long Island, New York City, New York State, Connecticut, or New Jersey with various degrees of disordered eating or diagnosed eating disorders. Many of my clients are chronic dieters who are looking to break free from the cycle of restrictive diets. I also see clients who are looking to manage health conditions such as gastrointestinal disorders, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and food allergies, as well as those looking to increase their overall mood, energy levels, and well-being using a non-diet approach.
What Services does Christina Offer?
I provide one-on-one nutrition counseling sessions which can sometimes include meal support, experiential eating sessions, and grocery store tour sessions.
Will Nutrition Counseling with Christina Help me Lose Weight?
When someone works with me, their weight will either decrease, stay the same, or increase. Your body will naturally settle where it’s meant to be and I’ll help you to achieve your best health while ditching the dieting roller coaster forever.
What is Health at Every Size ® (HAES ® ) and How Does This Impact My Care?
As defined by The Association for Size Diversity and Health, Health at Every Size ® is “a movement working to promote size-acceptance, to end weight discrimination, and to lessen the cultural obsession with weight loss and thinness. The HAES approach promotes balanced eating, life-enhancing physical activity, and respect for the diversity of body shapes and sizes.” Please see the ASDAH’s website for more information on HAES.
In my practice, I do not pathologize clients’ body weight, shape, or size, which means being able to work on clients’ personalized health goals beyond blanket advice to just “diet and exercise and hopefully lose weight”. It also means supporting clients in eating disorder recovery to fully nourish themselves, not stopping short or imposing diets due to arbitrary BMI cut-offs or fat phobia.
Does Christina Take Insurance For Nutrition Counseling?
I am currently an in-network provider with Cigna, Empire NYSHIP, Tier 1 Northwell Direct, and Aetna. I am also an out-of-network provider with most insurances which means you will pay for sessions at the time of service and submit a monthly statement (superbill) which you then submit to your insurance carrier for insurance reimbursement if eligible. Unfortunately, insurance can limit services by diagnosis and number of visits, which is why I strive to make my services affordable to all. If your insurance does not cover your sessions, we can discuss private pay options.
How Much Do Nutrition Sessions Cost Without Insurance?
If I am not in-network with your health insurance, private pay is an option. My standard rate is $180 for initial consultations and $140 for follow up sessions. You have the right to a Good Faith Estimate of the costs you may incur. This will be provided to you prior to an evaluation. Collaboration with other members of your treatment team (medical doctor, therapist, psychiatrist) is included in this rate. Parent communication for minors outside of regular session time and brief check-ins is charged and not eligible for insurance reimbursement.
Is Virtual Nutrition Counseling as Effective as In-Person Services?
In short, yes! For a majority of people, virtual nutrition counseling provides the same benefits as in person and can often improve treatment outcomes due to not having to worry about traffic, missing as much work or school, or childcare in order to attend their appointments.
Further, for clients in eating disorder recovery, virtual sessions provide a unique opportunity for support around their triggers in their usual environment. We often talk about how treatment can feel like a “bubble”, making it hard to “do recovery in the real world”, so having your appointments in your usual space can make that transition easier.