Services

Who Comes for Nutritional Counseling?

Ilyse Simon RDN CDN and her team of dietitians provide nutritional counseling in a private practice setting.
Clients range in age, male and female, tweens to adults.

Most clients would say ‘yes’ to one or more of the following:

  • Eat When Stressed or Upset

  • Mindless Eating

  • Think They Are Fat

  • Spend More Than 30% of Their Time Thinking About Hunger, Food, Body Image, and Weight

  • Ignore Hunger Cues

  • Are Fearful About and Avoid Certain Foods

  • Compulsively Eat

  • Diet Often

  • Crave Carbohydrates

  • Want to Be Normal

  • Want Their Lives Back

Most clients have one or more of the following:

  • An Eating Disorder

  • High Cholesterol

  • High Triglycerides

  • Blood Sugar Imbalances

  • PCOS: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

  • Diabetes

  • Celiac Disease

  • Vegetarian

You Are More Than
Your Weight

Eating Disorders

Though the symptoms are manipulation of food and weight, eating disorders are not about food.

When food and emotions are woven together, Ilyse supports her clients to untangle these two separate entities and learn to feed themselves healthier and more supportive ways.

She works in conjunction with a team of therapists and medical professionals.

Recovery rates for people with eating disorders vary considerably. The sooner treatment is initiated, the better the prognosis.

There are three main categories of eating disorders: restrictive eating, which is called anorexia nervosa, binge/purge cycles or bulimia, and binge-eating disorder. Eating disorders go beyond the desire for weight loss and self-control.

They masquerade as diseases about food. Food, calories, and weight obsession double as distractions from other emotional struggles, possible trauma, and unaddressed control issues. The focus on food is an unconscious way of coping with deeper emotional conflicts.

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Eating disorders can also act as a vehicle to express psychiatric issues, including depression, anxiety, bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Anorexia

Anorexia is self-starvation with an intense fear of weight gain and a distorted body image.

Feeling “fat” can be constant despite dramatic weight loss. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder.

Bulimia

Bulimia is the secretive cycle of binging and purging with a feeling of a total loss of control. Compulsive exercise (also called exercise bulimia) can act as a form of purging through extreme caloric expenditure.

Binge Eating/Compulsive Eating

Binge eating disorder, also called compulsive overeating, is the disregard of hunger and satiety cues marked by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food without purging.

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

ARFID is a problem with eating or feeding that results in malnutrition and weight loss.

Orthorexia Is an obsession with proper or ‘healthful’ eating.

Insulin Resistance

Syndrome X, metabolic syndrome, and Type II diabetes all relate to the same underlying condition of insulin resistance. In addition, about half of the women with polycystic ovarian syndrome are insulin resistant, as it shares some features with metabolic syndrome.

Insulin resistance is a condition where cells don’t respond as much as they should to insulin’s effects. The result is that glucose stays in the bloodstream instead of going into the cell, resulting in high blood sugar. The body’s ability to use insulin is not a black or white matter. Many people fit into the category of grey. They may not have diabetes but may have some clinical signs of insulin resistance. Risk factors for insulin resistance include being overweight-especially having an ‘apple’ shaped body, a family history of diabetes, high total cholesterol, low HDL (good) cholesterol, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, dietary choices. There are many dietary changes, small and large, that can help manage and support the body’s ability to use insulin.

Body Image

Many men and women, boys and girls, suffer from having poor body image and low self-esteem. It is important to know that changing your body image is changing the way you perceive yourself. It has nothing to do with your actual body. Body image is a reflection of how you think about your body.

There is an incessant cultural pressure for thinness in mainstream American lives. We, as individuals, have the opportunity to model positive body image and counter mass media propaganda. Talk with children and friends about models in magazines and allow space for dialogue. Liberalize food choices regardless of weight status, and remember that no food is inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Use movies, books, and special outings for rewards, not food. Compliment others on personality traits, qualities, and actions, not body size or weight loss.

Love Your Body.

The Team Approach

Literature shows the most effective treatment for people with eating disorders engages the team approach, drawing on different professional’s expertise. The team is comprised of experienced professionals, including therapists, dietitians, family therapists, psychiatrists, and physicians. In many cases, parents are also included in the treatment process. Each professional adds specific support to the client or family. The dietitian closely monitors weight and helps clients unlearn dieting behaviors, reintegrate normalized eating patterns according to hunger and fullness cues, and reduce specific food fears.

The Non-Diet Approach

The non-diet approach to health and weight management supports the inclusion of all foods. This freedom from restriction and deprivation decreases attachment to formerly forbidden foods and helps with compulsive/binge-eating. The creed for the non-diet approach is ‘eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.’ Ilyse teaches clients to recognize hunger and fullness cues and distinguish between other signals masquerading as hunger or satiety. This approach takes mindfulness and introspection and can feel liberating. It provides relief from never having to diet again.

Fees & Insurance

In addition to accepting private pay, some of our practitioners are in network with some insurance plans. Please contact your insurance to determine your coverage. For sessions that are out-of-network, some insurance plans will offer some reimbursement, and we can provide you with the information you will need to apply. A sliding scale is available for clients who pay without insurance assistance.

Currently, all our sessions are Telehealth sessions, for the safety of our clients and dietitians.
We can accept credit cards, cash and checks.

  • Sliding Scale Fees Are Available

Insurance Worksheet

Throw Your Scale
Out The Window.