PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Eating is an easy and familiar activity, but for some can be one of the hardest to control. When chaotic intake leads to excess weight gain, physical and emotional health can be affected. Unsuccessful efforts to break long-established habits demonstrate how difficult the process can be, especially since it's often incompatible with making the most convenient, economical, or indulgent food choices. Gaining insight into behaviors which can lead to overweight is the first step to taking control, to balancing discipline and satisfaction, to making the necessary and meaningful changes which lead to recovery.
Because everyone has their own unique relationship with food, the program begins with a thorough dietary behavior history. Subsequent group sessions, guided by a physician and a nutritionist, help uncover thoughts and emotions that contribute to dysregulated eating and teach principles of nutrition, metabolism, and the neurobiology of eating behavior. The core objective for each participant is to develop individualized strategies to replace self-defeating actions with sustainable habits and food choices, taking advantage of the collective support and mutual accountability only a group setting can offer.
Group Formation
- • new participants are currently being screened for upcoming
groups scheduled to start winter, 2012
- • space is limited and a physician referral is preferred
- • individual cost is $175 per 75 min. session, with statements
issued monthly; participants must attend >75% of monthly
sessions to advance to the succeeding program phase
- • the program includes an individual 1:1 evaluation with
nutritionist and an individual psychiatry session
- • although the program does not contract with insurance carriers,
statements can typically be presented for partial insurance
reimbursement
- • special groups for pre- and post-operative bariatric surgery
patients are currently in development
- • for meeting location and other details, contact 310-275-9241
or email marydonkersloot@gmail.com
Program includes:
- • individual dietary and eating behavior analysis
- • nutritional metrics, including metabolic rate, muscle-to-fat
ratio, and micronutrient intakes
- • regular review of medical labs for nutrition-related indices
- • risk factor assessment for medical complications associated
with being overweight
- • evaluation of possible medication effects on appetite/weight
- • behavioral modification sessions and eating activities
Special Discussion Topics
- • exploring the origins of your own out-of-control eating
- • coping with emotional, environmental, and food-related
triggers to dysregulated intake
- • how significant people in your life may help or hinder your
progress
- • nutritional keys to controlling hunger
- • recalibrating your mental "set point" for fullness
- • how excessive eating restraint can be a set-up for food
binging
- • the realistic importance of metabolism in weight control
- • do certain foods have addictive qualities?
- • strategies to gradually change food preferences
- • how economizing on food purchases can lead to costly
setbacks in Calorie control
- • preparing for long-term weight maintenance and overcoming
temporary setbacks