Nutrition FAQs

Get Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Nutrition

When you work with us one-on-one, you’re getting the most personalized service we offer – your Nutrition Specialist becomes a partner on your journey toward improved health, taking an invested interest in helping you reach your goals! This looks like education, support, and accountability with open conversation and trust. You can feel confident that you’re in a judgment-free space with your Nutrition Specialist.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach for nutrition – we all have different lifestyles, food preferences, health concerns, barriers, and goals. Your Nutrition Specialist works alongside you to help you navigate all those factors and build a nutrition plan that works for you. We’ll help you find strategies and build habits that you can keep over time – no more quick-fixes or diets that don’t work!

If you purchase a package of consults, you’ll meet with your Nutrition Specialist for follow-up sessions that give you the space to share your wins, progress toward your goals, and to troubleshoot any challenges that come up. You may continue to purchase additional sessions for as long as you’d like our support and accountability.

We do not give you a diet or standard meal plan to follow. When you work with us one-on-one, we look at your lifestyle, schedule, food preferences, cooking skills, and more to help personalize nutrition recommendations, strategies, and other guidance to what will work best for you to reach your goals. There is no standard diet or meal plan that works for everyone. We can guide you to learn a meal planning strategy that makes sense for you to help keep your healthy habits sustainable long-term. We do not promote any fad diets or any one particular way of eating.

A Nutrition Specialist at the Y can support you in many ways! We can help you navigate different challenges around nutrition and work together to set goals that are realistic and attainable. Here are some examples of how our team can help: 

  • Personalized meal planning and meal prep strategies
  • Pre- and post-exercise fueling
  • Understanding eating behaviors with strategies to become a more mindful and intuitive eater -Maintaining a happy weight for your body without restrictive diets
  • General understanding of balanced nutrition to support your overall health
  • How to stick with balanced eating patterns on a budget
  • Navigating real-life challenges, like traveling and eating out 

Additionally, we have three Registered Dietitians (RDs) on our team. An RD is specially certified to work with you to make nutrition modifications related to a chronic disease or other medical issue, such as pre-diabetes and diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer. We can help you navigate changes to your eating patterns that best support your health.

Any member or non-member at the Y can purchase a nutrition consult package after they’ve had their free 15-minute nutrition discovery session. The nutrition discovery session is a space for us to learn more about you and the nutrition support you’re looking for and to determine if you’re a good fit for one-on- one consults at the Y. You may not be a good fit if you have a severe medical issue that requires additional support. We do not work with individuals who have an active, diagnosed eating disorder. Our Nutrition Specialists can help direct you to other healthcare spaces or providers, if needed.

You can purchase a single nutrition consult or package right from our webpage or at the front desk of your local YMCA. Your Nutrition Specialist will communicate with you directly by email or phone to schedule your first session.

Nutrition consults can be done in person at your local YMCA or virtually over HIPAA-protected Zoom. Once you’ve arranged scheduling, your Nutrition Specialist will let you know where you’ll meet in the Y or will send you the link for Zoom.

If you purchase a package of nutrition consults, you will decide with your Nutrition Specialist how often to meet – this can vary person to person, depending on the level of support and accountability you’re looking for. You might meet more often at the start (i.e. once every 2 weeks) and start spacing out your sessions as you become more empowered on your own (i.e. once per month or every other month). You can always purchase additional sessions once you’ve completed a package of consults if you would like to continue working with your Nutrition Specialist.

Not a member of the Y? We’re happy to work with you, too! You’ll receive all the same service just at a higher cost than our YMCA members. Please see above on this page for pricing information.

If you have any other questions or you’re ready to get started, send us a message at nutrition@denverymca.org!

Please note our program cancellation and refund policy effective October 1, 2023.