Nutritional Counseling

Are you seeking nutrition support?

Our nutrition team members specialize in:

  • Eating disorders

  • Disordered eating

  • Pre-diabetes and diabetes

  • Celiac disease

  • Hypertension

  • Sports nutrition

  • Child/adolescent nutrition

We can also help you:

  • Increase variety in your eating

  • Design balanced meals and snacks geared toward your personal tastes and preferences

  • Gain confidence in nourishing your body

  • Ditch diets and the “diet mentality”

  • Develop trust in your hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues

  • Enhance intuitive eating practices

  • Improve body image

  • Develop a plan for decreasing negative thoughts around food and weight as well as emotional eating

  • Make a plan to structure home and work environments to avoid disordered eating triggers

  • Promote physical and mental well-being

Health At Every Size

Potomac Behavioral Solutions (PBS) takes a weight-neutral approach to nutrition and wellness. We believe in the principles of Health At Every Size (HAES), and we maintain that BMI, body weight, and body size are poor indicators of health status. Because health is informed by a multitude of factors, including socio-economic forces and issues of access, we emphasize a realistic, sustainable, inclusive approach that promotes wellness in a broad sense.

Bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and we believe this diversity is a beautiful thing. That said, there is no denying that weight stigma, fatphobia, and size discrimination are commonplace in our society. Fundamentally, the HAES framework strives to eliminate these harmful forms of prejudice.

“The only way to solve the weight problem is to stop making weight a problem—to stop judging ourselves and others by our size. Weight is not an effective measure of attractiveness, moral character, or health. The real enemy is weight stigma, for it is the stigmatization and fear of fat that causes the damage and deflects attention from true threats to our health and well-being.”

— Linda Bacon, Health at Every Size

All Foods Fit Philosophy

The phrase “all foods fit” emphasizes the notion that there are no “good” foods or "bad” foods. The idea that no food has a moral value is an important concept in removing judgments and distortions that often form disordered eating beliefs and practices. We believe that all foods can fit into a healthful lifestyle, including (but certainly not limited to) pizza, sushi, tacos, and yes, ice cream too. While vitamins and minerals are important, food is also meant to provide satisfaction and enjoyment!

Intuitive Eating

Intuitive Eating is a journey, and everyone who embarks on it starts from a different point. Intuitive Eating provides a framework that promotes self-care and body trust. By encouraging our clients to listen to internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction, we support physical and mental health. Eating in an intuitive manner is in full alignment with the principles of Health at Every Size (HAES), and it is an evidence-based approach. 

*Please note that the Intuitive Eating is not a diet or weight loss program. This evidence-based intervention may or may not result in weight loss. The goal is help you connect with your own hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues. For this reason, the intention is to help you move away from eating that is based on calorie counting, exchange systems, and rigid meals plans, and focus instead on learning how to honor your personal nutrition needs.

  • Together, we'll work through the various principles of Intuitive Eating:

    1. Reject the Diet Mentality

    2. Honor Your Hunger

    3. Make Peace with Food

    4. Challenge the Food Police

    5. Feel Your Fulness

    6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor

    7. Cope with Your Emotions without Using Food

    8. Respect Your Body

    9. Exercise - Feel the Difference

    10. Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition

  • If you desire to understand and change your relationship with food, our Intuitive Eating 12-Session Individualized Program may be for you. Together, we'll work through the principles of Intuitive Eating on a one-to-one basis in a guided and supported fashion.

    We also offer a 10 session virtual Intuitive Eating Group, geared to change your relationship with food, while enhancing positive connections with others.