Skip to main content
Healthspan Nutrition Lab

What to expect during a visit with your dietitian

Registered Dietitian-Nutritionists, or RDNs, are experts in nutrition and knowing how nutrients—too few or too many—influence our health.  

You will meet with the RDN four times throughout the study for an opportunity to learn about how nutrition can impact your health. These sessions will last 30-60 minutes and focus on your unique needs, questions, and concerns. Nutritious eating can and should look different for everyone. The RDN will take into consideration your medical conditions, preferences, schedule, resources, and goals while helping you develop a nutrition plan that works for you.  

Your visits with the RDN are a time to review any concerns you may have about your diet related to your health goals and identify your specific nutrition needs. To help support your goals, your visits with the RDN will be spread out over the 12-month study period.  

What will a typical RDN visit include? 

Typically, an RDN visit will include a review of the following: 

  • Your health and medical information, such as lab work and clinical measures like blood pressure
  • Information from your in-person assessment
  • Your go-to meals, snacks, and beverages
  • Your goals, including what's going well and where you would like more support 
Celebrating your wins 

The RDN will be there to celebrate your successes and help you pivot when you recognize a change needs to be made. At the end of the session, the RND will help you refine or modify your goals and establish a plan to put them into action.  

Depending on your goals, the RDN can also review and share information on topics like:  

  • The strengths and challenges of your current diet and small tweaks that make a big impact 
  • General healthy eating patterns and strategies 
  • Meal planning and preparation tips, tricks, and expert hacks 
  • The benefits of self-monitoring and tracking and ‘how-to’ 
  • Nutrient density, caloric density, and portion awareness 
  • Recognizing emotional eating patterns – celebratory, boredom or stress and management strategies

Woman with glasses and short, dark hair, wearing a blue shirt, sits at her desk as she meets with another woman virtually, who is on the computer screen. They're both smiling and giving two thumbs up.