Welcome, Adid. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks so much for having me — I'm excited for this.
We talk to our patients a lot about diet and nutrition, and we emphasize it because you can't improve a patient's metabolic or optimal health without discussing diet. So it's nice to know there are other options out there.
Getting Into Nutrition Counseling
Tell us about yourself — how did you get into nutrition counseling? When I was 10 or 12, I was really struggling with my weight and my habits. I was born into a relatively healthy-eating, active family, but I always struggled. Around 11 or 12, I saw my first dietitian — my mom brought me — and I learned a couple of quick tips, like being mindful of your hunger cues, though at that age you don't really know what that means. I started my own wellness and fitness journey, walking to a YMCA-type place 10 minutes from home, learning how to use a gym and a treadmill, and I lost about 35 to 40 pounds on my own.
I was fascinated by what drove our habits and decisions around food, so I studied nutrition. But my freshman or sophomore year, I remember thinking these science classes weren't diving into the emotional and psychological aspects of food. I always said I'd double major in nutrition and psych — I didn't — but as I started counseling right after my dietetic internship, I really dove into what makes people make these decisions. It's not discipline; it's our habits, triggers, emotions, and trauma related to food. There's a difference between just providing quick guidance, a meal plan, and calories, versus really diving into the reason for a person's habits. That's what we do at Everlong — focus on behavior change more than surface-level recommendations.
People don't even recognize in themselves how deep their connection to nutrition and emotions runs.
What Makes Everlong Different
What makes Everlong different from typical dietetic advice? The big piece is the counseling aspect. We have a longer-term relationship with patients, working with them through what we call seasons of life — holidays, a divorce, empty nesting, a first child, marriage. We help them develop sustainable habits and realize where their initial habits come from, breaking free from beliefs like "I'm not disciplined" or "I just have to follow a diet."
All our dietitians are trained not only in the clinical piece — medical nutrition therapy — but also in more therapeutic approaches. Many come from backgrounds in eating disorder care and behavioral health centers, and they've done certifications in intuitive eating and motivational interviewing. It's a blend of nutrition and therapy, which is where the counseling comes in. So it's nutrition counseling taken a step further — still focusing on what you're eating, your metabolic health, and your labs, but also on why you wake up and make a certain decision around food. A lot of our patients mention on their intake form that they have behavioral problems around food — cravings and the like — so this is a good thing we can offer.
Sometimes you need somebody else to help you realize that. A lot of the work is discovery work at the beginning — tell us about yourself and your history — and you slowly work toward finding where those things come from. It takes time, and being open to working through it, which is a different approach than most people are used to from a clinical dietitian in an outpatient setting.
Why the Emotional Side of Food Matters
One core message of Everlong is that nutrition counseling can feel more like therapy. Why is the emotional side of food so important? People tend to blame themselves for food choices or not reaching a goal. We're very hard on ourselves, living in a stressful world. It's not your fault if you can't reach a goal — often there's something underlying it, and it could be deep: past trauma, a history with food, disordered eating. Or it could just be being busy and stressed. The emotional piece spans a spectrum — not everyone comes in saying "I have trauma related to food"; some say "I'm too stressed to make time to prep these things."
Understanding that everybody's life is unique — what works for someone else won't necessarily work for you — and taking away the guilt, comparison, and being so hard on yourself truly leads to long-term change. We all have seasons: some where I work out three or four days a week in a class, and others where my only exercise is a couple of walks. That helps people realize they're not broken and it's not their fault. It's a personalized approach, which is really important in our practice too.
Invisible Habits That Sabotage
Have you noticed patterns or invisible habits that sabotage people's relationship with food? Definitely — the feeling of having to start over. This binge cycle or diet cycle should really be called a trap of trying to be so perfect that you end up feeling like you messed up, when in reality you didn't; the expectations just weren't set properly. The cycles and expectations we set on ourselves lead to self-sabotage. In any health journey — even meditating or another habit — we tend to go from zero to 100, and that leads you right back to where you started. It's the small changes that prevent the binge cycle or "starting over every Monday." When people do that long enough, they build habits and realize they don't need to be perfect. A lot of people have struggled with that for 30 or 40 years, so it's not unpacked in one or two sessions. But with time they realize their expectations don't match their life — often we set expectations we see someone else meet that don't fit our lifestyle or even what we want.
Dopamine addiction is tough; it definitely needs time. There are small things you can notice right off the bat — if you come to a first session and have never spent time talking about these things or had someone hold you accountable, you'll probably leave feeling better right away. We'll set a small goal, like writing down how you feel after a meal, or noticing your energy around habits. But truly making larger strides takes a couple of months. I don't want to deter anyone by saying it takes too long — there are always small wins to celebrate along the way. We've become a society that needs instant gratification, and psychologically, if you don't celebrate the small wins, you think "what's the point?" I love the idea of celebrating small wins and setting realistic expectations.
Why "Just Eat Healthy" Isn't Enough
We ask people what their nutrition looks like, and often hear "I eat really healthy" or "I don't eat that great." Why isn't "just eat healthy" good enough? My answer is: what does that mean? It's not one-size-fits-all — what's healthy for me is different for you and the next person. People subconsciously put themselves in a bucket — "I'm good this week" or "the next three months of holidays are the bad season" — and we work to reduce those thoughts. Being too much in one bucket or the other sets you up to fail: in the "not healthy" bucket you say "forget it," and in the "healthy" bucket there's no room for balance. There's no way to be so strict forever — we have to learn to be in the middle, and that middle is different for everyone depending on where you live, your kids, your age, your work. That's one big problem with social media and ads revolving around "the right way" to do nutrition — it doesn't exist. It's about personalization and having a provider open to exploring that rather than setting one standard.
Intuitive Eating
Tell us about intuitive eating and how it's personalized. Intuitive eating has 10 principles, but we don't just check off one through 10. We look at how we can add pieces of intuitive eating into our day, week, and long-term goals. You personalize it by looking at where you're starting and asking, "What's a step toward being more intuitive and away from rigid dieting?" You don't just take someone through a class and hand them a certificate — it can't work like that because everyone starts in a different spot. One person is ready to hone in on the 10 principles; another doesn't know what intuitive eating is, so we start at step one — learning what hunger and fullness feel like. We have to start somewhere.
Timing, Seasons, and Midlife
Do people succeed better starting at certain times of year? That's where seasons come in. I don't think there's a certain time of year, but seasons of the year and of someone's life affect how much energy and time they can put in. It doesn't mean you can't work with a dietitian in the fall — your goals just shift. Your goal for the next three months might be to have less food noise and stress around the holidays, and then dial in on other goals later. It could even be as simple as scheduling a doctor's appointment and labs for January. People tend to think there's nothing they can do for three months, but you can shift the goals to match the season.
We work with a lot of people in midlife dealing with hormone changes. Are there unique challenges? The biggest piece is not having all the information to pick apart what's going on. Labs are important — but not necessarily just traditional labs. Our dietitians educate patients on other labs and tests they can get, to view things differently than a traditional provider might, which is no fault of the provider — they often don't have the time or capacity. We need the most information we can get to support someone through hormone changes. Advocating for yourself as the patient — and having a dietitian advocate for you — matters. As dietitians, we can't order labs or tests, so we advocate by educating patients and having them go ask for it, or recommending they find a provider who can give more information.
Advice for Feeling Stuck
For someone stuck in their current food environment, what advice would you give right off the bat? First, give yourself grace — it sounds silly, and most people will say they've tried that, but keep doing it. Second, seek support in some way. It can feel isolating to struggle with nutrition, especially if you feel like the only one in your friend group or family. Seek connection — a provider, an accountability buddy, a forum, a group. With anything difficult, having that connection matters. There are more options now than ever — dietitians covered by insurance, courses, coaches, more accessibility online. Then maybe take it a step further and find someone who specializes in what you're dealing with. Staying stuck doesn't have to be the answer — you don't have to stay stuck for years. There are a lot of great providers, including naturopaths and holistic providers, more open to recommending nutrition support.
Does Everlong offer group support? Not right now, though we've played around with it — we did support groups last January and February around the holidays and new year, and they worked well. So it's something people can inquire about in the future, since it ebbs and flows.
Building Habits That Stick
How does Everlong help people build habits that stick? Through the discovery phase with your dietitian, we identify where you're struggling most — what's impacting you most negatively, or what could have the most positive impact if changed. You can't really break habits, but you can replace what you do for a specific trigger. Say you stress-eat when you come home and the reward is stress reduction — what can you do instead to get that stress reduction or dopamine hit that isn't related to food? And give yourself grace if you do eat — it's not all-or-nothing. You can't change anything unless you're aware of it, so we create awareness in the discovery phase, then slowly change habits — not everything at once. We pick one doable thing that will have a positive impact, which gives the small wins at the beginning, while the long-term goal takes more time.
What's the typical time frame? Usually 6 to 12 months or more — weekly sessions at the beginning, then biweekly, then maybe monthly. We work with patients ongoing once they reach maintenance, and they come back for a more difficult season. My favorite example is patients we've worked with through graduating college, getting a job, moving into their own apartment, dating, marriage, and kids. Just because you built habits for one season doesn't mean you're prepared for the next, and that's fine — it doesn't mean you broke the habits you learned before; they just weren't feasible for a new season.
GLP-1s and Nutrition Counseling
GLP-1s have changed the landscape for nutrition and weight loss — it's not about just taking the medication, you have to change the behavior. How has that changed how you address patients? We've seen a large uptick in patients looking for support while on a GLP-1, and the behavior-change aspect aligns really well. The GLP-1 is a tool, working on habits is a tool, and having a dietitian is a tool — they come together nicely. When starting, increasing a dose, or weaning off, we help you build long-term habits. GLP-1s reduce food noise, help people reach weight-loss goals, and reduce inflammation, so it's the missing puzzle piece — or it goes both ways. The patients we work with on GLP-1s do really well, with reduced symptoms and fewer side effects, because we work with them on nutrition daily and weekly. And we address what happens when they get off the medication. We do a lot of team training on GLP-1s and have relationships with providers who refer patients.
I'd imagine people have greater success on a GLP-1 when also focused on habits. We don't have outcome studies yet, but from providers we share notes with, we've seen that patients in a medication-management program tend to show up to their doctor's appointments more, have more positive feedback, and do better. My own provider was saying the education piece is huge — a lot of people take GLP-1s without support or education, so they're not sure how to reduce symptoms and build habits. So many people fail because the weight comes back once they haven't changed their behaviors or attitude toward food. It goes back to community and knowing you're not alone.
The Future of Nutrition Care
Looking ahead, what's the future of nutrition care in America? I believe every person will have individualized support in some capacity — we're already moving there, with nutrition counseling covered by insurance, coaches, and certifications, and now virtual options. The diet industry — a billion-dollar industry providing diets and products — won't go away, but people are more concerned about their blood work and personal approach to health, which we've seen increase in the last three to five years. With that comes personalized support: "I got my blood work done, but now what? Who's going to help me make those changes?" Even with GLP-1s, not everyone responds the same way initially, so that alone requires personalization. GLP-1s are less of a fad and more a piece of personalized health.
We enforce behavior and diet changes, exercise, and environment alongside things like hormone replacement or GLP-1 assistance, because a lot of people don't have that personalized support at home. One thing we ask on our intake form is about your support system — what happens outside the hour we meet with you each week. Who's in your inner circle supporting you? If you don't have support, it's more challenging, and you need to lean on your provider even more — and that's where support groups come into play.
Working With Family Dynamics
How do you work with families that may or may not be supportive of a healthier plan? Because we meet frequently — weekly at the beginning, face-to-face — we can dive into those dynamics, and our other training comes into play. One of my favorite things about virtual work is sharing a screen. I once worked with someone and we pulled up a weekly plan for navigating family dynamics around the holidays — go-to responses if people comment on your food, and a nutrition plan when you eat differently than your partner or kids. We made four columns of solutions depending on what they were struggling with. That's huge, because if we don't address it, there's a hidden elephant in the room — they leave the session nervous to bring it up to a partner or parent. Teaching people how to have those conversations is part of our job. It can go deeper into real therapy work, but there's a level dietitians can address, especially around body image, trauma around food, and disordered eating tendencies.
How to Reach Everlong
How do people reach you? It's simple — find us at geteverlong.com (Everlong like the Foo Fighters song). You can quickly confirm your insurance benefits for our services on the site and check out our approach. We work with a lot of different conditions and all ages, so there are many angles of health we can support.
We'll definitely be referring patients to you, and I hope other providers catch on, because it's such a great and needed resource. Thank you so much — we really appreciate your time.