ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)/Extreme Picky Eating

• Are you struggling with severe limitations in the variety of foods you can eat, leading to a very restricted diet?
• Do you experience significant anxiety or distress around food and mealtimes?
• Is your or your loved ones eating behavior causing health issues, such as weight loss, nutritional deficiencies, or poor growth?
• Do you avoid social situations that involve food/eating?
• Have you found it challenging to manage these issues on your own or with previous work with healthcare providers?

Our practice offers a comprehensive range of nutrition therapy strategies designed to address the unique needs of clients who have ARFID. When selecting an RDN to treat ARFID, it is important that they have advanced training, experience and participate in supervision as this disorder requires an elevated skill set that general RDNs do not have. Our diverse team of experienced RDNs have the needed advanced training, certifications, experience and participate in ongoing education and supervision.

• Neuro-inclusive trauma Informed Nutritional Counseling: We offer a safe space where clients can explore their thoughts, behaviors and experiences related to nutrition and food challenges.
• Collaborative Treatment: Treating ARFID takes a team approach. Our dietitians work in collaboration with clients, their care team (i.e. medical providers, OT and therapists) and loved ones, to develop a cohesive treatment to best support improved nutrition status and food flexibility.
• Exposure Therapy: This technique involves gradually exposing clients to challenging or avoided foods in a supportive environment. The goal is to appropriately reduce food-related anxiety and increase tolerance to a wider variety of foods. Our dietitians closely work with the client’s psycho-therapist and/or occupational therapist (OT) to ensure the work we are doing does not contribute to masking or additional harm.
• Medical Nutrition Therapy: Our dietitians meet clients where they are at and provide education, plans, strategies and support so clients can meet their nutritional needs and feel more comfortable about food and eating.
• Family Based Nutrition Therapy (FBNT): This approach involves the family and loved ones in the nutrition therapy process. For this approach the RDN works with the client and their loved ones to provide a framework of support and accountability to help the individual improve nutrition status, eating patterns and food flexibility.
• Weight Inclusivity: We emphasize sustainable health and well-being practices without prioritizing weight loss or management as primary goals. Instead, our approach highlights overall wellness, supportive eating and movement, and positive relationships with food. By embracing non-diet and Health at Every Size (HAES) principles, we celebrate body diversity, combat weight discrimination and stigma, and understand how biases against certain body sizes can negatively impact nutritional, mental and physical health.
• Meal/Snack Support: We provide individual and group meal support to develop and practice supportive nutrition and eating behaviors in a variety of settings. This service is also helpful in coaching parents/loved ones on strategies to improve nutrition repletion and/or to give parents and loved ones a break from the demand of meal/snack supervision.
• Meal/Snack Planning: We meet with clients/families to develop individualized meal/eating plans that are specific to not only meet the client’s nutrition needs for growth, development and balance, but to also support the family’s eating patterns to reduce stress and workload.

By integrating these approaches, our team delivers personalized treatment that addresses client’s unique challenges and supports their journey towards better nutrition, health and wellbeing.