Julia Lavallee

About Julia

Julia first came to the field of nutrition through culinary arts, which led her into animal and human nutritional sciences, and eventually dietetics. Julia has a wide range of experience including research, school nutrition, food service, clinical nutrition, patient/client advocacy, experiential learning, education and counseling. Julia is also familiar with navigating barriers to healthcare and social determinants of health including food policy, multicultural sensitivity, implicit and explicit bias, education, and resource availability and accessibility. Julia is dedicated to client-led participation, research-based intervention, health at every size, and nutrition by addition.

Approach to care

Julia believes in strengthening one's emotional and physical relationship with food and their body by focusing on eating behaviors, internal motivation, self-care and building a toolkit of usable skills. This includes preparing food that tastes good, enjoying the food one eats, honoring emotions with food, and respecting one's body by feeding it what it needs. This also includes redirecting the focus and narrative of social events and interactions, emphasizing non-food rewards, and working through selective eating and food/eating-related trauma. Whether we utilize intuitive eating or an eating-for-function approach depends on you, your unique needs and your personal goals.

Your first session with Julia

We will begin with getting to know one another, starting to build a foundation of mutual trust, and creating a safe space to explore. Our first session will include a comprehensive nutrition assessment involving collaborative conversation, which can flow back and forth. We will discuss your main concerns, investigate motivation and barriers, decide on goals, create realistic action steps that make sense for your life, acknowledge successes and identify opportunities for improvement. You can expect to be the boss of your body and the expert on your health. I am excited to partner with and support you on your journey!

Location

📍 North Carolina

Education

Iowa State University: BS Business Management, BS Nutritional Science, MS Nutritional Science, Dietetic Internship (Iowa City VA Health Care Center)

Hobbies

reading, cooking, my sourdough starter, eating all the things, crocheting, nail art, quality time with family and pets

Licenses and Certifications

LDN - Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist

MS - Master of Science

RDN - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist