Lydia Hartwig

About Lydia

I'm a registered dietitian who believes we’re all capable of a better life through the power of nutrition. I’ve worked in diverse settings—geriatrics, veteran care, ICU, maternal/fetal medicine, pregnancy, outpatient weight loss, and more—and in every single one, I’ve seen nutrition education uplift, improve, and transform lives. My belief about the power of nutrition isn’t just professional—it’s personal. After nearly a decade of unexplained suffering, nutrition knowledge led to my celiac disease diagnosis. Eliminating gluten from my diet (the only treatment for celiac disease) transformed my frail, painful body into a strong, robust body that was able to backpack across the Grand Canyon in just one day. Not every nutrition transformation is as dramatic, but I truly believe nearly everyone’s health can improve with the right nutrition support. If you’re hesitant to see a dietitian for fear of judgment, don’t be—I promise, I’ve seen it all.

Approach to care

My approach to care is: I unite empathy and compassion with facilitating real, tangible change through motivational interviewing. What this looks like in our session is that I will never judge you for your choices, but I will discuss ways that your choices affect your ability to meet goals that you've set. Once we have talked about that, we have the freedom to really dig into ways we can make adjustments, figure out what isn't working anymore, and understand the factors that engender ambivalence about our choices vs. our goals. I also value science and research. If you want to dig into the biochemical reason for your labs, the actual reasons that fiber is important, or how diabetes affects us on a cellular level, I am ecstatic to talk to you about it.

Your first session with Lydia

In your first session, I care less about what you're eating or not eating, and more about what your life is like on a day-to-day basis. I also want to get an idea of your current knowledge base regarding health and nutrition. Some questions I will ask include: What do you do with your time during most waking hours? (Do you have a job, care for family members/children? Are you disabled?) What labs or conditions do you feel have not been fully explained to you? (Such as Diabetes, IBS, and high blood pressure) What habits were you doing when you considered your health to be good? What has changed since then? My hope is that these questions feel effortless and conversational for our first visit, and then in later visits we can dig deeper on your goals and barriers to those goals.

Education

Master of Nutrition, Bachelor of Science in Biology and Nutrition

Hobbies

Backpacking, violin, sewing, reading, traveling

Licenses and Certifications