Alyson is a clinical nutritionist who specializes in working with clients supporting healing their relationship to food combining Intuitive Eating, a Health at Every Size® approach, and a functional nutrition therapy toolbox. Her practice offers nutrition therapy for chronic dieting and eating disorder recovery, behavioral and mental health, gastrointestinal and digestive health, as well as fertility support for those in recovery from ED. With her previous background working in the arts and entertainment industry, Alyson has special interest in working with artists and health behaviors.
TRAINING
Maryland University of Integrative Health, Masters of Science (MS) in Nutrition and Integrative Health
Smith College, BA in Biology and in Theatre
University of Washington, MFA in Directing
ASSOCIATIONS / ADDITIONAL WORK
Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists (BCNS)- CNS Certificate Number 17219
Licensed LDN in the State of Illinois License No. 164.008090
Professional Member of the American Nutrition Association (ANA)
Professional Member of Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH)
Health at Every Size® (HAES®) Based-Approach
Active Member of EDRDPro
Nationally Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC)
PUBLIC SPEAKING / TEACHING
Nutrition and Mindful Eating for Artists Workshops Presented at:
Food Demos for various functional medical clinics including Parsley Health.
Previously Adjunct Faculty at AMDA College and Conservatory of Performing Arts, Los Angeles in the area of Health and Wellness for performers.
Adjunct Faculty for the Integrative Science and Nutrition Departments at Maryland University of Integrative Health.
Presented at International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP) Annual Symposium in March 2018
Co-Founder of The Clinician’s Incubator, a comprehensive clinical supervision program for nutrition graduates looking to pursue their CNS credential. All supervisees have passed the board exam on the first attempt.
My Story
I had it all; I had worked for Tony and Oscar award winning theatre and film companies, directed and produced projects in cities across the country, and taught at some of the most prestigious drama schools in the U.S. Then one day, working for the head of a major Hollywood movie studio, as I tried to start another 12+ hour workday, the nagging low back pain I had pushed through for years could no longer be ignored. I couldn’t sit down without what seemed like the worst possible pain running down my legs. I could barely feel my toes, let alone give them a wiggle. Grabbing my blackberry (dating myself here!) piling up with emails, I painfully drove to the doctor. I had no idea at the time, but I was never going to return to the job that I had fought so hard for, and all of those blackberry emails would (gasp!) have to wait...
After years of hustling on sets, and alternatively long hours of sitting at a desk a disc in my back decided to give up. All of a sudden I was disabled, I couldn’t even eat sitting down, stand still, drive, tie my shoes and just like the disc in my back, my social life and career disintegrated. Months of being in bed, multiple rounds of epidurals, one major surgery, and almost a year of physical therapy later I reemerged able to sit for limited periods of time, and a much stronger, very grateful person.
The thing is, I've been there; exhausted, stressed out, forgetting to eat, eating too much to just stay awake for a few more hours of work, having to go to ten cocktail parties in a week and worrying how to stay on a "healthy diet," and putting off exercise because 30 minutes of being alone and watching Hulu is too precious. I learned the hard way how keeping your head down and just focusing on career can backfire. You can't be great at what you do if you don't have your health.
Over that year I was fairly homebound and hurting, so to keep busy I started taking online courses in Nutrition and Health; an encouraging new path emerged. I thought about what had happened to me because of how I treated my body at work, and I thought about all the people I knew that just in that year had suffered from serious, but potentially preventable illness: cancer, stroke, heart attacks, autoimmune conditions. I realized that I wanted to help brilliant, creative, hard working people live long lives and avoid preventable chronic disease. Now I channel my passion for food and nutritional knowledge into helping other creative professionals reach their health goals in safe, effective, practical ways.