© Copyright – Nutrition Instincts, Inc 2023
Common Questions
Who do you work with?
All kinds! We offer care to women, men, and folx of all ages. We also work with teens, children, and families. Our practice is LGBT-Q affirming.
Our clients deal with a wide range of food and movement challenges and many have not been diagnosed with an eating disorder. However, most are experiencing some sort of discomfort when it comes to their “relationship” with food and their bodies. Whether you’re dealing with an eating disorder, GI issue, family feeding challenge, diabetes, etc… we always incorporate mindfulness and intuitive eating principles, as appropriate.
How long will I have to wait for my initial assessment?
In most cases, we’re able to schedule you within 5-7 business days of your request to schedule. If you have a Health Net HMO plan we will need your medical group to approve prior authorization prior to scheduling.
What is a nutrition follow up session like?
- A follow up session is typically about 30-60 minutes long
- Sessions are highly individualized but some examples of what to expect might be…
- Exploring thoughts and judgments around food, amounts of food, food experiences and working on challenging or reframing them.
- Exploring how mood may be impacting intake – for example how anxiety may impact your appetite or how you experience food OR vice versa – how foods may be eliciting anxiety. When you’re ready, we have different ways to help you understand and reduce your anxiety around food.
- Exploring appetite awareness and what your experience is in your thoughts or emotions when you notice hunger or fullness. This is different than eating in response to hunger and fullness which is definitely something we work on with many clients but often we have to do lots of other exploratory work before that.
- Supporting you with things like forming a grocery list, planning meals for the week, fitting food prep into your day.
- We may also ask if you’d like to keep a food journal (unless that’s not supportive for you, which is common). This is to learn about your experiences with food more than writing down every detail of your intake. You may notice us asking you to check in with what is happening in your thoughts, emotions and physical body (when safe) to explore your full food experience. While we don’t provide therapy, we will ask about emotions to give us information and context to your eating experiences.
- Some approaches you may have heard of that we use are mindfulness and intuitive eating. Of course, these are tailored to your needs and we use many other techniques and modalities too.
How many sessions will I need?
Frequency and length of time is highly variable based on why you’re seeking care and where you’re at on your nutrition and healing journey. This will ultimately be determined between you and your provider after your initial assessment (and will be re-evaluated as your work continues). If you’re coming to us for eating disorder treatment anticipate a need for weekly visits for at least 4-6 months. It’s common to continue to need weekly care well beyond that timeframe although sometimes people can step down to less frequent visits sooner.
For those seeking care for other needs such as intuitive eating, pregnancy/postpartum, or child feeding, we may recommend meeting twice a month for 3-6 months (again, sometimes longer and sometimes shorter). Although, meeting weekly for first month can be advantageous as it allows you to get the process moving forward more quickly.
Do you take insurance?
We take Health Net! We also offer out-of-network claims support through a company called SuperPay. Scroll down to learn more. We can also offer you a superbill that you can submit to your insurance in hopes of getting reimbursed. It is your responsibility to inquire with your insurance company regarding benefits and submit superbills (we can provide you with instructions when you schedule). The session fee must be paid to Nutrition Instincts, LLC at the time of service.
Where are you located?
We offer nutrition counseling sessions online and in our office at 16885 W Bernardo Dr #245, San Diego, CA 92127
Do you offer groups?
Yes, periodically, we will host groups such as my Postpartum Body Image and Nutrition Support Group, Prenatal Self-Care Class, Diet Rehab Workshops or Child Feeding Coaching series. If you’re interested in one of our groups sign up here to get news on new groups and discounts. You’re also encouraged to recommend or request that we host a group! We’ll hold a group for 3 or more individuals so if you have a group of friends who would like a special, private group, we’re happy to work with you on scheduling this. Also, the individual who initiates the group gets a discount!
What exactly is intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating is a unique, non-diet approach to wellness and one that we use extensively in practice – in many different ways. Many people understand it as an approach that focuses on using our own internal hunger and fullness cues to guide our eating choices. While that is a core tenant of intuitive eating, it’s important to know that this approach extends far beyond hunger and fullness cues. When you work with someone who is truly trained in this approach you will extensively explore what food and movement means to you. In our sessions we will sort through your food beliefs, self-talk, food behaviors, etc… to get to the bottom of why you do what you do when it comes to eating and moving. The real, central focus is always self-care and this looks different for every body. Using a counseling technique called motivational interviewing, we will help guide you towards your unique wellness by helping you reach a place of self-care and health that works for you – lifelong.
I’m dealing with an eating disorder and I don’t think I’m ready for Intuitive Eating. Are you ok with that?
I’m so glad you asked this question! First, I always discuss what vision my clients have for recovery. This is an important part of the recovery process. It’s also an ongoing conversation of which the outcome is constantly changing. If you don’t feel intuitive eating is where you’d like to head in your recovery, we absolutely will discuss what you do envision instead. If we’re mainly looking at intuitive eating as just listening to your hunger and fullness, there are many instances where that would not be appropriate in eating disorder recovery. There are complex brain processes that can inhibit one’s ability to do so, especially in early stages of ED treatment. As the body and brain heal, many will begin to identify cues of various degrees and we can work very thoughtfully on how to respond in a way that feels safe. We spend many sessions discussing your cognitive, physical and emotional reactions to these cues, fears you may have about their return and how to respond, factors that impact the senses of hunger and fullness, etc…
Our family has been using Family Based Therapy (FBT/Maudsley). Do you know what that is and can you continue to help us with feeding our child?
We are very familiar with FBT. Traditionally, dietitians are not used in FBT so, depending on where you received treatment, you may not have worked much with a dietitian. We share one of the core beliefs of FBT, which is that parents should be part of the treatment process and that they are the experts in their child. We do believe parents should play a very active role in their child’s recovery. As a dietitian, we can be a support person for you during this process. Re-feeding a child with an eating disorder can be scary, draining, stressful, confusing and emotional. We am here to encourage, reassure and provide education as needed as you move through the stages of FBT with your child. We can also work with your family to help transition your child back to his or her role as an active participant in his or her self-care as the responsibility of self-feeding is re-introduced. This is a critical point in this process. In addition, it’s important that teens don’t transition to college before working directly with a dietitian who can support them with essential life skills of grocery shopping, cooking, feeding, etc…, ways of resisting and challenging food and body image triggers, etc… Since each family is unique, the plans for treating teenagers will vary. You can read more about our approach to working with teens with eating disorders here.
What are your fees for nutrition counseling?
Initial Consultation
$250 This is an hour-long visit designed to get to know you and learn more about your history and current experiences with food and your body, what past treatment might have looked like and what goals you have for the nutrition counseling process.
$350 for 1.5 hour family initial – split between child and caregivers when working with teens with eating disorders (or young adults involving their parents in treatment). Please note that parent involvement and parent-only sessions are required for this population.
Follow-Up Session
$165 – $200* depending on provider
Follow-up visits are where we get to work! We may collaborate on the creation of a meal plan, support you with plans and challenges you experience with grocery shopping and cooking, explore beliefs and fears about food, offer nutrition education or identify opportunities to support your nervous system in session and at meals. Just to name a few! Our care is highly individualized and always adapting to the client we’re supporting.
*Rates increase for family work and for longer sessions.
You can pay with cash, check or card. A card is required to be on file.
We don’t offer a traditional “sliding scale” but we do keep a couple of spots available for those who need help financially. Contact us to receive information.
We are dietitians in-network with insurance!
In-Network
We are currently in-network with Health Net. We ask that you contact your insurance company to check your benefits. Document everything they tell you and record the reference number. Once collected, please send that info to info@nutritioninstincts.com.
We also take (and encourage) single-case agreements, contact us at: info@nutritioninstincts.com
Health Net Coverage
Health Net PPO Plans
It’s likely that you do not need prior authorization to schedule with us. Please double check when you check your benefits with Health Net. You will still need a referral from your physician or therapist with a diagnosis to be kept on file.
Health Net HMO Plans
You will likely need a referral and prior authorization before scheduling with us. When you check your benefits, ask about whether your PCP needs to submit prior authorization to your medical group. It’s likely this is the case. Your physician will need information about our practice.
Note: We DO take Health Net Blue and Gold plans that UCSD provides employees! Your physician may not be familiar with referring to us but they can! We’re in the “Direct Network Specialists” group and can be referred to as in-network.
UCSD Medical Group Coverage
Starting July 1st, 2023, Nutrition Instincts will be In-Network with UCSD Medical Group. Your PCP/Pediatrician will need to submit a prior authorization to UCSD Medical Group to confirm coverage.
Anyone with a HMO Plan & a PCP/Pediatrician part of UCSD Medical Group will likely have coverage under the following plans:
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Anthem Blue Cross/California Care Commercial
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Blue Shield Senior
Brand New Day
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Health Net Commercial
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Humana Senior
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Please note we are not directly in-network with all of these insurance companies above (only Health Net), but we are contracted with UCSD Medical Group. That means you likely have coverage if you have a HMO affiliated with that medical group.
Instructions for Checking In-Network Benefits
Business is: Nutrition Instincts, Inc
EIN: 87-4625701
NPI for Nutrition Instincts: 1972067734
NPI for Lindsay: 1902126360
NPI for Callie: 1790470383
Here is a cheat sheet for calling your insurance to check benefits.
1. Call the phone number for customer service which is usually located on the back of your insurance card. You’ll want to speak to the benefits department and ask the following questions:
- Is Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) covered in-network benefit based on your plan? The procedure codes we use for MNT are: 97802 (initial assessment), 97803 (follow up), 97804 (group) and occasionally S9470 (nutrition counseling code).
- Is coverage dependent on your diagnosis? Provide them with your nutrition-related diagnosis.
- Are there any benefits for “preventative Z codes” such as Z71.3 or other preventative codes? If so, ask which Z codes/codes and what the requirements are.
- If there is an MNT benefit, ask if there are any restrictions. For example, a limit of visits, having to use a certain practitioner, etc… Ask if your benefits are subject to copay, deductible, coinsurance, out-of-pocket max, etc… If your insurance company says that MNT is a benefit, be sure to document the date, every detail of information from the call, a reference number, and who you spoke with. If possible, ask them to send you the information in writing.
Feel free to contact us and we have team members that can support you with the process!
We now offer out-of-network benefit and claims support for nutrition counseling with SuperPay!
