Book on Nourish Intuitive Eating Dietitian
I'm Paige Hartnett, RD LDN — an intuitive eating dietitian working virtually with adults across the U.S. from Charlotte, NC. Below are the questions people ask most before we start working together. If you're still stuck after reading, book a session or reach out.
What does an intuitive eating dietitian actually do?
An intuitive eating dietitian helps you hear signals your body has been sending all along, after years of overriding them. I don't hand you a meal plan, a macro target, or a set of food rules. The work is slower and more durable: naming what's actually driving eating (biology, stress, restriction, boredom), reintroducing the foods you've been avoiding, and quieting the internal voice that grades every meal. Most people leave sessions with one small, specific thing to notice — not a homework list.
How is this different from working with a regular dietitian?
A traditional dietitian often starts with what you should eat and how much. A non-diet, intuitive eating approach starts one step earlier: why the previous plans didn't hold. If knowing more about nutrition were enough, most of my clients would be fine — they already know. The reason it hasn't worked is that the plan was fighting against biology, stress, and years of restriction. That's a structural problem, not a knowledge problem. We work at the structure level.
What are the 10 principles of intuitive eating, in plain English?
The framework was developed by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995. The principles are: reject the diet mentality; honor your hunger; make peace with food; challenge the food police; discover the satisfaction factor; feel your fullness; cope with your emotions with kindness; respect your body; movement (feel the difference); and gentle nutrition. I don't work through them like a checklist. They're a lens. If you want a fuller walk-through, I wrote intuitive eating, in plain English and keep more posts on the intuitive eating topic hub.
Who is intuitive eating for?
The people I work with tend to fall into a few groups: chronic dieters who are done starting over, people in eating disorder recovery working with a therapist, people on GLP-1 medications who want food peace alongside the medication, and people who've never had a clinical eating problem but are exhausted by the mental load food has taken on. Intuitive eating is not right for everyone at every moment — if you're in acute medical restriction (e.g. active refeeding), we route you to the right care first. Otherwise, if the diet cycle is louder in your head than you want it to be, this is likely the right frame.
Can I do intuitive eating for weight loss?
If someone is selling you intuitive eating for weight loss, that's not intuitive eating. That's diet culture in a friendlier sweater. The frame asks you to stop measuring the work by the scale — that's the point, not a side effect. If your only definition of success is a smaller body, intuitive eating will keep frustrating you. That doesn't make you wrong for wanting it. There are honest providers who pursue weight loss under different labels, and I'm not one of them — I'd rather tell you that clearly than repackage a diet.
What happens in a first session with you?
Mostly getting to know each other. We talk about your history with food, what brought you here, and what your real life actually looks like. There is no food log to bring and no grading. By the end we land on a few small, specific things to try before we meet again. A full walk-through lives at what a first session looks like.
How long does it take to become an intuitive eater?
Most people start noticing a different relationship with food in the first several sessions — less negotiating at meals, less guilt around specific foods, more steadiness. Deeper changes, the diet voice quieting for real, food noise lowering, take months. This is not a quick fix and it does not pretend to be. It is a rebuild, not a reset.
Do you take insurance?
Often, yes. Through Nourish, 1:1 sessions are covered in full by many insurance plans. There is a coverage check on the booking page before you commit to anything. If your plan isn't covered, cash-pay is available. If you'd rather work in a structured program, the 12-Week Program is a private-pay path with a founding rate of $1,097 (or 3 monthly payments of $389) for cohort one.
Why work with Paige?
I am a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist. I spent a decade in hospitals and at eating disorder treatment centers across all levels of care before moving into private practice. Now I work virtually from just outside Charlotte, NC with adults across the U.S. My approach is HAES-aligned, non-diet, and gentler than diet culture would have you believe. If you want the fuller version, my about page has the specifics — credentials, alumni, states served.
Real reviews.
Genuine caring and interest in what I had to say. Made me feel very comfortable and gave me hope that I can finally change my relationship with food.
Always helps with my stumbling blocks and it feels very personalized.
You don't have to keep figuring this out alone.
Book a session through Nourish, or apply for the 12-Week Program.
Many insurances accepted through Nourish.