What is Integrative Nutrition?
Integrative Nutrition promotes a change in how we view nutrition by teaching people to consume healthy foods that take into account their age, sex, and health condition. A healthy dietary lifestyle combines the knowledge about the protective or detrimental effects that certain foods provide with the satisfaction experienced when meals are made from healthy foods that also taste good and are fulfilling. By offering our clients individualized nutrition consults, we are able to customize their dietary lifestyle to fit their unique dietary needs based on a combination of factors including general health status, medications, personal philosophy, food preferences and/or aversions, nutritional concerns, and disease risk reduction. Our Integrative Nutrition focus is on helping our clients make appropriate dietary and lifestyle changes that address their individual needs and improve overall health, fitness, and well-being
Human Bionics offers Integrative Nutrition to all of our customers. At client intake, we include a Nutritional Screening to gather important dietary details and create an initial risk assessment and list of individualized health issues and recommendations. Each client’s Nutrition Screen is reviewed by an Integrative Nutritionist, specifically trained to assess dietary risks and create a plan that each client can actually follow. Depending on the outcome of the initial screen, a more in-depth assessment and individual dietary counseling may be recommended for clients indicating increased risks, susceptibility to disease, or inadequate nutritional status given their particular set of circumstances. In some cases, a dietary plan, which may or may not include recommendations for Nutritional Supplements, will be provided that may improve each client’s nutritional status, and food intake adequacy, taking into account their personal health goals and desires. Meal planning guidelines, supermarket shopping know-how, and recipe analysis may also be included in the dietary plan.
Human Bionics’ Nutrition Director, Pamela DuRousseau, earned a B.S. in Nutrition and Food Science from The University of California Berkeley College of Natural Resources (1986), a Masters in Public Health Nutrition from The University of California Berkeley School of Public Health (1989), and completed the requirements for a Community Nutrition Registered Dietitian Internship throughout the Masters program. Following graduate school, Mrs. DuRousseau completed a year-long Adolescent Nutrition Fellowship at the University of California San Francisco Medical School, Division of Adolescent Medicine. She subsequently passed the rigorous Registered Dietitian Examination administered by the American Dietetic Association’s Council on Dietetic Registration, which provides a nationally recognized certification in nutrition, foods, food systems management, community nutrition, nutrition in the life cycle, nutrition for health and fitness, medical nutrition therapy, and nutrition assessment, counseling, and education.
In practice, Pamela has worked in hospital-based, clinical settings specializing in nutrition support for burn and wound patients, ultimately becoming a Certified Nutrition Support Dietitian (CNSD). She has additionally worked for over 10 years in an out-patient Cancer Center and an in-patient cancer ward, as well as in a Skilled Nursing Facility, and a General Medicine Unit. In clinical settings, Pamela has provided nutritional assessment, counseling, and follow up care to both in- and out-patients and their families. In addition to work in hospital settings, Pamela worked in private practice focusing on skilled nursing and institutionalized clients. A subsequent move to the Washington DC area provided the opportunity to work in the management of nutritional services at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, where she oversaw a large staff of dietitians, diet technicians, and food service personnel.
In addition to possessing a solid Medical Nutrition background and being a practicing Dietitian, Pamela has continued to expanded her knowledge-base in complementary and alternative therapies, including aromatherapy, homeopathy, and Eastern medicine philosophies as she blends them into a holistic understanding of the mind-body-food pyramid. Her nutritional focus now is on preventive and wellness nutrition, integrative nutrition, and nutritional assessment and counseling for clients undergoing Neurotherapy at Human Bionics to address their individual dietary and nutritional needs as an integrated part of treatment for their medical conditions. Pamela is an advocate of organic farming and animal husbandry, healthy foods intake over supplements, and a balanced exercise program, all for optimal health and disease risk reduction. She remains uniquely qualified to provide science-based yet holistic nutritional care throughout each of our client’s life cycle.
Additional information and resources can be obtained through the following links:
U Mass Medical School Integrative Nutrition
NIH National Center for Complementary Medicine
NIH Info on Dietary Supplements
Food and Nutrition Information Center
Sources of Free or Low-Cost Food and Nutrition Materials
UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter
From these links you may also find many other sources to sites of interest, information, and nutrition and dietary resources. Thank you for visiting Human Bionics!