Nutrition Services

The Nutrition Service at the University Health Center serves all students, faculty, and staff associated with the campus community.   The mission of nutrition services is to equip and support members of the campus community with the knowledge and skills needed to make healthy nutrition choices. Services include disease prevention and wellness instruction as well as medical nutritional therapy for chronic medical problems such as diabetes, obesity, eating disorders, and irritable bowel syndrome.

 Individual Nutrition Counseling

Eating Disorders Nutrition Counseling

Individual Nutrition Counseling is a one-on-one session which will assess one's nutritional status and help implement change to improve health through healthier eating.

There is a fee for each appointment. Students are charged $15.00 per visit as a co-payment. All non-students are charged $50.00 per visit. 

Please note that non-students will be seen for nutrition counseling between semesters only.  Open times for non-students are December 15 - January 25 and May 15 - August 15.

For information and appointments, please call (301) 314-8184. 

Eating Disorder Nutrition Counseling

Successful eating disorder recovery requires a multidisciplinary approach.  An Eating Disorder is a psychological disorder with diet struggles and weight concerns as a symptom or a side effect.  To truly recover from an eating disorder it is imperative to work with a mental health professional in conjunction with a dietitian.  A team approach will set you up for success. 

The University Health Center provides nutrition support to students in recovery who are medically stable.  We are not an intensive outpatient program and therefore do not possess the capability of weight restoration or refeeding.  We reserve the right to refer students to community programs and services if we deem unable to meet the student’s medical and/or therapeutic needs. 

The University Health Center is happy to provide nutrition therapy to eating disorder students under the following conditions:

1. Patient must be in In-person therapy on a weekly basis.   Documentation of this must be provided if therapy is sought outside the University Health Center.  
2.  Patient must be seen by a UHC physician for regular medical check –ups (frequency determined by physician).
3.  Compliance with Nutrition therapy will include:

            a.  Weekly food log

            b.  Assessment of weekly goal attainment and

            c.  Weigh-ins (when weight is at or below 80% of IBW) or when prescribed by the physician.

If student is not able to comply with the 3 conditions above, the University Health Center would be happy to provide referral to an off campus dietitian.

Nutrition consult frequency will be on a step down plan as follows:

·         once a week nutrition consults for the first semester, 

·         biweekly the second semester and

·         monthly appointments thereafter. 

At the end of each semester an assessment with the treatment team (therapist, physician and dietitian) will determine if the patient is in need of more intense nutrition support than the UHC program can provide.  Treatment progress and compliance will be considered in determining patients ongoing needs. 

If a patient is determined to need more intensive treatment the recommendation may include:

Inpatient program (Sheppard-Pratt, Renfrew Philadelphia, etc. 

Intensive outpatient program (Renfrew in Bethesda, MD)

Continued weekly nutrition therapy at Rebecca Bitzer and Associates in Greenbelt, MD.  This office takes all major health insurances and is Shuttle-UM accessible. 

 For information and appointments, please call (301) 314-8184.