FAQ: Learn More About Our Nutrition & Mindset Services
Justine Friedman is a Registered Clinical Dietician and Mindset Mentor with extensive experience in the field of nutrition and mindset.
My goal in working with a client is to provide them with a 360 degree approach.
This means that I am invested in improving the overall quality of your lifestyle which includes areas like stress management, mindset, sleep, movement, dealing with challenging times e.g. when on vacation, going out for meals, at functions. As well as guiding you to understand what foods and which nutrition approach works best for you and your body.
Each client I work with gets their own unique lifestyle plan with the aim of creating sustainable change, in a step-wise approach. I will never expect you to follow this perfectly as I believe that this expectation often sets you up for failure. If you are someone who has been on and off diets most of your life then you’ll understand how unrealistic plans create stress and are never sustainable. These types of plans often lead to disordered eating behaviors and thoughts about food plus they can cause you to develop a very poor relationship with yourself, food, and your body.
My mission in working with you is to unravel any of these past dieting mindset pitfalls and help you relearn how to nourish your body so that you can enjoy food and build a trusting relationship with yourself, your body, and food again.
Words such as “diet” and “weight loss” are reframed in our sessions together as we work not only on understanding what foods your body prefers (i.e. gives you good energy, boosts your mood, reduces gastric discomfort and helps you feel comfortable in your body) but what subliminal messages may be keeping you stuck and blocking you from reaching and maintaining your goals.
There is never any guarantee of weight loss, unfortunately, and any plan that ensures this is making empty promises.
What I can ensure is that the clients who work with me feel better in their clothes, and energy levels, see a reduction in centimeters, and will see an overall drop on the scale as their body naturally sheds excess weight (although this is not my primary focus and I will always encourage you to resist the temptation of checking your progress by jumping on the scale).
In healing your relationship with food and your body, putting weight loss goals on the backburner creates the space for you to create lasting and positive habits.
Each person has a different time frame for seeing results, and this depends on what their wellness goals are in working with me.
The key is to be patient with yourself as you embark on a new journey.
Long-term health is a marathon, not a sprint - if you are to create sustainable and lasting positive change in your life it is an ongoing commitment that you make to yourself.
There are many ways to measure success.
Weight is an external metric and due to the very subjective nature of the scale (changes in fluid balance, hormone levels, muscle mass changes, medication) can often cause frustration.
Assessing how your clothes fit you is far more beneficial and in general a better guide to your progress.
Internal measures of success are valuable ways to monitor your progress e.g. improved energy, mood, sleep, fewer hot flashes/ night sweats, reduced digestive symptoms like bloating, pain, gas, and improvement of bowel movements.
Other valuable ways of noticing changes to your health are through comparative blood test results from the onset of working with me and at regular intervals during our time together.
If you are working on improving your relationship with food and your body then other areas that indicate a positive change are in how you speak to yourself about food, how compassionate you are with yourself when you experience challenges, and when new beliefs begin to replace old ones.
I’m so glad you asked!
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Medical Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of the Witwatersrand.
After completing this 3-year undergraduate degree I was accepted into the exclusive 2-year Medical Honors degree at the University of Cape Town.
I graduated from there with a Bachelor of Science in Medicine (Honors) in Nutrition and Dietetics.
But that’s not all, since qualifying at the end of 1999 I have continued with my professional development each year by taking courses and completing journal articles.
In June of 2020 I sat the Israeli licensing exam for Nutrition and received my license to practice as a dietician in Israel.
I run a private practice that is not affiliated with the health schemes.
If you have private insurance in Israel and your policy has a nutrition clause you will be able to claim back a portion of the consultation fees.
For international clients fees are considered private.
For South African clients I have a current registration with the Health Professionals Council, which allows you to claim back a portion of consultation fees from your appointments.
I have a qualification in nutrition and dietetics and my professional title is a registered clinical dietician.
Some dieticians may choose to call themselves nutritionists.
There is a professional difference between someone who has completed a nutrition course and the 5-year degree that I have obtained.
The degree that I have completed gives me the ability to work clinically which means that I have medical knowledge and training that a simple nutrition course will not provide for its graduates.
This is important if you have other conditions like elevated cholesterol, pre-diabetes, diabetes, elevated blood pressure, auto-immune conditions, digestive issues, women's health and hormonal issues.
I am available in between consultations to answer basic questions via WhatsApp or email during office hours.
Should you have more extensive questions these will be discussed in detail at your appointment times.
Each client has a different time needed to reach their goals and for the individual support that is necessary for them to effect the lifestyle adaptations that create lasting change.
On average clients work with me for 12-16 weeks and thereafter continue to be monitored with decreased frequency to continue to get support and ensure sustainability of the process.
I work both in person and virtually via Zoom or WhatsApp video call.
Still have questions?
For further information please schedule a clarity call