Due to an ever-increasing client base and a desire to accommodate an expansion in staffing and class options, registered and licensed dietitian Lori Brizee recently moved her practice, Central Oregon Nutrition Consultants, into a new facility. Since its opening in 2006, Central Oregon Nutrition Consultants had previously offered diet and nutrition consulting services from Brizee’s home office.
The new facility, located at 516 SW 13th St, Ste. 101, on Bend’s west side, features a consulting area with up-to-date scales and measurement equipment, and a teaching kitchen. At her new site, she plans to teach classes on topics ranging from weight management to diabetes, and she hopes to hire a second dietitian within the next year.
In the meantime, Brizee says she will continue to treat adults and children for issues related to weight management, eating disorders, obesity, food allergies, and dietary/nutritional needs related to chronic illnesses (e.g., diabetes).
“I was getting busy enough that offering these services from my home wasn’t practical anymore,” Brizee said. “This new facility allows me to separate work from home while continuing to offer services consistent with what I’ve provided in the past. It also allows me to continue teaching nutrition through the use of a learning kitchen, which is important to me as well as my clients.”
The need for a “learning kitchen” derives from Brizee’s belief in using food during nutritional consultations and classes. Besides simply telling people what to eat and how to eat it, Brizee says that showing clients how to incorporate healthful foods and specialized diets into their daily lives is most effective.
“People always learn more by doing rather than by hearing, so I make it a practice to teach people all sorts of things related to food, from how to make healthy snacks to how to incorporate more vegetables into their diets,” she said. “Doing food projects with kids is especially effective in getting them to retain what they learned in our sessions.”
As a dietitian, Brizee is a certified specialist in pediatric nutrition and has certificates of training in pediatric and adolescent weight management, and adult weight management. With 30-plus years of nutritional experience, she is co-chair of Oregon Diabetes Educators (ODE) and is the current membership director of the Oregon Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics.
Central Oregon Nutritional Consultants was founded by Lori S. Brizee, MS, RD, LD, CSP, in 2006 to provide healthful strategies for individuals with nutrition concerns related to food allergies/intolerance, eating disorders, obesity, weight management, chronic illness (e.g., diabetes, heart, kidney, liver and gestural intestinal disease) and simply the desire to achieve higher levels of health. Brizee provides nutritional services for both adults and children.
To learn more about Central Oregon Nutrition Consultants, visit www.CentralOregonNutrition.com.
