Healthy Nest Nutrition Case Studies
Custom Nutrition

CLIENT: Jennifer

FOCUS: Pre-Diabetes/High Cholesterol

  • Female, mid-50s 
  • Vegetarian (plant, eggs, and dairy)
  • Divorced and living alone
  • Not a great cook and not that interested in learning to cook, relies on fast casual and take out
  • Jennifer treated food as an afterthought in her life. No planning and no regular grocery shopping
  • Inconsistent workout schedule
  • Newly diagnosed with high cholesterol and prediabetes
  • Would like to NOT take doctor recommended statin and sugar medications 

Goal: Will retest cholesterol and pre-diabetes blood work at doctor’s office in six months. Would like the test results to be in the normal range and to change diet instead of going on medications.

Here’s What We Did

  1. Diet Changes: We introduced the notion of throw-together foods. Meaning, shop at a market that has fully or partially prepared foods. Choosing more real food items would decrease hidden sugars and added ingredients. Example: Buy a bagged salad and a rotisserie chicken. Jennifer accomplished this goal by using different takeout orders as well as ordering and having grocery items delivered.
  2. Swapping Soda: She replaced soda with seltzer and flavored juice, which cut sugar intake pretty significantly.
  3. Adding Fiber: Jennifer added fiber in the form of six colors per day. This was very helpful in staying full between meals and lessening between-meal processed snacks. Suggesting grocery store hummus and white bean dips were particularly beneficial.
  4. Healthy Protein + Fats: Increased protein and healthy fats ensured fullness and satisfaction, also helpful for lessening between-meal snacking. Every meal included some type of protein-fat combo.
  5. Fuel vs. Celebration: Choosing meals out with friends as celebration meals allowed for more fuel-style meals during the week. Cutting down on white bread and desserts helped a lot.
  6. Formula: Jennifer stuck to the daily formula of more veggies with protein and fat and less processed food, whether she picked up food, got it delivered or went to a restaurant.

Lifestyle Changes 

Jennifer initiated regular hour-long walks with friends. Switching alcohol from craft beer to hard seltzers helped her drop sugar and contributed to the overall effort.

The Outcome

Jennifer retested her cholesterol panel and sugar markers in six months. Both had dropped significantly and were in the normal range and her doctor was happy.