Dietitian/Nutritionist – Holistic Healing Center

Dietitian/Nutritionist

Kirsten Hamilton RDN, LDN, FMNS is a valued important member of the Holistic Healing Center team and also sees patients here individually who only desire Nutritional Counseling.  Kirsten brings with her many years of experience working as part of a healthcare team as well as providing Integrative Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy to patients individually.

Nutritional Counseling

Both Dr. Bernstein and Kirsten Hamilton RDN, LDN, FMNS are passionate about food and nutrition.  We consider optimal food choices to be a solid foundation for creating and maintaining great health.  We are both patient centered in our approach and strive to treat the whole person.  We often coordinate our treatment as well as work independently.  With the support of the Patient Advocate and the staff, we are here to empower patients to implement their individualized tailored treatment plan.

In addition to individual nutritional counseling, Kirsten offers services to support patients in achieving their optimal health, including goal setting, meal plans and groups remotely on special topics.  She is warm, approachable and dedicated as well as being committed to serving our patients.  

Kirsten Hamilton RDN, LDN, FMNS

Kirsten is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a specialization in Integrative Functional Medicine Nutrition Therapy.  She has worked as a clinical dietitian for over 16 years with clinical experience assessing and counseling patients with a variety of medical conditions.  In addition, until recently, she has worked seeing patients privately, using her comprehensive training in Integrative Functional Medical Therapy and years of clinical experience.  When working with her patients privately, she utilized her advanced skills to assess and counsel her patients who were looking to get to the root cause of their health problems.  

She has a passion for nutrition as well as treating the whole person. Her desire is to provide quality integrative functionally oriented nutritional and lifestyle support to patients to help them to achieve optimal health and well-being.  She is a proponent of the “food as medicine” philosophy.

She is working on completing Amen’s Clinic Practitioner Program related to Optimal Brain Health.  She is excited to utilize this knowledge to support patients.

Kirsten's background

Kirsten has always been drawn to learning about healthy living.  She considered becoming a nurse but due to her interest in nutrition, decided to become a dietitian.  She started her career working in Continuing Care Retirement Communities and continues to enjoy working as a part of a team supporting the residents.  Her yearning to learn more about how nutrition can support addressing root causes of health issues led her to learning about Functional Medicine.  She studied and became a Functional Medicine Nutritionist Specialist. 

She then applied that knowledge to her own journey with acne.  She recalls how the acne was treated initially with Accutane and antibiotics and that the role of nutrition was dismissed.  This treatment did not have consistent results.  She decided to utilize her knowledge of Functional Medicine, eliminated sugar and dairy and worked on her microbiome.  She found that she felt so much better and her acne was finally under control.

Since that time, she has worked with many patients and finds it fulfilling to explore root causes of their issues and uses food-based recommendations and targeted supplementation to support their health and well-being. She continues to love learning about topics related to Integrative Functional Medicine, food as medicine and nutraceuticals.

Kirsten is happily married with 2 children.  She enjoys spending time with her family and dog.  She loves reading, the outdoors and hiking.

Kirsten’s approach

Kirsten believes in and is committed to taking an individualized patient-centered approach.   She utilizes her clinical skills as well as her compassion, listening and problem-solving abilities to partner with her patients.  She believes in treating the whole person including various lifestyle factors.

She is dedicated to getting to the root cause to treat underlying system imbalances through a thorough health intake and functional testing when warranted.  As an Integrative Functional Medicine Nutritionist, she takes an integrative functional approach to many areas including digestive dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, weight issues, mood issues, attention deficit disorders, and chronic conditions including metabolic syndrome, diabetes, dyslipidemia, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune conditions, pain, and food intolerance and sensitivity.  The role of nutrition and lifestyle is addressed in regards to stress maladaptation and sleep issues.  She has a particular interest in optimizing brain health.

Continue reading about Kirsten's approach

Kirsten incorporates her knowledge of Integrative Functional Nutrition, her ability to gather the needed information from the patient and her experience in the interpretation of various functional testing results.  She then takes all of this into account when dealing with each individual and their particular life issues, preferences and concerns.

Kirsten is caring and is really passionate about making a difference with those she serves. Her goal is to create a partnership with each person, taking into account all aspects of the patient’s life when helping them achieve their health goals with nutrition, targeted nutraceuticals and lifestyle approaches.

Her desire is to provide guidance and support in helping individuals figure out a pattern of eating that enables them to feel their very best both physically and emotionally.  When appropriate, she also incorporates aspects of the mindful and intuitive eating philosophy and advocates patients listen to the feedback their body provides regarding specific foods or ways of eating that may or may not be working for them.

Kirsten understands the role that proper nutrition has on a person’s health and overall well-being.  She believes nutrition recommendations need to be tailored to a person’s individual lifestyle, goals and unique nutritional needs. There is no one size fits all approach when it comes to nutrition and lifestyle recommendations.

 

She works with patients with rheumatoid arthritis, auto-immune thyroid conditions, estrogen dominance, premenstrual syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She also works with individuals to identify dietary changes that can improve elevated lab markers, such as elevated cholesterol or blood sugar.

Kirsten shares about Functional Nutrition and how is it different than traditional nutrition and dietetics

Functional Nutrition strives for client-centered care where we spend time with our patients, take an in-depth history, and look at how different factors (from the environment and genetics, to diet and lifestyle) interact to help identify underlying causes of your health condition.

Functional Nutrition looks beyond the food you eat, to the way you digest and use nutrients, even on a cellular level. It addresses how our unique genetic make-up interacts with our environment, and how influences like inflammation and oxidative stress underlie chronic disease.

Integrative Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy (IFMT) is different from traditional dietetics in that it utilizes an expanded nutritional assessment and history. There is an increased foundation of training in dietary supplement use (vitamin/mineral, herbal, and other supplements) and how to use them responsibly.  Laboratory assessment is reviewed through a Functional Medicine “lens” and there is utilization of specialty Functional Nutrition testing at times. The area of toxicity and detoxification and how to safely “cleanse” without throwing our bodies out of balance is also addressed.   

I utilize many diet therapies (of course!) like anti-inflammatory diets, keto-genic diets, elimination diets, and “gut healing” diets. All of the testing, supplements, and therapies are individualized to YOU and your unique needs! No one diet or therapy can fit all individuals, and I recognize that!  My goal is to partner with you to help you move forward on your journey to health and wellness.

She takes a holistic approach when supporting patients with weight concerns

Kirsten creates a partnership with her patients and tailors her counseling and recommendations to the individual.  She utilizes her knowledge and skills combined with her compassion and listening to arrive at an individual personalized plan to support healthy weight loss.  She understands that there are many variables that can affect one’s ability to lose weight and that just looking at the BMI and not the person can often be counter-productive.

She takes into account that there may be hormonal imbalances, food sensitivities and/or nutrient deficiencies affecting one’s ability to maintain a healthy weight.

She also examines factors that could be interfering with weight loss such as diet composition, eating habits, psychological factors (emotional eating, binge eating, etc.), overall stress and activity levels.

She understands that “dieting generally fails” while developing new strategies, and incorporating behaviors and habits for healthy living creates lasting changes of enhanced well-being and weight loss is part of the natural byproduct of the process.

Kirsten earned a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science from Drexel University.  She furthered her studies from Next Level Functional Nutrition which was a very comprehensive training leading to her to becoming  certified in  Integrative Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy.  Since that time she has continued to see patients with the principles taught in her degree with an emphasis on her advanced training in Integrative Functional Nutrition.  Her experience in Functional Integrative Nutrition is extremely beneficial to the patients we serve and allows for a synergistic partnership between her and Dr. Debbie Bernstein.

Most traditionally trained dietitians and nutritionists are not educated on supplements, on how to interpret specialty labs used in functional medicine, nor receive any formal training on some health problems, such as hormonal imbalances, adrenal fatigue, the microbiome and leaky gut, autoimmune conditions, and mental health.  They are taught how to implement therapeutic diets which often do not address the root cause of why disease and dysfunction occurs. For this reason, we highly encourage you to work with Kirsten who is knowledgeable in Functional Nutrition and received nutrition education within the Functional Medicine framework put forth by Dr. Bernstein.

Due to Kirsten being a Registered Dietitian, she is in-network with many insurance plans.  Coverage for Nutrition Counseling varies with each individual insurance plan.  For those that do not have good coverage or are not eligible, we offer affordable cash pricing and packages for visits with Kirsten!  

Call our office to make an appointment with Kirsten at 215-794-7880.

“I believe food is our very best medicine to prevent disease and fundamental to promote healing.  My goal is to partner with you and help you move forward on your journey towards health and wellness.”

Kirsten Hamilton RDN, LDN, FMNS