Part of the Food Policy Community Spotlight Series
Name: Thoughtful Food Nutrition
What they do: Thoughtful Food Nutrition provides an array of services at the intersection of nutrition, food culture, public health and food policy. Unfortunately, our current food environment bombards us with unhealthy products and misleading messages at every turn. Thoughtful Food Nutrition seeks to provide individuals, organizations and corporations with the tools to be thoughtful about the foods we consume and the knowledge to navigate the often-confusing food environment in which we live.
How they do it: Thoughtful Food Nutrition offers nutrition counseling and consulting services. They provide tailored, result-oriented nutrition counseling for individuals or groups to set realistic goals that will bring about effective, long-term lifestyle changes; areas of expertise include cardiovascular disease, healthy weight loss, gastrointestinal disorders, food allergies and intolerances, and wellness and disease prevention. Thoughtful Food Nutrition accepts several medical insurance plans and appointments for these services can be scheduled online.
Thoughtful Food Nutrition also assists health and nutrition organizations, schools, hospitals and businesses, both large and small, with policy development, analysis, research and evaluation; areas of expertise include nutrition standards and food procurement, wellness policies, school food nutrition, healthy food access and child nutrition obesity.
Mission: to guide individuals to a healthier lifestyle by supporting programs and policies that advance this goal.
Latest project/campaign: Working with the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health for Asian Americans (REACH FAR) Program to prevent cardiovascular disease among Asian Americans in the New York metro area. Interventions include increasing access to healthy foods and beverages in faith-based organizations, restaurants and grocery stores.
Major Funding: Privately Funded
Profit/nonprofit: Profit
Interesting fact about how it is working to positively affect the food system: Their founding director, Ashley Lederer, studied nutrition before joining the New York City Department of Health, where she worked on a range of policy initiatives including the trans fat regulation, the Healthy Hospital Food Initiative and implementation of the NYC Food Standards. She left the Health Department to start Thoughtful Food Nutrition, which has provided a means of engaging practically with both public health and clinical nutrition.
FACT SHEET:
Location:
New York City (120 East 56th Street); Beacon, NY (621 Route 52); Hudson Valley
Core Programs:
– Provide expert, tailored and result-oriented nutrition counseling to individuals and groups
– Provide expert nutrition consultation to non-profit organizations, government agencies, hospitals, and private sector businesses:
- Support evaluation protocols including survey tool development, data analysis/interpretation, and drafting of final report
- Write and develop communication plans, educational materials, toolkits, grant reports, and literature reviews
- Provide technical assistance and program implementation support, including product review, menu analysis, menu development, and staff training
Number of staff: Varies per project
Areas served: New York City, New Jersey, Hudson Valley
Year Started: 2014
President: Ashley Lederer, MS, RDN
Contact Information: info@thoughtfulfoodnutrition.com