Non-diet virtual dietitian care for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, with Lauren Hofstee, RD. Eating disorder recovery, disordered eating, body image, binge eating, and food anxiety support, all online.
Book a free intro callOttawa is the front door for a large slice of eastern Ontario, which means the services here are carrying more than one city. I work with people across the capital region and the counties around it by video, at whatever pace the work needs to move.
Lauren is based in Guelph and Toronto and works virtually across Ontario. That means people in Ottawa can access specialized nutrition counselling without travelling to a clinic, while still working with someone registered with the College of Dietitians of Ontario.
You may be looking for general nutrition advice, but many people land here because food has become louder than they want it to be. You might be dealing with restriction, binge eating, guilt after eating, fear foods, body checking, or feeling unsure whether your eating is serious enough to deserve support. It is enough to start a conversation.
What nutrition counselling can look like when recovery needs to feel steady, collaborative, and safe.
A gentle, private self-reflection tool if you are not sure what to call what is happening.
How private dietitian fees and extended health receipts usually work in Ontario.
Book a free, no-pressure intro call. We talk through what brought you here and what you are hoping for.
Sessions happen by secure video from wherever you are in Ottawa. Nothing to prepare, nothing to weigh.
We work at your pace toward a calmer, steadier relationship with food and your body.
Every person who reaches out is met where they are. These are the main reasons people in Ottawa and across Ontario look for this kind of care:
Nutrition support for anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, ARFID, orthorexia, and eating that feels frightening or out of control.
Compassionate, weight-inclusive care when food, exercise, rules, guilt, or body image have started to take over.
A non-diet approach to binge eating, emotional eating, and the restrict-binge cycle, without shame or more rules.
Gentle support for food anxiety, fear foods, avoidance, and the slow work of feeling safer around eating.
Help for chronic dieting, body checking, food guilt, and rebuilding trust with your body at a steadier pace.
Work with a Registered Dietitian online from anywhere in Ontario, with receipts for extended health reimbursement.
Because care is virtual, I work with clients in Ottawa and nearby communities including Kanata, Nepean, Orleans, and Barrhaven, as well as people right across Ontario. You do not need to live near a clinic to get thoughtful, registered dietitian support. You can also browse every Ontario city served.
Two of the organizations on the verified provincial list are based in Ottawa, and it is worth knowing exactly what each of them is. Hopewell Eating Disorder Support Centre describes its reach as Ottawa, the National Capital Region and Eastern Ontario, and offers support groups and art therapy programs, open to anyone seventeen and older. Hopewell is explicit on its own site that it does not provide treatment, and describes its programming as seasonal and intended to complement formal care.
The Eating Disorders Program at CHEO is the hospital piece. Its page describes assessment and treatment for children and youth with a moderate to severe eating disorder, and their families, through an inpatient unit, a partial hospitalization program, day treatment, and outpatient care. The primary treatment model is family-based treatment, patients must meet the program criteria, and the referral has to come from a physician or nurse practitioner in Ontario.
Read those two together and the shape of the gap becomes clear. There is community support that is not treatment, and there is hospital treatment aimed at children and youth. An adult in Ottawa looking for individual outpatient work on food itself is often looking outside both.
That is the piece I do. Virtual nutrition counselling is one person, one hour, focused on eating regularly and adequately again, on food rules and fear foods, and on making sense of hunger and fullness after they have been disrupted. No referral is needed to start, and starting does not affect anything you are waiting on.
Because Hopewell describes an eastern Ontario catchment, a lot of people who use it are travelling in from outside the city. If that is you, the travel is worth spending on the thing that genuinely requires being in a room, and worth saving on the thing that does not. Video sessions do not care whether you are in Kanata, Orleans, or an hour down the highway, and they do not care what the roads are doing in February.
Yes. Every session with Lauren is virtual, so you can meet from anywhere in Ottawa or Eastern Ontario by secure video. You get the same individual, professional care as an in-person visit, without the commute or waiting room.
No referral is needed. You can reach out directly to book a free, no-pressure introductory call. Physicians and other clinicians are also welcome to refer a patient through the online referral form.
Lauren supports people with eating disorder recovery, disordered eating, binge eating, restriction, chronic dieting, food anxiety, body image concerns, intuitive eating, digestion, energy, and general wellbeing. The approach is non-diet, weight-inclusive, and free of judgment.
Book a free intro call. It is a relaxed conversation to see if working together feels right, with nothing you need to prepare beforehand.
Some of the writing people in Ottawa find their way to first. No plans, no rules, just honest thinking about food and body.
Stress eating makes sense. Here is a compassionate, non-diet look at why it happens and what genuinely helps, no willpower required.
The gentlest, most helpful things to do after a binge, how to stop the guilt spiral, and why self-compassion, not punishment, is what actually helps.
If the honest answer to am I hungry is I have no idea, you are in very normal company. Here is what hunger really feels like, and what to do while you wait for it to come back.
Reaching out is often the hardest part. The intro call is free, and there is no pressure to continue.
Book a free intro callPrefer to talk? Call (226) 407-8455
Plain, no-cost guides for anyone weighing eating disorder or nutrition support in Ontario, with nothing behind a form. How to find an eating disorder dietitian · What seeing a dietitian costs in Ontario · How virtual sessions work · Free support across Ontario · Publicly funded programs · Support at Ontario campuses · Seeing a dietitian for free · Ontario eating disorder therapists · Peer and caregiver support groups