Barbara Cox is the founder of ABC Nutrition Services.  She grew up in Hawthorne, California, and has been living in the Reno/Tahoe area since 1985.   She graduated from University of California at Davis with a Bachelors of Science degree in Dietetics.  Barbara then completed an 11 month internship at James A Haley VA hospital in Tampa, Florida.  In April of 1985 Barbara passed a stringent exam to earn her credential as a registered dietitian.  After six years as a clinical dietitian at Washoe Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, Barbara established ABC Nutrition Services – a private consulting practice in nutrition and lifestyle counseling.  She specializes in providing personal, one on one counseling that is tailored to fit each individual’s current lifestyle.  She is committed to helping each client reach long term  permanent results while promoting  better health and well being.  Barbara has been in private practice for 25 years and has been practicing in the field  of nutrition and dietetics for 31 years now.  Barbara is a registered dietitian and nutrition therapist and  is a member of the American Dietetic Association.  She is also a certified eating disorders registered dietitian with the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals.

Barbara’s  love of traveling gave her the idea to study nutrition and ultimately become a registered dietitian.  While visiting relatives in Canada, she was introduced to many healthful foods she had never heard of.   These Canadian relatives taught Barbara the importance of honoring good health and eating healthfully.  It was at that time that she decided to pursue a career which involved helping others to develop healthier nutrition practices in the United States.

Barbara currently specializes in the treatment of eating disorders and pediatric nutrition.  She is also skilled with counseling for weight management and many various illnesses which can be helped by medical nutrition therapy.   Barbara enjoys attending workshops and trainings in order to keep up with the latest research and counseling techniques related to the field of nutrition, eating disorders and medical nutrition therapy.  Barbara has learned many of her skills from the clients she has counseled over the years.  Experience with people is the most valuable asset.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We believe in the non diet approach to eating disorder recovery and weight loss.  A diet is a plan that may tell you when, what, and how much to eat at any given time.  Many times following a diet involves numbers and counting of portion sizes, food groups, or single foods.  Research shows that this form of dieting has a 2 to 5% success rate in the long term.  In fact, there often is a rebound weight gain after the diet is stopped.  Research has shown that this “weight cycling” over time is very harmful to the body.   In order to promote permanent change, emotions and behavior change may need to be considered.  The non dieting, intuitive approach is used in our practice and we have found that taking smaller steps can be much more effective with meeting permanent, realistic goals.  Please note that clients who are struggling with an eating disorder may not be able to eat intuitively in the beginning of treatment.  Specialized food plans may be used in the initial phases of treatment of an eating disorder.