Digestive Diseases Nutrition

Our specialized GI dietitians are here to help you find the balance between managing digestive symptoms and continuing to enjoy the pleasures of eating. We create personalized diet and supplement recommendations based on symptoms and diagnoses.

Why choose UCLA Health for digestive diseases nutrition?

Highlights of our program include:

Expertise with GI disorders: The growing demand for specialized nutrition services reflects the importance of diet in managing digestive diseases. Our registered dietitians have extensive training specifically in gastrointestinal disorders.

Education and empowerment: A dietitian can be essential for helping to dispel myths and provide you with evidence-based recommendations for your individual needs. Personalized nutrition interventions are based on your lifestyle, food preferences, conditions and current symptoms. Our approach empowers you to be an active participant in reducing your symptoms to improve your health.

Integrated care: Our GI dietitians partner with gastroenterologists, GI psychologists and an integrative nurse practitioner. Together, we provide individualized, patient-centered care grounded in the latest knowledge about digestive health, the brain-gut connection and strategies for improving your quality of life.

Our areas of care

We specialize in tailored nutrition counseling and integrative strategies to address your digestive health needs and goals. We offer:

Comprehensive GI nutrition evaluation

The first step in an effective nutrition intervention is a thorough assessment. A specialized GI dietitian reviews your past medical history, current digestive symptoms, diet and supplements to determine how they impact your health.

Personalized GI nutrition intervention

Our specialized GI dietitians create personalized diet and supplement recommendations based on the information from your comprehensive nutrition evaluation. We empower you to make informed decisions about food choices and lifestyle strategies. Our team provides specific guidance to address your GI concerns with the goal of managing symptoms to improve your quality of life.

Care includes:

Food choices and diet strategies: Our GI dietitians assess your past medical history and current symptoms to help determine if a specialized diet, such as the low FODMAP diet or gluten-free diet, might be beneficial. We play detective to figure out which foods your body tolerates and which ones lead to GI symptoms. Using this information, we come up with a long-term nutrition intervention strategy.

Lifestyle support: Our GI dietitians also understand the role environmental factors, emotions, sleep and stress play in digestive well-being. We take a holistic approach that encourages better symptom management by incorporating lifestyle strategies into your nutrition care plan.

Supplements: Supplements can play an integral part in helping to manage symptoms, but knowing which to choose can be very confusing. Our GI dietitians review your current supplements to assess whether they’re beneficial or potentially harmful. We will also review nutrition-based labs and work with you to resolve any current deficiencies that might exist.

GI conditions we treat

Your specialized registered dietitian has experience managing the full range of GI disorders. Many of these conditions cause abdominal pain, bloating, distention, belching, diarrhea, constipation or changes in bowel habits. Disorders we specialize in include:

Celiac disease and other gluten-associated disorders
Eating disorders associated with GI issues
Food allergies
Gallbladder (post-gallbladder removal)
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), also called acid reflux
Gastroparesis
GI cancers, including colorectal, stomach, esophageal, pancreatic, liver, and gallbladder cancer
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other disorders of the gut-brain interaction
Liver disorders including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
Nutrition support
Pancreatic disorders
Scleroderma (hardening of connective tissues) that affects the GI system
Small bowel disorders
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

Meet our team

Our registered dietitians have extensive experience helping people with GI conditions. We offer comprehensive nutritional plans and support that focus on the connection between gut health and emotional well-being.

Meet our team