All medical providers have been there—you’ve recommended a lifestyle or nutrition change, but your patient has a hard time embracing it.
For some patients, getting over the finish line is hard, even if the changes their providers recommend are for the better. So what are providers to do when patients struggle to implement recommendations or need consistent support to embrace new choices, making them habits?
At The Better Nutrition Program, we offer two potential solutions—BNP Programs™ and BNP Coaching™ Packages.
While we’ll touch on the coaching option at the end of this guide, what follows is a primer on our powerful programs. Read on to discover how our curricula and live, consistent, personalized support will help your patients achieve their health goals.
Why Choose BNP Programs™?
Why recommend a BNP Program to your patient? What sets us apart from other programs and services offering to support your patient? Why not continue doing it all yourself?
- We’re practitioners, too. – We get your needs, and we have built a system to meet them better. Our founder has 20+ years as one of the country’s leading dietitians, personalized nutrition and digital health experts. She helms a team of seasoned practitioners who make up The BNP Clinical Team™ who host live sessions, are your direct representatives and oversee our coaches. Our board-certified coaches are the best in class who provide the support each patient needs to implement your recommendations, provide real-time feedback and escalate challenges to your clinical team for your input.
- We take an evidence- and practice-based approach – All of our programs are based on peer-reviewed, current scientific research. We build on that foundation with our experience to help patients identify and make their better choices, informed by the data.
- Our programs are personalized – BNP Programs™ aren’t just diets or strict workout regimens; they’re fully customizable. Your patients work with their coach to help them get more wins based on your recommendations.
Most importantly, patients who embark on a BNP Program aren’t alone.
Participants are paired with a one-on-one coach who can answer questions, help them make better choices in the moment, and reflect on what works for their goals and lifestyle.
BNP Programs™: A Complete Synopsis
Let’s break down every program on BNP’s roster—we’ll explore the duration of each program (noting that participants retain access to all their content for a full year from the end of their program), what’s included, and how patients can benefit.
Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) Program
Your patients want better—better energy level, better sleep, better immunity. And for people worried about their blood sugar, getting to better can be particularly challenging.
Enter BNP’s Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Program— in collaboration with Meg Moreta RD CDCES – to gather the critical data that helps you personalize their protocol for blood sugar optimization and all its’ benefits. The curriculum focuses on:
- Showing patients how their food and lifestyle choices impact blood sugar
- Identifying the choices that them improve their Time in Range (TIR)—the amount of time spent each day within their target blood sugar range
- Exploring the cause(s) of and challenge(s) to their optimal blood sugar
The program lasts three weeks and offers:
- Daily digestible content
- One-on-one sessions and unlimited messaging with a coach
- The BNP Clinical Team™ real-time review of their blood sugar tracings & trends
- Bi-weekly group sessions with The BNP Clinical Team™
- Recipes, menus, grocery lists, and healthy “swaps”
- A personalized nutrition plan to explore during the program
Patients who participate can improve their TIR, set (and achieve) personalized health goals, and get educated on how their everyday choices impact their blood sugar.
Note: this program does not include the CGM sensor but with your prescription we help them source a FREE 14-day sensor; we can also help them secure a prescription as needed
Digestive Tune Up
Digestive issues keep anyone from enjoying better health —constipation, bloating, gas, reflux and related issues – which can be the root cause(s) of other health challenges or themselves prevent patients’ from achieving their goals.
BNP’s Digestive Tune Up Program is an excellent choice for patients (and providers) who want to optimize digestion for a better foundation from which to build-on to get and stay healthy. It is a great first step while awaiting other data and before implementing food and lifestyle adjustments.
The program lasts for five weeks and includes:
- Daily informational content
- One-on-one sessions and unlimited messaging with a nutrition and wellness coach
- Group sessions with The BNP Clinical Team™
- Recipes, menus, grocery lists, and healthy “swaps”
- A personalized nutrition plan that helps patients discover their triggers and make healthier choices after the program ends
The Digestive Tune Up is highly customizable— both the program literature and our coaches encourage patients to experiment with their nutrition plan to find a solution that works for them.
Note: this program includes 4 supplements we highly recommend you include for your patients (you can prescribe them through your account); of course, supplement recommendations are up to you and you can discuss any adjustments with your BNP Clinical Team™ representative who can let you know if it will impact program outcomes.
Better Nutrition Basics
Just because they’ve “heard it before” doesn’t mean they aren’t compliant when they don’t implement better nutrition choices on their own own. It means they are likely overwhelmed, frustrated and confused by all the nutrition information out there (we call it INFObesity and it’s a real epidemic).
For providers looking to help their patients get better results powered by better nutrition, choose the Better Nutrition Basics Program.
The program is designed to cut through the fog of misleading nutrition “advice” on the internet, empower patients with scientific knowledge and practical tips, and help them explore how their nutrition choices impact their overall health.
The program lasts for three weeks and includes:
- Daily informational content
- One-on-one sessions and unlimited messaging with a nutrition and wellness coach
- Group sessions with The BNP Clinical Team™
- Recipes, menus, grocery lists, and healthy “swaps”
- A personalized nutrition plan that helps patients discover their triggers and make healthier choices after the program ends
Better Plant-Based Nutrition
As of 2022, 10% of adults in the US identify as vegan or vegetarian—and that metric will likely only increase with time. Additionally, we know that everyone does better when they include quality plants as the foundation of their nutrition. But how do they identify what’s quality – and not, and how much, how often and how to make it deliciously doable for them?
Enter BNP’s Better Plant-Based Nutrition Program.
Over six weeks, the program’s daily content will focus on:
- The benefits of plant-based eating
- Common myths and mistakes, as well as better choices
- Plant-based food prep, recipes and menu recommendations
- Boosting energy and meeting nutrition goals with a plant-based diet
With support from a coach and a personalized meal plan, patients can discover new ways to achieve better health without sacrificing their plant-based diet.
Magnesium & Calcium Optimizer
Both magnesium and calcium are critical in numerous bodily functions and processes., If a patient is having trouble reaching their recommended intake of either nutrient or a better balance of the two, they may be a good fit for the Magnesium & Calcium Optimizer Program.
In addition to evaluating your baseline levels of magnesium and calcium, the program will focus on reaching daily values with:
- Food
- Beverages
- Supplements (if necessary)
And, like our other plans, each participant will receive daily content, one-on-one and messaging opportunities with a personal coach, recipes, a personalized meal plan, and more.
Patients will exit the program with:
- Delicious and doable recipes for mineral support
- Personalized tools to achieve better mineral intake
- A working understanding of how calcium and magnesium function in the body
The Rainbow Challenge
Dietitians love the phrase, “Eat the rainbow.” But who actually does it? And how do you know what colors they are getting in regularly, as well as why they may be missing out on others?
Colorful foods offer phytonutrients—components that can strengthen our immune system and improve our bodily functions, according to epidemiological research.
But, depending on their lifestyle, socioeconomic status, allergies, and other factors, some patients might have a hard time adding the full color spectrum to their everyday diet.
That’s where The Rainbow Challenge can help. The program:
- Teaches patients about the science of the rainbow
- Helps participants establish which “colors” are missing from their diets
- Offers realistic and tasty recipes, and menu suggestions to turn color gaps into rainbow wins
- Includes all of BNP’s standard program benefits, like a personal coach, experiments, and video or audio content.
The three-week program inspires patients to help them discover deliciously doable ways to meet their body’s rainbow needs.
The Water Challenge
Most of us struggle to consistently get in enough water throughout our days. Refer patients into The Water Challenge, a 2-week course from BNP, to help them identify and develop better habits to improve their water intake.
The Challenge isn’t a contest, but it will put patients’ hydration habits to the test. Participants will learn:
- Techniques, tips, and tricks to stay hydrated
- The importance of hydration in achieving other health goals
- How to determine their optimal daily water intake and meet that standard every day
Like all of BNP’s programs, The Water Challenge pairs participants with a one-on-one coach, offers bi-weekly group sessions, provides a customized nutrition and hydration plan, and more.
Sweet Taste Bud Reset™
Sugar cravings are one of the most difficult dietary challenges for patients to overcome. And, in many cases, even encouragement from a provider won’t help patients curb their cravings.
If this describes one (or more) of your patients, explore the Sweet Taste Bud Reset Program.
The Sweet Taste Bud Reset Program isn’t a run-of-the-mill detox—it’s a scientifically-informed reframing of your sweetness scale and how you think about sweet food choices -all of them, including non-nutritive sweeteners. The program helps participants:
- Identify craving triggers (and overcome them)
- Reset taste buds to increase appreciation of healthier sweet foods (like apples)
- Consistently make better choices for their nutrition (even when the cravings come to call)
If you’ve recommended a patient for the CGM or Digestive Tune-Up programs, the Sweet Taste Bud Reset Program™ might serve as an organic follow-up (or precursor) with its emphasis on monitoring sugar levels and intake.
The two-week course includes all of the features that set BNP apart:
- Daily digestible content to educate, inspire and help gather key insights
- A coach who will help patients personalize the program
- A program-specific nutrition plan tailored to the patient
- Long-term takeaways like recipes, better menu choices and smart swaps
“The sugar reset was great! Learned a lot and enjoyed the recipes. I am now more aware of my sugar intake. My favorite tip was protecting the carbs with proteins and fats to avoid sharp glucose increases and crashes. Being able to speak to a coach made the program feel more personal and feasible. I was able to talk to Mercedes about my current habits and she helped me figure out simple things I could do to stay consistent even on busy days (which is where I always slip back to easy bad habits). It was awesome being able to see the positive results of doing the program on my continuous glucose monitors.”
~Mary V
B Vitamin Optimizer
B vitamins (all eight of them) are crucial for maintaining healthy bodily functions. Vitamin B12 alone is a critical nutrient needed in processes like:
- Red blood cell formation
- Central nervous system function
- DNA synthesis
For patients working on methylation, fertility, better plant-based nutrition or seeking better nutrition to optimize energy levels, the B Vitamin Optimizer Program could tip the scales in their favor.
Here are some fast facts about this impactful program:
- It’s a four-week course led by Registered Dietitians and supported by one-on-one coaches.
- It aims to teach patients about the role(s) each B vitamin plays in the body and how to optimize intake.
- At the end of the program, each patient will have a personalized plan to boost their B vitamin intake, make healthy nutrition choices, and better their overall health.
Better Men’s Health
While all of our programs are open to everyone, the BNP Better Men’s Health Program is specifically tailored to help men meet their personal health goals. It incorporates a partnership with leading authority on Integrative Men’s Health, Dr. Myles Spar, and extends guidance and resources to topics like patients’ social connections and stress management.
One of the best parts of the Better Men’s Health Program is that it’s highly customizable. When patients sign up for the program, they’ll:
- Meet one-on-one with a health coach
- Explore which health metrics matter to them
- Set measurable, realistic goals and create plans for achieving them
- Put those plans into action over a five-week period, checking in with their personal coach when needed
Understanding how your body works and what it needs can be difficult, especially when misinformation abounds in the wellness space. The Better Men’s Health Program can help the men on your patient list achieve better health with help from experts.
Cancer Risk Reduction
Risk factors for cancer are complicated, and new knowledge emerges every day about cancer prevention and detection.
And, since cancer risks are so personal and nuanced, so is BNP’s Cancer Risk Reduction Program. The program is designed to help patients identify and mitigate risk factors specific to their personal health history. Personal coaches and the course content focus on making positive changes in two major areas:
- nutrition choices
- Lifestyle habits
This 12-week course is packed with information about preventing cancer on patients’ own terms and according to their personal health profiles.
Microbiome Optimizer
Like cancer risk factors, each patient’s microbiome is a complex, highly personal element of their health. Also like cancer information, researchers discover and publish new information about the human microbiome (particularly gut flora) regularly.
The Microbiome Optimizer Program is designed in partnership with gut-dysfunction specialist Erin Lawson MS RN CNS LDN to help patients separate fact from fiction in the wellness space and empower them to make better health choices for the benefit of their personal microbiomes.
The program features:
- 12 weeks of daily messages and digestible reading material
- A personal coach with microbiome expertise
- Recipes, menus, and an individually-tailored meal plan for each patient
- Information that can help patients achieve better gut function, better energy, better moods, and more
Optimizing Omega 3s
Replacing rampant misinformation with high-quality education is one of our top priorities at BNP. One of our most important projects is dispelling the fallacy that “fat equals bad.” Fats, like omega 3s, are critical to a healthy diet and optimal body function.
To accomplish this mission, we started the Optimizing Omega 3s Program. Over a two-week course, patients learn:
- What purposes omega 3s (and other fats) serve in the body
- How to incorporate omega 3s into a healthy diet
- Which health metrics are directly related to healthy fat intake
With help from our course content, a personal coach, and a customized nutrition plan, a patient looking to improve their omega-3 intake can crush their health goals and develop a healthier attitude toward essential fats.
Total Neuropathy Solution
Neuropathy describes the nervous system damage or malfunction that could be the underlying cause of various conditions, and current estimates suggest that over 20 million people in the US suffer from some form of neuropathy.
While neither an elimination diet nor a single superfood will “cure” a patient’s neuropathy, BNP recognizes that dietary and lifestyle choices play a foundational role.
That’s why we built the Total Neuropathy Solution Program—to help patients make better choices and live better lives, while improving active neuropathy symptoms. The 12-week course is designed to give patients a crash course in better nutrition for neuropathy and help them design a personalized nutrition plan that works for their lifestyle.
And, as always, participants will be supported by a one-on-one coach who can help them experiment throughout the program.
BNP Coaching Packages
Psychologists generally agree that developing a new, positive habit requires:
- Reminders (physical and mental)
- Rewards and encouragement
- Reflection
- Relationships that facilitate accountability
Personal health coaches meet all of these criteria—and then some. That’s why, at BNP, we partner all our program participants with a dedicated coach to help them navigate major lifestyle changes and make better choices.
But it’s also why we offer one-on-one coaching to anyone, whether or not they’re enrolled in one of our programs.
For more information. about our highly customizable (and effective) coaching services, check out our in-depth blog post
Sources:
1American Diabetes Association. CGM & Time in Range. https://diabetes.org/tools-support/devices-technology/cgm-time-in-range
2Soylent. Vegan Statistics. https://soylent.com/pages/vegan-statistics
3National Institutes of Health. Magnesium. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/
4National Institutes of Health. Calcium. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium-healthprofessional/
5Harvard Medical School. Phytonutrients: Paint your Plate with the Colors of the Rainbow. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/phytonutrients-paint-your-plate-with-the-colors-of-the-rainbow-2019042516501
6Medline Plus. B Vitamins. https://medlineplus.gov/bvitamins.html
7National Institutes of Health. Vitamin B12. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12-HealthProfessional/
8National Institutes of Health. Peripheral Neuropathy Fact Sheet. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/peripheral-neuropathy-fact-sheet
9Psychology Today. 7 Proven Steps to Forming Habits that Last. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pain-rehabilitation/202201/7-proven-steps-forming-habits-last
