Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Johnston.
Hi Nikki, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From Hospital Nutrition to Community Health: Building a Practice with Purpose
Nutrition has always been about more than food for me. Throughout my career as a Registered Dietitian, I’ve seen firsthand how nutrition has the power to change the course of someone’s health. Working in clinical settings, I cared for patients facing complex medical conditions, often meeting them after illness had already taken a significant toll. While that work was incredibly meaningful, it also inspired a bigger vision: what if we could intervene sooner?
That question became the foundation of Nutrition Support Solutions.
I started my practice with the goal of bringing hospital-level clinical nutrition expertise into the community. Too often, patients fall into a gap between primary care and hospitalization. They may have newly diagnosed diabetes, kidney disease, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, malnutrition, disordered eating, or other complex nutrition concerns that don’t require a hospital stay-but they do require time, specialized knowledge, and individualized care. That’s where we come in.
My practice was built on the belief that nutrition should be a cornerstone of preventative healthcare, not just a reaction after a medical crisis. By working closely with patients before their conditions progress, we can help improve outcomes, reduce complications, and ultimately keep people healthier and out of the hospital. We have the opportunity to spend the time that busy medical visits often can’t provide, helping patients understand their conditions, build sustainable habits, and feel confident managing their health.
As my practice has grown, so has our ability to serve the community. I’m incredibly proud that our team consists of clinically trained Registered Dietitians who bring extensive hospital and medical nutrition experience into the outpatient setting. We combine evidence-based clinical care with compassionate counseling, allowing us to manage everything from complex chronic diseases to nutrition support, digestive disorders, oncology nutrition, and many other specialized conditions.
An area especially close to my heart is eating disorder care. We work with individuals of all ages to rebuild a healthy relationship with food while providing compassionate, individualized treatment rooted in science and respect. Our practice embraces a Health at Every Size® (HAES)-aligned philosophy, recognizing that health is multifaceted and cannot be measured by weight alone. We focus on sustainable behaviors, medical well-being, and improving quality of life rather than pursuing weight as the sole marker of success. Every patient deserves care that is respectful, individualized, and free from stigma.
Growing Nutrition Support Solutions has also been one of the most rewarding challenges of my life. As a woman-owned business, every stage of growth has required balancing entrepreneurship with family life. Being both a business owner and a wife and mother has taught me resilience, flexibility, and the importance of surrounding yourself with a supportive team. There are long days, constant learning, and plenty of juggling, but knowing that we’re making a meaningful difference in the lives of our patients makes every challenge worthwhile.
Today, my vision extends beyond my own patient schedule. By expanding our team of dietitians, we’re able to improve access to care, reduce wait times, and provide specialized nutrition services to even more individuals throughout our community. Every new patient represents an opportunity to prevent disease progression, support recovery, improve quality of life, and help someone feel their best.
At the heart of everything we do is a simple mission: to make our community healthier through accessible, evidence-based nutrition care. We believe nutrition is one of the most powerful tools in healthcare-not only for treating disease, but for preventing it. If we can help someone avoid a hospitalization, better manage a chronic illness, recover from an eating disorder, or simply feel empowered in their relationship with food, then we’ve accomplished exactly what we set out to do.
Nutrition Support Solutions was created to bridge the gap between medicine and everyday life, bringing clinical expertise into the community where it can make the greatest impact-one person, one family, and one healthier future at a time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like any small business, the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. While I received an outstanding education from La Salle University and The University of Alabama that prepared me to be a skilled clinical dietitian, business ownership was something I had to learn along the way. Nutrition and dietetics programs don’t typically include business education, so I was fortunate to have family members who owned businesses and a supportive husband, Kyle, who had taken business courses in college and was able to help guide me through many of those early decisions. Another significant hurdle was learning the insurance billing process. With mentorship from Amy Plano and a great deal of self-teaching, I developed the skills to navigate medical insurance so our practice could provide Medical Nutrition Therapy using patients’ health insurance benefits. That has been one of the most rewarding investments in our practice because it allows many of our patients to receive expert nutrition care with little to no out-of-pocket cost. We are grateful that many insurance plans recognize the value of Medical Nutrition Therapy and provide excellent coverage as part of a preventative healthcare approach. Learning the complexities of insurance billing certainly wasn’t easy-and it’s something I’m still learning-but it has been well worth the effort because it has allowed us to expand access to high-quality, evidence-based nutrition care for our community.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Nutrition Support Solutions?
Nutrition Support Solutions is an outpatient nutrition counseling practice dedicated to bringing expert clinical nutrition care into the community. We believe that high-quality Medical Nutrition Therapy shouldn’t only be available during a hospital stay-it should be accessible to individuals before their health conditions become more serious. Our team of Registered Dietitians provides evidence-based, individualized nutrition counseling for adolescents and adults, helping patients navigate a wide range of medical conditions while building sustainable, lifelong habits.
We are known for managing complex clinical cases in the outpatient setting, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, gastrointestinal disorders, oncology nutrition, malnutrition, and other chronic health conditions. We also have a strong passion for eating disorder treatment and work closely with individuals and families to foster healing and a healthier relationship with food. Our care is rooted in a Health at Every Size® (HAES)-aligned philosophy, recognizing that health is about so much more than a number on the scale. We strive to provide compassionate, weight-inclusive care that is individualized, evidence-based, and free from stigma.
What truly sets us apart is our clinical expertise combined with the time and personalized attention we can give each patient. All of our dietitians have extensive hospital experience, allowing us to bring advanced medical nutrition knowledge into a comfortable outpatient environment. We collaborate closely with physicians, therapists, physical therapists, and other healthcare professionals to provide coordinated, whole-person care. We pride ourselves on being a trusted extension of a patient’s healthcare team.
One of the things I’m most proud of is the culture we’ve built. We are a practice that values compassion just as much as clinical excellence. Every patient who walks through our doors is treated as an individual-not a diagnosis or a number. We meet people where they are, celebrate progress in all forms, and help them make realistic, sustainable changes that fit their lives.
As we’ve grown, we’ve remained committed to making expert nutrition care more accessible. By accepting many major insurance plans, we’re able to remove financial barriers that often prevent people from seeking nutrition counseling. Our mission is simple: to improve the health of our community through compassionate, evidence-based nutrition care that emphasizes prevention, empowers patients, and helps people live healthier, fuller lives.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love partnering with our community. Individuals can work with us by scheduling an appointment directly through our website (www.NutritionSupportSolutions.com) or by asking their physician or healthcare provider for a referral to Medical Nutrition Therapy. We also welcome collaborations with local physicians, therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, fitness professionals, schools, senior living communities, and businesses that share our passion for improving community health. Whether it’s through patient referrals, educational presentations, wellness events, or community collaborations, we believe the best healthcare happens when professionals work together.
One of the greatest ways to support our mission is simply by helping spread the word that nutrition counseling is available-and that, for many people, it’s covered by health insurance. Many individuals don’t realize they have access to Medical Nutrition Therapy as part of their healthcare benefits. Our goal is to remove barriers to care, provide expert nutrition guidance, and make evidence-based nutrition services accessible to everyone who can benefit. Together, we can continue building a healthier community through prevention, education, and compassionate care.
Pricing:
- Insurance covers our services!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.NutritionSupportSolutions.com
- Instagram: @NutritionSupportSolutionsLLC
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Nutrition-Support-Solutions-LLC-100094626458083/
