Written by: Guest Contributor Lauren D'Errico, MS, RD, LDN, CEDS, CFNIP | Owner, Restorative Nutrition and Wellness
Date Posted: June 21, 2026 2:08 am
The use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s) has increased significantly in recent years, redefining approaches to weight management. A 2025 poll found that 1 in 8 U.S. adults — approximately 12% of the population — were taking a GLP-1 medication, underscoring the growing clinical and cultural demand for these treatments. As GLP-1 use becomes increasingly widespread, identifying how to best support individuals at all stages of treatment has become a crucial clinical consideration.
Despite the substantial physiological, nutritional, and psychological implications associated with GLP-1s, care for individuals prescribed these medications often remains fragmented. Prescribing providers, registered dietitians, and mental health professionals each play a distinct and essential role in supporting individuals during GLP-1 treatment, yet interdisciplinary care is not consistently integrated as standard practice. Given the broad impact of these medications, care delivered in isolation may fail to fully address the complexities of treatment. Rather than operating in silos, an interdisciplinary approach is essential to ensure that the multifaceted needs of individuals prescribed GLP-1 medications are addressed comprehensively, promptly, and collaboratively.
This integrated model of care is increasingly supported. The World Health Organization recommends that GLP-1 medications be used alongside intensive behavioral therapy, including structured counseling related to nutrition, physical activity, and ongoing monitoring of treatment efficacy. Similarly, prescribing information for GLP-1 medications emphasizes the importance of pairing pharmacotherapy with dietary and lifestyle interventions. Together, these recommendations reinforce that the medication is not intended to function as a stand-alone treatment, but rather as one component within a broader, multidisciplinary approach.
Prescribing providers are often the first point of contact for individuals seeking GLP-1 treatment and play a critical role in determining appropriateness for medication initiation — screening for contraindications, assessing metabolic health markers, identifying weight-related health risks, and evaluating the potential risks and benefits of initiating treatment. Throughout the course of treatment, their responsibilities include evaluating rate of weight loss, medication tolerability, metabolic health improvements, and dose adjustments as clinically indicated.
However, because medical follow-up appointments during GLP-1 treatment are often infrequent — ranging from monthly to every several months — emerging nutritional, behavioral, or psychological concerns may go unnoticed between visits. Physicians may not always have specialized nutrition or behavioral health training, nor the availability to provide individualized support for the complex challenges that can arise during GLP-1 treatment. This further highlights the importance of interdisciplinary support beyond medication management alone.
Registered dietitians should be integrated early in treatment to address the significant nutritional implications associated with GLP-1 use. The nutritional effects of these medications are well documented and include reductions in appetite, gastrointestinal side effects affecting a significant proportion of users, lean body mass loss, and an emerging risk for micronutrient deficiencies including fat soluble vitamins, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and magnesium. Beyond these effects, emerging evidence suggests that individuals using GLP-1 medications may also be at increased risk for the exacerbation or emergence of disordered eating behaviors.
Registered dietitians are qualified to identify, monitor, and manage these nutritional impacts. Because dietitians often have more frequent contact with clients, they may identify concerning patterns earlier in treatment, allowing for timely intervention and communication with the broader care team. Integration of a dietitian is therefore essential to optimize client safety and outcomes.
This is precisely what unfolded in a recent case from my practice at Restorative Nutrition and Wellness. A 30-year-old woman was referred for nutrition counseling by her therapist following a GLP-1 dose increase. Initial assessment revealed significant weight loss accompanied by an escalation in disordered eating thoughts and behaviors — inadequate food and fluid intake, low energy, temperature dysregulation, hair loss, irritability, and dizziness. Notably, she reported intentionally delaying eating and interpreting dizziness as reassurance that she was “doing well.” She also endorsed frequent body-checking and self-weighing to confirm the medication was “working.”
Because I had regular contact with this client, these patterns were identified early — before they might have surfaced in a less frequent medical appointment. A release of information was obtained to facilitate collaboration with both her therapist and prescribing provider, allowing the care team to respond quickly and collectively.
Although the physical and nutritional implications of GLP-1 medications are frequently emphasized, the psychological impact is equally important and often overlooked. For many individuals, GLP-1 use extends beyond changes in appetite or weight and may significantly influence their relationship with food, body image, identity, social experiences, and emotional well-being. Rapid changes in eating patterns, appetite, and body size may evoke complicated emotional responses, particularly among individuals with a history of dieting, weight stigma, trauma, or disordered eating.
Mental health professionals play an essential role in helping clients navigate these emotional and behavioral impacts. Through individualized counseling, they can help clients process shifts in their relationship with food and body image, identify and intervene upon emerging disordered eating patterns, navigate societal and interpersonal responses to weight change, and develop coping strategies that support psychological well-being throughout treatment.
In the case described above, the client’s existing therapist was part of the care team from the outset, and a referral to a therapist specializing in disordered eating was initiated as part of the interdisciplinary plan. Following a medically guided dose reduction and the addition of disordered eating-focused therapy, the client demonstrated meaningful improvement. Food and body image-related thoughts remained persistent — particularly fears surrounding weight gain — but ongoing therapy appeared to lessen the extent to which those thoughts translated into maladaptive behaviors. Treatment continues to focus on adequate nutritional intake, preventing compensatory eating patterns, reducing body-checking behaviors, and supporting the client’s overall psychological well-being.
Given the multifaceted nature of GLP-1 treatment, no single discipline is equipped to independently address the full scope of physiological, nutritional, and psychological implications associated with these medications. Prescribing providers, registered dietitians, and mental health professionals each contribute specialized expertise that, when integrated, supports more individualized and comprehensive care.
As this case illustrates, the value of an interdisciplinary approach is not theoretical. When a dietitian identified early warning signs, communicated with the broader team, and coordinated a response that included medical reassessment, dose adjustment, and specialized mental health support, the outcome for the client was meaningfully better than any single provider could have achieved alone. Through ongoing collaboration, providers can align treatment approaches with a client’s evolving needs — whether that means adjusting medication dosages, supporting nutritional rehabilitation, or addressing the psychological complexity that so often accompanies GLP-1 treatment.
Ultimately, an interdisciplinary approach allows concerns to be identified and addressed earlier, helping ensure care remains responsive throughout GLP-1 treatment and promoting improved client safety, satisfaction, and long-term outcomes.
While an interdisciplinary approach to GLP-1 treatment may be the ideal model, policy changes are needed to increase equitable access to GLP-1 medications, medical nutrition therapy, and intensive behavioral therapy.
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