By Susan Eiise Campbell
Lindsay Ferrara founded Pinnacle Nutrition, PLLC five years ago to help people of any age improve their weight, health and lives through personalized, science-backed nutrition.
Strategically, not much has changed in her business model. But she said she is finding there is more “nutrition noise out there to cut through” with her clients, such as social media fads and wearable rings, watches and glucose monitors.
“People are focusing more on being healthier, feeling better and living longer,” Ferrara said. “My goal is helping them understand what information out there actually pertains to them and deciding which steps to take.”
By the time clients come to her, most have already tried strategies to either gain muscle or lose body fat, she said.
“They feel like they’ve tried everything and keep getting bombarded with this fad, that wearable or a GLP-1 medication, or it’s intermittent fasting or so many grams of protein,” said Ferrara. “But the algorithms of social media don’t know what your body needs.”
Pinnacle Nutrition builds on five metabolic pillars: sleep, hydration, stress level, strength and fuel.
To determine what balance a client needs for their body, Ferrara uses data from metabolic testing and body composition analysis. The former measures resting energy expenditure to determine calorie targets for weight loss, muscle gain or maintenance. Body mass index is the amount of muscle, fat and water in the body and provides benchmarks for future health.
“The InBody analysis allows us to track body composition in a healthy way and takes emphasis off the scale,” she said.
Some clients have restricted their diet for so long that they hit a weight loss plateau and “their body won’t budge,” she said.
“They are blown away when I have them start eating more,” said Ferrara. “With the right nutrition plan, food makes the body feel safe and not starving.”
“But even if the number on the scale doesn’t change, they see their body finally let go of some fat, because they are getting enough calories to exercise and start building muscle,” she said. “Health is optimized by maintaining muscle and fuel.”
Ferrara is a registered dietitian with more than 20 years of experience using metabolic and nutritional tools to improve overall wellness. A newer tool, GLP-1 medications that control blood sugar and appetite, is one she has “loosened her stance on,” she said.
“I saw some of my friends go on them and realized they are a helpful tool for many,” Ferrara said. “But they do not negate the need for a dietician.”
Instead, there is an opportunity to talk to clients who are on these medications or considering them to ensure they are testing body composition and not losing muscle. Thus, the perfect time to learn better eating habits is before starting a GLP-1 medication, Ferrara said.
“Some are losing weight and feeling confident,” she said. “But like people who take cholesterol medication and then eat whatever they like, you have to be making healthy choices and lifestyle changes, not just putting on a bandaid.”
Ferrara believes her services are relevant for those who want to try a GLP-1 medication and “don’t want to lose weight too quickly or lose the muscle they have worked hard to achieve.”
The composition of Ferrara’s client base has not changed much even with a growing market of GLP-1 users but has remained fairly constant among individuals in their late 20s to early 50s.
About 65% of her clients are perimenopausal women, and Ferrara is certified by the Perry Academy to help midlife women optimize their hormones, eat more fiber, keep moving and, if they have severe symptoms, get more help as needed.
Ferrara is also helping more teenagers than ever, she said.
“I have teenagers myself and saw one or two teens as a favor for a friend,” she said. “The word got out I was providing valuable information.”
Parents are concerned that their teenagers are bombarded with weight loss myths and trendy diets, and Ferrara said she is being asked to teach them about proper nutrition. She does not work with active eating disorders because she is not certified.
“It really hits home that a growing teenager’s needs to maintain metabolism are at a certain point. If they restrict beyond that, they will be doing themselves more harm than good,” she said.
Ferrara said she is not changing her marketing to reach more of this age group but is thinking of working with a company to address social media. Meanwhile, she is “coasting on word-of-mouth” and planning to hire one person. A “dream in the back of her mind” is to expand in New York, perhaps to Clifton Park.
To push business forward at this five-year milestone, Ferrara obtained her personal training certification, which she will introduce into her practice soon. She is now qualified to give clients workouts and do VO2 max testing to measure how much oxygen their body absorbs during intense exercise.
“This tells me how a person is burning carbohydrates versus fats,” she said. “It answers, what is your maximum heart rate at which your body switches over to fat-burning mode.”
“In time, the body begins to prefer burning body fat than muscle or carbohydrates,” she said. “You can actually see that threshold as you are monitoring.”
Many dietitians do what Ferrara does, she said, but combining metabolic testing and InBody scanning technologies gives a professional more valuable personal information than a client could provide over a virtual visit. She does follow-ups through her client portal and communicates personalized meal planning through the EatLove app.
Pinnacle Nutrition is at 15 Maple Dell in Saratoga Springs. Visit Instagram or pinnaclenutritionny.com for more information.