Applications are open through May 8, 2026. Apply today.
CARE Eating Practice™ Certification Program
  

Become a Certified CARE Eating Practice™ Practitioner

Developed by McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN — Founder of Nutrition Stripped®

Applications Are Now Open.

Applications are open from April 20th to May 8th 2026. 6-week certification training for RDs, nutritionists, and health professionals. Fewer than 10 practitioners will be accepted.

See Program Details & Apply →
WHAT IS CARE?

What You're Applying For

The CARE Eating Practice™ is an evidence-based framework for nutrition and health professionals who work with clients struggling with emotional eating, binge eating, and chronic dieting — clients who intellectually understand what to eat but can't sustain change.

CARE is built around four steps to support your clients to feel more at peace with food:

CENTER — Nervous system regulation and mindful presence before eating. CENTER practices activate the parasympathetic state and bring sensory awareness into the present moment. This is the foundation that makes everything else possible. Clients cannot attune to hunger and fullness signals they cannot yet feel.

ATTUNE — Interoceptive awareness restoration. Clinical tools to help clients rebuild accurate hunger and fullness perception — not just remind them to "listen to their body," but actually restore that capacity.

RECEIVE — Stress physiology and the body's signals. The practice of receiving what the body is communicating — hunger, fullness, emotional states, stress responses — with enough clarity and self-compassion to respond rather than react. Within the nutrition scope, with clear language frameworks and referral protocols.

ENACT — Values-aligned action. Where behavioral psychology, self-determination theory, and implementation intentions meet — including where foundational nutrition tools like meal structure and eating rhythms are integrated into lived practice.

This is not mindset work. It is not business coaching. It's training grounded in nervous system science, mindful eating, balanced nutrition, interoceptive psychology, and behavioral research — developed by McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN over a decade of applied practice.

The CARE Eating Practice™ Certification Program is the first structured certification-track training in this framework. This spring pilot cohort is intentionally limited to fewer than 10 practitioners.

Apply for the Spring 2026 Cohort →
WHO CAN APPLY

Who This Is For

This certification is designed for credentialed nutrition and health professionals currently working with clients or patients:

Registered Dietitians (RD, RDN), Certified Nutritionists (CN, CNS), Nutritionists and Nutrition Coaches with formal training, Therapists, Medical Professionals working with eating disorders, and Certified Health Coaches (NBC-HWC or equivalent).

You're a strong fit if your clients know what to eat but can't sustain it. They eat from stress, not hunger. They cycle through "on track" and "off track" weeks. They've done the work with you and still can't feel their fullness cues. You've hit a ceiling with what traditional nutrition education alone can do for them — and you know something is missing, but you haven't had the clinical tools to address it.

What separates CARE from other frameworks is not just the content — it is the structure.

CARE gives practitioners and clients a memorable, sequential process they can actually follow in the moment. It is not a philosophy to absorb or a set of principles to remember under stress. It is a step-by-step practice: CENTER first, then ATTUNE, RECEIVE as needed, then ENACT — in that order, every time, until it becomes second nature.

This works at two levels simultaneously. At the micro level, CARE is an in-the-moment protocol — a concrete sequence a client moves through before and during eating to shift their physiological and attentional state before making a food choice.

At the macro level, CARE is supported by ongoing practices outside of meals: balanced nutrition rhythms, nervous system regulation activities, mindfulness practices, self-compassion work, and the behavioral foundations that create a regulated baseline to return to.

The micro and macro reinforce each other. Clients aren't just using CARE at the table — they are building the internal conditions that make the in-the-moment practice increasingly accessible over time.

The result is a framework that is both clinically rigorous and practically usable — something a client can remember when they are standing in front of the refrigerator at 9pm, not just something they understood in your office.

HOW IT HELPS YOUR CLIENTS

What Changes for Your Clients

When you apply the CARE framework in sessions, your clients develop the capacity to:

Feel hunger and fullness accurately again — not as a concept they've been told about, but as a physical signal they can identify and trust.

Clients who have spent years overriding those signals through restriction or emotional eating often describe this as the first time food has felt neutral in memory.

Interrupt the stress-to-eating cycle before it completes. Not through willpower or cognitive override — through the physiological shift that nervous system regulation creates before a meal or in a moment of stress-driven craving.

Distinguish physical hunger from emotional, environmental, and habitual eating — with enough clarity to make a different choice, not because they were told to, but because the internal conditions have changed.

Build self-trust that extends beyond sessions. The goal of CARE is not compliance with a protocol. It is the development of interoceptive capacity and self-regulatory skill that clients carry forward independently.

Apply for the Spring 2026 Cohort →
HOW IT HELPS YOU IN PRACTICE

What This Gives You as a Practitioner

A clear, repeatable framework. Instead of starting each appointment from scratch with a client who is stuck, you have a structured sequence —CENTER first, then ATTUNE, RECEIVE as needed, ENACT — that you can move through systematically and teach your clients to move through on their own.

Confidence with complex eating behavior. Emotional eating, binge eating, and the inability to feel hunger and fullness cues are among the most common presenting issues nutrition practitioners encounter and the least-addressed in clinical training. CARE gives you a scope-appropriate protocol for working with these clients effectively.

Ready-to-use tools, handouts, and scripts you can bring into sessions immediately. The program includes 20+ client-facing handouts, worksheets, and session templates. You will also have practitioner scripts and session package layouts. You will not finish this training with a theoretical framework and no implementation path.

Professional differentiation. The clients who most need what you offer — the ones whose eating behavior isn't changing despite good nutrition knowledge — are the clients CARE is built for. Having this framework expands what you can offer and deepens the outcomes you can create.

Language that stays within your scope. You will receive guidance on how to discuss nervous system regulation and emotional eating as a nutrition professional — including scope-appropriate documentation, referral protocols, and language frameworks that keep you on purpose and best support your client.

FORMAT, INVESTMENT, AND WHAT'S INCLUDED

Program Details

Start date: Course access begins May 18th, 2026.

Format: 6-week hybrid training — live group coaching calls plus self-paced video lessons.

Time commitment: 2-4 hours per week. Designed for working practitioners.

Live calls: Wednesdays at 10 am CT. Every call is recorded. Certification requires attending or watching all calls.

Cohort size: Fewer than 10 practitioners. Intentionally small for personalized case consultation and direct access to McKel.

What's included: 20+ video lessons with lifetime access. 20+ ready-to-use client and practitioner materials — handouts, worksheets, and session templates. 6 live group coaching calls. Certified CARE Eating Practice™ Practitioner credential upon completing all certification requirements.

Certification requirements: Complete all training modules, attend or watch all live calls, complete a 30-day personal CARE practice log, apply the framework with a minimum of 2 clients during training, submit a case study, and pass a competency assessment.

Investment: $997 founding member rate (50%+ off the planned future price). Payment plan available: 3 × $399.

CPEU credits: Planned and in process. Not guaranteed for this cohort. The clinical tools and certification credentials are the primary deliverables.

After approval, Accepted practitioners will receive their enrollment link by May 8th and have 72 hours to complete enrollment and secure their spot.

Apply Now — Founding Member Pricing →

Start Your Application

 
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

After You Submit

Every application is personally reviewed — there is no automated acceptance.

If accepted, you'll receive your private enrollment link and 72 hours to complete enrollment. After that window, your spot opens to the next applicant on the list.

If this cohort isn't the right fit: A personal note from McKel with context on the decision. An invitation to the waitlist for the next cohort.

Once enrolled, you'll receive your onboarding welcome email with everything you need before the program begins.

Questions before applying? Email hello@nutritionstripped.com and we'll get back to you within one business day.

MEET YOUR MENTOR

McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

Registered Dietitian | Founder of Nutrition Stripped®

For over a decade, McKel has worked at the intersection of clinical nutrition, mindful eating, and behavior change—helping clients move out of food struggle and into sustainable, embodied nourishment.

Her work is built on a foundational truth: eating behavior doesn't change through information alone. It changes when the internal conditions shaping decisions change.

McKel created the Mindful Nutrition Method™ to address what traditional nutrition approaches miss—mindful eating, interoceptive awareness, stress support nutrition, and nervous system regulation as the foundations of lasting change. CARE is the professional evolution of that work: a structured, evidence-based framework designed for practitioners who want to create real transformation with their clients.

Her work has been featured in Oprah.com, Bon Appétit, Women's Health, MindBodyGreen, and Food Network — and her methodology has reached practitioners and clients across 180+ countries.

 This is a methodology refined through thousands of hours of clinical application, shaped by what actually works in practice. 

McKel brings clinical depth, intellectual rigor, and a commitment to teaching practitioners how to do the work—not just talk about it.

Start Your Application →

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Fill the Gap in Your Clinical Training?

 

If your clients know what to eat but can't sustain change...

If education alone stops working after a few weeks...

If you're watching food become the outlet for stress and regulation...

This certification gives you the clinical framework to address what's actually driving that pattern — and create outcomes that hold. 

Applications close May 1st. Fewer than 10 practitioners will be accepted, and applications are reviewed in the order received.

If something on this page describes your most challenging clients, that recognition is worth following.

Submit Your Application →

© Nutrition Stripped® / McKel Hill Kooienga. All rights reserved. Nutrition Stripped®, The Mindful Nutrition Method™, The CARE Eating Practice™, and all related methods, written content, images, and course materials are the intellectual property of McKel Hill Kooienga. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited. By enrolling, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.