You’re not looking for another food rule — you’re looking for a dietitian in Waterloo who can connect nutrition to your real life and your long-term health

If you’re searching for a dietitian in Waterloo because your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, energy, or relationship with food no longer feels manageable on your own, you probably don’t need more conflicting advice. You need someone who can connect the science of nutrition to your schedule, your culture, your preferences, your health history, and the routines that shape what actually happens from one day to the next. That is where Kristine Brigino, BASc, MAN, NM, RD stands out.

With experience across outpatient care, home care, inpatient care, and long-term care, Kristine understands that nutrition rarely fits into one neat category. Weight changes can be tied to heart health, blood sugar, mobility, appetite, medications, digestion, stress, or recovery after illness. Feeling “off” may have less to do with willpower than with a plan that was never designed for your real life in the first place. Kristine’s role is to help you make sense of that complexity and turn it into something clear, practical, and sustainable. Her style is evidence-based, warm, and non-judgmental, so you can stop feeling like you’re failing a plan and start building one that actually fits.

Kristine Brigino, BASc, MAN, NM, RD brings the rare combination of clinical depth and everyday practicality that makes change feel possible

Kristine Brigino, BASc, MAN, NM, RD is a Registered Dietitian who provides comprehensive nutrition care across the lifespan, from prevention-focused healthy eating support to more complex medical nutrition needs. What makes her especially effective is the range behind that care. She has supported people navigating diabetes, renal concerns, gastrointestinal issues, eating-related challenges, dysphagia, pediatric nutrition needs, post-hospital recovery, malnutrition, and chronic disease management. That breadth matters because it helps her recognize connections that narrower care can miss.

You are not reduced to one symptom, one diagnosis, or one number on the scale. Kristine combines strong clinical assessment, thoughtful care planning, and genuine respect for the meaning food has in your everyday life. Her work is grounded in a simple belief: food can be powerful medicine when it is personalized, practical, and sustainable. That means you can expect guidance that is rooted in evidence without feeling rigid, overly restrictive, or disconnected from the way you actually live, eat, shop, cook, and recover.

From your first conversation, you should feel heard, never judged, and supported by a plan built for real life

When you meet Kristine, you can expect far more than a quick review of what you ate last week. She starts by learning how your health history, lab work, medications, symptoms, appetite, cooking routines, work demands, family life, culture, and goals fit together. That detail is what allows her to provide nutrition counselling that is clinically meaningful and realistic enough to follow outside the treatment room.

You won’t be handed a generic meal plan and told to “try harder.” You’ll work through a personalized strategy that may include meal structure, grocery guidance, heart-health nutrition targets, plant-forward options, hunger and fullness awareness, behaviour change tools, or support around barriers such as fatigue, stress, low appetite, lack of time, or symptom flare-ups. Kristine also works within the coordinated care model at CARESPACE Uptown Waterloo, where nutrition can be integrated with other forms of care when needed. If pain is limiting movement, stress is affecting eating patterns, or medical follow-up is part of the picture, that collaborative approach helps your plan feel more connected and more achievable. Most importantly, your nutrition plan is designed around your life — not the other way around.

Kristine’s training across home care, inpatient care, long-term care, and community nutrition means your plan is grounded in real clinical experience

That practical style is backed by serious training. Kristine earned both her Master of Applied Nutrition and her Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) in Applied Human Nutrition from the University of Guelph. She is a Registered Dietitian with the College of Dietitians of Ontario and a member of Dietitians of Canada. Her additional training in pediatric nutrition, critical care nutrition, swallow screens and assessments, dysphagia nutrition processes, population and public health needs assessment, and food and nutrition management gives her a rare blend of clinical precision and systems-level thinking.

Professionally, she has delivered nutrition care through CARESPACE, St. Joseph’s Home Care, Seasons Care Dietitian Network, Guelph General Hospital, and earlier clinical and community internships. That experience means she is comfortable supporting everything from preventive nutrition goals to medically complex situations involving texture-modified diets, enteral or parenteral nutrition support, chronic disease management, and transitions from hospital to home. For you, that translates into guidance that is compassionate, safe, and grounded in real-world practice rather than theory alone.

While Kristine supports the full spectrum of nutrition concerns, her depth in weight management and cardiovascular health can help you change what feels hardest to change alone

Kristine supports a wide range of nutrition concerns, but you’ll find especially strong depth in weight management and cardiovascular conditions — two areas where generic advice often creates more frustration than progress. If weight has become a source of stress, discomfort, self-criticism, or confusion, Kristine’s goal is not to push you into another cycle of restriction and rebound. She helps you understand what is actually driving the pattern. That may include meal timing, protein and fibre intake, emotional or stress-related eating, low energy, inconsistent routines, weight loss, menopause-related changes, recovery after illness, limited time to prepare food, or an all-or-nothing relationship with healthy eating. From there, she works with you on sustainable strategies that support body composition, energy, appetite regulation, consistency, and confidence without asking you to live like food is a full-time job.

Her cardiovascular nutrition work is just as practical and just as personalized. If you’re trying to lower cholesterol, improve triglycerides, manage blood pressure, reduce sodium intake, or protect your long-term heart health because of family history or changing lab values, Kristine helps you turn broad medical advice into everyday decisions you can actually repeat. That can include building more fibre into meals without digestive overwhelm, improving fat quality instead of simply fearing fat, planning balanced meals that keep you satisfied longer, increasing plant-based choices where appropriate, and finding heart-supportive options that still fit the foods you enjoy and the culture you live in.

These two specialty areas often overlap, and Kristine is especially strong when the picture is not simple. Weight changes and cardiovascular risk are rarely just about motivation. They are often tied to blood sugar, sleep, mobility, digestion, stress, inflammation, recovery, and the realities of daily life. Because Kristine has experience tracking meaningful health indicators such as cholesterol, blood glucose, and body composition, she can help you focus on progress that matters — not just what the scale says, but how you feel, function, and protect your future health.

Long before you meet her in clinic, Kristine has been showing up for her community through food access, education, and mentorship

Outside the clinic, Kristine’s long record of community involvement says a lot about the kind of dietitian she is. She has supported food access, nutrition education, and mentorship through organizations including Community FEWD, Smart APPetite, Hope House, Waterloo Wellington Zehrs Dietitian Team, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the Children’s Foundation of Guelph. That commitment shows up in her care. She understands that nutrition is never just about information — it is also about dignity, access, support, and feeling genuinely understood where you are right now.

The right time to start is before another month goes by feeling stuck — book with Kristine today

You do not have to spend another season guessing what to eat or waiting for things to worsen. Book with Kristine today and start building a plan that supports your health with clarity, confidence, and momentum.