The Best Nutritionists in New York

Jordan Crofton, 2 E. 15th St.; the-well.com

For over a decade, David McGillivray, co-founder of clothing line Offhours, has struggled with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. He’s tried specialized diets and spent tens of thousands of dollars on supplements and doctors, but “nothing tracked with me getting better.” Finally, a friend convinced him to see Jordan Crofton, a family nurse practitioner who works out of wellness center the Well. (From $475.) Immediately, McGillivray felt comfortable with Crofton. She was the perfect balance of holistic and conventional medicine, constantly checked in with McGillivray, and put him on an autoimmune-protocol diet that avoided any inflammatory foods. “I’ve never worked with anyone who I trusted as much as I trusted her,” he says. She went beyond just prescribing a diet, referring him to an upstate pharmacy that carried a candida medication that was made without a filler ingredient that might trigger gut troubles.

Hannah Coakley; pandowellness.org

Instead of focusing on weight as a health indicator, Hannah Coakley approaches patients with eating disorders by setting self-image and food-acceptance goals. One of their clients, Sara, who would prefer to remain anonymous, spent the past few decades meeting with countless nutritionists and dietitians, and none felt like the right fit, and all were too expensive for her restaurant-industry salary — until she found Coakley. (From $70.) She’s able to meet with Coakley once a week for hourlong sessions where they focus on gratitude for her body (directly praising different parts), and they go beyond food, discussing Sara’s relationships and family as well as diet culture and systemic oppression more generally. “Hannah is the Eating Disorder Whisperer,” says Sara.

Daniela Turley, 150 W. 25th St., Ste. 402; danielaturley.com

A few years ago, Melissa Medvedich, the founder of skin-care line Supernal, was hunting for a nutritionist to help with her slow digestion and what she thought was a newly developed stone-fruit allergy. A facialist friend introduced her to medical herbalist Daniela Turley, who has 20 years of experience identifying food allergies and creating attendant food plans (From $250.) Through testing, Turley found that Medvedich wasn’t allergic to stone fruits after all, but, she suspected, to the pollen and dust on certain fruit skins. And for her digestion, Turley prescribed a custom herbal tonic. Medvedich’s digestion was more normal within weeks, and after thoroughly washing fruits with a brush before eating (as Turley suggested), she stopped regularly breaking out in hives. Medvedich was so impressed that she sent her former co-worker Jasmine Garnsworthy to Turley for help with breakouts and low energy levels after going off birth control. Within months, Turley helped clear up Garnsworthy’s skin and “reset her gut microbiome,” resulting in more energy.

Selena Ayala; info@selenaayala.com

“During my appointment with Ayala, she asked me to keep a journal documenting exactly what I ate throughout the day for a week — and exactly how I felt after I ate each of those things,” says designer Moya Annece. Using this info, Selena Ayala made Annece a custom grocery list — plenty of leafy greens, legumes, seeds, and garnishes — with corresponding recipes that she could make out of the items. Within weeks, Annece says, she felt less lethargic — no longer dependent on multiple matcha teas to get her through the day. Even better, she adds, she only needed that one session with Ayala (plus the grocery list) to keep her new diet going. (From $95.) “There isn’t a co-dependency with her,” she says. “She gives you the tools.” Marcus Singleton, a painter who’s struggled with bloating and gut issues for about a decade, also went through Ayala’s diet makeover. He appreciated how many questions she asked him about his stress triggers, emphasizing the connection between the mind and gut.

Daphne Javitch; doingwell.com

Daphne Javitch herself suffers from endometriosis — and (effectively) used her diet to calm her disease. In her group coaching program ($400), Javitch has clients (mostly) abstaining from alcohol, eating the fastest-digesting foods first and the slowest last during a meal, and drinking a substantial amount of water before noon. Consultant Anja Tyson did as she was told and, during her next period, didn’t have debilitating cramps or hormonal cluster migraines. “Being given effective tools after being ignored by medical professionals for so long felt so freeing,” she says. While plenty of Javitch’s clients find her because of her experience with endometriosis, Tyson says the women in the sessions had diverse issues, including weight gain, weight loss, and low energy levels. “Whenever I meet someone who’s having even minor women’s-health issues, I’ll write an email introduction on the spot, because I feel so strongly about how much Daphne’s helped me,” she says.

Leah Kaufman; leahkaufman.com

After Lisa Ruchaevsky Weiss’s father suffered a heart attack, she decided to eat healthier. She’d tried Weight Watchers, Noom, and other nutritionists, all of which “didn’t click” or “just annoyed me.” Not Leah Kaufman (referred to her by her OB/GYN). Kaufman helped Weiss find easier ways to make her favorite foods healthier, like filling tacos with veggies, salsa, and Greek yogurt instead of cheese and beans. In about a year, Weiss lost 50 pounds and lowered her cholesterol and blood sugar. Another client, publicist Rachel Kasab Tilewick, says Kaufmann is the first nutritionist to ever help her keep weight off — and that she never misses an appointment because their sessions are covered by her insurance (fairly unusual in this space). (From $195.)