Pantry Medicine’s Food Philosophy TM
If you cant read it don’t eat it
All food requires the sun and provides nourishment
My mouth my body, your mouth your body, their mouth their body TM
Registered and Licensed Dietitians/Nutritionists
Lea Peyton Gebhardt PHD, RDN, LDN
Lea Peyton Gebhardt has an unwavering passion for food and nutrition and the profound impact it can have on ones physical and emotional health. For the past 30 years, she has been relentlessly studying every aspect of food and nutrition intervention sharing her knowledge through teaching and providing medical nutrition therapy. Her special interests include sensory food aversion and pediatric feeding disturbances, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), gastrointestinal function, cancer therapy, celiac disease, metabolic disease, and endocrine disorders.
As a child, Lea took an early interest in cooking. She would look forward to her summers in Virginia and learning from her grandmother, a nurse and self-taught nutritionist. Nana's garden seemed so mysterious, foreign and wonderful compared to the suburban shrubs, groomed grass, and supermarket aisles Lea was used to in Texas.
It was always Lea's plan to be a medical doctor declared without hesitation after a rainy afternoon spent reading the Childcraft Encyclopedia: About Me. For Lea this book was a looking glass into the mysteries and miracles of the human body. To prepare for her medical career, Lea chose to study Nutrition and Biology at James Madison University. Craving a stronger nutrition foundation Lea stayed at JMU to complete a Masters in Health Sciences and Human Nutrition coupled with a Dietetic Internship at the Medical College of Virginia. Lea focused her studies on pediatric nutrition and completed a research project on malnutrition and food insecurity in Honduras. Lea returned home from Central America with a profound sense of how disease could be mitigated by nutrition and an unexpected tropical illness. Her stowaway illness manifesting six months later would prove to be an elusive parasite yielding a cascade of autoimmune symptoms. Unable to find relief or answers in traditional medicine and being the consummate problem solver, Lea chose to abandon her plans to be a medical doctor and instead pursue a Doctorate in Nutritional Biochemistry. Lea's focus was on Maternal and Child Health and Comparative and Experimental Medicine. This integrative and comprehensive approach to understanding human nutrition through functional components of food, the genetic regulation of nutrients, and metabolic consequences of early nutrition and environmental exposures coupled with her intensive acute medical training led Lea to her current holistic and complimentary approach to nutrition intervention.
To further her understanding of nutrition in health and disease, Lea pursued externships with the most respected physicians in Gastroenterology and Dermatoxicology yielding a deeper understanding of the absorption, assimilation and usage of nutrients through the skin and gastrointestinal tract. To further her understanding of the complex Endocrine system, Lea spent several years studying the impact of nutrition on hormone regulation. She later focused her training on understanding the sensory and emotional aspects of food and studied under the most revered Child Psychiatrist in Pediatric Feeding Disorders.
Lea uses her foundation of knowledge to develop personal nutrition care plans after considering each individual's unique genetic makeup, comprehensive history of nutrition, health, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Lea uses a fun, practical approach to meet each patient's needs with obtainable goals. She subscribes to the motto "it is not what you are eating but what you are not," with a strong focus on food as fuel and medicine. For her work with children, Lea uses games and age appropriate learning tools to empower children to take part in a positive change.
Before starting her private practice, Lea served as the Nutrition Education Coordinator for the University of Texas and as Clinical Nutrition Director for Cedar Springs Austin. She previously held the position of Nutrition Director at Children's Hospital in Richmond, Virginia where she was a founding member of the Pediatric Feeding Program. Prior to returning to her native Texas, Lea was the Clinical Nutrition Manager at Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC. Lea has taught and researched at James Madison University, the Medical College of Virginia, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, University of Virginia University Hospital, and the University of Texas, Austin. She has studied international nutrition and slow food. She is passionate about continuing education as both a student and educator. Lea trains physicians and therapists across the country in the assessment and treatment of ARFID.
Specialties: Infant and Pediatric Nutrition, Pediatric Feeding Disorders, Pediatric Special Needs, Teen and Adolescent Eating Disorders, Prenatal and Maternal Health, Gastrointestinal Illness, Celiac Disease, Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies, Food Allergies, Sensory Food Aversion, Autoimmune disease, Endocrine and Metabolic Illness for all ages including but not limited to Diabetes, PCOS, Thyroid Disease, Insulin Resistance, and Adrenal Disease.