Clinical Nutrition
Not a diet plan. Not a cleanse. Not a shelf of bottles.
Book your first visitBook your first visit online or call (630) 435-0100.
The first visit starts with your history, not a pitch. If a supplement will not help you, I will say so and save you the money.
Clinical nutrition is finding what your body is short of, or overloaded with, and what that is doing to how you feel, then changing the inputs. Fatigue that sleep does not fix. Inflammation that keeps undoing progress. Digestion everyone stopped taking seriously. Lab work that came back fine while you feel anything but.
I am Dr. Justin Hunter, a chiropractor with a postgraduate board credential in clinical nutrition, the DCBCN, and I see patients for this work in downtown Naperville.
The credential, and why it matters here
I am a Diplomate of the Chiropractic Board of Clinical Nutrition: more than 900 hours of coursework beyond the doctorate, then a board examination.
If you have been typing nutritionist in Naperville into Google, here is the one question worth asking anyone you find: what was your training? A weekend certificate and a board diplomate are not the same preparation, and the difference shows up fast, in whether someone can actually read your lab work and your history, or just hands you the plan they hand everyone.
Can a chiropractor help with nutrition?
Fair question. Here is why the two belong in one office: inflammation is a nutritional problem as much as a mechanical one, and I watch it undo good work every week.
A patient responds well to care, feels good, then plateaus. The joints are moving, the muscles are behaving, and the recovery still is not happening. What is left is the environment the tissue is trying to heal in: systemic inflammation, blood sugar that swings all day, a real deficiency in something the body needs to rebuild.
Structure and chemistry are the same system. How your meals, sleep, and stress interact is not a side conversation to the pain work. It is often the reason the pain work stalled.
What people come in for
Fatigue that sleep does not resolve
Chronic inflammation, or pain that keeps returning despite good mechanical care
Digestive problems that have been dismissed as normal
Weight that will not move despite genuine effort
Headaches and migraines with a food, sleep, or blood sugar pattern behind them
Athletes who want to recover faster and stop breaking down mid-season
People who would rather change the inputs than add another prescription
Coverage for nutrition visits varies by plan. Call and I will check yours before you book.
On medications
I do not take anyone off anything. That is a decision between you and the physician who prescribed it, full stop.
What I do is work on the reason a medication became necessary. Sometimes that changes the picture enough that your physician revisits the plan. That is their call to make, and I am happy to be part of that conversation rather than a competing opinion.
If what you need is medical management, I will tell you that directly.
How it works
It starts with a real conversation. What you eat, how you sleep, what your energy does across a day, what your digestion is like, what has changed, what you have already tried. Most of the answer is in there.
If you have recent blood work, bring it. If you do not and it would tell us something useful, I will tell you what to ask for.
From there you get a specific plan: what to change, in what order, and what to expect. Targeted, not a printout. First visits run about an hour.
Ready to find out what your body is actually short of?
The first visit starts with your history, not a pitch. If a supplement will not help you, I will say so and save you the money.
Common Questions
What is a DCBCN?
Diplomate of the Chiropractic Board of Clinical Nutrition. It is the board specialty in clinical nutrition for chiropractic physicians, earned through postgraduate coursework and a board exam, not a certificate course. It is the credential behind everything on this page.
Do I have to be a chiropractic patient to do this?
No. Plenty of people come in for nutrition alone. If something mechanical turns out to be part of the picture I will tell you, but nothing is bundled.
Are you going to sell me supplements?
Only where there is a reason, and I will tell you what the reason is. Most of what changes results is food, timing, sleep, and consistency. Supplements fill specific gaps. They are not the plan.
Will you tell me to stop my medication?
No. That is between you and your prescribing physician. I work on the underlying picture and I am glad to coordinate, but I do not manage anyone's prescriptions.
Do I need blood work first?
Not to start. If you have recent labs, bring them. If we would benefit from something specific, I will tell you exactly what to ask for.
Is this covered by insurance?
Coverage for nutrition visits varies by plan and is not always the same as coverage for chiropractic care. Call (630) 435-0100 before you book and I will check your specific plan. In your insurance directory the practice may be listed as Hunter Family Chiropractic, PC.
Do I need a referral?
No. You can book a first visit directly. If you already have imaging or records, send them ahead or bring them with you. Helpful, but not required.