Meet Gina, Vegetarian Dietitian

With experience in nutrition counselling, sports nutrition, food safety education, gluten-free living, oncology, geriatric nutrition, and family feeding, Gina helps clients build balanced eating habits that fit their lifestyle, preferences, budget, and health needs.

Vegetarian Dietitian

About Gina Monk, RD

Meet Gina – A vegetarian and plant-based Dietitian

Gina brings together her professional background in nutrition, food safety, and education with her lived experience as a mostly plant-based parent, runner, and person with Celiac disease.

Her goal is to make nutrition feel less stressful and more approachable. She loves helping clients simplify complex information, find realistic solutions, and build habits that feel sustainable long term.

Education & Professional Expertise

  • Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology – Dalhousie University
  • Master of Science in Human Nutrition – McGill University
  • Registered Dietetic Credentialing / Graduate Diploma – McGill University
  • NEHA Certified Professional in Food Safety
  • Food Safety Instructor with over 10 years of teaching experience
  • Experience in sports nutrition, oncology, geriatric nutrition, ICU, diabetes care, and food safety education.

Offering Online Consultations in Nova Scotia

  • Licensed to practice as a Registered Dietitian in Nova Scotia
  • Provides insurance receipts for dietitian services
  • Offers virtual nutrition counselling for plant-based, vegetarian, flexitarian, and gluten-free clients
Book a Free Discovery Call or an Initial Assessment

Insights into past and present experience:

Digestion and IBS: As someone with Celiac disease herself, Gina understands how challenging it can be to navigate grocery shopping, label reading, shared kitchens, gluten-free baking, and eating in a way that supports digestive comfort. She also has personal experience with low-acid and anti-inflammatory eating and understands how much digestive symptoms can affect daily life.

Sports Nutrition: Gina spent several years working at the Running Room, where she taught 5K and 10K run clinics and provided nutrition education for runners. She has worked with runners, cyclists, triathletes, and active clients, helping them fuel for training, recovery, and performance. As a runner herself, she understands both the physical needs and the mindset of eating for fuel.

Balanced Plant-Based Eating: Gina helps clients create balanced meals without making nutrition feel rigid or complicated. She understands that people may have different preferences, budgets, schedules, and family dynamics, and she works with clients to find practical ways to meet their needs while still enjoying food.

Pregnancy & Lactation:  Gina’s approach to pregnancy and lactation nutrition is shaped by both professional experience and her own experience through three pregnancies and breastfeeding. She understands how energy, hydration, nutrients, sleep, recovery, and real-life family responsibilities all connect during this stage of life.

Toddler/Child/Adolescent Nutrition: As a parent of three, Gina knows that feeding children can be joyful, messy, unpredictable, and sometimes stressful. She has personal experience with baby-led weaning, picky eating, food jags, family meals, and balancing different preferences at the same table. Her approach is realistic, compassionate, and parent-friendly.

Intuitive Eating: Gina supports a flexible approach to eating that respects hunger, fullness, preferences, and real life. She also understands that some people, including neurodivergent clients, may need more structure to support regular eating patterns. Her goal is not to take foods away, but to give clients tools, choices, and confidence.

Cancer Care & Recovery: Gina’s oncology rotation was one of the most meaningful parts of her training. She enjoyed helping clients manage nutrition-related side effects and feel more prepared during treatment. Her personal experience supporting a loved one through cancer also shaped her compassionate and practical approach to nutrition care.

Healthy Aging & Geriatric Nutrition: Gina has a strong interest in helping older adults maintain strength, independence, nourishment, and quality of life. She is especially interested in supporting healthy aging, aging in place, menopause-related nutrition needs, bone health, and practical meal routines as life changes.

Budget-Friendly Plant-Based Eating: Gina understands the reality of rising grocery prices and feeding a family on a budget. She helps clients make plant-based eating feel accessible by using affordable staples like beans, lentils, tofu, eggs, whole grains, and simple pantry ingredients.

ADHD, Autism & Neurodivergent Nutrition: Gina supports neurodivergent clients with practical strategies for eating consistently, navigating sensory preferences, remembering meals, and building realistic routines. Her approach is flexible, compassionate, and focused on making nutrition feel easier to manage without shame or pressure.

Gina's Story

What inspired Gina to become a Dietitian & Plant based

  • What motivated you to become a dietitian?

    My original career plan was actually to become a medical examiner! I started out thinking I would study microbiology, but after taking biochemistry, I fell in love with learning how the body works. The first time a professor casually connected tocopherol to Vitamin E, my mind was blown.

    Around that same time, my own health pushed me toward nutrition. After experimenting with fasting based on something I had learned in class, I realized something was not quite right, and about a year later, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Back then, gluten-free options were basically limited to one sad frozen loaf of crumbly rice bread, so I had to learn how to cook and bake everything from scratch. Figuring out how to feed myself is what truly led me to nutrition.

    A nutritional biochemistry course sealed the deal, and I went on to complete my Master’s in Human Nutrition at McGill and my dietetic training. I still love thinking about, making, and talking about food, probably a little too much sometimes!

    One of my favourite parts of being a Dietitian has always been helping people feel less stressed about food. When I can explain something in a way that makes it click and takes some of that stress away, that’s a good day.

  • When did you become vegetarian?

    I never had any interest in becoming a vegetarian or a vegan. Then I met my would-be husband in 2016, and he’s a vegetarian (on moral grounds). I swore I would not become a vegetarian because being gluten-free is hard enough! Fast-forward 10 years: 3 kids, and 90% of our diet is vegetarian!

  • Why are you vegetarian?

    Truthfully, it’s just easier to make one dinner everyone can eat. I am the primary chef at home, and while I occasionally get myself some chicken, or serve fish for my bougie son and I, most of our dinners at home are centred around either Beyond Meat, tofu, eggs and/or beans as the protein. I love to cook and experiment with food, so I have learned lots of tricks over the years for making tofu delicious and incorporating beans into almost anything. The kids don’t know any different, and they will eat tofu as readily as chicken drumsticks.

    And if my husband were NOT a vegetarian, we would likely still eat this way right now, because groceries are beyond expensive. Tofu and beans are very cheap, filling, and healthy. With the right techniques and recipes, they’re just as good, if not better than, any meat. I know a lot of parents in the same boat right now, going to the store to see a regular, modestly sized roast costing $40… when it used to be a weekend dinner staple. Plant-based is just more cost-effective!

  • How would your clients describe your approach?

    Personable, relatable, educational and solution-driven. If I see a problem, I’m going to want to find the answer. So if there’s something I don’t know, I can’t leave it at that. I’m going to do the research, find the evidence-based approach if there is one, and share what I learned. And if I can’t, I will ask for help!

  • Publications and Collaborations

    My work in the past 12 years has been centred around food safety and education. As a health inspector, I not only pointed out what was wrong/unsanitary/not up to code, but also explained the science behind it. That always went over better with customers than just telling them what was wrong. When I teach food handling classes, I explain the rules and the reason for the rules, in a way that most people can understand. 

    I took this same approach when I wrote and self-published a book (“Digestible Nutrition”) back in 2015 or so, explaining how the body works/uses food, where it all goes, why fiber is important, why hydration matters, etc. I think I only sold 8 copies, but those were 8 very positive reviews! 

vegetarian-nutrition-gina
vegetarian-nutrition-gina
Gina's Story

What inspired Gina to become a Dietitian & Plant based

Motivation to become a Dietitian:

I find the dietitian profession to be very creative. There are guidelines and at the same time there is room for creativity and I am a creative person at heart. I try my very best to work with my clients to make dietary changes as part of their lifestyle rather than handing them a cookie cutter diet. This has worked very well for me and my patients.

Motivation to become a Plant-Based:

I grew up in New Delhi, India. Vegetables, beans, lentils and natural foods were a part of our daily eating. Eating chicken used to be a weekly thing. So following a vegetarian/plant-based diet is embedded within me. Recently my husband turned vegetarian so we cook a lot of vegetables, lentils, beans, and whole grains on a daily basis.

Book a Free Discovery Call or an Initial Assessment

Money-Back Guarantee

  • We prioritize your satisfaction.
  • Not fully satisfied with your first session? Get a 100% refund.
  • No risk, no worries—your trust is our priority.
  • We’re here to help you achieve your health goals with confidence.

Helped hundreds vegan, plant-based, vegetarian, and flexitarian clients!

Plant-based nutrition consultations

Gina's Areas of Expertise

plant based meal plan

Meal Plans

A plant-based dietitian/nutritionist can offer a customized vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based plan based on your preferences and goals.

Read More
vegan diet

Balanced Vegan Diet

A plant-based dietitian/nutritionist can assess your vegan diet and provide you with tailored recommendations.

Read More
vegetarian nutrition

Balanced Vegetarian Diet

Learn how to balance your vegetarian diet and feel better with the help of a vegetarian nutritionist.

Read More
plant based weight loss

Weight Loss

Get a personalized vegan weight loss program and recommendations that will get you the best results!

Read More
child vegan nutrition

Baby/Toddler/Child/Adolescent

Want to make sure your child gets everything they need? A plant-based nutritionist can help you along the way.

Read More
IBS vegan lowfodmap

IBS & Low FODMAP

Get a dietitian to create a vegan IBS meal plan. Get rid of your digestive issues and improve your quality of life!

Read More
vegan sports nutrition

Sports Nutrition

Get a plant-based dietitian to create a customized vegetarian or vegan sports nutrition plan for you!

Read More
vegan intuitive eating

Intuitive Eating

Improve your relationship with food and find food freedom by applying the principles of intuitive eating in your life.

Read More
vegan pregnancy

Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Get a personalized plant-based pregnancy & lactation meal plan & program from a Registered Dietitian

Read More
plant based vegan anti inflammatory

Anti-Inflammatory

Reduce inflammation in your body with the help of a well balanced plant-based diet!

Read More
plant based vegan

Plant-Based Bodybuilding

Get a plant-based dietitian to create a customized vegetarian or vegan bodybuilding plan for you.

Read More
plant based vegan diabetes

Diabetes

Get support with your plant-based diet to manage diabetes and feel your best!

Read More
plant based vegan PCOS

PCOS

Get a personalized plant-based PCOS meal plan & program from a Registered Dietitian

Read More
plant based digestive issues

Digestive Issues

Get a plant-based dietitian to create a customized vegetarian or vegan meal plan for you that addresses your digestive issues!

Read More
plant based inflammatory conditions

Inflammatory conditions

Consult a plant-based dietitian to develop a customized vegetarian or vegan nutrition plan tailored for inflammatory conditions

Read More
plant based menopause

Menopause

Seek a plant-based dietitian’s help for managing all phases and challenges of menopause

Read More
plant based weight gain

Weight Gain

Get a plant-based dietitian to create a customized vegetarian or vegan weight gain plan for you!

Read More
whole food plant based diet

Balanced whole food plant based

A whole food plant-based dietitian/nutritionist can evaluate your whole food plant-based diet and offer you customized advice.

Read More
plant based menopause

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency

Seek a plant-based dietitian’s help for preventing and correcting vitamin and mineral deficiency.

Read More
plant based high blood pressure

High Blood Pressure

Consult a plant-based dietitian for assistance in handling all stages and complexities of high blood pressure management

Read More
Book an Online Consultation Based on Your Needs

Initial Prices

Initial Assessment (1 h)

$120-150

  • $150 for a 1-hour session (no package)
  • Discounted to as low as $120 (with package)
  • Setting expectations & goals
  • Analysis of your medical history (required)
  • Analysis of intake
  • Building a strategy
  • Practical tips, recommendations & recipes
  • Answering any questions
  • Personalized meal plan or menu
Book Now

Initial Assessment + Meal Plan (2 hrs)

$240-300

  • $300 for a 2-hour session (no package)
  • Discounted to as low as $240 (with package)
  • Setting expectations & goals
  • Analysis of your medical history (required)
  • Analysis of intake
  • Building a strategy
  • Practical tips, recommendations & recipes
  • Answering any questions
  • Personalized meal plan or menu
Book Now

Packages (2 hrs+)

$300+

  • Customizable packages
  • Package can be determined in the initial assessment
  • Hours and half-hours available
  • 5% discount on 4 sessions
  • 10% discount on 8 sessions
  • 15% discount on 12 sessions
  • 20% discount on 16 sessions
Check Out Packages
FAQ with Gina

Frequently asked questions

  • What is your registration number as an Registered Dietitian?

    License to practice in Nova Scotia: #1269

  • Do you give meals plans?

    Yes, we create personalized meal plans with you using the That Clean Life and Nutrium apps. You will receive your meal right after the session. We ask that you do an initial assessment before creating the meal plan, this is necessary as we are dietitians and need to ensure that we know your goals, medical history, current intake, and preferences before making any recommendations.

  • What is your cancellation policy?

    Cancellation Policy

    We understand that circumstances may arise that require you to cancel or reschedule your session, and we aim to provide a transparent cancellation policy. Please review the following guidelines:

    Cancellation Notice:

      • We kindly request that clients provide a minimum of 24 hours’ notice before the scheduled session if they need to cancel or reschedule.

     

    Cancellation Fees:

      • If a client cancels a session with less than 24 hours’ notice or fails to attend a scheduled session without prior notice, a cancellation fee of 100% of the session fee will be charged. This fee is necessary because we are often unable to fill the vacant spot on short notice, resulting in lost opportunities for others.

     

    Reminder Notifications:

      • To help you remember your upcoming sessions, we provide text and email reminders prior to your meeting. These notifications serve as a helpful reminder and offer a convenient way to confirm, cancel, or reschedule your appointment.

     

    Cancellation and Rescheduling:

      • Clients have the option to manage their appointments through their client portal. This allows for easy cancellation or rescheduling of sessions at your convenience. We encourage you to use this feature if your plans change.

     

    Our goal is to provide quality service to all our clients while respecting everyone’s time. By adhering to this cancellation policy, you help us maintain a fair and efficient scheduling system. If you have any questions or require further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

  • Do I have to pay when booking a consultation?

    No, your Credit Card information will be required to book a consultation, however, you will not be charged until the end of your session or in the case of a late cancellation.

  • Are all the sessions online?

    Yes. Sessions usually take place on Zoom, and if you prefer, we can do it over the phone. We use the excellent Practice Better software for scheduling, communication, and invoicing. Once you start with us, you will have access to your Practice Better client portal and a zoom link will be created for your sessions.

  • How do I know if my insurance covers your services?

    You should check with your insurance company to see if dietitian and/or nutritionist services are covered.

  • Can you provide insurance receipts?

    Yes, I will provide you with an insurance receipt at the end of every session.

  • Can you do in person sessions in Ottawa?

    I only do Zoom sessions at this time.

  • What are your availabilities?

    To check my most recent availability, please click the direct booking link.

© All Rights Reserved, Plant-Based Dietitians 2026