At Southwest Dietitian Group, we believe nutrition care should feel supportive, personalized, and sustainable — not overwhelming, rigid, or one-size-fits-all.
We provide evidence-based medical nutrition therapy for people navigating a wide range of health concerns, with care that adapts as life changes.
Our role is not to tell you what to do.
Our role is to help you understand what makes sense for you — and support you along the way.
Thoughtful nutrition care — grounded in real life
Welcome to sdg!
We focus on:
+ Sustainable change over quick fixes
+ Clarity over confusion
+ Guidance over pressure
+ Progress over perfection
Care is always guided, flexible, and grounded in clinical best practices.
Health is not linear. Progress isn’t either.
Our approach
Featured In
2026
That’s why SDG offers a layered ecosystem of care, starting with personalized 1:1 nutrition visits and expanding — when helpful — into optional community support, ongoing guidance, focused programs, or specialized services.
You don’t need to choose everything upfront.
We’ll help guide you to the right level of support, at the right time.
We know that support needs change over time.
A layered care model — designed to evolve with you
connection
foundation
focus
precision
Personalized 1:1 Nutrition Care (Insurance-Based)
Optional Community Support & Resources
Short-Term Programs for Specific Goals
Specialized & Medical Nutrition Support
Click on each to view bio
OUR TEAM
MEET THE PEOPLE
Southwest Dietitian Group is a collaborative healthcare practice made up of registered dietitians and licensed professionals who work together to support your care. Your primary nutrition care is provided by a Registered Dietitian (RD) — a credentialed healthcare professional with a minimum of a master’s degree, extensive supervised clinical training, and successful completion of national board examinations. Registered Dietitians are not the same as “nutritionists”; the RD credential reflects regulated education, clinical expertise, and accountability to evidence-based standards.
While you’ll work closely with one primary dietitian, your care is supported by a team-based model. This includes an office manager who supports scheduling and insurance coordination, a billing team for insurance-related questions, and a naturopathic medical doctor who provides specialized hormone balancing, gut health, and low-dose GLP-1 weight loss care when appropriate. Our dietitians regularly collaborate through internal clinical rounds to ensure care is thoughtful, current, and well supported.
This collaborative approach allows us to offer depth, perspective, and consistency without losing personalization. You benefit from both a trusted primary provider and the collective expertise of the SDG team — ensuring your care is grounded, coordinated, and never based on generic or unqualified advice.
Taylor
Val
Maya
Josie
Crystal
Dr. Reker
Amanda
Maya is the owner of the Southwest Dietitian Group and a 18-year registered dietitian, specializing in weight loss and hormone balancing, and a beacon of resilience and transformation. Raised in a Lebanese household where food symbolized love, she battled weight and health issues from an early age. Maya’s own journey took her from a stressful adolescence and retail management to undernourishment and the onset of unhealthy habits, before finding the right path through education and a relentless desire for change.
Her personal struggle with trauma and CPTSD deeply informs her practice. Maya has dedicated her life to mastering the science of neuroplasticity, habit change, and the powerful influence of mindset on health. She transformed herself by embracing her past and learning how to feel, thus finding her passion in helping others achieve sustainable weight loss and emotional balance. Maya's unique blend of formal education and lived experiences make her a compassionate and insightful guide for women on similar paths, emphasizing not just what to eat, but how to think and feel in the process.
owner & registered dietitian Nutritionist
Maya Nahra, RDN, LDN
Specialties
Weight Loss & Behavior Change
CLIENT AGES
18+
What Do You Like Most About Being A Dietitian?
The impact. I love the heart of humans. I love nurturting them and watching the best possible version of them emerge.
Snacks You Always Have In Your Kitchen
Olives, Dark Chocolate Bars, Cheese, Popcorn
My Clients Would Describe Me As
Just real.
Work with Maya
Maya is not currently accepting new patients; however, as a patient of SDG, you will have the opportunity to receive higher-level behavioral support through classes, accountability pods, and so much more.
Valerie Turner
office manager
Hello, I am Valerie, but I mostly go by Val. I’m the office manager here at Southwest Dietitian Group. For the past 8 years, I’ve been a Client Relations Manager with a small financial firm. I look forward to providing excellent customer service to our clients here at SDG. My goal is to make this process as easy as possible for you. I’ve had quite a health journey myself and the right foods have been the best medicine for me. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have and help you with any scheduling needs so that in turn you can attain your health goals. When you are ready to move forward, I’ll be here to get you started!
Josie Showalter MS, RDN, LDN
registered & LICENSED dietitian Nutritionist
Josie is a registered dietitian with an educational background in Sports Nutrition and a passion for helping people of all backgrounds build a healthier, more joyful relationship with food and movement. Rooted in her own experiences with disordered eating, restriction, and exercise addiction, Josie understands firsthand how confusing and overwhelming it can feel to navigate health in a culture full of mixed messages. Her personal journey led her to unlearn harmful food and fitness rules and redefine what health and balance truly mean—and now she helps others do the same.
With experience working alongside Division I athletes at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Josie brings a strong foundation in performance nutrition, but her scope of practice extends beyond the world of sports. Whether you’re a competitive athlete, a recreational mover, or simply someone trying to feel better in your body, Josie is here to meet you where you are. Working with Josie means celebrating all foods and cultures with an approach that is inclusive, compassionate, and personalized—focused on helping clients find sustainable ways of nourishing themselves that support both mental and physical wellbeing.
Specialties
What Do You Like Most About Being A Dietitian?
Snacks You Always Have In Your Kitchen
I’m Especially Passionate About Working With
client ages
states I'm licensed to see patients
my patients would describe me as
Performance Nutrition & Exercise Science; Healing Your Relationship with Food, Blood Sugar Management
Helping people de-construct negative food thoughts & find sustainable, health-benefiting food freedom! I want people to find the joy in food that I do!
So many! …. Favorites include pickles, cottage cheese, nuts, pears, Hippeas, Yasso bars
People who were previously athletes & need help taking control of their diet and exercise routine post-athletic career. OR those who are exercise-curious…. You gotta find movement that brings you joy, and I’m here to help!
10+
Empathetic & An Open Book!
Arizona, Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, Illinois
Crystal is the owner of ICD Everything, a company that specializes in medical billing, coding, and auditing for medical health professionals' practices. Their entire mission is to alleviate the stress of billing so providers can focus on what matters most — patient care.
And if I’m being honest with you… insurance is hard.
It is complicated, inconsistent, and often frustrating.
We continue to accept insurance because our goal is to keep as many of your visits as possible at $0 out-of-pocket — or as low as possible. That has always been deeply important to me.
My only mistake? Not bringing Crystal on sooner.
Crystal has been fighting to get your claims paid in a way I simply couldn’t on my own. With her years of experience as a medical billing specialist, she has connections and systems that give us leverage with insurance companies that we did not have before.
If you have:
• Questions about a claim
• A statement that doesn’t make sense
• Concerns about insurance processing
• Payment or billing confusion
Please reach out to Crystal directly. She is here to help you.
CONTACT: Crystal Brooks
📞 Phone: 602-661-6631
📠 Fax: 480-907-1977
📧 cbrooks@icdeverything.com
Thank you for trusting us — not just with your health, but with the complexity of navigating insurance. We are always working to improve your experience behind the scenes. -Maya (owner/dietitian)
medical billing specialist
Crystal Brooks
Dr. Reker has always had a passion for her own health, and for the healthcare field in general. After 20 years of working in the chemical and environmental engineering field, she decided to switch career paths to become a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor. She uses the principles of naturopathic medicine to help identify and treat the root cause of health conditions, to help restore innate health and wellness. She is focused on a holistic approach to improving health, quality of life, and longevity, while minimizing and eliminating pharmaceutical medications in favor of optimizing nutrition and adding specific nutrients, bioidentical hormones, and dietary changes, to help improve overall health, hormone balance, digestion, sleep, mood, chronic health issues, and autoimmune conditions.
Outside of the office, she is an avid mountain biker and outdoor enthusiast.
naturopathic medical doctor
Dr Mary Reker, NMD
Taylor Kennedy, MPH, RDN, LDN
registered dietitian Nutritionist
I’m Taylor, a registered dietitian who loves food and believes all foods can be a part of a healthy diet. My path to becoming a dietitian was a windy road where I worked in finance for a few years before deciding to make a drastic change and follow my passion for nutrition. I have a Master’s degree in Public Health with a focus in nutrition from Northern Arizona University. Here, I learned how to meet people where they’re at and find unique ways to help people sustain a healthy lifestyle. I’ve had extensive training in motivational interviewing, which has prepared me for helping people make lifelong changes that have a significant impact on their health.
I’ve struggled with dieting and an unhealthy relationship with food in the past, but once I understood the role that nutrition has in our bodies, I was motivated to break the dieting cycle and make permanent changes. I’ve experienced how the wonders of healthy eating have influenced my own health, both physically and mentally, and I want to help others feel the same. If you choose to work with me, I’ll never ask you to give up your favorite foods or follow an extremely restrictive diet. We can work together to come up with a plan that works best for you and helps you feel good in your body.
Amanda Paltzer, MS, RDN
registered dietitian Nutritionist
Amanda is a registered dietitian with over 20 years of experience in public health nutrition, fitness, and health coaching. She has lived in two countries—the United States and Zambia—and across five U.S. states, including Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, and Arizona. These experiences have shaped her understanding of how environment and social context influence health, as well as the importance of balancing flexibility and discipline when making lasting change. Rooted in her faith and a belief in God-given value and worth, Amanda approaches nutrition with the conviction that every person has the capacity for health—physically, mentally, and spiritually. She is passionate about encouraging and equipping others to reach their full health potential.
Amanda’s path to nutrition is deeply personal. As a teenager, she struggled with body image and self-worth, which led to restrictive behaviors around food and exercise. During her journey back to health, she worked with a dietitian who helped her feel truly seen and valued, and who taught her how to care for her body rather than harm it. Inspired by this experience, Amanda chose to pursue a career in nutrition to help others break free from disordered eating and distorted body image, and to cultivate value-driven, joy-filled relationships with food and their bodies.
Amanda earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota and her Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is also a certified health and wellness coach.
An active person by nature, Amanda enjoys movement in many forms. She is an avid, all-season runner on both pavement and trail and enjoys hiking, backpacking, HIIT, weight lifting, and dancing. Outside of her professional work, Amanda loves spending time with her husband and two children, cooking, traveling, singing and playing music, exploring nature, and celebrating the life she has been given.
Specialties
Lifestyle nutrition, intuitive eating, mindfulness, restoring healthy body image and food relationships
13+
client ages
states I'm licensed to see patients
my patients would describe me as
What Do You Like Most About Being A Dietitian?
Snacks You Always Have In Your Kitchen
I’m Especially Passionate About Working With
Arizona, California, Michigan, Colorado, & Virginia
Calm, encouraging, curious, supportive
I like partnering with people to move toward joy and dignity in their relationships with food and their bodies.
I always have plain and vanilla Greek yogurt, fruit, homemade granola and almonds.
I'm passionate about guiding people to find movement that is enjoyable and feels good, managing stress and practicing mindfulness, and prioritizing healthy practices as sustainable for life.
how to get in touch
We are licensed to see patients in the following states:
Arizona, Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, Illinois
telehealth
GILBERT, ARIZONA
428 S. Gilbert Rd., Ste 106-2
Gilbert, AZ 85296
office location
Office location
PORTLAND, OREGON
2175 NW Raleigh St., Ste 110 Portland, OR, 97210
Contact & Locations
Southwest Dietitian Group provides nutrition care through a combination of in-person clinics and secure telehealth, allowing us to support clients across the country.
For questions about getting started, scheduling, or insurance:
Phone/Text: (602) 218-5278
Fax: (844) 218-4691
Phone Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00am–5:30pm AZ/MST (Closed daily from 1:00–2:30pm)
Patient Hours: We see patients Monday through Saturday inclusive of evening hours.
For clinical questions, plan updates, or communication with your dietitian, please use the secure patient portal once established as a client.
You don’t need a perfect plan — just take the next right step.
