Irina G Strogach is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Family Clinical Dietitian and Master of Nutrition Science (MS, RD, CDN). With about 30 years of experience since 1996, she has worked in hospital settings, maintained a private practice, and conducted lectures, seminars, and training sessions.
Irina is dedicated to helping individuals and families achieve optimal health through personalized, science-based nutrition strategies.
Irina’s main interest and specialties:
- Nutrition Psychology
- Gastrointestinal Problems
- Diabetes Management
- Metabolic Syndrome
- Healthy Eating for All Ages
Current Roles:
- Administrative Dietitian in Pediatric Gastroenterology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM)
- Private Practice (online). Nutrition for individuals with gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, weight management, pediatric diet and more
- “T.O.P. Smart Nutrition” Online School. Courses and training programs
Teaching Experience:
- Adjunct Professor, Brooklyn College. Teaching Fundamentals of Nutrition and Human Nutrition (Pre-Med)
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Nutrition courses for dietetic interns
- Bar-Ilan University. Nutrition courses for nursing students
Publications & Media Appearances:
- Published in the U.S. edition of Health magazine, Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, and other medical journals
- Featured in radio and television interviews on nutrition and health topics
Previous Work in the U.S. 2003-2009:
- Staten Island University Hospital. Clinical Nutrition Manager
- Sunrise Adult Day Health Care Center. Nutritionist. Weight management and diabetes in senior patients
- Brooklyn College, Park Shore Nursing Home, Maimonides Kids Weight Down Program, Lakeside & Sunrise ADHCCs. Dietetic Internship
- WIC Program. Breastfeeding peer support and nutrition counseling
Previous Work in Israel 1996–2003:
- Private Practice. Groups, trainings, and lectures on weight management and diabetes in Northern Israel
- World Health Organization (WHO). Training programs for Eastern European physicians on breastfeeding management
- Department of Health. Regional Dietitian
- Clalit Health Services. Nutritionist outpatient clinic: diabetes, obesity, and gastrointestinal disorders
- Rivka Ziv Hospital. Pediatric and surgical nutrition specialist
- Assaf Harofeh Medical Center. Dietetic internship
Irina brings a wealth of experience from clinical, academic, and public health settings, combining evidence-based nutrition with a personalized approach to health and wellness.
| 1992-1996 |  | Hebrew University, School of Nutrition Major in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetic – BS/MBA |
| 1997-1998 |  | Tel-Aviv University, School of Social Work Certificate in Group Therapy for Dietitians |
| 1997 |  | Israeli Department of Health. Certificate Program in Nutritional Epidemiology |
| 1997 |  | WHO and UNISEF Counseling in Breastfeeding Training Course for International Educators – Diploma |
| 1998-1999 |  | Israeli Dietetic Association. Certificate Program in Pediatric Nutrition |
| 2006-2008 |  | Brooklyn College. Major in Health and Nutrition – Master in Science |
| 2016 |  | Monaсh University. Motivational interview. Certificate. |
| 2016-2017 |  | FGBNU “IIDSVA RAO”, Russia Specialization: Applied Behavior Analysis in Educational Practice |
| 2014, 2019 | | Monash University. Dietary management of functional bowel disorders. Certificate. |
| 2019 |  | Modylife program. Nutrition modifications for managing Crohn’s disease. Certificate. |
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Irina’s extensive education and specialized training allow her to apply evidence-based nutrition strategies tailored to a wide range of health conditions.
I was always a big child. I remember in second grade when representatives from a dance studio visited our school to recruit students for a well-known children’s dance ensemble. They didn’t even glance at me. But I desperately wanted to dance. I told my teacher I urgently needed to use the restroom, ran out of class, and caught up with them.
“Please, let me dance,” I pleaded.
A man bent down, grabbed me under my arms, and with a loud grunt, tried to lift me. He couldn’t. A woman beside him looked at me with pity and said, “You see for yourself, you’re too heavy. Kids like you don’t dance.”
They walked away. And so did I—to my friend’s house. Thankfully, it was the last lesson of the day. I spent hours riding the elevator in her building, going up and down. The sign inside said it could carry a lot of weight. My poor parents! I still remember my mother’s panic—there were no cell phones back then, and no one knew where to look for me.
Time passed. Fast forward to sixth grade. The entire class was being weighed and measured—out loud. Out loud! My weight was announced: 66 kg (145 lbs). At a height of 152 cm (5’0”), that was a lot. One of the heaviest girls in class. I was mortified. Even for an adult, that weight would have been high at that height, but I was just 11 years old.
And all the stereotypes followed: If you’re fat, you must be lazy, weak-willed…
Today, I understand why it happened. I know it wasn’t my fault or even my responsibility. I know how it could have been addressed differently. But back then, I hated my weight.
I woke up at 6 AM, rain or shine, to go jogging with my friends, something I now realize wasn’t necessary. Worse, I tried different diets. Never for long. I could never stick to them. That feeling when you know you shouldn’t eat that candy, but the craving is louder, impossible to resist, always ended my diets in failure.
I convinced myself I was hopeless, weak-willed, a lost cause. Sometimes I lost a little weight. More often, I gained. I was hospitalized with high sugar at my 14 year old. Later, I started smoking. Then I quit smoking—and of course, gained even more. I was too self-conscious to dance, to move in front of others, always feeling like a bull in a china shop.
By the time I started university, I had reached my highest weight: 94 kg (207 lbs).
And I gave up. No more dieting. I wasn’t going to torture myself anymore. Every diet ended with me gaining more than before.
Then Fate Intervened
I enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study Clinical Nutrition.
By accident.
I had planned my whole life to be a programmer.
The first year was boring: organic chemistry, histology, statistics, economics. I seriously considered quitting. But in the second semester, I took a class in developmental psychology (Piaget, Freud, Berne, Karpman, and other classics), and suddenly, everything clicked.
I started understanding why I ate when I was sad or bored, what childhood experiences had shaped my relationship with food, and how my own mind worked.
In my second year, we started learning nutrition science, physiology, pathology of diseases, metabolism, and specialized psychology. Some of what I learned helped me solve my own struggles. Other insights stayed in the back of my mind, waiting for the right moment to surface.
I was fascinated.
I experimented on myself constantly:
Do smokers have lower vitamin C levels? I took vitamin C, had my blood tested, then smoked and tested again. The answer? Yes.
If you chew bread longer, does it taste sweet? I chewed and chewed—and yes, the starch broke down into sugars right in my mouth.
Does eating too much protein raise body temperature? I boiled 20 eggs, ate only the whites, and—surprise!—ended up at the doctor’s office with a fever.
Then one day, I noticed my jeans were falling off.
I had lost 20 kg (44 lbs).
Not from dieting. Not from restriction.
Simply because my approach to food had completely changed.
Turning Knowledge into Action
That was just the beginning.
I systematized everything—my studies in nutrition and psychology, my personal experience and I created a highly successful group program for people who wanted to change their eating habits—not just go on another diet.
I ran that program for years from 1998, and updated it constantly with the new research coming.
Finally, in 2020, when the pandemic changed everything, I brought the program online—where it continues to help people transform their relationship with food to this day.