The Consumer Health Institute (CHI)

Bridging the gap between having health information and knowing what to do with it.

The Consumer Health Institute (CHI) was created to solve the "Last Mile" of healthcare: the space between the clinic door and everyday living. In an era of fragmented care and information overload, the challenge isn't access to information; it is the lack of Decision Architecture. Decision Architecture consists of the systems that help people evaluate, prioritize, and implement complex health guidance in day-to-day conditions.

CHI exists to provide what is often missing: translation, prioritization, and real-world implementation. We don't believe in relying on willpower; we believe in building structure. Our work is grounded in the belief that sustainable health happens only when science, strategy, and the human story are aligned.

A warm, inviting illustration of a calm figure thoughtfully considering different paths, set against a soothing teal and deep navy palette.

Who is CHI for?

CHI works with individuals navigating complex health decisions: whether they are managing a diagnosis, a life transition, performance goals, or simply trying to make sense of competing guidance.

Our Goal: Capability, Not Dependency

Our success is not measured by how often you need us, but by how well you can navigate your health without us. We aim to equip you with the clarity, confidence, and behavioral framework to manage your well-being independently, through every life transition.

Our Work is Delivered through Two Strategic Pathways

Decision Labs

Our signature decision framework designed to clear the “muck” of complex health choices.

What to expect from a Decision Lab

Guided Pre-Work: A decision-mapping module to clarify what you’re deciding and why.
Expert Review & Synthesis to identify patterns, competing priorities, and areas where decisions may be unclear or overlapping.
Focused Decision Session to refine your decision, narrow focus, and determine direction that fits your current situation.
Personalized Decision Report: A written decision summary you can reference later.
Optional Care Team Report: A structured summary you can share with your healthcare providers.

This process helps you move from uncertainty to a clear, prioritized decision. Decision Labs can be applied across health domains (e.g., lifestyle changes, health products, supplements, testing, or treatment decisions). Refer to our FAQ for examples of decisions we can support (the list is not all-inclusive).

Health Strategy Sessions

In-depth, domain-specific guidance that integrates preventive nutrition counseling/Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) and Lifestyle Architecture. These sessions are designed for those seeking to build long-term health infrastructure and sustainable habits.

Focus Areas & Clinical Expertise: While our strategic framework can be applied to any health challenge, we specialize in building infrastructure within these core domains:

Weight Management & GLP-1 Support: Strategic implementation for those utilizing weight loss medications or seeking sustainable metabolic health.
Menopause & Healthy Aging: Navigating the physiological shifts of midlife with science-backed nutrition and lifestyle adjustments.
Sports & Endurance Nutrition: Fueling strategies for recreational and endurance athletes seeking to optimize training, recovery, and performance.
Relationship with Food: Navigating restrictive dieting, cycles of overeating, food-related stress, and challenges establishing consistent and balanced eating habits.
Eating Patterns: Sustainable dietary patterns for long-term health and personal preferences, including vegetarian or plant-forward approaches and dietary strategies for cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Lifestyle Architecture: Integrated design of sleep, stress, movement, nutrition, and environmental systems—grounded in lifestyle medicine science and focused on real-world implementation.
Nutrigenomics: Using personalized genetic data to inform precise nutrition and lifestyle choices.

Decision Lab Scope Clarification: Decision Labs are for decision support only, rather than diagnosis or treatment. These sessions are designed to help you identify options, clarify priorities, and surface considerations you may not have seen. The goal is to help you organize your thinking, values, and tradeoffs so you can make an informed decision and have more effective conversations with your healthcare providers.

Our Work is Delivered through Two Strategic Pathways

Decision Labs

Our signature decision framework designed to clear the “muck” of complex health choices.

What to expect from a Decision Lab

Guided Pre-Work: A decision-mapping module to clarify what you’re deciding and why.
Expert Review & Synthesis to identify patterns, competing priorities, and areas where decisions may be unclear or overlapping.
Focused Decision Session to refine your decision, narrow focus, and determine direction that fits your current situation.
Personalized Decision Report: A written decision summary you can reference later.
Optional Care Team Report: A structured summary you can share with your healthcare providers.

These sessions help you move from uncertainty to a clear, prioritized decision. Decision Labs can be applied across health domains (e.g., lifestyle changes, health products, supplements, testing, or treatment decisions). Refer to our FAQ for examples of decisions we can support (the list is not all-inclusive).

Health Strategy Sessions

Focus Areas & Clinical Expertise: While our strategic framework can be applied to any health challenge, we specialize in building infrastructure within these core domains: Weight Management & GLP-1 Support, Menopause & Healthy Aging, Sports & Endurance Nutrition, Relationship with Food, Eating Patterns, including plant-forward and cardiovascular health approaches, Lifestyle Architecture, and Nutrigenomics.

Meet the Founder

Christine Lauer, DHSc, MBA, RDN, ACE-CHC

Dr. Christine Lauer, a Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) and Licensed Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, serves as a translator between the silos of healthcare and the realities of daily life, working with both individuals and organizations to bridge the gap between the clinic door and the human experience.

With over three decades of experience spanning clinical nutrition, digital health, and healthcare IT, she excels at cutting through the "noise" of fragmented care and modern information overload. Christine understands that even the most scientifically sound health plan fails if it doesn't account for a person's real capacity. That includes the energy, focus, and bandwidth available on any given day. As a health strategist and lifestyle architect, she helps you identify priorities, with particular attention to sleep, stress, and environmental factors that shape how you actually live and thrive.

Christine's doctoral research examined the patient-provider relationship within our fragmented healthcare system. Her work highlighted a growing modern challenge: while we have more data and testing at our fingertips than ever before, we are often left unsupported in translating that information into action. This professional insight is paired with lived experience; having navigated complex health issues across multiple specialists herself, she understands firsthand how disorienting the system can feel.

Outside of her professional work, Christine is a lifelong endurance athlete who has competed in everything from triathlons to ultramarathons. Her philosophy is simple: How do you run 100 miles? One step at a time. She applies this same mindset to health strategy, breaking complex challenges into realistic pathways people can actually live.

Health Scientist & Strategist

Nutrition Therapy & Lifestyle Architecture