Why You Need A Dietitian In Your Life

March 20th 2023   By Carin Clegg, APD

Keeping your diet in check with a Dietitian and getting tailored advice is the best thing you can do to look after yourself and feel great! 

We eat multiple times a day, every day of our lives, so the foods we eat have a huge effect on our we feel and how our bodies function or in other words, our mental and physical health.

Healthy eating is a big juggling and balancing act

Many people think that healthy eating should be easy, but in reality, healthy eating is not easy.

Eating is the most complex task we do daily.   There are so many factors that influence what we eat, such as

• Food likes and dislikes  
• Hunger and satiety regulation
• Nutrients, hormones
• Food knowledge: new science vs myths
• Our relationship with food
• Our mood and mindfulness
• Social and cultural influences
• Various skills such as meal planning, organisation, time management, cooking, shopping and gardening skills
• Our health, age and stage of life requiring different nutrients

So, getting a bit of help along the way is highly recommended.

However, nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Working with a Dietitian is not just a once-off visit. It involves investing time and energy outside appointments and commitment to attend review appointments for reassessment, education, motivation and support over months to possibly years to see results you desire. Nutrition consults often get more spaced out over time, initially 2 weekly, then monthly, 2-3 monthly, then 6 monthly.

Most people think they know what they need to do. But, putting it into practise is where they need help, which is exactly what Dietitians are trained to help with.  So, if you feel you need help with changing your eating habits, that is the perfect time to ask for it.
 

We also understand that addressing your eating habits can be an emotional journey, so please remember we are here to support you, not judge you, and will work with you as much or as little as you need.

What Nutrition Consults Involve

An initial consult involves a nutrition assessment, receiving evidence-based nutrition advice and goal setting to help you put dietary changes into practice. 

Review consults assess your progress give you further support, motivation and education about how to make changes to your diet to help you reach your health and lifestyle goals.

Accredited Practising Dietitians practice medical nutrition therapy for a range of health conditions, which means that managing these conditions with dietary consultation is what the evidence says is the best management method either solely or in conjunction with other therapies.

Dietitians can help with managing:

• Cardiovascular health: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, reducing risk of stroke, heart attack
• Diabetes including gestational diabetes, insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance
• Over-eating, comfort eating, sugar cravings
• Malnutrition, reduced food intake, poor appetite, nutrition deficiencies
• Gut health conditions: reflux, constipation, diarrhoea, diverticular disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
• Food allergies and intolerances
• Coeliac Disease
• Liver health and kidney disease
• Cancer including assisting with side effects of treatment such as nausea, poor appetite, taste changes
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
• Osteoporosis
• Fussy eating and restricted diets
• Texture modified diets
• Nutrition during pregnancy and  breastfeeding
• Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition

Consultation topics most often include:

• healthy eating, foods and nutrients to meet your nutrition needs
• learning how food affects your health condition and what is best to eat
• portion sizes and portion control
• label reading of food products
• hunger and satiety management
• tackling emotional or comfort eating and sugar cravings
• meal planning
• successful goal setting and action planning

Keeping your diet in check is much easier, more enjoyable, rewarding, life-enhancing, as well as more time and cost-effective in the long term than managing chronic diseases such as heart disease or diabetes, which involve attending specialist appointments (cardiologists etc) and taking medications. In fact, early dietary management will greatly minimise disease progression and the need for more medications if already diagnosed.

Whether it is beating your personal best in your sport, staying active and social, keeping strong and independent as you age, running after your grandchildren or managing your health conditions. You can make it happen and feel happy, healthy and vibrant with the right support.

Be clever about your eating and book your nutrition appointment today.