Dietary counselling facts

Dietary counseling is intended to encourage the person to modify his or her individual eating habits for many reasons. It may also be an important part when it comes to preventing or treating hyperlipidimia, diabetes, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and many other nutrition related illnesses. Overconsumption of food and poor nutrition are among the primary causes of various different sorts of acute and chronic medical conditions. American population is among the leading ones in the world when it comes to obesity. Dietary counseling may provide the person with plenty of valuable information when it comes to different food related illnesses and the relation of nutrients to obesity or illnesses. The counseling may also provide the person with all the nutritional information required for proper weight management. Dietary counseling may be tailored in such a way to fit the needs and requirements of any person and, ultimately, lead to the improvement of general well being. The patient needs to actively participate on primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention. Meal planning is one of the most important steps. There is a value called the recommended daily allowance and it applies to all different types of essential nutrients. If a person ingests too much or too little of any vitamin or mineral it may lead to different toxicities or deficiencies, which is definitely not a good thing for any person. A nutritionist must approach each person in a completely individual manner because modification of eating habits may not be the same in all cases.

A comprehensive evaluation is the beginning of each and every case of effective dietary counseling. It usually includes and considers blood pressure, lipid profile, weight history, presence of different diseases and weight and health goals. Additional factors usually need to be taken into consideration as well and those commonly include personal food preferences, work schedule, time available for food preparation and the overall lifestyle of a person. The nutritionist also has to pay attention to the socioeconomic status, cultural issues, learning style, food likes and dislikes and certain other factors concerning the patient. Exercise and activity levels, readiness to learn or change, nutrition knowledge, sociological evaluation, psychosocial evaluation, dietary assessment and medical history are the final and probably the most important factors of dietary counseling. The counseling has a purpose to serve and it needs to determine the micronutrient and macronutrient content of the person’s diet. Dietary information, biochemical tests and clinical evaluations may be required in some cases.