When Should You See a Dietitian? 7 Signs Nutrition Support Could Help You
With so much nutrition information freely available online, it can be confusing to know what advice to follow. One day sugars and then carbohydrates are the villain. The next day, it is gluten, seed oils, emulsifiers or another food that we are told we should avoid. In addition, our social media feed gets flooded with what we need to optimise, stack and hack, such as protein and fibre. Messaging to cut this out but increase that, can get totally overwhelming.
Nutrition doesn’t need to be that complicated.
An Accredited Practising Dietitian can help you make sense of the information, understand your individual nutritional needs and find an approach to food and eating that works for your health, lifestyle, capacity and individual circumstances.
And you don’t need to wait until something is wrong before asking for support.
Here are seven reasons you might consider seeing a dietitian.
You’re Confused About What You Should Be Eating
If you’ve ever searched for nutrition advice online, you’ve probably discovered just how contradictory it can be. Eat more carbohydrates. Eat fewer carbohydrates. Fast in the morning. Never skip breakfast. Avoid dairy. Drink high protein shakes. Cut out processed foods. Don’t restrict foods because all foods fit. It can become exhausting.
Nutrition is rarely as simple as a list of foods that are “good” or “bad”. Your nutritional needs are influenced by many factors, including your age, medical history and health including family history, medications, lifestyle, activity level, cooking skills, time to cook, preferences, cultural background, and relationship with food.
A dietitian can help you navigate the territory between what the evidence says and nutrition advice from diet trends and misinformation, giving you practical guidance that is relevant to you.
You’re Experiencing Ongoing Digestive Symptoms
Bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, wind, abdominal discomfort, reflux and other digestive symptoms can significantly affect everyday functioning and quality of life.
It is not uncommon for people to systematically keep removing more and more foods from their diet, in an attempt to identify what is causing their symptoms. While dietary changes can be helpful for some digestive conditions, unnecessarily restricting foods can make eating more stressful and result in nutritional deficiencies if followed long term. It can also trigger disordered eating and eating disorders in some people, particularly those at risk, such as those with a family history of an eating disorder or past medical history of an eating disorder.
A dietitian experienced in digestive health can assess your usual eating patterns, triggers, symptoms and individual circumstances to help develop an appropriate nutrition strategy to manage gut discomforts.
Conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Coeliac Disease, Diverticular Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohns Disease and other gastrointestinal concerns can require very different approaches, so receiving individualised advice is important.
If you have persistent or unexplained digestive symptoms, it is also important to discuss these with your GP so that medical causes can be appropriately investigated.
Food Is Starting to Feel Stressful
Food should not occupy a large proportion of your thoughts all day. Some people describe this as ‘food noise’. If you find yourself constantly thinking about what you have eaten, worrying about eating the “wrong” foods, feeling guilty after meals, exercising to deserve to eat, or following increasingly rigid food rules, it may be worth reaching out for support.
There is an enormous amount of pressure in our culture to eat perfectly, control our weight and shape and optimise all aspects of our health, that includes nutrition. For some people, what begins as an attempt to “eat healthier” can gradually become more and more restrictive and distressing.
Dietitians can support people experiencing disordered eating, eating disorders, body image concerns and difficult relationships with food, body, weight and shape.
At Dietwise, our approach is compassionate and non-judgemental. The aim isn’t to give you another set of food rules. It’s to help you develop a way of eating that supports both your physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing.
You Have a Health Condition That Can Be Supported Through Nutrition
Nutrition can form an important part of managing many health conditions. You may have recently been diagnosed with a condition and feel unsure about whether you need to change what you eat. Alternatively, you may have been living with a condition for years but would like some additional support.
Dietitians commonly work with people managing health conditions including:
- Diabetes, pre-diabetes & insulin resistance
- High cholesterol & high blood pressure
- Fatty liver
- Gastrointestinal conditions such as Coeliac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Diverticular Disease, IBS, reflux/GORD
- Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorders, Orthorexia, ARFID
- Food intolerances
- Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) & Endometriosis
- Menopause & perimenopause
- Osteoporosis & osteopenia
- Nutritional deficiencies such as iron, Vitamin B12, Zinc
- Unintentional weight loss & malnutrition e.g. ADHD & stimulant medication
- Swallowing difficulties
- Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Motor Neuron Disease
- Autism & ADHD
Rather than following generic advice from the internet, which is often incorrect and can cause harm, working with a dietitian allows recommendations to be adapted to your specific medical needs and everyday life.
You’re Going Through a New Stage of Life
Our nutritional needs can change throughout our lives. Pregnancy, fertility treatment, menopause, ageing and changes in activity levels can all raise new questions about food and nutrition.
For example, someone planning a pregnancy may want guidance on meeting important nutritional requirements before conception. Someone experiencing perimenopause may have questions about bone health, heart health, low energy, iron deficiency or changes in weight and shape. Children and teenagers also have different nutritional requirements as they grow and develop.
A dietitian can help you understand what your body needs during these different stages without making food unnecessarily complicated.
You’ve Tried Diet After Diet and Want a Different Approach
If you’ve spent years cycling between diets, calorie counting plans, gym challenges or bootcamps to lose weight, there can come a time when you’ve had enough. Restrictive diets can also create a massive fallout of rigid food rules that are often contradictory and create a cycle of guilt, shame and a pre-occupation around food and eating.
There is another way to approach weight concerns.
At Dietwise, we work from a weight-neutral, body-inclusive perspective. Instead of assuming that health needs to begin with changing the number on the scales, we start with an exploration of behaviours, nutrition, health concerns and your relationship with food and body.
That might include improving the variety of foods you eat, eating more regularly, supporting digestive health, improving blood markers or simply feeling more relaxed and confident around food. It may also include addressing weight concerns in a way that minimised the risk of developing disordered eating or an eating disorder.
Your goals are personal, and your nutrition support should be too. At Dietwise, we have developed our Flexible Meal Planning ProgramÓ that provides an approach to eating that supports a busy lifestyle and take the stress out of food shopping and meal planning. Your Dietitian will tailor your meals and snacks to help achieve your goals, based on your food preferences, time, budget and cooking capacity and skills.
You Simply Want Personalised Nutrition Advice
You don’t need to have a medical condition to see a dietitian. Perhaps you want to understand whether your current eating habits are meeting your nutritional needs.
Maybe your schedule has changed, and you’re struggling with regular meals. You might have recently become vegetarian or vegan, started exercising differently or simply want reliable answers to questions about nutrition.
Sometimes an appointment is less about making major changes and more about reassurance, education and helping you understand what is already working well.
What Happens When You See a Dietitian?
Your first appointment isn’t a test and there is no perfect way to prepare.
A dietitian will generally spend time getting to know you, including your health history, family history, medications, eating patterns, lifestyle, work schedule, any concerns you may have and what you would like help with. This includes what dietary changes you may have made in the past, what worked and what didn’t and why.
From there, your Dietitian can meet you where you are at and work together on practical strategies suited to your circumstances.
At Dietwise, we understand that everyone’s experience with food is different. Our role is not to judge what you eat or hand you a generic diet plan. We work collaboratively with you to provide practical, evidence-based nutrition support that fits into your life.
Looking for a Dietitian in Perth?
Dietwise has been helping people navigate nutrition since 1992.
Our team of Accredited Practising Dietitians provides support across a wide range of areas including digestive health, women’s health, chronic conditions, eating disorders, disordered eating, body image and weight concerns including GLP-1s.
Appointments are available at our North Perth clinic as well as via Telehealth across Australia, making it easier to access support wherever you are.
If food or nutrition has started to feel confusing, overwhelming or difficult, you don’t have to work it all out by yourself.
At Dietwise, our Care Coordinator can guide you through the next steps and connect you with the most appropriate Dietitian to suit your needs. Call our Care Coordinator on (08) 9388 2423 or email reception@dietwise.net.au.