Neurological Conditions

Neurological Conditions

Neurological conditions is an umbrella term that includes a range of different diagnoses including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) and stroke. There are many ways that neurological conditions can impact on nutritional status, and similarly many influences that diet and nutrition can have on the management of these conditions.

How our dietitians can help with neurological conditions:

• understanding the link between nutrition and your condition and providing evidence-based recommendations that may assist with managing symptoms and optimising functional capacity and a sense of wellbeing
• answering questions you may have about your condition and the role of diet
• ensuring over-restrictive diets are not followed
• recommending specific foods, nutrients, or supplements to help manage troublesome symptoms, optimise your health, energy levels and nutritional status
• recommending strategies to manage any unhelpful side effects of medications such as constipation, nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, taste changes
• assessing any relevant drug-nutrient interactions including recommendations to manage these
• Supporting different levels of texture modification to support swallowing difficulties
• supporting meal planning to save time and money and tips for recipe modification such as high energy high protein
• strategies for managing your nutrition, including when fatigue, pain, low mood or other physical difficulties make shopping, cooking and eating challenging
• meeting varying nutrition requirements across the lifespan such as pregnancy, menopause
• exploring options for joyful movement to determine what patterns of movement and/or rest feel most supportive

Our Dietitians take a holistic and gentle approach to nutrition for chronic neurological conditions. We understand that health is complex and is influenced by many factors, some out of your control. We are non-judgmental, and our recommendations are evidence-based and we take a weight-neutral approach.