What Services Do Dietitians Provide?

A dietitian appointment is required if you need to influence weight, reduce symptoms of a chronic disease and consolidate the results obtained for a long time.

A dietitian helps you lose weight or gain weight; establish a regimen of food intake; exclude foods that contribute to weight gain or worsen the symptoms of a chronic disease; make up for the lack of nutrients.

What can dietitians help with?

• diabetes
• rheumatoid arthritis
• osteoporosis
• gout
• diseases of the heart and blood vessels (atherosclerosis, hypertension)
• celiac disease (gluten intolerance)
• hypolactasia (lactose intolerance)
• gastroesophageal reflux disease
• cyclic vomiting syndrome
• cystic fibrosis
• liver diseases (hepatitis, cirrhosis, sclerosing cholangitis, hemochromatosis, Wilson’s disease)
• drug-resistant epilepsy in children
• oncological diseases

When should I see a comminity dietitian?

• overweight (including those caused by a disease)
• underweight (including those caused by the disease)
• excess or lack of nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, microelements)
• violation of the mechanisms of assimilation of nutrients
• excess salt or sugar

You should contact a comminity dietitian if weight “interferes with life”: the quality of life is impaired, it is difficult to perform usual actions, and you think that this is due to overweight. You should also make an appointment if you feel weak and associate this with a lack of body weight; if the symptoms of a chronic illness get worse and you think it is due to your diet or being overweight; if a chronic illness requires restrictions, and it is very difficult to draw up a nutrition plan yourself; if dietary habits affect sleep quality.

What happens at a dietitian appointment?

During your initial appointment, a comminity dietitian will:

• ask you to talk about your lifestyle, diet, dietary habits, medications that you are taking;
• ask how being overweight or underweight affects daily activities;
• ask questions about general health, physical activity;
• ask to talk about chronic diseases and prescribed treatment.

How do dietitians diagnose malnutrition?

Diagnostics include taking a food history, physical examination, measuring blood pressure, determining body mass index, and measuring waist circumference.

To clarify the causes of obesity or underweight, you will be asked to donate blood for analysis. A dietitian will determine the indicators of interest based on the patient’s individual risk factors and symptoms. This can be a test for cholesterol, liver function, thyroid hormones, glucose levels, calcium levels.

Your doctor may recommend checking your heart readings (an electrocardiogram).

Dietitian services will help determine how much you need to lose weight (or how much to gain), help identify common risks and help determine what diseases affect your condition.

Medical nutrition therapy

The goal of treatment is to achieve a healthy weight and maintain results.

A comminity dietitian will make a list of useful and harmful products, taking into account the individual intolerance or the patient’s health characteristics.

An expert will:

• help understand what foods are “allowed” and what are “not”;
• help to gently change the diet, not to break down, to consolidate the results;
• develop an individual menu for every day;
• tell you how to combine and prepare food correctly;
• monitor the balance of essential nutrients;
• tell you how to increase physical activity;
• help you take weight under control;
• get rid of the influence of “fashionable diets”;
• eliminate risk factors associated with an unhealthy diet;
• maintain health for a long time.