Avery Warwick, RD, LD discusses the power of nutrition counseling and weight management by debunking fad diets and showing how using a dietitian can help you gain a better quality of life.
Debunking Fad Diets
We certainly put plenty of weight on our weight in today’s society. And with this comes an onslaught of fad diets each claiming to be guaranteed to help you lose weight fast. The truth is that it most likely took you longer than one week to gain those unwanted pounds, so it’s going to take you longer than one week to lose them.
Fad diets don’t work for a number of reasons. Some eliminate main food groups that then cause you to crave those foods you are missing. Others greatly restrict calories, which can cause fatigue and make it harder for you to find the motivation to stay physically active. Often, fad diets promote quick and unhealthy weight loss that usually leads to weight regain once you revert back to your normal eating habits.
Nutrition Counseling and Weight Management
If you are serious about losing weight, you may want to consider seeing an outpatient registered dietitian for nutrition counseling. Research shows that people who regularly participate in nutrition counseling have significantly greater weight reduction as well as more success with keeping the weight off.
Seeing a dietitian can help you:
- Gage how ready you are to start making diet and lifestyle changes in order to reach your personal goals
- Explore your past successes and failures with diet and weight loss
- Make specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (SMART) goals
- Provide support and encouragement
- Teach you why certain eating habits lead to weight gain and answer your questions with evidence-based nutrition research
- Find a healthy diet plan that will work for you and your lifestyle
- Adjust your diet plan based on where you are with your progress
- Help you overcome slip-ups and setbacks
- Promote healthy eating for a better quality of life.
Nutrition Counseling and Managing Chronic Disease
Nutrition counseling can also be helpful to people who have received a medical diagnosis that requires diet changes to prevent further medical complications and that will promote a long, substantial life with the illness. Specific diets for managing chronic illnesses can be complex and hard to understand. Dietitians can help with managing high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and renal disease through medical nutrition therapy (MNT).
Studies show that patients who regularly meet with a dietitian experience:
- More weight management success
- Lower cholesterol
- Decreased need for medications.
Dietitians can also provide guidance to patients suffering from food allergies and intolerances by teaching how to read food labels and suggesting nutritionally comparable alternatives to help maintain a balanced and tasty diet.
With all of these benefits, isn’t it time you tried nutritional counseling? Roper St. Francis has a team of registered dieticians who are here to help. It’s easy to get started, just ask your doctor for a referral and see how nutrition counseling can change your life.
For more information and to learn more contact:
Amy Mendez, MS, RD, LD with Dr. Ciccone’s office at Mount Pleasant Cardiology. Amy also has a certification in Adult Weight Management from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
By Avery Warwick, RD, LD, Roper St. Francis Clinical Dietitian
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