A dietitian is a certified professional who can guide you accurately about your nutrition and health needs. Often, people think that we can get the health guidelines from Google but the least they know is that the recommendations that they get from dietitians are personalized and address the uniqueness of a person.
In this blog, you will realize how much a Dietitian is important in your life.
Here are some of the main reasons:
- Personalized Nutrition Plans:
A dietitian creates customized nutrition plans tailored to your individual needs, considering factors like age, gender, health goals, and medical conditions. If you are in your teens and you are studying, then you will have high energy expenditure, so you may need more calories. However, an older adult might need fewer calories but a nutrient-dense diet (1).
Don’t do experiments on your health by yourself because it can cause any nutrient deficiency.
- Weight management:
Managing weight is a real challenge. Isn’t it?
Some people find it difficult to shed pounds, while others yearn to gain muscle mass and weight. Can you guys relate to this? If yes, then you must seek help from a Dietitian.
They can diagnose the underlying cause of your being underweight or obese. For example, habits like skipping meals, late-night eating, or dining out frequently can affect weight.
Besides, it is important to consider different body types and diseases that influence weight.
- Management of chronic disease:
We all know that there is a specific medicine for a disease. Likewise, there is special medical nutrition therapy for each disease.
Medicine alone can’t give its 100% results unless nutrition therapy plays along. That’s why it is important that when you are diagnosed with a chronic disease then you must visit the Dietitian as well. In the consultation session, you will be guided by the foods that are beneficial or harmful for you.
Chronic diseases include hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, kidney failure, etc. These patients need to follow Dietitian’s advice stringently (2).
- Management of Digestive problems:
Digestive problems or inability to take food through the oral route can put a person in a troublesome phase. Here, the Dietitian’s expertise comes to the rescue. They can offer plans for the patients who are on tube feed or pureed diet. A dietitian can suggest recipes or foods that will be good for your stomach issues. These problems can include stomach ulcers, irritable bowel syndromes or inflammatory bowel disease.
For example, if any of you are diagnosed with Irritable bowel syndrome, then the Dietitian will restrict those foods in your diet that gave the reaction. Some people can tolerate milk. However, some might need to switch to lactose-free milk (3).
- Nutrition education:
Public health is a very critical aspect that ensures the well-being and growth of the society. Here I am referring to the cognitive and physical development of the children and juveniles.
Dietitians at community centers and in schools can educate the teachers and parents about the growth milestones of the children (4). They play a vital role in explaining the portion sizes and importance of nutritious meals. They also instruct teachers to encourage the trend of homemade lunch boxes.
- Sports Nutrition and Performance Enhancement:
If you are a fitness enthusiast or a professional athlete then you can’t ace your performance goals without the helping hand of a dietitian. A proper diet plan is required that can optimize performance and recovery after strenuous exercise. A dietitian specializing in sports nutrition can guide you about the safe use of protein powders and energy drinks (2). Through this, you can enhance endurance. Besides this you can also get guidance to set your workout routine. This routine will help you build more muscles.
- Promotes mental well-being:
A Dietitian can help you optimize your diet to support brain function, mood regulation, and stress management.
You might be thinking about how nutrition and mental health are interconnected.
Well! Do you know deficiency of certain nutrients can cause depression?
There are nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, B vitamins, vitamin D, magnesium, tryptophan and probiotics that promote mental health.
Besides the nutrient aspects, a dietitian motivates their clients to include physical activity in their routine and modify their lifestyles. Exercise produces endorphins and reduces the stress hormones that help in feeling better.
- Prenatal, intranasal and postnatal care:
Dietitian’s guidance is very important before planning pregnancy, and during pregnancy, you need to stay in touch to meet your nutrition requirements (5). An unbalanced diet or scarce intake of nutrients can have a negative impact on the health of the growing baby. You will need a dietitian during the post-partum period. During this time, valuable guidance can assist you in regaining your health status and weight goal.
- Addresses special dietary conditions:
A dietitian’s help is required if you have food allergies, food intolerances, or eating disorders. These conditions need special attention and guidance so that the quality of life doesn’t get disturbed. In this scenario, a dietitian helps you to navigate the challenges by identifying trigger foods and offering practical solutions for managing your condition. While ensuring that you can enjoy your meals!
- Checks nutrients and drug interaction:
If you look after any older adult or a parent, then you might be considering whether their medicines are absorbed in the body or not.
Medication can turn out ineffective if it is taken with a particular nutrient that halts its absorption.
In this case, you are bound to contact a dietitian to devise a diet plan according to the doses.
I hope you will never underestimate the role of a dietitian after reading this blog.
If you need help, please feel free to connect with our dietitian or download our mobile app to get in touch.