What is Medical Nutrition Therapy?
Medical nutrition therapy is best practise medical management for a range of conditions such as:
– Nutrition deficiencies.
– Gut disorders including IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Crohn’s/ Ulcerative Colitis), Coeliac disease, reflux, constipation, diarrhoea (including alternating).
– Mental health conditions: anxiety, depression.
– Feeding difficulties, limited diets, ARFID and texture modified diets.
– Food intolerance: rashes/hives, runny noses, gut concerns, headaches, migraines, sleep difficulties (including working with breastfeeding mothers) hyperactivity, poor concentration, mood swings, behaviour concerns.
– Cardiovascular conditions like hypertension and high cholesterol (even when medicated), diabetes, PMOS (PCOS), cancer, liver disease.
– Weight concerns: underweight, low metabolism, unwanted weight gain, over-eating, sugar cravings, emotional eating.
– Vegetarian and vegan eating.
– Pregnancy and breastfeeding.
N.B. Carin does not see other eating disorders, type 1 diabetes, kidney disease or babies under 5 months.
How Medical Nutrition Therapy Can Help You
The goals of nutrition therapy include:
– Improved choice and control over food intake as well as more control over health, physical and mental ability, well-being and quality of life.
– Increased energy levels, mobility, strength, better sleep, improved mood, emotional regulation, and behaviour management, improved ability to concentrate, improved learning ability, increased sport performance, and reduced sensory sensitivities.
– Improved independence, ability to function and participate in therapy, self-care and activities of daily life.
– Reduce the need over the long term for therapy, medication and other supports over the age span.
– Learning how to choose nutritious foods to meet nutrition needs for self-care to be healthy and avoid, prevent or manage health and mental health conditions.
What happens in Nutrition Consultations:
Nutrition Consultation involves:
– Nutrition and growth assessment, reassessment and monitoring.
– Assessing for nutritional deficiencies, and intervention to ensure nutritional adequacy as nutrition needs change during growth and aging.
– Managing bowels.
– Managing medication side-effects and understanding nutritional biochemistry.
– Understanding appetite and satiety regulation.
– Dietary counselling (reflection, motivation, problem solving barriers, addressing limiting beliefs).
– Dietary education on foods, nutrients and eating pattern and how this impacts the body, mind and health.
– Meal structure planning and meal planning including portion sizes and portion control.
– Label reading of food products.
– Learning how to eat new foods and managing food jags.
– Managing and preventing food-related health conditions e.g. heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, anxiety and depression, gut conditions.
– Tackling emotional or comfort eating and sugar cravings.
– Successful goal setting and action planning.
Initial appointments are 1-1.5 hours long depending on complexity of nutrition intervention. An initial consultation involves a nutrition assessment, receiving evidence-based nutrition education and advice and goal setting to help put dietary changes into practice. A report is often required to be sent back to the referring GP as part of best practise care and to request test results or changes in medication and supplement prescription.
Review consults reassess nutritional status and growth, assess progress, provide further food, nutrition, diet and health education, address barriers to change, provide tools, support, and motivation to make changes to eating habits and lifestyle to reach health and lifestyle goals.
Most people require an average of 10 appointments in a year (some more, some less.) Appointments are usually fortnightly to start, then move to monthly, then spread out to 2-3 monthly and then 6 monthly as required. For long term chronic conditions like diabetes or to monitor children’s changing nutrition needs with growth, 6-12monthly appointments are recommended to ensure nutritional adequacy, support healthy growth, keep healthy eating habits in check and prevent disease progression.
Supporting children, individuals, and families to thrive.
Let’s work together to find the right support pathway.
