Nutritional Counseling For Your Health & Wellbeing

Basic health can be vital to maintaining a contented mind, and a large part of a person's basic health may be determined by their nutritional and dietary habits. What, how much, and how often each person eats can affect their behavior, moods, and thought processes.

Of course, the reality of your dietary situation could be more complicated; your mental health can also play a role in the decisions you make regarding your diet. This can become a vicious cycle of mental health challenges that cause physical health issues that can loop back into deteriorating mental health.

Nutrition counseling for eating disorders as part of a treatment team

If someone is experiencing an eating disorder (e.g., anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa) or unhealthy dietary habits, such as binge eating, nutritional counseling or dietary counseling may be helpful in addition to behavioral counseling. This type of counseling is generally provided by a registered dietitian or a nutritional counselor, enabling people to develop healthy relationships with food. It often consists of a nutrition intervention or nutrition advice along with a personalized nutrition plan for individuals to follow.  

How nutrition intervention supports therapy and other treatments

Nutrition intervention can support therapy for eating disorders by providing an educational component. A counselor or other food and nutrition expert can teach clients the importance of certain nutrients and how to incorporate them into their diet. This can help to reverse some of their unhelpful or inaccurate food beliefs. When choosing a nutritional counselor for eating disorder treatment, it may be crucial to choose one with direct experience treating these conditions. 

Nutrition counseling for chronic illness and managing chronic conditions

Nutrition counseling can play an important role in managing chronic conditions such as digestive issues, heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney disease, for example. If you suffer from a chronic illness, adding a nutritional counselor to your health care team could be a good choice.

Heart health and high blood pressure nutrition intervention

People with cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure can benefit from the nutrition intervention and guidance of a dietitian or nutritional counselor. In nutritional counseling, heart patients may learn which foods to embrace, such as lean meats and whole grains, as well as those to avoid, such as saturated fats. 

Kidney disease and tailored dietary counseling

Individuals with kidney disease can also benefit from tailored therapy and dietary counseling from a nutritional counselor. A counselor can provide nutritional advice, such as avoiding processed meats and increasing intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. Those who follow their eating plans carefully may improve their nutritional status and experience fewer physical symptoms as a result of their chronic illness.

Neurotransmitters

Amanda Leigh Mascarelli, in her article "Eating Disorders: The Brain's Foul Trickery", says that neurotransmitters (messengers that transmit signals around the brain) play a significant role in stress, moods, and appetite in daily life.

Social Pressures

There is also an increasing body of knowledge related to how social pressures from peers and media – especially social media – can lead to poor nutrition, unhealthy food beliefs, and unhealthy eating habits, especially in young people. According to one 2019 review of existing research, social media was found to increase comparison habits between users and encourage negative perceptions of users’ own bodies, which may contribute to unhealthy eating habits. 

Eating Habits

Unhealthy eating habits may start in the brain, but they don’t end there. When people aren't eating nutritious foods, their bodies can lack key nutrients. Many of these nutrients are important for maintaining mental and emotional health. For example, we often think of calcium as being important for bone health. Bones are the last place in your body where calcium is used. It's a very important ion for the conduction of nerve impulses, so people who don't get enough through their current eating habits can have some serious physical symptoms.

Proteins and fats

Similarly, we think of proteins as being things that build muscle. While this is true, proteins are also broken down into amino acids that are used to construct chemical messengers in the body. Fats are also required for the storage or production of some chemical messengers in the body. Fat and water are also required as the stage for various chemical processes. A proper nutritional diet can be crucial to your health.

Why nutritional counseling is not a quick fix

Fad diets and weight-loss plans can promise overnight results, but there may not be a quick fix when it comes to nutrition and health. Nutritional counseling generally requires a commitment to a process that yields long-term benefits for health, not just changing a number on the scale.

Other potential complications from unhealthy eating habits

Unhealthy eating habits, lack of proper nutrition, and eating disorders can lead to emotional distress and negative body image, which may result in "yo-yo dieting"—a cycle of severe dieting and weight loss followed by rapid weight gain. This cycle can be hazardous to both physical and emotional health. Physically, yo-yo diets can cause severe changes in metabolism and difficulty absorbing key nutrients. It can also, in rare cases, lead to issues with bone strength or intestinal blockages. 

There are also some eating disorders, such as pica, an eating disorder in which people compulsively eat inedible things such as hair. While Pica can be different for everyone, and many things that we don't usually eat are safe to eat, some of them can be dangerous in ways that most people aren't familiar with. For example, some people with Pica feel compelled to ingest metal. Some metals, such as iron or zinc, are in some foods and are necessary for the body to function properly. However, many metals, such as lead, are very bad for the body. Metals are also difficult for the body to remove, so ingesting small amounts over a prolonged period can be more damaging than is the case with other dangerous chemicals like alcohol or even nicotine, which move through the body much faster.

Nutritional counseling from a nutrition expert 

Nutritional counseling is professional counseling from a dietitian or nutritional counselor to assess and address dietary habits and promote healthy eating on an individual level—essentially letting you know how to listen to your body and give it the food and nutrition it needs. Generally, this begins with a recording of one's food intake within a certain amount of time. The most common and more concise method may be recording what one has eaten over two weekdays and one weekend day. Registered dietitians or nutritional counselors can evaluate your food intake, offer nutrition tips for taking better care of your body, and provide meal plans or suggest intuitive eating, among other forms of support.

What happens during nutrition counseling?

If you’re considering nutrition counseling, it could be helpful to know what to expect. 

The initial assessment checklist

Your medical history and physical condition, including body weight, may also be assessed during nutritional counseling. This has traditionally been done using weight-for-height tables and body mass index (BMI) to determine whether someone is “underweight” or “overweight” in relation to their height. These metrics are largely falling out of favor, however, as neither takes muscle mass, genetic predispositions, medical conditions, or variations from physical sex and ethnicity into account. Healthcare providers may use other methods to measure body fat content independent of weight, among other factors. They may also look at your medical records from other healthcare professionals for more information regarding your health and nutritional status. The goal of the initial nutritional assessment is to determine your nutritional risk. Nutritional risk refers to the individual risk of various health conditions as a result of malnutrition or overeating. 

Creating a personalized nutrition plan and eating plan

After the initial assessment, your nutritional counselor will likely work with you to develop a personalized nutrition plan. This eating plan provides personalized guidance based on your current eating habits (i.e., nutrient intake), food preferences, and any food allergies. 

Practical nutrition skills you can use right away

Nutritional counseling may also include an education component. Your counselor may teach you practical solutions that you can use in daily life to improve your eating habits. This could include information on how to read nutrition labels and create an effective eating plan. Other educational resources are available from the American Dietetic Association. 

How to read nutrition labels in real life

A nutritional counselor or dietician can guide you through the process of reading nutrition labels. They may begin by showing you where to find certain information on these labels, such as serving sizes and calories per serving. Depending on your specific nutritional plan, they might also show you how to look for certain ingredients that you want to avoid, including saturated fats or added sugars.  

Planning meals that fit preferences and needs

Some diets may fail because they force people to eat foods that they don’t enjoy. A nutritional counselor can help you create an eating plan that aligns nutritious foods with your specific food preferences. This can make sticking to the plan easier and possibly increase your chance of success. 

Where to find nutrition counseling

There could be various ways to find nutrition counseling. In many cases, your primary care physician will refer you to a nutritional counselor if nutrition intervention is needed to manage a chronic condition. Those with health insurance may contact their insurance companies to check for covered providers, including a referring physician.

When to ask your primary care physician for a referral

A primary care physician may refer patients to nutritional counseling for a variety of reasons, including: 

• Chronic health conditions
• Weight management
• Digestion issues
• Food allergies
• Eating disorders 
• Sports training

Online therapy for improved dietary habits

Online nutrition counseling and therapy support can go hand in hand. For example, therapists such as the ones at BetterHelp can provide personalized guidance, promote gradual improvement, establish realistic goals, and help you maintain results. In most cases, talking to a licensed therapist will help to deal with the social, mental, and emotional causes of eating disorders and unhealthy eating habits that are not usually addressed during nutrition counseling. While tailored therapy in the form of nutrition counseling can be a great place to start, addressing your mental health can also be vital to your well-being. Both forms of counseling can be delivered in a convenient online format, such as video conferencing. 

Cognitive behavioral techniques may be used to change negative thinking patterns to improve self-esteem related to body image. Research has found that online treatments for eating disorders and other unhealthy eating patterns are generally effective and can show a significant reduction in symptoms over the course of treatment.