I love watching both history and detective shows. Documentaries and historical fiction help me see how past actions lead to certain results. Mysteries reveal how putting patterns and clues together can solve challenges.
What are the components of nutrition therapy?
As a nutrition therapist, I use clients’ health histories and my own detective work to design diet and lifestyle plans to help clients meet their health goals. Below are the types of information a nutrition therapist may use and how it all comes together.
Nutrition therapy and health history
A nutrition therapist spends quality time getting to know a client’s health history. This includes reviewing health questionnaires, understanding current lifestyle practices and dietary habits, as well as assessing supplements and/or medications.
In the initial intake appointment, a nutrition therapist may go beyond traditional questions and inquire about historical health facts that may not have seemed consequential at the time. For example, a nutrition therapist may ask:
- Did you travel outside of the U.S. and experience significant GI issues during or after the trip?
- Were you given one or several rounds of antibiotics as a child?
- Have you ever experienced physical trauma, like a car accident?
Some circumstances may seem insignificant to include on a health history questionnaire, but asking thorough questions may jog a client’s memory. A past situation may not be the direct cause of a health issue, but could possibly play a role in its development.
Nutrition therapy and lifestyle habits
When it comes to current health, understanding past and current lifestyle habits is important. A nutrition therapist will ask about numerous things, including sleep patterns, exercise and stress. A few questions are:
- Do you always wake up during the night and, if so, what time?
- Have you noticed that you’re unable to physically do things you used to easily do?
- Did you undergo a recent positive or negative stressful event?
Again, these types of lifestyle questions can reveal patterns or clues to existing health issues.
Nutrition therapy and dietary habits
Nutrition is the obvious area of questioning from a nutrition therapist, however, eating a healthy diet may not be that straight-forward. Please know that a good nutrition therapist won’t judge current eating habits. Habits usually form over many, many years and there are reasons why they developed. However, nutrition therapy involves educating clients about food and its effects on our bodies.
Since we’re all different, foods that work for me and give me energy may not work for you and may deplete your energy. Here’s where things get really fun as a nutrition therapist: finding out which foods work well for your body. Sometimes our bodies take a while to change, but a nutrition therapist will create a plan for you and track the changes over time to confirm that things are moving in a positive direction. If changes are good, bad or null, a nutrition therapist will bring them to your attention and suggest additional options to get you to your health goals.
Just because we eat healthy foods, it doesn’t mean that our bodies absorb the nutrients from those foods. Sometimes nutrients don’t break down properly in the gastrointestinal tract and, therefore, they cannot be absorbed and used by the body.1 For anyone who has had gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy), gastric bypass surgery or other resection operations, their digestion and absorption processes will be affected.2, 3, 4 Lifestyle activities, like stress, may also play a huge part in allowing our bodies to properly break down food into absorbable nutrients.5, 6 Blood, stool, saliva and/or breath tests ordered by a nutrition therapist or medical practitioner may help provide more insight to one’s nutritional status.
Nutrition therapy and medication
According to The Slone Survey, conducted by the Slone Epidemiology Center, and cited by the CDC, “in a given week, an average of 82% of adults in the U.S. are taking at least one medication; 29% are taking five or more.” Our nutrition may be impacted by medications because:
- Some medications may not work at full strength depending upon what we eat or drink. For example, grapefruit is now well-known for increasing or decreasing the effects of several medications. 7
- Certain commonly prescribed medications may block nutrient absorption and cause deficiencies. This is the case with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and calcium, vitamins (B12 and C) and minerals (iron, magnesium and zinc) as well as statins and CoQ10 and vitamins D and E.8
Knowing the nutritional effects medications can potentially have on the body can provide many clues to health issues. A nutrition therapist can give suggestions on how to replenish nutrient deficiencies through diet and, possibly, supplementation.
Nutrition therapy and supplementation
Speaking of supplementation, this is another area where nutrition therapists can provide guidance. Not all supplements are created equal and not all supplements are helpful. You can read more here about why supplement quality matters.
Nutrition therapy and accountability
Accountability may be the area where a nutrition therapist can have the biggest impact. Anyone with a deep interest can take the time to learn about nutrition and its impact on our bodies. However, to accomplish doing what is best for our bodies may require accountability. A nutrition therapist can be a wonderful accountability partner after the work of defining clearly agreed upon goals, timelines and tactics. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear says,
“Knowing that someone is watching can be a powerful motivator. You are less likely to procrastinate or give up because there is an immediate cost … Suddenly, you are not only failing to uphold your promises to yourself, but also failing to uphold your promises to others.”
Having the support of a nutrition therapist may help us keep to our goals especially when we don’t want to.
Nutrition therapy and mindset
It can be extremely frustrating when we don’t understand why our bodies act in undesirable ways. Most of my clients have tried for years to diet and supplement on their own without reaching their health goals, yet once the decision has been made to work with a nutrition therapist, they may not see immediate results. Because the body can take time to adjust and make changes, a nutrition therapist will help you stay the course with mindset and encouragement. When we can’t see the forest for the trees, a nutrition therapist will bring to light all the positive things happening in other areas. Change is hard and it may take time to see them come to fruition. A nutrition therapist will remind you of the big picture, how far you’ve come and keep you motivated on your journey.
Nutrition therapy as part of your health care team
These days, many medical practitioners don’t have the time to spend getting to know you and your complete health history along with the details of your current diet and lifestyle. For this reason, a nutrition therapist can be a great addition to your health care team as we can help you practically implement the changes your medical practitioner suggests as well as brainstorm patterns and clues for certain health issues.
An Arabian proverb I like says,
“He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.”
As a nutrition therapist, I combine historical facts, patterns and clues to provide detailed nutritional plans and guidance, but I also give hope to those struggling to overcome health challenges. And I believe that hope can change our world.
If you would like to explore working with me as your nutrition therapist, click here to schedule a free 20-minute Let’s Meet! call.
Resources
1 Basile EJ, Launico MV, Sheer AJ. Physiology, Nutrient Absorption. [Updated 2023 Oct 28]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK597379/
2 Lim, Roxanne & SKY, Chang. (2021). The Association between Gut Microbiome and Post-Cholecystectomy Syndrome and Diarrhoea: A Review. Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology Reports. 2. 1-5. 10.47363/JGHR/2021(2)117.
3 Nervi F, Arrese M. Cholecystectomy and NAFLD: does gallbladder removal have metabolic consequences?. Am J Gastroenterol. 2013;108(6):959-961. doi:10.1038/ajg.2013.84
4 Osland E, Powlesland H, Guthrie T, Lewis CA, Memon MA. Micronutrient management following bariatric surgery: the role of the dietitian in the postoperative period. Ann Transl Med. 2020;8(Suppl 1):S9. doi:10.21037/atm.2019.06.04
5 Osadchiy V, Martin CR, Mayer EA. The Gut-Brain Axis and the Microbiome: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019;17(2):322-332. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2018.10.002
6 Cherpak CE. Mindful Eating: A Review Of How The Stress-Digestion-Mindfulness Triad May Modulate And Improve Gastrointestinal And Digestive Function. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2019;18(4):48-53.
7 Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Vol. 75. No. 9. Elsevier, 2000.
8 Mohn ES, Kern HJ, Saltzman E, Mitmesser SH, McKay DL. Evidence of Drug-Nutrient Interactions with Chronic Use of Commonly Prescribed Medications: An Update. Pharmaceutics. 2018;10(1):36. Published 2018 Mar 20. doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics10010036
