By Kristen Kizer, Accredited Practising Dietitian
I think most people would agree seeing a dietitian sounds like a good idea, even if they have no idea what happens during a session. I assume most people think we give out meal plans. Maybe we try to take away all the fun in your diet or convince you plain celery is exciting. Since we don’t do either of these, what does happen?
During an initial consult, we do an assessment and get to know you. This is usually a lot of informal questions: What are you hoping we can do for you? What might you eat in a typical day? How’s your relationship with food? What time are you eating that? Sometimes it might include validated questionnaires or even a physical assessment. There’s a lot of educating and answering questions, and then we set specific goals you want to work on.
Follow-up sessions include covering topics we didn’t address at the initial consult, and seeing how your goals went. We discuss what helped you to be successful and explore why things may not have gone as you expected. We call it nutrition counselling. Besides discussing what to eat, we spend even more time discussing how to actually accomplish this. When disordered eating is present, we work on leaving the clean plate club, having treats without feeling guilty, and doing away with emotional eating.
How many sessions should you expect? This is entirely individual. Some people only see us 2-3 times; they had a very specific issue and successfully implement the plan. Other people see us regularly for months. Follow-up frequency is set by you, so it’s always customised to your readiness, needs, budget, and comfort level.
We offer both in-person and telehealth visits, and accept medicare care plans, DVA, and private health.
If you’ve been thinking a dietitian might help, but are still unsure, get in touch and we will be happy to advise you. You can email us at hello@puravidabn.com.au or call the clinic on (02) 6156 1308. You can also make a booking online through the booking section on our website.
STC has adapted to the COVID-19 crisis:
For those that do not need hands-on treatment or are in the vulnerable person category, we are now offering online physiotherapy and online classes, which are claimable via your health fund rebates.
We are still offering face to face physiotherapy services for those with significant musculoskeletal pain or post-surgical rehabilitation, this may change if the crisis escalates.
We are offering several classes online including Pilates and Mums & Bubs post/antenatal rehabilitation. We’re able to facilitate varied online classes, so if you’re more comfortable with conducting your rehab from home, let us know and we’ll arrange to have you dialled in online to a class.
