Who is a dietician?
A dietician is an expert who identifies lapses in a person’s diet and suggest ways to replenish it so that he/she can lead a healthy and fulfilling life. In other words, a dietician is a nutritionist and wellness coach who guides an individual to lead a better life and a healthy regime by changing patterns in his day to day working. Not only that, but a dietician also provides nutritional alternatives to treat and prevent various diseases and illnesses. For example, dietician Simarpal in Kharar district has helped a patient treat his hypothyroidism with simple and homely diet that has further helped her client cure his condition and, in the process, managing of the weight. According to world health organization, a dietician is someone “who supervises the preparation of food, develop modified charts, participate in research and education of individuals and groups on good nutritional habits.” In other words, a good dietician looks after the client’s health and wellness by providing researched and easy diets and modify it according to clients taste and preferences and taking into account all the underlying conditions. The food suggested by them is full of nutrition that not only treats the issue at hand but also help in weight management.
Now a days, dieticians and nutritionists are allegiant to various health centers, hospitals, clinics etc. where they provide consultancy so as to lead a life of wholesomeness. Like there are experts that provide diet to patients in the hospital where the food is prepared as suggested by the expert. Taking the example forward, Dt. Simarpal who is considered the best in kharar, plans diet of its client who have different infirmities like B.P., thyroid, diabetes, cardio vascular diseases etc. and help them combat issues and in the process maintain their weight. Another aspect of clinical dietician is that they also provide diet advices and suggestions to the new mothers of the preemies who are in the neonatal care. The charts provided to them are inclined towards a general well being of the mothers, increasing their supply of milk and oversee the prevention and management of any infection to the child or mothers. A sub category of clinical dietician also includes Pediatric dieticians where they suggest diets according to food patterns and habits of children with food allergies, eating disorders or child obesity. Secondly, there are certain dieticians who are more into wellness therefore conduct various seminars, conferences and programs in various health agencies, home care agencies and health maintenance organization. They provide knowledge about food and nutrition its benefits. These are called community dieticians. Now, some are associated with large scale organization like school with child meal plans, big restaurants and company cafeterias. The main objective of these experts is to maintain food quality, hygiene and health.
Now one may wonder what is the point of difference between a dietician and a nutritionist? Generally, in a layman language, both the terms are used interchangeably. But there is a big difference between the two. Dietician is more of a trained professional who provide nutrition and take into account the medical imperfections an individual might have while the nutritionist only focuses on the nutrition aspect and does not count the ailment one might have. As a result, the diet advice provided by them is incomplete as what works for one might not work for others. The reason being the inconsideration of the underlying factors as experienced by an individual. Secondly a nutritionist is not qualified enough to handle people with afflictions and can only guide towards a general well-being of the same.
How to choose a dietician?
When a person intends to manage his weight be it lose or gain, he needs a certain guidance to achieve his said goal. A good dietician works as a mentor who hold one’s hand and help in becoming a better version of oneself. They follow the motto “eat to live, and not, live to eat” to the T and motivates them to make correct choices in terms of food leaving behind their sedentary lifestyle. There are certain tips one can follow to decide a good dietician and suitable to the needs and requirements:
- Needs of the client: some individual wants a specific diet for their well-being and thus chose a dietician according to his/her expertise. Certain dietician might be splendid in one part of weight management while others might have excellence in other. So, a balance should be maintained and requirement of the client should be considered.
- Credentials should be authentic: now a days, every individual is an influencer. Thanks to social media and internet, everyone wants to be a dietician. One should make sure that the person claiming to be a dietician is certified and authentic. Just because certain combinations of food worked out for certain individual, it might not work out for other. People want to make easy money even if it hampers the other person’s health and fitness.
- Experience matters: an experienced expert can guide his client in a more productive way as in better results as he is far knowledgeable and knows many food variety and what can work for his client.
- Know the difference between a dietician and nutritionist: as discussed earlier, there is a major difference between the two and one should decide beforehand which one he wants to chose depending upon the aspirations he has from his expert.
- Motivation factor: the best dietician is one who motivates to do better and is not deterred by minor hiccups an individual faces while on his journey to achieve his weight goal. Continuing the example, Dt. Simarpal holds counselling sessions to motivate and understand her clients and thus prepare their meal plans accordingly. She also conducts seminars and awareness programs to guide an individual to leave his sedentary lifestyle behind and embrace good food habits. She believes in self-love and thus promote body positivity in her programs.
- Qualities in a good dietician: analytical research is a key to a good diet plan. A dietician must research about the various food combinations of different clients according to their body needs and requirements. What works for one might not work for others. a good dietician must be compassionate towards its client and always strive to motivate them by listening to their problems carefully, observing their food habits and patterns and communicating them clearly without any ambiguity about the negative aspects of their food habits and providing solutions to improve the same.
A good dietician is very important when one seriously wants to achieve his ideal weight. They are like an anchor that prevents the body from sailing away into the sea of sedentary lifestyle. One should always chose the dietician with whom one can open up about his issues and insecurities and who can guide them in a better way. They should be able to help and individual become fit both physically and mentally. Just like Dt. Simarpal for example, is a strong individual with 6+ years of experience in the field of nutrition. Her major expertise lies in the weight management of individual suffering from chronic illness and diseases. Her easy homemade diets have been very effective in weight management and the food turns out to be luscious too. The myth that one needs to zip up the mouth to be slim is busted byher as all her diets keep one full. She lives by balanced diet for a balanced life formula and helps one achieve the same goal. She is one of the best dieticians in kharar and has treated various clients and proudly believes
“Let food be thy medicine
Thy medicine shall be thy food”
-Hippocrates