DIET COUNSELLING

 

DIET COUNSELLING

 

DEFINITION

            Diet Counselling is a process by a Health Professional trained in Nutrition who make people choose healthy food choices that make them follow healthy eating habit.

Healthy Eating Habit Leads to

·       Recover from the disease condition

·       Prevent diseases

·       Helps for Weight Loss and Weight Gain

 

SKILLS INVOLVED IN DIET COUNSELLING

·       Be Empathetic:  Empathy involves listening to clients, and understanding their concerns to the best possible level.

·       Be Patience: Treat the Patient with a lot of tolerance levels.

·       Subject Knowledge:  Always be updated with Subject with current trends

·       Build Trust & Rapport:  Create bonding with patients and genuinely helping them will create trust.

·       Communication: Communication is very important and should be done properly. Conveying things must be understandable to the patient.

o   Verbal communication :

§  Use Clear Language,                                                                       

§  The tone of voice should not be too low or too loud

o   Non – Verbal Communication includes Sitting posture, Body gestures, Facial Expression and Eye contact.

·       Probing: probing means questioning. Questions are asked to get more information.

o   Ask questions with caution

o   Don’t ask too many questions

o   Always ask open questions than closed questions

·       Active listening: In diet counselling, active listening helps to avoid the distraction of the conversation. involved both physically and mentally in a conversation, which is called active listening.

·       Summarizing:  It is useful to summarize what was said in a session to provide a focus on what was discussed and to challenge the client to move forward with the prescribed dietary practices.

 

STEPS INVOLVED IN DIET COUNSELLING

1.     EVALUATION

·       Evaluation is done to know the nutritional status, disease condition, Lifestyle and eating pattern of the patient using a nutrition assessment sheet.

·       Nutrition assessment sheet consists of personal history, medical history, lifestyle, sleep pattern, stress management, food frequency and 24 hrs. recall.

·       All the questions in the nutrition assessment sheet are asked for reasons.

·       24 hours recall must be filled along with the timing of the meal, food items and quantity.

2.     SUGGESTION

·       Suggestion is the main part of the counselling. In this going to suggest what are all the changes going to make in their eating pattern

·       Always start with suggestions with appreciation. Eg: appreciating their good habits like drinking a proper amount of water.

·       Tell changes in a positive way and with proper reason to change the habit to the patient. Never stop any habit, Gradually reduce the quantity and stop.

3.     MODIFICATION

·       Modification is the planning menu plan

·       The menu plan should consist of 2 columns

·       1^st column – Meal name with Timings

·       2^nd column – Food items with quantity

·       All quantities must be mentioned in grams, ml, and numbers.

·       Menu plan should be precise and options must be given

4.     FOLLOW UP

·       Follow-up is done 15 days or 1 month after discharge from the hospital

·       Follow-up is done to know the progression of the patient

·       How much they followed the diet, how far they are doing in a recovery state.

·       Give counselling in follow-up and change the menu plan