Nutritional Counseling Services in California

Going through rehabilitation after an injury or medical condition that leads to disability is a difficult process. Many of the daily tasks we take for granted can become insurmountable obstacles to recovery. One of these obstacles is ensuring that patient’s diets have the right balance of nutrition needed to fuel their recovery. Choosing a subacute rehabilitation provider who involves registered dieticians in the care of patients is critical. Dieticians can speed up recovery, prevent excessive weight gain or loss, and reduce the risk of nutritional deficiencies that increase the risk of other severe medical conditions.

Sierra Care’s subacute rehabilitation services help patients recover in a home-like setting. Our unique programs are patient-focused, occur in state-of-the-art facilities, and involve an experienced group of caregivers working as a team to ensure the best possible recovery.

What is Nutritional Counseling?

Nutritional counseling is a discussion between a dietician and a patient about their diet, results of nutritional tests, effects of diet on medical conditions, and options to improve medical conditions and wellness through changes in the diet.

How Does Nutritional Counseling Work?

In its simplest form, nutritional counseling requires a registered dietician to review a patient’s diet and determine if they are getting adequate calories, vitamins, and minerals. In the medical setting, blood counts, electrolytes, and vitamin levels are tested to target specific dietary changes. Adequate nutrition is critical for patients with medical conditions, serious injury, or illness due to changes in their bodies’ nutritional needs.

How Does Nutritional Counseling Help With Rehabilitation?

Nutritional counseling’s role in rehabilitation is to prevent chronic illnesses resulting from poor nutrition and improve existing chronic conditions. Some of the health conditions that can be managed or improved through nutrition counseling are:

• Cancer
• Chronic kidney disease
• Diabetes
• Excessively high or low body weight
• Hypertension
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Osteoporosis

Preventing these conditions or improving them if they already exist allows patients to focus on exercise, skill training, and other therapies. Significant changes in the diet can also treat some medical conditions. This is known as medical nutritional therapy and is offered to patients with certain conditions at SierraCare. Nutritional counseling is beneficial for all patients. Almost every element of health is affected by nutrition. A balanced diet allows the exercises, medications, and other treatments to have the greatest possible effect.

Sierra Care’s Approach to Nutritional Counseling

Sierra Care uses nutritional counseling as a component of our holistic approach to patient recovery and healing. We have registered dieticians at our facilities who make patient’s nutrition a critical part of their care plan. The dietician’s recommendations allow us to alter our patients’ diets based on their unique needs and avoid the “one size fits all” approach to nutrition seen in many other facilities. Our dieticians also allow us to alter diets based on patients’ food sensitivities, allergies, and dietary preferences, increasing patients’ dignity, comfort, and well-being.

Vasiloglou MF, Fletcher J, Poulia KA. Challenges and Perspectives in Nutritional Counseling and Nursing: A Narrative Review. J Clin Med. 2019;8(9):1489.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6780101/