Good nutrition is the foundation to good health. Your food and activity choices each day affect your health--how you feel today, tomorrow, and in the future.
IRMC dietitians are expert nutritionists who can help you plan good choices for a healthy lifestyle.
You will find a wealth of suggestions at www.mypyramid.gov that can help you get started towards a healthy diet.
Nutrition counseling
IRMC offers direct one-on-one sessions with a registered dietitian, a nutrition expert. The dietitian assists you in adopting a healthy diet that works with your eating habits and lifestyle as well as your medical condition. Counseling sessions are typically one hour in duration for the initial visit and 30-60 minutes for follow-up sessions. Each client is given a personalized nutrition plan and his or her physician receives progress reports.
A physician’s order is required for most insurance coverage. You may wish to check with your insurance carrier or Medicare to confirm if nutritional counseling is a covered service.
General guidelines
Some helpful nutrition guidelines to help you toward a healthier you include:
- Make half your grains whole grains
- Vary your veggies
- Focus on fruit
- Get calcium from calcium rich foods
- Go lean with protein
- Find a balance between food and physical activity
Heart-healthy nutrition
Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the U.S. What you eat affects your risk for heart disease. Healthy food habits help reduce three major risk factors for heart attack: high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and excess body weight. Being heart smart means knowing which foods are most harmful to your heart.
The Heart Healthy diet is an eating plan that can help lower your blood cholesterol and LDL, the 'bad’ cholesterol, and decrease your risk for heart disease.
Guidelines
- Make only 8-10 percent of the day’s total calories from saturated fats
- Make 30 percent or less of the day’s calories from fat
- Eat less that 300 mg. of cholesterol a day
- Limit sodium to 2,400 mg. per day
- Eat just enough calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight and reduce your blood cholesterol level. Ask your doctor or registered dietitian what is a reasonable calorie level for you.
The Web sites below provide great information on how to achieve these goals and plan healthy meals.
www.nhlbisupport.com
www.americanheart.org
Diabetes-healthy nutrition
Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Many of the foods you eat turn into glucose (sugar), which your body uses for energy. When you have diabetes, your body is not making enough insulin or is not using the insulin correctly. This results in increased glucose in the blood.
One of the best ways to control blood glucose levels is to control the amount of carbohydrates we eat. Carbohydrates will eventually turn into glucose in the body. Making changes in the way you eat can be tough. Many people think that having diabetes means you can’t eat your favorite foods. NOT TRUE. You can still eat the food you love but the key to controlling blood glucose is learning to make smart food choices and control portions. The dietitians at IRMC are nutrition experts who can help you design a meal plan that fits your lifestyle and will help you feel good and stay healthy.
The Web sites below provide information on how to plan healthy meals for diabetics:
- www.diabetes.org
- www2.niddk.nih.gov
Diabetes support group
IRMC offers a diabetes support group. Call 772.567.4311, ext. 4032, for more information.
Contact us
To schedule an appointment with our dietitian, call 772.567.4311, ext. 1085.