Whether you are looking to improve overall health or better your eating habits to manage specific medical conditions, meeting with a registered dietitian nutritionist is the best way to get your nutrition questions answered.
Sorting through nutrition information can be difficult and confusing for the general population. A dietitian has the education and training needed to provide dietary advice and answer your specific nutrition questions with reliable and evidenced-based information.
A dietitian’s expertise extends far beyond weight loss and recipe ideas. Preparing a list of questions prior to meeting with a dietitian can help individualize your session so that treatment goals are tailored towards your personal nutritional needs.
This will help you leave the meeting feeling empowered and ready to continue on your wellness journey. In this article, we will discuss a common list of questions a dietitian can help you answer so that you can get a better understanding of how a dietitian can help you.
What is a Registered Dietitian?
A registered dietitian (RD), or registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), is a healthcare professional who is a food and nutrition expert.
A dietitian has successfully completed the following prerequisites:
- 4-year undergrad degree in nutrition and dietetics
- 1200 hour supervised internship through an accredited program
- Passed a national exam
- 75 continuing education units every 5 years
Starting in 2024, dietitians must also hold an advanced degree in order to become officially credentialed.
Registered Dietitian vs Nutritionist
Although a registered dietitian can be considered a nutritionist or nutritional consultant, not everyone marketing themselves as a nutritionist is appropriately trained and qualified to guide you one your nutrition wellness journey.
This is important to realize because anyone on social media can refer to themselves as a “nutritionist” or “nutrition consultant”, regardless of whether they have appropriate training and expertise in the field of dietetics.
Always ensure you are meeting with a Registered Dietitian (RD) or Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) so you know you are being treated by a qualified nutrition expert.
What Does a Dietitian Do?
Registered dietitians are healthcare professionals trained in the field of nutrition and dietetics. They help translate confusing, and often misleading, nutrition information into practical solutions you can use to improve your overall health and well-being.
A few of the areas a dietitian may specialize in include the following:
- Sports nutrition
- Eating disorders
- Digestive discomforts
- Chronic kidney disease
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Oncology (cancer) nutrition
- Geriatrics
There are countless reasons why seeing a dietitian can be beneficial for anyone in the general population, whether or not you are struggling with a chronic medical condition.
Dietitians also provide general nutrition education to help ensure you are consuming all the essential nutrients required to meet your daily nutritional needs. They can help you focus on the key components necessary for a balanced diet that includes a variety of delicious foods from all food groups.
6 Nutrition Questions and Answers by a Dietitian
1. How many calories should I be eating every day?
This is one of the most common questions I get asked as a dietitian. The general population is exceedingly interested in caloric intake, but most people don’t understand the science of calories and the complexities of determining how many are needed for proper functioning.
Despite what you see on social media and the internet, there is no error-proof calculator to determine the amount of calories your specific body needs on a daily basis. This is because everyone’s body is completely different and each of our bodies require varying levels of energy from day to day.
The total number of calories your body burns in one day is referred to as Total Energy Expenditure (TEE). TEE is composed of 3 different factors:
- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): 60-80%
The amount of energy needed to sustain life. This includes energy used for breathing, heart rate, cell production, and more.
Your basal metabolic rate is mainly determined by genetics. Certain things can speed up or slow down your metabolism, but you don’t have as much control over it as you are taught to believe. The main factor that slows down your metabolism is restrictive dieting and the two main factors that can increase metabolism are eating enough calories and increasing muscle mass.
- Diet-Induced Thermogenesis: 10%
The amount of energy used for digestion, absorption, and conversion of food into energy.
- Physical Activity Level: 15-20%
The amount of energy burned through physical activity. This number will vary depending on individual activity levels.
The best way to ensure your body is getting the appropriate amount of calories on a daily basis without counting them is to get in touch with your hunger and fullness cues and engage in intuitive eating.
This will help ensure you not only consume the correct amount of calories, but that you are maintaining a balanced diet and incorporating a variety of foods from each food group.
2. What is a healthy weight range for me?
Determining a healthy weight range for your body can feel daunting. Most people constantly feel at odds with where they want their body to be and where their body actually feels best. Similar to your height, you don’t have much say when it comes to your weight range.
Everyone’s body has a particular weight range that it naturally wants to be. I say naturally wants to be because society teaches that your willpower and determination have the ability to override your genetics and change this number.
This makes sense with the amount of social pressure we feel to a be a certain body weight and shape. We are taught that the latest fad diets will help us achieve our weight loss goals. And while these popular diets may result in short-term weight loss, they almost always end in weight gain.
A common equation used to determine an appropriate weight for the average person is the HAMWI equation. This equation calculates ideal body weight according to the following equation:
- Men: 106 lbs. for the first 5 feet + 6 lbs. for each additional inchThis means a 6 ‘2″ male should weigh 190 lbs.
- Women: 100 lbs. for the first 5 feel + 5 lbs. for each additional inchThis means a 5’7″ female should weigh 135 lbs.
If this equation was foolproof, it would make my job as a dietitian much easier, but human physiology cannot be simplified to a mathematical equation. I have worked with countless individuals of all sizes, shapes, and weights that do not fit within this mold, but are still incredibly healthy individuals.
The best and most accurate way for you to determine your ideal body weight range is to incorporate proper nutrition and healthy eating habits that focus on balanced meals and snacks to fuel your body. Your body is built with an internal system of innate hunger and fullness cues that can guide you towards your appropriate weight range and ease your life-long struggle with weight management. You just have to learn to listen to them.
3. Which diet should I be following?
The simple answer? No diet at all. At least none of the popular diets advertised in society. Many people want to know what the best diet out there is and how they can follow it. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this because everyone has very individualized needs and different ways of eating work for different people.
Some people feel their best eating a plant-based diet while others couldn’t imagine eating a meal that doesn’t include animal protein. Some people enjoy 6 small meals a day while others feel best eating 3 larger meals and 2-3 smaller snacks.
Regardless of whether or not you choose to be vegetarian or eat meat 6x per day, a few recommendations for the general population to meet their daily nutritional needs include:
- Include a source of starchy carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and fibers at all meals and snacks
- Avoid going longer than 4 hours without eating a meal or snack
- Choose a variety of different foods within each food group
- Choose foods that make your body, brain, and heart happy
- Focus on achieving a balanced diet rather than a restrictive diet
Using these recommendations as a starting point, you then get to adapt them to your lifestyle in a healthy way that is sustainable to you. Consider reaching out to a dietitian to get more individualized answers for specific medical conditions.
4. Should I be taking any dietary supplements?
Ensuring you are getting all the essential nutrients your body needs is important for your overall wellbeing. I always recommend a food-first approach as the best way to achieve a balanced diet rather than relying on dietary supplements.
That being said, individuals who are vegetarian or vegan and following a plant-based diet may need to rely on vitamin or mineral supplements to maintain appropriate levels of all key nutrients.
The key nutrients of concern for someone following a plant-based diet include:
- Protein
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin B12
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- Iron
- Zinc
- Calcium
- Iodine
A dietitian can examine your average daily intake and help you determine if you may be deficient in any key nutrients, especially if your are managing any chronic medical conditions.
All foods have a different nutritional value, so getting a wide variety of foods from each food group and consuming an adequate caloric intake is the best way to ensure proper nutrition.
For individuals with specific health issues such as iron deficiency anemia, it is important to meet with a dietitian and physician who can answer specific questions regarding recommendations for dietary supplements.
Some vitamins, such as a multivitamin (MVI) are relatively harmless because the body will excrete any of the nutrients you already have enough of. However, certain dietary supplements, such as iron, get stored in the body and can cause health issues if taken inappropriately.
Bottom line, I always recommend checking in with a dietitian or physician before taking any dietary supplements.
5. What is the recommended intake of protein?
Proteins are composed of building blocks called amino acids. The body can make 11 out of 20 of these amino acids, which are referred to as non-essential amino acids. The remaining 9, referred to as essential amino acids, must be consumed through food because the body does not have the ability to synthesize them.
An adequate intake of protein is essential for proper functioning and overall health. Protein is used by every cell in the body so it is important to ensure your are consuming a balanced diet that includes a wide variety of protein foods.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein for the general population is 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight per day. This amount is the recommended to meet basic nutritional requirements. It is important to note that the RDA has gone relatively unchanged for more than 70 years.
According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) for protein is 10-35% of total calories per day for adults. These numbers recommend a higher intake than that of the RDA. Many individuals find they do best with a protein intake closer to 1.1 – 1.3 grams per kilogram body weight per day.
The recommended intake of protein will vary depending on different physiological states. For example, your body will likely require a higher intake of protein if you are an athlete, pregnant, lactating, or recovering from an illness or injury.
If you are concerned about your intake of protein, reach out to a nutrition expert such as an RDN, who can analyze your daily intake and recommend any changes necessary to ensure you are following a balanced diet.
6. What can I do to manage digestive discomforts?
The human gut is a complex and intricate system of tubes that makes it difficult to identify, diagnose, and treat digestive discomforts. There is no “one-size-fits-all” nutrition recommendation that will alleviate uncomfortable gut symptoms for everyone.
The best way to develop an individualized nutrition plan to manage digestive discomforts is to meet with a dietitian. A GI doctor specializes in the delivery of medical care for treating and preventing intestinal issues and is a great resource when nutritional interventions are not adequate.
A registered dietitian can answer specific questions about nutrition interventions that may help to improve your digestive discomforts.
Some of the most beneficial nutrition interventions I have seen in my clinical work improving digestive discomforts include the following:
- Stress Management:
Your gut and brain are connected through the vagus nerve via the gut-brain axis. The vagus nerve uses neurotransmitters and hormones to communicate information between these two regions of your body.
Some health professionals even refer to the gut as the “2nd brain” and there is a lot of research seeking to identify the relationship between the gut and the brain.
Many patients can identify that stress and anxiety worsen GI symptoms and GI symptoms worsen stress and anxiety. This bidirectional relationship has the possibility to significantly improve both digestive discomforts and psychological health.
- Small Frequent Meals:
Just like your body prefers a specific sleep pattern every night, your body functions best with a consistent eating pattern. Many individuals with erratic eating habits who skip meals or only eat one large meal per day find at least some level of relief when they space out their eating into small frequent meals and snacks about every 4 hours.
- Identification of Trigger Foods:
Certain foods and beverages are more likely to cause digestive discomforts than others, but it will always vary depending on the individual. Keeping a food and symptom record to help identify potential troubling foods and ingredients can assist a dietitian with tailoring your meal plan to help alleviate symptoms while ensuring a balanced diet.
Some common foods known to contribute to digestive discomforts include:
- Dairy products
- Spicy and hot foods
- Too much fiber
- Not enough fiber
- Acidic foods
- Sugar free foods with artificial sugars
- Fried foods
This is not an extensive list and some or all of these foods may not contribute to your individualized digestive discomforts. The best way to identify trigger foods and modify your diet accordingly is to meet with a nutrition expert.
- Weight gain:
Adverse GI symptoms are commonly seen with individuals who have lost a significant amount of weight. The GI tract functions using muscular contractions to propel food through the body. This process is referred to as peristalsis.
When weight loss occurs due to inadequate calorie intake, there is not enough energy for digestion to continue as usual. Digestion is slowed down and can lead to various symptoms such as bloating, pain, early fullness, and constipation.
Once adequate calories are consumed and weight gain occurs, the muscles of the GI tract have enough energy to properly function and many of the GI discomforts caused by malnutrition are resolved.
This is not an extensive list of nutrition and lifestyle remedies to resolve GI issues. If you are suffering from digestive discomforts, it is important to meet with a registered dietitian or another healthcare professional trained in GI health. Everyone’s body is very different and will respond to different treatments.
Whether you are managing a chronic medical condition or interested in nutrition for educational purposes, meeting with a registered dietitian is the best way to get specific questions answered. They have the training and expertise required to provide ongoing support so that you can more easily maintain proper nutrition and be successful on your wellness journey.
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments!
