Submitted by Melissa Molloy, Manager, Clinical Nutrition, Patient Services & Food Services
March is National Nutrition Month. During the month of March, everyone is invited to learn about making informed food choices and developing healthful eating and physical activity habits. Not just anyone can call themselves a registered dietitian. To attain this title, one must complete a bachelor’s degree, a year-long internship, and pass the grueling registration exam.
Here are a few things that our Clinical Dietitian team want you to know about nutrition and being a registered dietitian:
“Everyone likes dessert, especially dietitians.”
We encourage our patients to get in fruits and vegetables daily, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat desserts on occasion.
“We spend a lot of time focused on poop.”
Bowl movements are something we monitor every day in all our patients. Fiber is an overlooked nutrient. Most Americans eat less than 50% of their recommended daily amount.
“We are not just here to put someone on a weight loss diet.”
For example, patients may know they’re not eating a lot, but they don’t always realize what they may need to keep from being malnourished. A lot of our time is spent discussing evidence-based recommendations to patients and providers to ensure our patients continue to heal by receiving adequate nutrition.
Nutrition doesn’t stop once our inpatients discharge home. Many of our patients can benefit from continuing outpatient nutrition counseling with Valley’s dietitian team in the Lifestyle Medicine Center.
