Nutrition and Diet
What is the Nutrition and Diet Unit?
Proper eating is one key to a healthy lifestyle. Balanced and regular nutrition is considered a factor in preventing many diseases. The nutrition and diet unit is a service provided to patients and clients in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. It aims to improve patients' and clients' quality of life by applying a healthy and balanced nutrition plan suitable for their metabolic activities to achieve a healthier body.
The nutrition and diet unit provides services to clients for various diseases and conditions, such as healthy weight gain or loss, proper nutrition for diabetics, and proper nutrition during pregnancy.
Which diseases is the Nutrition and Dietetics Unit responsible for addressing?
As previously mentioned, the scope of the Nutrition and Dietetics Unit is quite broad. This unit provides various services, from childhood to pregnancy, multiple diseases, and personalized nutrition practices. The answer to the question of which diseases the Nutrition and Dietetics Unit addresses is presented in more detail below.
1. Healthy Weight Loss
Weight problems are among the health problems that many people complain about. Weight problems invite many diseases. Excess weight problems, which can be seen at almost any age, can be solved through a diet plan that a nutrition and dietetics expert will apply, and the standard of living of individuals can be improved in this way.
2. Healthy Weight Gain
In addition to excess weight problems, it is also necessary to seek the help of a nutrition and dietetics expert in cases of being excessively thin. The inability to gain weight is a risky situation for health and can cause the person's muscles and bones to weaken and their organs to be damaged. Therefore, it is essential for individuals who have difficulty gaining weight to seek the nutrition and dietetics unit of healthcare institutions to balance their muscle-bone density and normalize their blood values.
3. Nutrition Issues During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Pregnant women need to pay attention to their nutrition for the healthy development of their babies. The nutrition plan that needs to be applied during every stage of pregnancy differs depending on factors such as age, height-weight ratio, and the amount of nutrients that pregnant women need to consume. Therefore, the nutrition and dietetics unit is essential for women to have a healthy pregnancy process.
Pregnant women must also follow regular and balanced nutrition rules during the breastfeeding period after giving birth. The mother needs to seek the nutrition and dietetics unit during breastfeeding to ensure that her breast milk contains sufficient nutrients for the baby's development.
4. Nutrition Issues During Childhood
Health problems such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypercholesterolemia can occur during childhood. The nutrition and dietetics unit plays a crucial role in preventing and treating these diseases, where incorrect and irregular nutrition plays a significant role. In addition, children should stay away from harmful foods during their physical and mental development stages. In this respect, the nutrition and dietetics unit provides services to combat childhood nutrition problems and the diseases that arise from these problems.
5. Nutritional Problems of Diabetic Patients
Diabetes, also commonly known as sugar disease, is among the diseases caused by improper nutrition. It results from insufficient, irregular, and unbalanced nutrition, and it requires learning the correct nutrition. The nutrition and diet unit is crucial for determining the body's nutritional needs, improving these needs to a healthier level, and enhancing the patient's quality of life.
6. Nutritional Problems in Digestive System Disorders
The nutrition and diet unit plays a crucial role in treating and preventing chronic or acute digestive system disorders affecting the intestines and stomach. Individuals experiencing stomach problems such as gastritis, ulcers, and indigestion and those with intestinal issues such as diarrhea, colitis, and absorption disorders must seek assistance from a nutrition and diet unit to determine which foods they should and should not consume.
7. Nutritional Problems in Digestive System Disorders
The nutrition and diet unit plays a crucial role in treating and preventing chronic or acute digestive system disorders affecting the intestines and stomach. Individuals experiencing stomach problems such as gastritis, ulcers, and indigestion and those with intestinal issues such as diarrhea, colitis, and absorption disorders must seek assistance from a nutrition and diet unit to determine which foods they should and should not consume.
8. Personalized Nutrition Practices
Individuals who want to maintain a healthy and balanced diet or control their weight often seek routine check-ups from the nutrition and diet unit. In this regard, nutrition and diet experts inform these individuals on which foods they should consume based on their body characteristics, and a personalized nutrition program is created for them. The nutrition and diet unit also monitors whether the individual follows the program and tracks their progress.
9. Sports Nutrition
Sports involve physical activities that require high-performance levels. In addition to regular training, a healthy, stable, and high-quality diet plan is essential for optimal performance.
Nutrition and diet experts at Medicana Healthcare Group plan and monitor athletes' nutrition. They consider the athletes' sports discipline, body composition measurement results, personal characteristics, and whether they are in a growth and development phase. The experts determine the nutritional needs of athletes during training periods and before and after competitions and adjust their nutrition programs accordingly.
10. Allergy - Food Intolerance and Nutrition
Food allergies affect human life from infancy onwards. Therefore, the nutrition of individuals with allergies should be considered from a very young age. Nutrition and diet experts plan for individuals to eat healthily to avoid a situation where removing certain foods from their diet due to allergies leads to an inadequate and unbalanced diet.
11. Nutrition in Eating Disorders
Eating disorders (such as anorexia, bulimia, etc.) are treated to change the distorted eating behavior, bringing a different approach to the issue of food and establishing a new eating routine. Dietitians at Medicana Health Group work within a multidisciplinary team to identify, treat, monitor, support, and rehabilitate eating disorders.
