It is a new generation of professionals who are committed to dietary guidelines that gradually change habits and not those that uproot food, always faithful to the demands of patients, but also aware of the reality and possibilities of each one.
In 2018, three nutritionists founded the center Be aware (@serconsciente.nutricion ) with a clear goal: to help people understand nutrition from a more holistic perspective and not from fear and restriction. “We realized that most people’s conception of diet or improving their diet was related to restriction, always with the prohibition or elimination of nutrient groups. However, nutrition is a fundamental pillar of being human, we cannot ban it, but educate to learn how to eat and know the body”, explains Sofía Arrieta, one of the founders.
On social networks, testimonials abound of people who have succeeded in improving their relationship with food thanks to dietary recommendations issued by professionals who share this vision and move away from the restrictive menu that was once used by nutritionists. But working with this approach does not mean falling into permissiveness or admitting the free consumption of dangerous foods for some patients, but educating about portions and habits. “We are also faced with not falling into the other extreme, that is to say that it is normal to eat fries every day, and this leads us to education, to understanding the portions and times we eat, and how it is possible to supplement our diet. In this way, patients have more compassion for their bodies and are not afraid of things. There are people who have different limitations, as is the case of diabetics or those allergic to gluten, but for this there are different guides, ” explains Sofia.
Weeding out old-school ideas in patients has also been a challenge. , because most go to the nutritionist thinking that they must comply one hundred percent with the recommendation and that otherwise the effort will be in vain. This is why in the Conscious Being they apply the rule “80 and 20”, with which they communicate to their patients that the diet proposed to them is designed to be applied in 80% of their days and that it is possible that 20% exceed the recommendation or do not comply with it to the letter.
Sofía points out that this “is discussed with the patients from day one. We agree that your achievements will not be based on measurements, but on other advances. The level of frustration is very high, which is why we often refer them to a psychological consultation, so that they gradually accept the change and see that the consultation is a safe space. They are usually asked if they want to know their weight and when they say yes, we take the opportunity to educate them, explain them and provide them with the necessary support. .
Collaboration between patient and professional
“You have to find a balance. If a patient wants to eat something sweet every day, the idea is to reduce bit by bit or make replacements over time. When they tell us we can’t have something, we want it more. The same thing happens with food. It has been believed that having x foods at home can be harmful in its entirety, but when you have the knowledge that you learn from the professionals, it’s different. Thus, patients can decide in a more informed way and the anxiety for this food decreases a lot. Chocolate no longer lasts five minutes in the pantry, but weeks,” says Rocío Bastidas (@lanutri.ro ) who attends your consultation independently, in person and online.
She also works under the approach of a diet without restrictive diets, emphasizing the part psychonutritional. “If a patient who is not emotionally prepared for a calorie deficit follows this diet, it will only impact the generation of a bad relationship with food. To develop a feeding recommendation, I focus on a patient’s biological, social, nutritional, and economic needs. Sometimes several of these conditions are not taken into account and guidelines are given in which it is indicated to eat at 7 am and sometimes it is impossible for the patient. For someone who is motivated to lose weight, for example, it will work for the first few months, but it is totally unsustainable over time,” he explains.
According to Rocío, one of the best strategies for patients to gain confidence in this process and stop seeing diet as an obstacle is to open up a margin of error: “The patient starts to trust you a lot more because the barrier of thinking you’re going to challenge them is gone. , because it is the image of the nutritionist that we sometimes have, that there is a hierarchy for the knowledge of the subject that the patient does not know, but it does not work like that anymore. You educate the patient so that they get along together and can participate in their own treatment. It’s no longer a question of saying ‘eat at that time’ and that’s it”.
The professional points out that the culture of food is marked by what society and, often, health dictates, such as continuing to see weight gain as a sign of illness, when this is not necessarily the case. “A person who is overweight or obese does not mean that they are sick. Many factors are overlooked before making these judgments, such as genetics. When we talk about losing weight, people think that with these 1,000 or 1,300 calorie diets they can do it, but in reality you lose muscle mass, collagen, water and eventually fat, and sometimes you don’t even lose it,” he points out.
Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
