Wellness Wednesday is sponsored by Intermountain Health
What do we all do every day? Well, we breathe, we sleep, we drink, we eat. It all sounds pretty basic, but when you think about it, it defines us in terms of our social, our mental, and our physical well-being.
March it's National Nutrition Month – a great time to focus on nutrition and your health. I’m not particularly good at it, but I talked to Natalie Navestad, a nutritionist for inpatient programs at Intermountain Health to find out what inspired her to go into nutrition.
“I was inspired - initially I was in psychology, and I really got fascinated by the psychology of nutrition. You know, food is inherently emotional, and people really connect with food in such an emotional and social way,” said Navestad.
When I look at videos of people eating it's all happy families or friends eating a cornucopia of diverse delicacies. Unfortunately, that’s not my food experience.
A typical day for me? Coffee in the morning, fast food, or a deli sandwich for lunch, something frozen and heated up at night, all of it while doing other things. And in between lots of diet soda and sugar in the form of candy or cookies. Navestad sees the whole range in her patients.
“You have the patients where things are really complex and you really have to put on your thinking cap of how to help them the best, and then you have the patients that just want to talk, and I feel like a mix of both is wonderful,” she said.
Navestad does have some patients who are resistant, and that can be a challenge.
“You kind of have to meet people where they're at and support them the best way you can, whether it's, you know, listening to them rant about, you know, how difficult it is to lose weight or someone who's really ready to dive in and they want to know the steps of what you have to do and when to do it,” she said.
Wanting to know the steps for weight loss can sometimes lead to some not so reliable places.
Navestad cautions, “These things that you're seeing online might not be accurate, you know, it might be telling you some dangerous things. We have to emphasize that nutrition is about variety, and you know a lot of diets restrict you to just minimal foods, you know, whether it's getting rid of carbs or getting rid of um like plant products. Just anything that restricts is hard to stick to. We kind of have to remind them that, you know, fruits and vegetables have lots of benefits to them and you know animal products have benefits and your body needs carbs.”
Navestad recommends checking out MyPlate.gov – a great tool that emphasizes making sure that your meals include different food groups. Personally, I'm going to make sure I don't eat so much processed food. If something has ingredients that I don't recognize, I won't buy it. I’m also going to focus on eating more vegetables. It’s all about making smarter, healthier choices when possible.
Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) can be a great resource to help you understand the connection between food and health. Many Intermountain Health locations offer in-person and virtual sessions. Costs vary depending on length of session and individual insurance coverage.
Intermountain Health also offers free, 90-minute Way to Wellness “Bites” Classes designed to help you improve nutrition and wellness, increase physical activity, and address health concerns such as prediabetes. Classes are facilitated by a registered dietitian nutritionist, and offered virtually and in person at several sites.
Click here to learn more about Intermountain Nutrition Services and find the resources that are right for you and your family.
