VNS Health MLTC: Nutritional Services

Nutritional services include an assessment of you or your loved one's overall dietary health, education about proper nutrition to meet specific health conditions and ongoing nutritional counseling. Nutritionists are invested in achieving a healthier lifestyle through better intake choices, and in some cases, such as with oral supplements and enteral nutrition, intake choices that are medically necessary.

• Oral supplements are drinks ("shakes") or bars added into someone's diet that provide essential vitamins and minerals that they may not get enough of otherwise.

• Enteral nutrition (tube feeding) is the source of nutrition for people who cannot eat or drink by mouth, are unable to chew or safely swallow, or can take in so little by mouth that they need significant additional nutrition.

Nutritionists are trained in dietary needs relative to disease states and the impact that foods have on them. They are also knowledgeable about food-drug interactions and how foods can help or hurt the effectiveness of medications, as well as combinations that can cause harmful reactions. Nutritionists also understand ways that diet can help people get off certain medications. They are well-versed in everything from meal planning and grocery lists to what happens to food at the cellular level inside the body.

Nutritionists work with people to gradually change their dietary choices and eating behaviors to achieve sustainable healthy habits that help them better manage their conditions. They're also integral in recommending adjustments for medically necessary nutritional formulas to optimize health.

Nutritional services and programs such as medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and dietary diabetes prevention are just some examples of nutritionist interventions. Nutritionists thoughtfully customize dietary care for each individual.