General Nutrition

Nutrition is a complex but fascinating science!

The nutritionist dietician is a member of the Ordre professionnelle des diététistes nutritionnistes du Québec (ODNQ) and holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition.

What Does a Nutritionist Do?

They help you achieve your nutritional goals based on :

• YOUR expectations
• YOUR past experiences
• YOUR lifestyle
• YOUR relationship with cooking
• YOUR relationship with food
• YOUR health
• YOUR needs

Evaluating your diet beyond food and calories: the nutritionist evaluates all factors affecting eating and nutrition, and possesses important knowledge about health, metabolic functioning and biochemical results related to nutritional conditions.

She can also:

• Detect the risk of nutritional deficiencies;
• Help you manage your health condition through diet, whenever possible;
• Help you optimize your nutrition to improve your sporting performance;
• Help you reconnect with your body signals to regain or maintain your natural weight and find or rediscover the pleasure of eating!

What Happens During a Nutrition Session?

Nutritional Assessment (initial meeting) :

The assessment meeting lasts 60 mins [45 mins with client] or 90 mins [75 mins with client], and includes:

• A complete assessment, not only of your lifestyle, but also of your eating habits, your health check-ups, the biopsychosocial factors that can influence or affect your food intake, and your past experiences and attempts.
• Basic training based on your objectives and nutritional assessment. At this stage, you’ll receive all the visual tools you need to support you on your journey.
• Depending on the length of the meeting: a personalized plan of objectives based on your priorities*.

*At all times, you remain in control of your goals and priorities. The nutritionist is there to support and guide you along the way, but you’re the boss!

Follow-ups

Appointments of 30 or 45 mins [25 or 40 mins with the client] :

• Follow-up on the progress of your goals
• Support and additional tools if you’ve run into difficulties
• Answers to your questions
• Continued instruction with visual tools according to your needs and upcoming goals
• Adaptation of your personalized plan according to your priorities and needs.

Nutritionists do not produce rigid food plans with precise portion sizes. With the science of nutrition evolving at a rapid pace, new evidence suggests that calculating portions [or calories] not only doesn’t help you achieve your goal (needs vary from day to day depending on multiple factors), but it can also encourage the onset of eating disorders or worsen a troubled relationship with food. What’s more, this method does not teach you how to eat according to your needs, independently, so that you can adapt your diet. The nutritionist’s aim is to teach you how to use nutritional tools so that you can become the master of your own dietary decisions later on.