Michelle Smekens, RD

Registered Dietitian

Ms. Michelle Smekens is a Registered Dietitian in Highwood, IL with special training and skill in assessing, diagnosing, and treating dietary and nutritional problems. As a Registered Dietitian, Michelle Smekens, RD performs nutritional counseling for people who wish to lose weight, have an eating disorder, need a customized diet for health reasons, experience food allergies or intolerances, suffer a digestive disorder, or wish to improve athletic ability. Dietetics is a medical specialty focused on the use of food and nutrition to promote health and manage disease. Significant diseases and conditions treated by Registered Dietitians include anorexia, bulimia, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, acid reflux, cancer, obesity, pregnancy, food allergy and intolerance, and celiac disease. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Registered Dietitians include creating exclusion diet plans, advising patients on supplement use, creating specialized diet plans for diabetic patients, offering patient and parental nutrition education, prescribing some types of medication, and referring patients to other specialists as needed.

A Registered Dietitian (RD)/Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) is an individual uniquely trained in the science of nutrition and practice of dietetics to design and provide medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and other evidence-based applications of the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) that exemplify the profession's systematic approach to providing high quality nutrition care. Registered dietitians provide MNT for the purpose of disease prevention or management, or to treat or rehabilitate an illness, injury, or condition, with the use of specific, indicated physical and cognitive nutrition care services comprised of one or more of the following aspects of the NCP: nutrition assessment/reassessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention (e.g., nutrition counseling, therapeutic diet ordering, and nutrition education) and nutrition monitoring and evaluation.

Naturopath

Ms. Michelle Smekens is a Naturopath in Highwood, IL with special training and skill in treating chronic conditions that don't respond to conventional medicine by addressing the individual needs of patients and developing custom treatment plans. As a Naturopath, Michelle Smekens, RD performs lab testing to detect and monitor hormone and nutrient imbalances, nutritional therapy, botanical medicine, acupuncture, and IV therapy. Naturopathy is science-based medicine that promotes wellness by identifying the unique aspects of each patient, then employing non-toxic natural therapies to restore the patients physiological, psychological, and structural balance. Significant diseases and conditions treated by Naturopaths include fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, depression, asthma, hypertension, hormonal imbalance, type II diabetes, and other autoimmune diseases. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Naturopaths include medical history analysis, blood testing, saliva testing, urine testing, stool testing, diet therapy, nutritional supplements, botanical medicine, patience, and good communication about a patient's whole health (as opposed to any one individual symptom only).

Diagnoses, treats, and cares for patients, using system of practice that bases treatment of physiological functions and abnormal conditions on natural laws governing human body: Utilizes physiological, psychological, and mechanical methods, such as air, water, light, heat, earth, phototherapy, food and herb therapy, psychotherapy, electrotherapy, physiotherapy, minor and orificial surgery, mechanotherapy, naturopathic corrections and manipulation, and natural methods or modalities, together with natural medicines, natural processed foods, and herbs and nature's remedies. Excludes major surgery, therapeutic use of x ray and radium, and use of drugs, except those assimilable substances containing elements or compounds which are components of body tissues and are physiologically compatible to body processes for maintenance of life.