Spectrum Health Primary Care Partners

Dietetics

Spectrum Health Primary Care Partners is a Dietetics practice in Grand Rapids, MI with healthcare providers who have special training and skill in assessing, diagnosing, and treating dietary and nutritional problems. Registered Dietitians at Spectrum Health Primary Care Partners perform 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 at Dietetics practices 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 Dietetics practices 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.

Nutrition

Spectrum Health Primary Care Partners is a Nutrition practice in Grand Rapids, MI with healthcare providers who have special training and skill in advising patients on what to eat in order to achieve a specific health-related goal, or lead a healthy lifestyle. Nutritionists at Spectrum Health Primary Care Partners perform tutorials on nutrition, assessment of clients' nutrient imbalances, customization of meal plans, evaluation and adjustments of those meal plans, public speaking on the relationship between good nutrition and disease prevention, research on the latest nutritional science studies. Nutrition is the study and management of the nutrients (including essential micronutrients) that are required for the proper functioning of all human biochemical processes. Nutrition medicine treats the causes underlying patients' symptoms, which, although often partly genetic, are usually very much nutrition-dependent. Significant diseases and conditions treated at Nutrition practices include diabetes, food allergy and intolerance, IBS syndrome, eating disorders, chronic fatigue, malnutrition, kidney failure and bowel disorders, acne, arthritis, autism, bronchitis, candida, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, cystic fibrosis, depression, fibromyalgia, gout, headaches, high blood pressure, hyper/hypo thyroid, infertility, liver disease, and obesity. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Nutrition practices include blood testing, saliva testing, urine testing, stool testing, nutrition and supplementation plan development.

A specialist in adapting and applying food and nutrient knowledge to the solution of food and nutritional problems, the control of disease, and the promotion of health. Nutritionists perform research, instruct groups and individuals about nutritional requirements, and assist people in developing meal patterns that meet their nutritional needs; (2) A nutritionist is someone who has completed undergraduate and/or graduate training in the discipline of nutrition without necessarily meeting the academic and experience requirements to qualify for the Registered Dietitian designation.