Whether you need help managing a health problem or slimming down, a dietitian can help. Getting customized knowledge about how your food intake affects your personal wellness from a registered dietitian gives you the best possible chance at improved health. It’s time for you to take control of your lifestyle choices and seek out healthier foods. Everyone can benefit from reading labels, eating certain foods in moderation and having a solid idea of what they are using to fuel their bodies and minds.

A Mercyhealth dietitian can offer customized nutrition education services and medical nutrition therapy for pediatric and adult patients with concerns about:

• Heart health
• Weight loss/obesity
• Cancer
• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Food allergies/intolerance
• Kidney disease
• Pulmonary disease

One in every three people born today will develop diabetes during their lifetime. In Illinois, 500,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes every year. Although diabetes is a lifelong, incurable disease, careful management can slow its progression.

Our Diabetes and Nutrition Service team includes nurses and a registered dietitian. They are committed to providing people who have diabetes—and their families—with clarity, hope, empowerment, confidence, and the knowledge needed to self-manage daily life activities and prevent complications.

Diabetes patients have their own program for dietary monitoring through several Mercyhealth locations:

• Glucose monitoring
• Basic meal planning
• Exercise planning;
• Problem solving
• Setting self-care goals
• Reducing the risk of complications
• Insulin and other injectable medication training
• Insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor training

After receiving a referral from your doctor, a Mercyhealth dietitian will review and assess your eating habits and pertinent health history. He or she will then give you a customized nutrition evaluation and plan.