{"id":116872,"date":"2023-03-20T22:12:04","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T02:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=116872"},"modified":"2023-03-20T22:12:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T02:12:04","slug":"nutrition-consult-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=116872","title":{"rendered":"Nutrition Consult \u201cChanged My Life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Capital Blue Cross \u2013 \u00a0THINK<\/a>\u00a0(Trusted Health Information, News, and Knowledge) is a community publication of Capital Blue Cross. Our mission is to provide education, resources, and news on the latest health and insurance issues.<\/b><\/p>\n

Debra Kortvely was looking to drop a few pounds when she consulted a registered dietitian at a Capital Blue Cross Connect health and wellness center. What she found was a nutrition-based way to finally control her irritable bowel syndrome.<\/p>\n

Turns out Debra Kortvely\u2019s weight was just fine. But that didn\u2019t mean her recent consultation with a registered dietitian was a waste of time.<\/p>\n

Quite the contrary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt changed my life,\u201d Kortvely said.<\/p>\n

A 62-year-old, health-conscious retiree who walks 45 minutes with her dog each morning and regularly hits the gym, Kortvely figured she needed to drop 5 or 10 pesky pounds when she sat down recently for a consultation with Capital Blue Cross registered dietitian Ericka Koffel.<\/p>\n

But after a broad conversation with Kortvely about her health, eating habits, food preferences, exercise regimen, and more, Koffel came to a critical conclusion: While Kortvely was at a healthy weight, there were nutritional modifications she could make to ease the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) that had plagued her for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I basically provided nutrition therapy for her IBS,\u201d Koffel said, \u201cand she emailed me recently to say she\u2019s doing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kortvely\u2019s story illustrates that proper nutrition is a highly individualized and important piece of a person\u2019s overall health.<\/p>\n

Poor Eating Equals Risk<\/b><\/p>\n

Evidence abounds that Americans too often fail to make healthy nutritional choices, and with dire results, which is why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) includes poor nutrition among the country\u2019s major risk factors for chronic diseases.<\/p>\n

Poor nutrition can cause obesity, heart disease and stroke, and Type 2 diabetes \u2013 even deficient brain function for infants and toddlers whose mothers had low iron levels during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

According to the CDC:<\/p>\n