80/20 Nutrition Planner

How to Perform a Nutrition Consultation

Building Rapport

It is important to build a trusting rapport with your client. This will ensure that you will get reliable information from the client on which to base recommendations and goals. Remember that it is a skill to obtain reliable information from your clients.

Goal Setting

• Set realistic goals with the client
• Realistic weight loss goals are <1kg per week
• Realistic muscle gain goals are a maximum of 1kg per week
• Suggest follow-up meetings as the best way to achieve these goals long-term

Long-term Goal Weight

An appropriate and reasonable goal weight should be set. For those who are somewhat overweight, set short-term goals. This may be to lose 10kg (as seen in the introduction, this can result in significant improvement in health outcomes). Another goal could be to lose 10% of body weight. For those who are not too overweight, the attainment of a healthy BMI should be the goal weight.

Interview Techniques

Do not ask leading questions that may influence the client's response e.g. Asking what they have for breakfast assumes that they have breakfast. Instead ask: "what is the first thing you eat or drink each day?"

How to use the diet History:

From the dietary history you can get information on:

• Appropriateness of meal timing e.g. are they leaving too long between meals and then subsequently over-eating?
• Are their snacks appropriate?
• Is there a certain time of day which seems to be their "weak-spot"?
• Are they timing their intake well with their exercise sessions
• Are they eating appropriate servings of the food groups to ensure adequate micronutrient intake? e.g
• Are they having at least 2 servings of dairy products or equivalent to ensure adequate calcium?
• Are they consuming at least 2 serves of fruit per day?
• Are they consuming at least 3 serves of vegetables per day?
• Are they consuming at least 1 serve of meat/eggs/pulse, legumes etc per day?
• Are they consuming wholegrain and higher fibre options?

The Commonsense Approach

Much of our programme is based on a commonsense approach. We are experts in our field and do not rely on "fad" information.

Many of our clients have been on numerous diets and have heard much nutrition misinformation that is contradictory. They have received scientifically incorrect information from friends, magazines etc. They will be confused! It is our aim to put the commonsense back into their nutrition plan. Take the time to acknowledge that there is widespread misinformation and our plan is based on scientifically factual information. (See the FAQ section for some commonsense information).

Individualisation