(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who’ve resolved to lose weight in the new year might need a little help in reaching their goals. Rebecca Cripe, a registered dietician and nutritionist with Gundersen Health System, says it’s not an easy task to change our eating habits and consulting with a professional will increase the chances for success. “We are trained to look at health from a medical standpoint and how food, exercise, hydration and proper self care fit into that,” Cripe says. “We’re always going to do an assessment to see what’s inconsistent, is there too much of one thing, not enough another thing, and what that individual’s goals are and how we can start creating some balance with that.”
If you want to make the change and drop some pounds, Cripe says don’t wait until March, find a registered dietician now, as she says their primary goals are education and problem solving. “I might have a patient at the end of an initial appointment that will say, ‘Gosh, there’s a lot that I want to work on,’ and I’ll say, ‘Absolutely, but we’re going to have time to do that,'” Cripe says. “The average time to make a good lifestyle change is at least six months, so we’re going to take small steps. We might meet every two to three weeks, maybe four weeks, and implement small goals that are realistic.”
Especially with the new year, there’s a lot of messaging with fad diets that there’s a problem with the individual if weight loss goals aren’t met, and that’s not right, according to Cripe. She says we need to go into the process with realistic expectations. “Managing health, weight specifically, is multi-factorial. That means there’s many factors that go into that,” Cripe says. “It’s somebody’s genetics, it’s somebody’s other health issues, it’s our environment, it’s a lack of support, it’s the readiness to change. There’s so many little areas, so seek the help to individually see what’s going to fit for you and seek that support to help.”
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