Question

Suzzie is a 40-year-old black lawyer. She leads an active life and uses oral contraceptives. She works out regularly and eats a very low-fat diet to manage her weight. She and her husband want to start a family. Her blood tests indicate that she has a low folate level. She has a light breakfast of fruit, a lunch of a sandwich and coffee, and a dinner of a green salad, pasta, fruit, and milk. She comes into your office for advice on how to improve her diet. What recommendations do you have for her as her nutritional counselor? • What are your concerns about her diet • What additional information do you need? • In what way could she improve her vitamin intake? • Would a supplement be useful?

Answer 1

#. As a nutritional counselor, i would guide her to have a good heavy breakfast because she needs to have energy for the full day , a medium size lunch and a very light dinner for easy absorption at night . She should include more fruits at night with salad than having pasta.

#. My concrns about her diet is that she is taking extremely less calories than her requirements and is working out more which will cause complications at the time of conception

#. My main concern is her decreased folate levels because due to decrease in folic acid babies will have neural deformities like spina bifida etc . To avoid this i will advice her to include foods in her diet that have excess amounts of vitamins and minerals and will provide her a list of foods to be taken.

#. Additional information that i would require is about any disease condition she is having , any medications that she is taking and her family history . So, that i can make a diet chart according to that .

#. She can improve her vitamin intake by involving vitamin rich foods in her diet . Supplements are only to be given when foods are not providing sufficient vitamins required .