Nutrition Counseling The Process Of Guiding A Client...

Nutrition counselling can be defined as â€Å"the process of guiding a client toward a healthy nutrition lifestyle by meeting normal nutritional needs and solving problems that are barriers to change†. To change food habits effectively, nutrition counsellors work with clients to alter behaviours influenced by different social, ethnic, emotional and biological factors. It was once thought that by simply handing out diets and facts to clients that nutrition professionals could change food behaviours. The outcomes of these methods were generally disappointing and eventually nutrition professionals soon realised a need for a new approach in nutrition counselling. These days, there are a range of different counselling philosophies, theories and†¦show more content†¦Classic conditioning is based on stimuli that affect food behaviour. For example, seeing or smelling food may be a stimulus to eat. In nutrition counselling, clients may be encouraged to recognise and remove the stimuli, such as ‘unhealthy foods’. Operant conditioning focuses on the law of effect, which is based on the theory that behaviours can be altered by their positive or negative effect. In nutrition counselling, a positive approach to conditioning is applied, such as a reward for accomplishing a goal. Modelling is observational learning, such as learning by watching or hearing videos, demonstrations or other individuals. (Bauer 2002). Cognitive therapy was developed by Aaron T. Beck. The principle of this approach is that undesirable thoughts are self harming learned behaviours and are the most common source of people’s emotional troubles. Clients are educated that negative thought patterns should be identified, eliminated and replaced with positive self-talk. By influencing thought patterns, a person’s feelings and behaviours can be changed. Cognitive therapists have developed a range of methods to improve positive mind-sets and support problem solving ability. These comprise of relaxation exercises, meditation, altering thought processes and systematic desensitization (Bauer 2002). Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) can be traced back to early