Baptist Health Lexington Nutrition Education and Diet Counseling provides many services on a variety of health topics, including:

Brain Health: Have you heard of the Mediterranean diet or the DASH diets before? Did you know that the MIND diet, which is a combination of these two diets, has been shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease? Let us help show you how eating certain foods can help promote brain function for years to come.

Cancer and Cancer Recovery Diets: Are you undergoing cancer treatments and experiencing issues with weight loss, difficulty swallowing, nausea, or taste changes? We provide nutrition counseling to assist with gaining weight, modified consistency diets, and general diet modifications to help with decreased appetite and taste changes. 

Cardiac and Heart Healthy Diets: The American Heart Association 2019 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics indicate that 46% of Americans have high blood pressure. On average, every 38 seconds someone dies from cardiovascular disease and someone dies from stroke every 3.7 minutes. Nutrition can play a large part in heart health. We provide guidance on many heart healthy diet modifications such as low sodium, low fat, and cholesterol-lowering to help with conditions including:

• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure 
• High Cholesterol
• High Triglycerides
• Atrial Fibrillation

The Mediterranean Diet and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets are two popular and effective diets to improve heart health. The U.S. News & World Report ranked the Mediterranean diet as the #1 best diet overall. The Mediterranean diet is an eating approach that does not restrict any food group but focuses on fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and fish. The DASH diet, is ranked as the #2 best diet overall by the U.S. News & World Report, and is promoted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood institute to manage and possibly reverse high blood pressure. 

Diabetes Diet Education 

• Pre-diabetes: Blood sugar levels can sometimes be high or low before a diabetes diagnosis. This pre-diabetes diagnosis is something you can work toward managing with lifestyles changes to prevent Type 2 diabetes.
• Type 1: Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body attacks the pancreas. Type 1 diabetes commonly occurs in childhood, but it can develop in adulthood.
• Type 2: This is the most common form of diabetes. It occurs when the body is making too little insulin to properly regulate blood sugar levels or when your body does not use insulin properly. Type 2 diabetes is hereditary and can run in families. 
• Gestational: Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs while you are pregnant. In this type of diabetes, your body is not able to produce enough insulin during pregnancy. Typically, blood sugar levels will return back to normal after giving birth, but having gestational diabetes does put you at higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes in the future. 
• See more on our Diabetes Education services.

Eating with Food Allergies and Intolerances: Are you allergic to a certain food? Do you have many food allergies? Are there specific foods you have trouble tolerating? The top 8 food allergens include milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. Our team of dietitians can work with you to develop a meal plan and meal ideas that will take into account your food preferences as well as your food allergies or intolerances. 

Gastrointestinal (GI) Diets: Are you experiencing uncomfortable GI symptoms including abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, or vomiting? Then we can help! Our dietitians have experience with many diets and eating patterns to help relieve GI symptoms including elimination diets, low FODMAP, gluten-free, and low or high fiber diets. Some common GI complications we see in our office include: 

• Gastroparesis
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
  • Crohn’s
  • Ulcerative Colitis
• Celiac Disease
• Sucrase-Isomaltase Deficiency (CSID)
• GERD/Acid Reflux
• Eosinophilic Esophagitis 
• Diverticulitis
• Chronic Constipation

Indirect Calorimetry: Indirect Calorimetry is a quick, proven procedure to provide you with an accurate measurement of your calorie needs. In just a little over 10 minutes, you will be provided with information on your body’s calorie needs as well as how your metabolism compares to other individuals your age and gender. This service does not require a referral from your provider, but is only available for adults. People who may want to schedule for indirect calorimetry services include:

• Those who are frustrated with weight loss efforts
• Athletes
• Those who are underweight and trying to gain weight
• Anyone who is curious to know a little more about how their body works

Renal (Kidney) Disease: The kidney is responsible for filtering waste and excess fluids from the blood to be excreted in urine. With kidney disease, the kidneys are not able to filter the blood as well and your diet may need to be adjusted based on the stage of your kidney disease. Your RDN can help make an individualized meal plan based on your electrolytes of concern with kidney disease as well as provide kidney-friendly recipe ideas. Kidney disease is often classified by the following:

• Stages 1-4
• Stage 5 with dialysis

Liver Disease: Liver disease can be caused by genetics or other factors including trauma, viruses, obesity, or alcohol use. There are multiple stages and types of liver disease including:

• Fatty Liver
• Hepatitis
• Cirrhosis

The liver primarily functions to help digest food and rid the body of toxins. With liver disease, the liver may not be able to perform its functions as well and diet may need to be adjusted to help reduce the strain on the liver. Whether it be the need for a low sodium diet or maintaining a healthy weight, our team of dietitians can help adjust a meal plan to fit your needs. 

Pediatric and Teen Health: Baptist Health Lexington’s nutrition services is available for both children and teens. The goal of the program is to provide the patient and family with information and tools to eat healthy for a lifetime. Some common pediatric and teen health topics we see include:

• Healthy Weight Goals
• Healthy Eating Habits
• Feeding Difficulties
• Failure to Thrive
• Gastrointestinal Disorders
• Allergies and Intolerances
• Picky Eating
• Sports Nutrition

Vegan, Vegetarian, and Plant-Based Diets: There are many benefits to plant-based diets including benefits for personal health as well as environmental health. If you are thinking about changing your eating patterns to more of a plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan way of eating, our dietitians can help develop a well-balanced, nutritional meal plan fitting each pattern of eating. Using our computer software, we can also help patients who are currently following a type of plant-based eating ensure they are getting adequate nutrients for a healthy diet.

Sports Nutrition: We offer individualized nutrition counseling for all athletes, at any level. With our advanced computer software, we are able to provide a detailed food analysis based on current eating patterns to better customize a meal plan to help optimize an athlete’s nutrition. We are also able to offer indirect calorimetry services (adults only) to be able to provide a better, more targeted calorie recommended based on level of activity.
 

Weight Loss Counseling/Weight Management: Are you looking to lose weight and aren’t sure where to start or having problems keeping the weight off once you lose it? Our team of RDNs can assist with calorie recommendations for weight loss, research-based meal plans for weight loss, additional meal planning ideas, goal setting, and lifestyle changes to lead to long-lasting weight loss. We provide weight loss counseling, in both small group and one-on-one, based on your preference. 

Women’s Health: Some nutrition related topics are specific to women and our team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) can help develop appropriate meal plans for those topics and stages of life. Whether the need is for healthy nutrition during pregnancy, knowing the calories that are needed while lactating, or weight loss, we will individualize a meal plan for you. Some women’s nutrition-related health topics include:

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
• Pregnancy
• Lactation
• Menopause
• Gestational Diabetes