BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD: Many of the children that are brought to see registered dietitians have weight issues, because nowadays, there is an epidemic of diabetes, actually, in the population of children, due to all the obesity that we see. So that could be one reason.
Another reason may be that a child's not eating enough or not eating well. And then, sometimes, children do have illnesses: Crohn's disease, digestive issues, diabetes, hypertension.
ANNOUNCER: Dietitians are part detective and part psychologist.
BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD: We look for foods that may be missing, foods that may be in excess. Sometimes, people have a tendency to give you a dietary recall, "Oh, no, I never have any snacks," and then, you might look at the food diary and see, "Well, what happened here at 3:00? What about 10:30 in the morning? What about at midnight?
When a dietitian looks at a food diary, we look for hot spots. Initially, I would glance at the food diary looking for "Does this person have enough calcium in their diet? Are they getting any fruits and vegetables? Do they have enough fiber in their diet? Do they have enough protein in their diet? What about the carbohydrates?
I look for food fads, I look for misconceptions. Very often, from a food diary, I can actually tell the kind of misconceptions that someone may have about diet. If I see everything is fat-free, fat-free, fat-free, and then all of a sudden, you know, something in there that's loaded with fat, I wonder what went on there.
