Simi Valley Hospital | Living Well | Fall 2015

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Recipe for wellness
NEW SIMI VALLEY HOSPITAL PROGRAM HELPS
TO MAKE GOOD FOOD CHOICES A WAY OF LIFE
IN THE U.S., it seems, cooking is a national
pastime. Grocery stores burst with aisles of foods
marketed and packaged in new ways: exotic
foods; fish harvested by sustainable practices;
organic, cruelty-free, grass-fed beef; hand-crafted,
gluten-free and hormone-free food; free-range
chicken; and so forth. It is hard to know what
these terms mean and how to determine what is
best for your family and your budget.
Cooking is distinct from other pastimes in
that the food we eat interacts with our bodies in
complex, lasting and sometimes unpredictable
ways. You are what you eat,says an old adage—
and it’s true in many ways.
For most of us, food is a great joy in life. But it
can also be a source of confusion and frustration
when health considerations compel us to begin
making conscious choices about the food we put
into our bodies. There is a lot of healthy-eating
information on the Internet, on TV and in adver-
tisements, and bestselling books and popular diets
promote particular ways of eating. Often, one book
or website contradicts another, and much of the
information is incorrect or even dangerous.
Responding to our community’s desire for
reliable, medically sound education about healthy
eating and wellness, Simi Valley Hospital has
launched the Outpatient Nutrition Counseling
program. Some patients receive a limited amount
of nutritional counseling while they are in the
hospital; the new program provides ongoing coun-
seling in a more relaxed and focused setting for
those patients, as well as educational opportu-
nities for anyone in the community who wants
to learn to make better food choices.
A safe place
The focus of the new program, said Simi Valley
Hospital outpatient dietitian Lorraine Burke, is to
help people achieve their health goals through
good nutrition.
“A lot of people don’t want to go see a dietitian
because they think we’re going to take everything
good away from them,” she said. “But we’re not
there to be the food police; we’re there to help
them meet their food goals, get healthier and
reduce their risk of disease.”
The emphasis, Burke said, is on a nonjudgmental
and compassionate environment. She works
with clients to find ways to continue to enjoy the
foods they love while moving toward a healthier,
more balanced approach to food. She also helps
patients with diet restrictions related to health
conditions find food options that are both safe
and appealing.
“This is not about all or nothing,” Burke said,
“it’s about moving toward a healthier place. For
instance, we might find three positive changes
a patient can make in their diet, and if those
changes work, we’ll move forward. If not, we’ll
work together to find alternatives.”
A new view on food
Among their conversations, Burke helps her clients
explore why they eat, what they eat and when
they eat. She also helps patients come up with
alternatives to food in the situations where people
tend to overemphasize eating.
“For instance, we help people avoid using food
as a reward,” she said. “There is a different way to
celebrate that promotion than by eating.”
The relatively new concept of mindfulness
in eating is also a big part of the counseling
approach, Burke said. Mindful eating avoids
multitasking and eating while watching TV or
using technology, and it helps the eater become
more aware of the food by such techniques
as putting down the fork between bites and
engaging in conversation with others around
the dinner table.
To schedule an appointment for nutrition
counseling, speak with your physician or call
the Outpatient Nutrition Counseling program at
805-955-6590. If you have questions about insur-
ance coverage for the program, please call your
insurance company.
Counseling
for every
need
Simi Valley Hospital’s
Outpatient Nutrition
Counseling program helps
clients who desire to lose
weight or maintain a healthy
weight, people who have other
nutritional goals, and those
who need a particular eating
plan as a result of a disease or
condition, such as:
•High blood pressure
•High cholesterol
•Diabetes
•Digestive disorders
•Food allergies
•Celiac disease
•Cancer, including symptom
management
•Kidney disease
•Liver disease.