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BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Valley dietitians are ready to answer your call.

They’re marking March - Nutrition Month - with their own special hotline, and hope to answer all kinds of questions. “It could be anything - we get calls in the office from ‘What can I serve tonight for supper with salmon’ to label reading, heart disease and diabetes,” says dietitian Anne McLaughin, based out of Berwick’s WKM Health Centre.

make a call to the march hotline and leave a question, and it could be McLaughin calling you back with answers within 48 hours. “We get very excited about Nutrition Month.”

Their goal, dietitian Sherry Veinotte, out of the EKM Health Centre in Wolfville, is to motivate people to make changes on their own. “We’ll have displays at our health centres, we’re having a lunch and learn and a contest for the staff in my building with a Dietitians of Canada Cookbook for the prize - they’ll have to answer questions to enter.”

McLaughin says she’ll be making a March 20 presentation at the WKM as part of a monthly series of centre talks.

As well, AVH is sending out email tips weekly through March on its electronic list, leaving hotline calling cards with Valley pharmacists and at health centres and getting the word out about healthy living resources. “Dietitian counseling is free,” says Laughin, “and you can self-refer.”

Veinotte says they’ve seen an increase in self-referrals as people look for specific information on making changes as their health changes. “It’s important people take initiative and look at themselves,” Veinotte says. “We’re a reliable and the most trusted source of nutrition information.”

Dietitians’ top 10

1. Want to feel your best? Eat well and get physical!

2. Benefit from balance - challenge and support family members to achieve and maintain healthy weights.

3. Quality counts - at home, school work or play, keep healthy food choices top of mind.

4. Give your food portions a makeover - tune in to moderation in serving sizes.

5. Colour your world with fruits and vegetables!

6. Be a savvy shopper - get the nutrition facts on food from the label.

7. Make meal time a family affair!

8. Healthy eating is more than a flash in the pan - it’s a lifetime commitment.

9. Make www.dietitians.ca/eatwell your “go to” place for trusted nutrition information and fun healthy eating ideas.

10. Have a food or nutrition question? Ask a registered dietitian.

WEBLINKS:

www.dietitians.ca/eatwell

www.avdha.nshealth.ca/programs/nutrition.asp

AVH nutrition hotline:

1-888-642-8484