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Providing access to nutrition services in employee health benefits plans

Employers know that better nutrition can improve employee health and productivity. Does your employee health benefits plan make the most of nutrition services? If you are reviewing your plan’s nutrition benefits, here is some information to help support your decision-making.  
 
Are you a dietitian? Here’s what you need to know about what DC is doing to improve access to dietitians.
 

Why are nutrition services important for your plan?

 
Employees are focused on healthy eating to prevent chronic disease like diabetes and high blood pressure, manage weight, improve digestion and make better choices for their families.  In many cases, provincial health plans do not provide adequate coverage for nutrition services. Employees are looking to their benefits plans to fill the gap in access to nutrition care.
 
Good nutrition and healthy eating can reduce the risk of certain health conditions that can lead to employee absences or high prescription drug use. Employers should consider the role of nutrition services in reducing reliance on other health benefits. 
 
Download and share with decision makers the factsheetAre you optimizing support for nutrition in your benefits plan?  
 

Dietitians are your best choice for nutrition services

 
  • Dietitians must pass university and licensing exams, undergo rigorous practical training, and commit to staying on top of new research, skills and techniques in food, nutrition and health.
  • Dietitians are the only nutrition practitioners that are licensed and regulated in every province in Canada. To identify a dietitian look for the designations RD, PDt or Dt.P (depending on the province). 
  • Dietitians empower their patients to embrace food, to understand it, and to enjoy it. The advice they provide is tailored to their clients’ personal needs and challenges. 
  • Many dietitians have special areas of focus and extra training and credentials to provide care for conditions like diabetes, weight management, digestive disorders, pediatrics and sports nutrition.  
  • Dietitians are everywhere. They may work in private clinics, community agencies, hospitals, grocery stores and pharmacies or may have a virtual or mobile practice. It’s easy to find a dietitian with this dietitian locator tool
  • Dietitians belong to a national association that promotes the highest level of professional standards and innovation through extensive training, knowledge sharing and access to the most up to date research in a powerful evidence-based nutrition database.
Find out the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian
 


Talk to your advisor today about adding dietitians to your benefits plan

 
Use these resources to introduce dietitian services to your employees:
What is a dietitian? (UnlockFood.ca)
Dietitians and chronic disease management (factsheet)
Dietitians promote health through food and nutrition (factsheet)
Dietitians in primary health care (factsheet)
 
Find a dietitian in your province with this online tool:
The Find a Dietitian tool is a dietitian locator tool that helps users find a dietitian in their neighbourhood who specializes in their area of interest.
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