Ms Cherie Tong, a dietitian at NUH’s Dietetics Department, can’t agree more!

Our diet ultimately affects the status of our health. Without healthy food and proper nutrition, our bodies will not be able to function to its best capacity. We won’t have energy to work and play, and may even fall ill more easily.

Having sound nutrition is even more important for those who have long term medical conditions, or are recuperating from illness or surgeries. To help in their recovery, they need to be cautious about what to eat. To better manage their conditions, an all-round approach comprising of an appropriate nutritious diet plan, medication, healthy lifestyle and exercise is critical.

“I do not simply ask my patients to eat, or not to eat, certain foods,” Cherie says. She empowers her patients by educating them on the types of food that are suitable for them and how to choose and prepare these foods. She is also actively involved in providing nutrition support to patients who are malnourished or at nutrition risk. As each patient’s condition is unique, Cherie needs to design for them a personalised nutritious dietary management plan.

Cherie shares that being a dietitian is not just a normal counseling job where she routinely dishes out nutritional advice. “The work of a dietitian actually has many challenges. Having an in-depth knowledge on the various kinds of medical conditions and an understanding on how nutrition is related to and will impact them is important. In addition, I also need to adapt this advice to suit my patients’ ethnicity, religion and cultural background! Also, excellent communication skills are necessary to convey nutrition messages and build good rapport with the patients and their family members, “ explains Cherie.

About her work, Cherie says, “A dietitian’s work is very challenging and motivating because there’s constantly new knowledge to gain and things to learn! Every day is a brand new day for learning and improvement and there’s barely a minute to feel dull or boring!” According to Cherie, a dietitian can be involved in many areas such as patient education, nutrition intervention, menu planning, research or community work. New dietitians can work towards being a senior dietitian and a dietetics manager.