Dietetics

MSWA dietitians can provide advice and support related to gastrointestinal symptoms including pain or discomfort with bloating, flatulence, changes to bowel movements (loose stools or constipation) or difficulty passing stools, which commonly affect people with neurological conditions.

Neurological conditions can significantly affect nutrition outcomes, with symptoms like fatigue, tremors, reflux, nausea, vomiting, and early satiety (feeling full quickly) commonly causing changes in diet.

Our dietitians have a special interest in neurological conditions, equipping them with the expertise to help you enhance your nutritional intake despite these challenges. Collaborating with occupational therapists, they can identify adaptive kitchen or feeding equipment tailored to your needs.

Unintentional weight changes, whether gain or loss, can affect your strength, mobility, mood and other aspects of daily living, such as how you fit in your wheelchair and risk of developing pressure injuries.

If you require texture-modified foods and beverages to support safe swallowing, our dietitians work together with speech pathologists to ensure you can make the most of your nutrition to meet your needs and preferences.

Physical, environmental and behavioural issues can impact your nutritional intake, including restrictive intake, food aversions, inability to prepare meals, low mobility and strength and poor access to food.

MSWA dietitians will work with you, your family and allied health professionals to overcome these challenges and ensure good nutritional intake. This may include NDIS applications to fund support within the kitchen or co-fund appropriate meal-providers.

If clinically advised, some Clients may benefit from oral nutrition supplements. Our dietitians can prescribe these and apply for these to be funded within your NDIS plan if appropriate.

Our dietitians offer specialist advice and support for the care and management of gastrostomy or jejunostomy tubes. This includes recommendations for appropriate formulas and coordination of care with specialised staff and nursing if needed.

In collaboration with the MSWA nursing team, our dietitians can provide nutrition advice to support optimal wound healing and skin integrity. Key nutrients play a crucial role in managing pressure injuries or chronic wounds.

Nutrition is essential for optimising muscle mass, strength, and mobility. Working alongside physiotherapists, we will help you improve your independence, immunity, and overall health and wellbeing.

Some Clients may also face comorbidities including diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease and high output stoma (e.g., colostomy or ileostomy). MSWA dietitians can provide education and support to help optimise your nutrition and wellbeing.

Yes, we will work alongside you, your support networks and allied health professionals to ensure you receive excellent enteral (gut) nutrition related care. We will ensure you have a nutrition regime that meets your nutrition and hydration needs. 

Yes, we can provide individualised recommendations and meal plans for you, which takes into consideration any food allergies, intolerances, as well as your likes and dislikes. This can also include macronutrient recommendations if desired.   

There are several ways to pay for our dietitian services, including NDIS Funding , Home Care Packages (HCP), private health insurance or paying privately. We can help you work out the most suitable payment method when you book your appointment.

This service is available in-person and via telehealth. If you would like further information, please contact us on 08 9365 4888 or complete the form below. 

If you experience dysphagia and difficulty swallowing, your Speech Pathologist may have prescribed a texture-modified diet. Because texture-modified foods often require additional processing, they can sometimes be lower in certain micronutrients and fibre. Our MSWA Dietitians can help ensure your diet meets your nutritional needs, while minimising the risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies and complications such as constipation. 

You don’t need to follow a restrictive diet with Parkinson’s disease; however, certain foods and eating habits might exacerbate symptoms and reduce the effectiveness of Parkinson’s disease medications. Consuming large quantities of ultra-processed foods and foods high in saturated fats, excessive alcohol intake, and inadequate fibre consumption can worsen symptoms such as constipation and fatigue, while also increasing the risk of developing additional chronic health conditions.

While diet alone cannot control the progression of Parkinson’s disease, research suggests that a balanced antioxidant rich, anti-inflammatory style diet can be a useful tool in improving overall wellbeing. Diet can help support brain and nerve health, enhance medication effectiveness, optimise digestion, and manage constipation and fatigue, which are common issues for people with Parkinson’s disease.  

Diet cannot cure MS, but it can play an important role in managing the condition and improving quality of life. Research suggests that a balanced, Mediterranean style of eating, and including an abundance of foods rich in antioxidants can reduce systemic inflammation, which may slow disease progression. 

Diet can help people with MS manage their symptoms and support overall health and wellbeing in several ways, including:

• Reducing inflammation by increasing intake of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.
• Supporting myelin and nerve health by regularly eating foods rich in omega-3 and polyunsaturated fats.
• Stabilising blood sugar levels to help manage fatigue by regularly consuming wholegrain carbohydrates, such as grains and seeds, which provide longer-lasting energy.