Accredited Practicing Dietitian (APD) PhD
Tonya has a Bachelor of Human Nutrition, Bachelor of Human Nutrition (Honours) and a Masters of Dietetic Practice at La Trobe University. She is currently doing her PhD at Deakin University. She has 3 years’ experience working in the private practice sector in many general practice clinics around Melbourne’s Northern and Western suburbs. Alongside this, she has experience in research working on multiple research projects.
Tonya believes that the root of good health comes from nutrition. She is passionate about promoting health and nutrition literacy, helping others achieve and sustain a flexible and mindful healthy lifestyle, provide individual simplistic nutrition advice and investigating the latest nutrition research.
Tonya can fluently speak Greek to her clients and provides translated nutrition resources and diet plans.
What is the role of a dietitian and what do they offer?
Dietitians are experts in food and nutrition. A dietitian can help people maintain their health and reduce their risk of developing chronic disease. They provide guidance about how to appropriately manage diets and nutrition for people who may be affected by health conditions such as:
- Diabetes and prediabetes
- Weight loss
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Gastrointestinal conditions (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Ulcerative Colitis)
- Women’s and Mens health
- Pre and post pregnancy
- Deficiencies (Vitamin D, Calcium, Magnesium)
Dietitians working in the community offer a broad range of services to support people in managing their nutritional requirements. Key areas of work for dietitians are:
Medical nutrition therapy – working with patients to assess their health and nutritional needs and to assist them to manage their medical condition(s) and symptoms via the use of a specifically tailored diet. Medical nutrition therapy may also involve enteral nutrition provision, monitoring and evaluation for a wide range of conditions.
Food service management – working with residential aged care facilities, child care centres and group homes for people with disabilities to provide clinical care, staff training, menu assessment and planning, and compliance monitoring of therapeutic diets.
Community and Public Health Nutrition – working with non-government and government organisations to develop preventive health programs, diabetes education and cardiovascular education, food security programs, to deliver nutrition education for groups, and to deliver activities such as supermarket tours and cooking classes.