Nutrition Help Is Just a Click Away

Graphic by Tracy Sigrist

Living with HIV presents many challenges every day.

Maintaining a high quality of life while dealing with side effects of HIV medications, depression and other life-altering events that occurred after your diagnosis, can be difficult.

HIV can change your nutrition habits. HIV can be the cause of malnutrition, too. Dealing with diarrhea, fatigue, lack of appetite, choosing nutritious foods and other issues that affect your nutritional well being can be confusing and frustrating. The goal is to optimize your nutrition status and overall health.

Dietitians at Your Service

APLA's registered dietitians Marcy and Janelle want to help you with your food- and nutrition-related concerns.

APLA's dietitians offer consultation at the Necessities of Life Program food pantry sites throughout Los Angeles County. Check the APLA community calendar for the current schedule.

As much as APLA dietitians would like to always be available when you have your burning question, we are often not able to be there fast enough. It is important to have access to information and quick and useful answers can mean improved health and feeling better sooner.

Directions to the Guts of the Matter

Helpful nutrition information is now directly available to you at www.apla.org all the time.

Go to your home computer, a friend's or one at the public library. Find the APLA homepage at www.apla.org, click on "Education," and get to the HIV Nutrition page by clicking "HIV & Nutrition," listed at the left. There are a number of useful items posted on that page for you to read. The heart of this material can be found at HIV Nutrition Resources and Links, which includes numerous topics and internet sites.

Click "HIV Nutrition Resources" and "Links" and see "Comprehensive Nutrition Links Sorted by Keyword and Title." This is a spreadsheet of nutrition articles and fact sheets in both English and Spanish, drawn from many Web sites.

APLA Nutrition Fact Sheets

If you want to start with a smaller selection of topics, click on the "Nutrition Fact Sheets" link to access APLA Nutrition Fact Sheets, covering ranging from controlling diarrhea to writing your congressional representative. Some other topics you will find are:

• Bone health

• Diarrhea

• Emergency food and water

• Tips on fatigue

• Food and water safety

• How to find a dietitian

• Lactose intolerance

• Let's talk turkey (safe storage and cooking tips)

• Nausea

Need More Help?

Once you get the hang of it, accessing this material online is fairly easy and rewarding. (If you have not been on the Internet before, ask a friend to guide you the first time.) Explore and learn. See how quickly you can find the answers to your nutrition questions.

If you would like to attend one of the nutrition classes, call us at one of the numbers listed below or contact us by e-mail. Send an e-mail to us by clicking on the "Community Education Forums" link found on the Education page. Find the class you want to attend and click on email and then click on "Nutrition Programs." The e-mail will have one of our names on it. In the body of the e-mail, please give us your name and phone number and the name, date and time of class you want to attend.

If you call, please give us the same information. Reservations are required for the classes.

If you cannot locate an answer to your nutrition concern or wish to discuss what you have read, don't hesitate to call an APLA dietitian.

Marcy Fenton, M.S., R.D., is a registered dietitian in AIDS Project Los Angeles' HIV & Nutrition Program. She can be reached by calling (213) 201-1611, or by e-mail at mfenton@apla.org.

Janelle L'Heureux, M.S., R.D., is a registered dietitian in AIDS Project Los Angeles' HIV & Nutrition Program. She can be reached by calling (213) 201-1556, or by e-mail at jheureux@apla.org.