When I first started studying to be a nutritionist, some of the most frequent questions that were asked of me were "what is a nutritionist" and "what kind of work would I do". I still get asked those questions as well as "how does my nutrition work from that of another nutritionist or a dietitian".
This is about my experience as a nutritionist and why I became a nutritionist. As a young girl, I was always interested in the health aspect of food and how it affected a person's health positively or negatively. During my last year of school and during the time when we contemplate our lives and careers post school, I knew I wanted bring about a positive change to people"s lives and pondered over a career in health. This took me to studying Nursing at university and into the area of disabilities.
How did I become a Nutritionist
It wasn't until I was in my 30's, married with children that I decided I needed a career change. I decided to go back to studying and further my passion in food as medicine. After 5 years of studying part time, I completed my advanced diploma in nutrition. I studied at Nature Care College in Sydney.
What do you Study?
There are 2 ways in which to do nutrition training. If holistic nutrition is the path you would like to travel, then naturopathic colleges offer a range of courses that will resonate with you and support you in the direction you would like to go. Should you decide to go the university route, there are now a range of universities that offer a Bachelor of Nutrition.
Keeping Updated
Once your qualification is complete, it is important to keep informed on the forever changing research on nutrition as well as updating your knowledge and skills through professional training and subscribing to a nutritional journal.
Working as a Nutritionist
There are many options for a nutritionist:
- Private practice
- Teaching
- Sales (i.e., health supplement industry)
- Health food store practitioner
- Advisor is food industry
I chose private practice as a way of being more flexible with family life as I could make my own hours around family life. In private practice there are options to rent a space in an existing practice where you are usually working for yourself. You have the option, however, to work for another practitioner. This way there is more of a chance of peer support. I practice from home and am lucky to have a room in my residence that is very suitable for private practice. I do this some of the week. The other bit of the week I do freelance nutrition writing.
Getting started as a Nutritionist
For those contemplating a career in Nutrition, it can prove to be a very enjoyable career move, especially if your passions lie in food and health and making a positive change to someone's health. The area of nutrition is all about educating people on food and the effects it has on health, how food can be enjoyed and how it can be key to benefiting the life and health of a person.
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