So you want to be a nutritionist?
Posted by kathryn in Nutrition
Some of the most common questions I get asked are about how to become a nutritionist and what I do. I’m asked these questions so often that I’ve decided to put all the answers together in one blog post.
I should emphasise this is my experience. It’s not the only route to working as a nutritionist and there are a number of other options and career possibilities.
How I became a Nutritionist
Nutrition was a late 20s career change for me. On leaving school I did a history and literature degree and then worked for several years. After doing about a hundred jobs that I hated I decided to go back to college and study. My training is in naturopathic nutrition and herbal medicine and I studied at Nature Care College in Sydney.
What to study?
There are basically two main options for nutrition training in Australia. There’s the University route, which trains you to be a dietician. Alternatively you can go to one of the naturopathic schools and train to be a nutritionist. That decision really depends on your philosophy and approach to food. The benefits of University training are that you have a more widely accepted qualification and you can work within the hospital system.
I took the naturopathic route and went to Nature Care College. The course is now a Bachelors degree, but when I studied there it was a Diploma. Basically the course takes three years full-time, or four years part-time. Although I worked while I was studying and only decided half way through to do the herbal medicine component, so it took me six years part-time – a long time.
With this Nutrition qualification you can register with ATMS and get insurance to work in private practice.
I can’t really advise on which is the best school. I’ve been fully qualified now for eight years, and I know the training has changed quite considerably in that time.
Do you have to study science?
In any nutrition training science and physiology are core components. Food and nutrition don’t exist in isolation. Instead, how we digest, absorb and metabolise food, and the affect it has on our bodies and health are at the core of nutrition.
When you qualify do you have to do further study?
Once qualified you have to constantly update your skills and knowledge, through continuing professional education. Therefore to remain a registered practitioner you have to undergo further study, training or research.
How do you find work as a Nutritionist?
No matter which study route you take, there are a number of different work options and possibilities. Friends who trained with me are working in public health promotion, teaching, private practice, sales and also for fruit and vegetable industry bodies.
If you’re interested in private practice then you will almost certainly be working for yourself. Even the practitioners who rent a space in an existing practice are usually working for themselves.
I work part of the week in a private clinic, which I co-own. We combine fitness, Pilates, stress management, nutrition and herbal medicine in a small, boutique natural therapies practice in Gladesville, called Balance2health.
The rest of the week I work as a freelance writer and recipe developer, and do some nutrition consulting. I write both online and for magazines. Plus I co-author the eMagazine An Honest Kitchen, with, Lucinda Dodds.
All of my work is self-generated. I don’t work for anyone else, but am self-employed. This does take a while and in the early stages my income was very low and I did a number of consulting jobs that were quite boring. However in the last few of years I am much more where I want to be – getting the work I need and want.
What sort of health issues do your clients have?
Typical health issues my clients experience are low energy levels, problems sleeping, lots of stress and many of them also want to lose weight. So my work is primarily about showing people how to eat well – what to eat, the kind of portions they should be consuming and how to fit that into their busy lives.
I do this both one-on-one with clients and also through small groups and seminars. My work combines both my nutrition training and also my cooking and food knowledge.
So it’s all good right?
I love my job but as with all things there are pluses and minuses. I work for myself, which means I get to choose what I do, I work the hours I want, I have the satisfaction of building something up, and I’m not answerable to anyone else. On the other hand, if I don’t work I don’t get paid and I often work long hours. In the past I’ve also worked a lot in isolation, however over the past few years I’ve actively built up a strong and sustaining peer support network.
If you have any other questions leave them in the comments below and I’ll add answers to the text
20 December, 2010
Comments
No questions… just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed reading this post – great to get a teeny tiny insight into how you’ve arrived at where you are today. I always find your information and advice so practical, interesting, clear and concise, insightful, knowledgable and most importantly, do-able!
A really interesting read Kathryn, and lovely to hear more about your working week.
How to qualify is a question I get asked a lot too.
In the UK we have dietitians (like me), nutritionists and nutritional therapists. It’s just as confusing as to which is the ‘right’ qualification over here. Reading about your studying experiences and thinking about my own path of two postgraduate degrees, I suspect looking at how long a course takes is a good place to start. Nutrition is a really big subject – if somebody claims to be able to teach you all about it in a few weekends they’re probably taking some fairly major shortcuts.
Such a timely article! After months of deliberation, I am finally going to enrol today (!) in a naturopathy and nutritional medicine course. It took me quite awhile to decide to go the naturopathy route over the university degree, but after a lot of research I found that the Naturopathy degree aligned a lot more with my ideas about food and nutrition.
Hi Kathryn, and happy 2011!
I am in my final year of the Adv. Dip. Nut. Med. at Nature Care College (NCC).
I love studying Nutrition, but as my final year is nigh upon me I confess I am becoming anxious about turning it into a career, so thank you for this post – it’s honest but encouraging.
Just a little FYI: the Nutrition qualification at NCC is an Adv. Dip., not a Bachelor.
It takes 3 years full time (but FULL on) or 5 years part time. I’m taking 5 years as I had a baby in my 3rd year and most of my peers have taken either 4 or 5 to complete it.
To achieve a Bachelor in this modality there is an articulation pathway that students can take at Charles Sturt Uni. once they have graduated from NCC.
Warm regards, Katie Rainbird
I read this post today, just as all morning I was wondering about the realities of choosing a career in nutrition!
I’m interested to know what the competition in the field is like? Once qualified, and if employed rather than self-employed, are dietitians and nutritionists well-paid? Is the market saturated? Friends of mine who have followed their passions into careers such as design and fashion have found the competition extreme, the recognition minimal and the remuneration poor. This is as a result of the industry being seen as ‘cool’, and therefore too many people are vying for success. From that sort of perspective, where does the diet and nutrition industry stand?
Cat, thanks for your question. It really does depend on what you end up doing. From my experience I would say my friends who have ended up employed are better off than my friends who have taken the self-employed route. However as a Nutritionist it’s very rare to get an employed job working in a clinic, actually seeing patients. So if you want to do clinical work, you almost always have to be self-employed.
Things would be different as a dietician, where many are employed by hospitals and other organisations.
There are also a lot of naturopaths and naturopathic nutritionist out there who are self-employed and earning peanuts. it is very hard to build a successful practice, to attract the steady stream of new clients you need and to get paid an adequate amount, given none of it is supplemented through the health care system.
You might benefit from having a chat with our professional body – the “ATMS”;http://atms.com.au/. They should be able to give you some stats and perspective on income and employment.
Thanks so much for your reply, it’s very informative and grounded. I’ll check out that site.
Hi Kathryn,
I am just about to start my 3rd and final year of my Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrtional Medicine) at Endeavour College in Perth, an exciting but scary time.
My question is, since you are in the field and see what people are expecting, is it better to specialise your skills to one area or be more of a “GP” of nutrtion?
Hope I am clear in what I am asking, thanks for your time and for sharing your knowledge.
Hi Kathryn,
I am looking at nutrition as a late-20s career change myself. I’m looking to start a part time Bachelor of Health Science (Food & Nutrition) next year (6 years part time which I’m trying not to think about), but I’m not sure that seeing one-on-one clients would be my “thing”. I’m wondering what sort of other jobs are out there for nutritionists – and how easy or difficult they are to come across? At this point in time I just know that it’s something I’m really excited to learn about but I’m not exactly sure where I want to go with it.
I am interested in going to grad school for Nutrition. I already have a bachelors in Sociology. I’m from the States but I was wondering what jobs would you recommend for someone who wants to start a career in nutrition. I don’t have a masters degree yet. But I want to get my foot in the door. Thank you in advance!!
Hi there Amy and Stephanie – thanks for your comments. I really can’t comment on other jobs in the industry, as I’ve always practised. I suggest you contact ATMS – our professional body – for more information.
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