What is a Nutritional Therapist?
Understanding the differences between registered nutritional therapists, nutritionists and health coaches.
So, It appears everyone is somewhat health “Expert” or “Guru” on the interwebs and gives out advice as a “hobbytritionist”. Additionally, the nutrition world is full of unqualified and is unregulated with no protected titles.
In this blog, I will cover everything you need to know including:
What is a nutritional therapist?
A Registered Nutritional Therapist is uniquely trained in the understanding of personalised nutrition and lifestyle medicine. There is no one size fits all mentality. We take into consideration a broad range of factors which influence our client’s health.
Registered nutritional therapists believe in using food and lifestyle interventions first, and how they influence the function of the body by considering biochemical individuality, in a patient-centred manner. A nutritional therapist understands the web-like network and interactions involved in human physiology rather than individualised compartmental systems, where you see a specialist in each field. Registered nutritional therapists have the ability to restore health and protect clients from disease using a proactive health approach.
A registered nutritional therapist acts in a patient-focused manner, accepting they are part of a wholistic team with GPs, Drs, consultants, personal trainers, physiotherapists and health coaches in restoring or optimising the health of their client.
Registered nutritional therapists are trained in a functional medicine approach which encapsulates antecedents, mediators and triggers. In addition to the emotional, spiritual mind-body connection. The influence of the environment at home, work and leisure. We understand the science of epigenetics, where a variety of factors such as food choices, exercises, sleep, stress and environment can influence the client’s genetic expression, translating to a positive or negative adaptive response.
A registered nutritionist or registered nutritional therapist?
It should be noted that the title nutritionist and nutritional therapist are not regulated or protected titles. To add further confusion, a registered nutritional therapist may call themselves a registered nutritionist depending on the work setting whether its one to one clinic work or group / public work.
The most important thing is to look out for the accredited boards, qualifications the nutritionist or nutritional therapist is registered with and if the practitioner has insurance in that capacity. All titles should be visible and available to see on their website. If in doubt ask them directly for proof and if you have reason to doubt then contact The British Association of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT).
What about Health Coaches?
Additionally, a health coach or nutrition coach should not call themselves a nutritional therapist/nutritionist. This does not mean that health/nutrition coaches are void of knowledge and skill, far from it. But they might not have the depth of understanding of pathophysiology or able to recommend testing, supplements and specific food recommendations.
However, health coaches serve a great role in behavioural changes and informing their patient of important information around food choices, sleep and stress management, but should remain in their scope. There are multiple health coaching certifications out there. Some excellent and some very poor. My favourite would be Precision Nutrition and also The Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN). If you wish to know more about the IIN and want a discount off your course fee contact Hayley Ray, who is a wealth of knowledge and a female health coach who I highly recommend.
Just like a nutritional therapist or nutritionist, we should know are own scope. That we can only guide and support clients, we are not able to prescribe or remove medications, diagnose conditions or diseases and tell the client to deviate from their primary healthcare or general practitioner instructions or make statements such as cure diseases. We are a complimentary service and we must have our patients best safety interests at heart at all times.
What does a Nutritional therapist do?
Most importantly as a registered nutritional therapist, our job is to listen to the client and help them reach their goals, in a sustainable and safe manner, making the experience enjoyable.
As a nutritional therapist, I undertake a comprehensive case analysis to understand the client’s story more. I take into consideration antecedents, mediators and triggers. The client’s goals and objectives, medications and supplements, personal preferences and the ability we would be able to work together in achieving the client’s goal.
The initial stage involves:
Discovery call (To see if we align with each other)
Food and hydration diary
Comprehensive questionnaire
Review previous health tests
An initial consultation (90 minutes)
What has improved or has not worked in resolving health issues
I make an assessment of the client considering the functional medicine matrix of and we build a suitable and sustainable programme.
Clients goals:
Individualised
Assessment:
Gut function, Environmental Inputs, Defence and Repair, Biotransformation and Detoxification, Hormone and Neurotransmitter regulation, Structural integrity, mind and spirit, Energy and oxidative Stress
Individualised programme:
Integrating antecedents, mediators and triggers alongside temporary reactions with the environment such as food sensitivities, dietary imbalances, nutrition deficiencies, personal preferences, socioeconomic factors, disturbed gut flora and many more.
Support:
Throughout there is, assistance and support guiding the client on the programme, the ability to ask questions, help with educating and empowering health-promoting habits.
What is a Nutritional therapist used for?
A nutritional therapists role includes working in a private clinic / practise working one to one with the general public. Secondly, in group situations such as giving lectures and talks to corporate companies or schools groups or health events. Thirdly, working in other health or fitness related niches such as working with athletes, basketball or football teams, or being part of an integrated team in a health establishment such as a medical centre. Finally, working with health or food industry companies using our knowledge and understanding to develop products or offer support to their customers.
A nutritional therapist is used complimentary, alongside their primary healthcare physician or G.P. The client could have chronic conditions and or is just looking to prevent future illness or reach their full potential with greater energy.
Nutritional therapists work with their clients to prevent disease, increase longevity, or clients with health issues and help reduce their symptoms of a developed disease and help identify any unidentified contributing issues such as nutritional deficiencies, environmental pollutants and toxins and many more.
Nutritional Therapy should be the first step to take when you have symptoms which are normally not well managed with meditation or explained by your doctor. Examples include:
Pain
Painful joints with or without chronic inflammation
Muscle aches
Whole-body aches
Abdominal pain and discomfort
Repeated headaches and migraines
Kidney stones
Tinnitus
Sleep
Difficulties to fall asleep
Interrupted sleep
Unrefreshing sleep
Waking up to urinate
Digestion
Bloating, indigestion, heartburn, gas and alterations in bowel movements
Irregular bowel function with alternating diarrhoea and constipation
Food intolerances and adverse reactions to foods you used to be able to consume
Appetite changes
Loss of function
Muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass
Unexplained fatigue
Exercise-associated fatigue
Inability to deal with stress
Difficulties with temperature regulation
Alterations in blood cholesterol levels, homocysteine, CRP and other markers of inflammation
Blood pressure control (high or low blood pressure)
Poor memory and focus
cognition decline and brain fog
Immune related issues
Frequent infections and immune challenges with lingering symptoms which take too long to recover from
Immune imbalances and abnormal immunity
Bacteria and Yeast infections
Repeated respiratory and/or stomach bugs
Sexual hormones and reproductive system
Pre-menstrual symptoms
Menstrual cycle disturbances
Difficulties to conceive
Painful and irregular periods
Difficult to manage menopausal symptoms
Low libido and low sex drive
Erectile dysfunction
Man boobs and hair growth
Unexplained fatigue
Mood alterations, lack of motivation, irritability and food cravings
Urticaria, spots and other cyclic skin reactions
Palpitations, numbness and tingling sensations
Unexplained weight loss or gain
Signs of anaemia
Difficulty losing weight
Fat loss and Weightloss
Improve body composition with increase muscle mass
And many more other health issues.
Conventional medicine largely focuses on disease management or sick care. They spend little energy, time and resources on teaching the general public how to achieve optimal health and stay out of their office in the first place. The greatest medicine of all is to teach people how not to need it.
The greatest medicine of all is to teach people how not to need it, Hippocrates
This is where and how nutritional therapists work our magic. We have time to listen to our clients. be a champion for their cause. We have empathy, professional care, knowledge and wisdom to empower and support clients, build a relationship which promotes ultimate self-care from inside out.
What is the difference between a nutritional therapist and a nutritionist?
As outlined above a nutritional therapist can interchange their title to a nutritionist in certain situations such as in a group or public situations. The most important thing to acknowledge is that registered nutritional therapists have to include in their title, the governing body of nutritional therapists in the U.K, British association of nutrition and lifestyle medicine (BANT). Additionally, we are governed and registered by the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), a government agency who act in the public interest and enable proper public accountability of the complementary therapists that it registers.
When working one to one with a client in a clinic situation you must refer to yourself as a registered nutritional therapist. I use and interchange both. This is largely due to the fact, most people identify with the word nutritionist more and therefore use it in my title in some instincts. I am proud to be a registered nutritional therapist.
However, there is a clear difference between a fully registered nutritionist and nutritional therapist when we are talking about education. Such as an mBANT Registered Nutritionist and an AFN Registered Nutritionist. This was also one of the major factors which influenced my decision in becoming a nutritional therapist, instead of becoming a nutritionist.
What is a registered nutritionist?
The major governing regulator in the U.K for a nutritionist is the association for nutrition (AFN). To become a registered nutritionist, you need to demonstrate you have obtained knowledge and understanding of nutrition science at least to a BSc (Hons) level, taking 3-5 years typically to complete with recommended undergraduate and/or postgraduate degrees at university costing £9000 per year.
At the time, this was not an option for me considering finance implications and work commitments. Nutritional therapy was my entry route to entering the industry and making nutrition my profession. The annual costs of studying with The Institute for Optimum Nutrition (ION) were £4500.
This also involves needing to qualify for the nutritional therapy diploma with completion of A level Science or equivalent, the I.O.N access science course. This took me approximately one year to complete before finally starting the nutritional therapy diploma. The nutritional therapy diploma took three years, part-time to complete. The best thing about doing the diploma course was the ability to study part-time and transition to my sole profession once I qualified. There is an option for learning either online and attendance. I did the attendance setting and cherished every lecture weekend with my cohort. It was an amazing learning experience and made some epic friends and memories.
The functional medicine matrix.
As of writing this, July 2020. B.A.N.T and the I.O.N have now classified that to become a registered nutritional therapist you need to have a BSc Bachelors (Hons). The I.O.N has partnered with The University of Portsmouth in offering this undergraduate degree which is extremely exciting. This makes registered nutritional therapist, on the same academic level as Registered nutritionist (AfN) which is exciting. I and my fellow nutritional therapists who studied to diploma level have the option to upgrade our diploma to the BSc.
Other differences between a nutritional therapist could be seen as a more alternative open-minded approach with a more science-informed approach, instead of the eccentric science evidence view, blinded who might forget that nutrition needs to be applied in an individualised way, nutrition science is extremely grey and difficult to translate clinically to patient outcomes, conflicting interests of studies and research bias.
I do not think nutritionists are superior to nutritional therapists and visa versa. I generally believe. that every practitioner is different in their knowledge, how they work and the ability in how to help their client in an effective and safe manner at the end of the day.
As a client, you need to interview your nutritionist or nutritional therapist and ensure that you can trust them with your health, your best interests and have confidence in them to reach your goals.
Finally, both the AfN nutritionists and dieticians who work for the N.H.S, place more emphasis on the Eatwell plate, put forward by the British Nutrition Foundation (B.N.F). It is clear that the EatWell plate is extremely flawed with limitations, requiring more personalised consideration and needs major alterations and modifications with more recent evidence-informed guidelines. The EatWell plate lags behind and is extremely narrow-minded to what is healthy. On a final point, the B.N.F which creates the EatWell plate is heavily involved in funding from corporate members from companies such as Greggs, Coca-cola, Costa Coffee, Mcd’s, Kellogs, Mars, Nestle, Quorn, slimming world, and many more shown here.
In summary:
When choosing a nutritionist or nutritional therapist. Ensure that you are a customer. You are able to shop around if you wish. Ask the relevant questions. Do your homework. Ensure they are qualified, insured, have experience in your health goal or issue.
The client - practitioner relationship is extremely important in ensuring that your needs are meet and that you both are on the same wavelengths in reaching your goal.
If you would like to know more or are interested in working with me as your registered nutritional therapist. Book your discovery call where we can schedule a time to discuss your goals.
Book your discovery call today
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