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Registered Dietitian
Virtually in Marietta, GA and Serving Clients Virtually Nationwide
What is the difference between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist?
As dietitians, we often get called nutritionists or there are people who go by just nutritionists. So what's the difference? The main difference comes down to education and schooling. To become a Registered Dietitian one must:
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Earn a bachelor’s and master's degree from an accredited university.
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Complete 1,000 hours of supervised training in hospitals, clinics, community centers, schools and other settings.
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Pass the Registration Examination for Registered Dietitians, commonly known as the RD exam, and become licensed in the state(s) practicing in.
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Continue to maintain credentials through continuing education throughout their career.
You might often hear other terms like nutritionist, health coach, or nutrition consultant but these do not require the same credentials as a registered dietitian has and do not require the same training and education that registered licensed dietitians go through. Depending on the state nutritionists live in, it may even be illegal to provide individualized nutrition advice and guidance.
Why seek out a Registered Licensed Dietitian?
People seek out working with a registered dietitian for many different reasons but it usually comes down to wanting support with changes around food, health, and their body.
Some common reasons include:
Health and medical support
A doctor might recommend seeking out a licensed dietitian to help make changes with diet and exercise to support your health and wanting clarity on managing conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol, GI issues, or heart disease.
Relationship with food
Feeling frustrated from “failing” diets over and over again. You might be healing from dieting, disordered eating, or an eating disorder and wanting to reduce guilt and anxiety around food and exercise.
Body image
Desire to improve body image and self-esteem with challenging weight-focused thinking and wanting to feel more at peace with eating and physical activity.
A registered dietitian is someone who uses evidence based care and also individualized nutrition recommendations to help their clients meet their goals.
What exactly does a registered dietitian do?
As dietitians, we help assess your nutritional and health status and provide you with personalized nutrition guidance. We help support behavior changes as we address your relationship with food and body and manage medical conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, GI diseases and more. Registered dietitians help provide clarity and reduce stress as we support you to improve health outcomes with a compassionate approach.
Eating Disorder Registered Dietitians
The field of nutrition surrounds a wide variety of specialties. Here at Whole Self Nutrition, we specialize in eating disorders but also have experience in providing nutrition counseling for other metabolic diseases by utilizing a Health at Every Size and weight inclusive approach.
It’s important to seek support for eating disorder recovery from a dietitian who specializes in eating disorder care because not all registered dietitians have the same philosophy of Health at Every Size or all foods fit approach that help aid healing your relationship to your body.
More specifically, here are some examples of what our eating disorder registered dietitians can help clients with:
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Establish and help meet estimated energy needs
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Weight restoration
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Correcting any nutrient deficiencies
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Challenging eating disorder behaviors
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Meal support
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Heal relationship to exercise and body
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Intuitive eating
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Mindfulness
Ready To Take The Next Step
If you’re ready to connect with a registered dietitian and get personalized support, please fill out our contact form here. We offer free discovery calls to answer your questions and help you decide if Whole Self Nutrition is the right fit for you.
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Serving Clients Virtually Nationwide
1225 Johnson Ferry Rd # 170,
Marietta, GA 30068, United States