Nutritional Therapist
What does a nutritionist do?
The aim of your Nutritional Therapist is to teach you to be well and stay well. A well qualified and experienced Nutritional Therapist will first either use either the results of investigations by your doctor or results of their own biochemical investigations to ascertain exactly what's going on in your body.
Once your nutritionist has established the unique individual foibles of your body, they will look for ways to deal with the root cause of the actual problem rather than just plastering over the surface cracks and treating the symptom.
The nutritionist's ultimate aim is to rebalance your body's systems, make sure your body has adequate supplies of the raw ingredients it needs to do its job efficiently and make optimal health more easily achievable.
Qualifications and accreditation
The minimum training for Nutritional Therapists is a 3 year course. This is the minimum requirement to become a member of a governing body such as BANT, the British Association of Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy. The qualification is however just the beginning and all registered nutritionists are obligated to partake in continuing professional development (C.P.D.). This required research and development is essential as now matter how well qualified initially, a nutritionist can't hope to be of any use to patients, journalists, TV producers and businesses if they don't keep abreast of the latest research and studies on human nutrition. Relatively little is known about how the body really works, nutritional therapy is a fairly new discipline and following the latest research enables them to develop new tools making the science practical.
A good nutritionist will do a lot of preparation behind the scenes outside of your consultation; this is reflected in the consultation cost nutritional therapy. This should be accounted for when comparing nutrition to other, less holistic therapies .
At Foods for Life our Nutritional Therapists are fully qualified , members of BANT and actively pursue their continuous professional development.
BANT’s definition of Nutritional Therapist
Nutritional Therapists must meet the National Occupational Standards for Nutritional Therapy. Nutritional therapy encompasses the use of carefully compiled individual prescriptions for diet and lifestyle in order to alleviate or prevent ailments and promote optimal health. These recommendations may include guidance on natural detoxification, procedures to promote colon health, methods to support digestion and absorption, the avoidance of ingestion or inhalation of toxins or allergens and the appropriate use of supplementary nutrients.
Nutritional therapists often work with patients, many of whom have been referred by medical practitioners, who have chronic health problems that conventional medicine finds difficult to treat. These include allergies, digestive and bowel disorders, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, depression or stress, auto-immune conditions, migraine and skin disorders. Increasingly, parents with an overweight child and/or a child with learning and behaviour difficulties seek to support their child with nutritional therapy as opposed to prescription medications.
