Nutritionist
Nutritionist
So what does a nutritionist do?
The idea is that your Nutritionist teaches you to be well and stay well. If you choose a professionally registered, properly qualified,well experienced, respected nutritionist they will first either use either the results of investigations by your doctor or results of their own biochemical investigations to acertain exactly what's going on in your body.
Once they've established the unique individual foibles of your body, they'll 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 it's job efficiently and make optimal health more easily achievable.
Ideally also impart a degree of insight for you so you are more likely to recognise subtle distress calls from your body and furnish you with a sustainable strategy to cope with the maintenance of optimal health.
Aren't Nutritionists just unqualified quacks?
As members of BANT the British Association of Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy all registered nutritionists are obligated to partake in continuing professional development ( C.P.D.) However a nutritionist can't hope to be of any use to clients, 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, nutrition is a relatively new discipline, new technology is being developed all the time to keep nutritionists on their toes.
Because someone can still at present legally call themself a nutritionist having only completed a nutrition module as part of a Personal Trainer's qualification (or not even that) rather than minimum 3 years of nutritional therapy training please choose carefully. It's imperative when choosing a clinical nutritionist practising nutritional therapy to pick one that keeps up with the latest research, is properly qualified and insured, a member of a respected professional body, experienced in your particular area of ill health and preferably on personal recommendation from a friend who had a problem and is now healthy.
A good nutritionist will do a lot of work behind the scenes outside of your consultation, be prepared to see that reflected in the consultation fee. You pay for what you get, buy cheap buy twice! Invest wisely.
Aren't nutritionists just food fascists?
Well yes, probably, some are. However for a nutritionist to be successful their nutrition strategy is dependent on client compliance - if the strategy is too strict or too impractical then the sick person won't get well, they won't tell their friends how wonderful and talented the nutritionist is and the nutritionist will quickly go out of business.
A colleague in the local health food shop above which we had a clinic was interested in a Nutritionists CPD training session we'd set up. He'd been intrigued as to what a the collective noun was for a gathering of nutritionists. He suggested 'a tut of nutritionists'. Suggestions on a postcard if you think you can do better.
Surely a little bit of what you fancy does you good?
Absolutely! A big part of the jigsaw of the state of optimum health that professional nutritionists are committed to is emotional wellbeing. If you are torturing yourself in denial of a favourite food the ramifications of the stress that could cause could easily outweigh the benefits of avoidance.
Note the important words in the above traditional adage though 'a little bit'. Nutritionists generally work to a an idea much publicised by Ian Marber, The Food Doctor, The 80:20 rule to make allowances within nutritional strategies to avoid cravings and obcessions. No doubt Ben Goldacre, The Bitch Doctor, would ridicule it as it's not backed up by scientific research but as a strategy it's psychologically sound based on anedotal evidence and many years of clinical experience that Goldacre sadly but notably lacks.
So what's the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian?
The short answer is that most dieticians/dietitians aren't really allowed to use food and it's component nutrients therapeutically. The Doctor's investigations reveal you are short of calcium and sends you to a dietician who provides you with a sheet with a list of foods rich in calcium. Dietetics has moved on an incredibly long way in the last few years and the good news for the unsuspecting general public is that dietitians are now bound by the HPC that obligates them to adhere to Continuing Professional Development ( CPD) the way Nutritional Therapists always have been. The bad news for sick people is that NHS dietitians are unable to take full advantage of new human nutrition research and technology until it has been ratified and mulled over by the NHS and it's numerous regulatory bodies.
Many dietitians still think sugar is one of the world's most perfect foods and if anything 'too nutritious', present them with a vegan and they generally tend to start to hyperventilate. (Vegans have only been around since 1944 by which time dietetic thinking was almost fully formulated so consequently outside their sphere of reference)
NB all the above is allegedly probably very unfair and we would like to point out that this doesn't reflect the official opinion of the highly respected top UK Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston and by way of an apology there follows a totally 'unbiased' (sic) party political broadcast on behalf of the main relevant governing bodies for nutritionists and dietitians.
This is how BANT, define a 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.
This is how the BDA ( British Dietetic Association) describe a Dietitians role
"Registered Dietitians (RDs) are the only qualified health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat diet and nutrition problems at an individual and wider public health level. Uniquely, dietitians use the most up to date public health and scientific research on food, health and disease, which they translate into practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.
Dietitians are the only nutrition professionals to be statutorily regulated, and governed by an ethical code, to ensure that they always work to the highest standard. Dietitians work in the NHS, private practice, industry, education, research, sport, media, public relations, publishing, NGOs and government. Their advice influences food and health policy across the spectrum from government, local communities and individuals.
The title dietitian can only be used by those appropriately trained professionals who have registered with the Health Professions Council and whose details are on the HPC web site."
Will a nutritionist write a diet plan for me?
If you really want one, if that's what you want that's what you'll get. But you know what they say - 'variety is the spice of life' and we really wouldn't want to be that restrictive. Very rarely specific conditions require very restricted specific strategies but generally we would prefer to educate you about the type of foods to eat rather than specifics, the way to eat rather than specifically what to eat, with a focus on the nutrients not the amount and the calories.
What can a nutritionist do about cancer ?
Ironically apart from weightloss, people rarely consider nutritionists as a solution for their medical ills. Unless people have had a personal referral from someone who has already been helped, nutritionists are usually last on the list and we often see people who have been suffering for over 10 years and have come to us as a last resort having tried everyone and everthing else. There are still lingering pockets in society who think they can eat whatever they want without consequence - that their illnesses are the simply the inequalities of fate and bad luck.
When it comes to cancer and indeed all life threatening conditions such as heart disease or diabetes then nutritional therapists are forbidden to 'treat' patients for these conditions. All we can do is 'support' the efforts of your doctors and consultants.
Obviously there's a lot that could be done, supporting the immune system and minimising side effects from the drugs but most high profile nutritionists are wary of even working around the edges for fear of retribution from the drug industry and their legislative bodies.
Typically we would direct you to a cancer support organisation such as www.pennybrohncancercare.org and support you with any decisions that you and your Doctor come to.
It's ironic when so much of the resulting research into human health and social studies are pointing to the fact that our knives and forks are the true weapons of mass destruction, that poor diet is more likely to be implicated in increasing rates of preventable chronic disease than smoking.
We are increasingly ridiculously over fed but still naively malnourished.
