Is Nutrition and Dietetics a Good Career Option?

Nutrition and Dietetics is one such field which has gained importance over a period of time. Is Nutrition and Dietetics a good career option? Let’s find out.

Gone are the days when your career can only shine if you have a MBBS degree or B. Tech degree. There are a wide variety of career opportunities for students. Today, more and more people are gaining the importance of a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.

Who are Nutrition and Dietetics?

Nutrition and Dietetics are qualified health professionals. Let’s discuss both of them individually. Both Nutritionists and Dietitians are almost the same. They don’t have much difference.

Nutritionist

The main aim of nutritionists is that they promote good health by means of eating healthy food. They also tell the impact of food and nutrition on health.

They teach people the importance of healthy eating for a healthy diet. Therefore, they are responsible for preparing diet plans or diet charts for people. They advise people on how to decrease or increase their weight by giving them advice on what type of and how much food to eat.

They mostly work in group settings and mainly focus on population health. Some of them specialize in specific fields like- public health, sports nutrition or animal nutrition etc.

Dietitians

They help people to improve their health and provide food and nutrition information. They can work in group settings or individually on a client. They can also give diet plans for people who have diabetes, any kind of heart disease, food allergies, food intolerance, obesity, poor appetite, swallowing difficulties or even cancer. They also work in the food industry to improve nutrition quality of food.

A dietitian is a person who has a university degree and professional license and also certificate for professional practice. On the other hand, in many countries, a person can claim to be a nutritionist even without any professional degree, training or license.

Duties of Nutrition and Dietetics

Following are the duties of Nutrition and Dietetics: –

They evaluate the client or patient’s nutrition needs and health needs.
Planning a healthy diet plan for clients. By taking his or her preferences.
Assessing the effect of diet plan or meal plan. If needed, change the plan.
Promoting healthy life by promoting healthy food habits.

Remain up to date – for any kind of Nutrition science research and latest food research.

How can you start your career with Nutrition and Dietetics?

A Nutritionist or Dietitian can start his or her career in two ways: –

They can start by taking admission for bachelor’s degree dietetics, foods and nutrition, clinical nutrition and public health nutrition. They can also do. B.Sc. in nutrition and dietetics.
They can directly pursue a dietician course after 12th.

Many Nutritionists and Dietitians go for a master’s or advanced degrees for specialization in a particular field or subject.

Do Nutrition and Dietetics have good career opportunities?

Yes, as people are getting aware about health and fitness, nutritionists and dietitians have a great career opportunity. Nowadays many of us stick to a healthy diet because we want our health to be perfectly fine.

It is true that eating junk can affect your health. So, as a result, nutritionists and dietitians have great career opportunities in the future as people are moving towards a healthy diet for a healthy life. It is believed that: –

Good Nutrition Will Prevent 95% Of All Disease.

Careers in Nutrition and Dietetics

Both nutritionists and dietitians can work in vast variety of fields: –

Public Health Nutrition – They aim to prevent disease or illness faced by a large number of communities. They encourage people to live a healthy Lifestyle. They work in many areas such as: –

Media
Consulting
Advocacy
Policy and guideline development.
Community education and development.

Media and Marketing – They work in media and marketing as media liaison or food commentator for radio and television. They may write content for books, magazines, websites or social media.

Food Industry – They work in the food industry to improve the health of the population. List of areas they can work are: –
Research
Consulting
Food technology and science
Sensory evaluation
Food analysis and product development.

Nutrition, Dietetics and Research Education – If you want to be a master of your field, improve society’s understanding of health, and want to understand topics in more detail, then you can go for a career in research. You can work in hospitals, research institutes, universities etc. as a researcher.

Self-employment and consulting – You can work in a government agency in public health, or you can work in a private hospital or you can open your own clinic. You can work in gyms as well.

Qualities that are important for Nutritionists and Dietitians

1. Analytical Skills – they should know the new research on food and nutrition. They should know how to use knowledge of research and books practically.

2. Compassion – they should have a feeling of empathy, because health can be an emotional issue for many people.

3. Listening Skills – they should have good listening skills so that they can listen to the problems of their clients and make appropriate healthy diets for their clients.

4. Organizational Skills – they should be organized because they have to handle many clients. For e.g. If a client appears and a nutritionist or dietician is unable to find the file, it will be a waste of time for the client as well as professional.

5. Problem Solving Skills – they should have problem solving skills because each and every client comes with his or her problem only. They should analyze the problem and give advice for a healthy plan or healthy diet.

6. Speaking Skills – they should must have speaking skills because they can explain complicated topics or problems in easy words to their clients. So that client understands the problem. Also, they must explain clearly eating plans.

Most highly paid professional in Nutrition and Dietetics Industry: –

In India, nutritionists and dietitians are well paid jobs. Salary keeps increasing with experience and excellence in the field.

Nutrition Specialties
Sports Nutritionist
Clinical Dietitian
Holistic Nutritionist
Health Coach
Dietetic Technicians
Rehabilitation Counsellors
Registered dietitians
Health Educators and Community Health Workers
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Licensed Nutritionists
Registered Nurses

Conclusion

We can conclude that nutrition and dietetics can be a good career choice because people are becoming more and more aware about health care. Both of the career professionals, nutritionist or dietician can earn a good salary. They can also work in diverse fields which can be a good opportunity for them.