Feel great with Nutritional Therapy – overcome health concerns

There are many different professions working within the broad field of nutrition. Only practitioners in Nutritional Therapy and dieticians are trained in clinical practice to give one-to-one personal advice.

Nutritional therapists

Nutritional therapy practitioners who have been trained in nutritional therapy and who are registered with a professional body. They are fully independent professionals who assess the whole health status of the individual and take account of the unique dietary and nutritional needs of their clients.  They recognize the biochemical individuality and the potential flaws in transferring population guidelines to recommendations for optimising individual health. 

They often work with clients who have chronic health problems that conventional medicine sometimes 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 behavioural difficulties may seek to support their child with nutritional therapy.

Dietitians

Dietitians work principally in the National Health Service and are regulated by the Health Professions Council.  A dietician uses the science of nutrition to devise eating plans for patients with various medical conditions. Their evidence is based on national dietary guidelines for a ‘normal’ population.  They work to promote good health by helping to facilitate a positive change in food choices amongst individuals, groups and communities based on these guidelines. They may also specialise in the field of artificial nutrition support, or work in the medical nutrition industry or in private practice.

Nutritionists

Nutrition scientists (nutritionists) often work outside of the clinical context, in research, industry or education. The Nutrition Society is a learned society whose aim is to advance the scientific study of nutrition and its application to the maintenance of human and animal health. There is a national voluntary register for nutritionists who are qualified to provide general information about food and healthy eating but are not trained in clinical practice or to give specific information about individual therapeutic diets. No specific qualifications are required to set yourself up as a nutritionist and registration with a professional body is optional.

This depends entirely on why you have come to me and what you are trying to resolve. If you are on a healthy diet and, for instance, have discomfort following food we may find a resolution within one session if all your diet required was a tweek. But it isn’t always obvious in which case it  may require a few sessions. It has been said that for every year that you’ve been living with a condition or health concern, you will require a month to resolve it. Sometimes this is the case but not always – I have been able to resolve long-term  issues within just one session.

It also depends to what degree there is a psychological component to the issue. Coaching can be used to support those struggling to implement change. Some clients benefit from more frequent sessions.

Don’t worry if you can’t cook! Even making small changes to your diet such as introducing healthy options that don’t require cooking can make a big difference. If you are someone who likes to eat out a lot or who likes to buy ready meals, getting guidance on what to chose can be really helpful.