Media is effective in providing information. At the same time, a nutritionist can tailor the sources of information for the individual. It is also prudent to seek professional advice before embarking on any new diet.

That is an excellent question!  A Registered Dietician (RD) is a professional credentialed by the American Dietetic Association. RDs are required to have a minimum of a bachelor degree in nutrition or a related field and a 6-9 month dietetic internship that includes a shift in a hospital setting, community nutrition and food service and ends in an exam. RDs make terrific contributions toward standardizing ADA guidelines and generally only RDs can be employed in federally funded institutions like hospitals or nursing homes. RDs are trained to provide tube feeding for patients, and often give a valuable service and excellent support in assessing caloric, protein and fatty acid intake for patients.

Licensed Nutritionists have a graduate degree from an academic nutritional program. They have to have a master’s or higher degree in nutrition and meet other requirements to be able to take a board exam and then become a Certified Nutrition Specialist. The main difference is that Licensed Nutritionists opt not to focus their efforts on institutional internships at the end of their schooling but on private clinical practices. Licensed Nutritionists, especially if trained at Bastyr University, are trained in Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) and nutritional supplements, and they have strong experience in nutritional counseling with individual patients and formal training in it, which many RDs may lack in their training. Licensed Nutritionists observe standards established by American Dietetic Association and their dietary guidelines, but many go beyond that with special training in hands-on healing food preparation and knowledge of food as medicine.

My training was earned at Bastyr University, a school famous for its naturopathic program. Bastyr School of Nutrition provides the best graduate nutrition program in the country. The Master’s Degree I earned focused on healing nutrition for the whole person, not just the disease. It combined cutting edge scientific research with CAM. Nutritional supplements were part of my formal training. I completed a mandatory year of Practicum with patients in a university clinic as a nutrition clinician and completed a required clinical exit exam. Counseling and nutrition counseling were taught in classes and practiced in the clinic. I learned to honor both newest science and ancient traditions such as nutrition of Traditional Chinese Medicine or Ayurveda. Each academic nutrition student in the program had to complete a semester of Whole Foods Demonstration class, where therapeutics of foods were put to practice through cooking and presentation methods in a presentation kitchen. I had a rare opportunity to study Ayurvedic Nutrition under trained guidance, and that also included therapeutic applications as well as cooking instructions in the presentation kitchen.

Each state has a different license requirement for a non-RD professional. In Maryland, both RDs and nutritionists who practice nutrition must be licensed by the Board of Dietetic Practice. In order to be licensed here, I had to pass a 4-hr board exam offered mostly to medical doctors who want to have credentials in nutrition. Only persons with master or PhD who can also document hundreds of hours in the nutrition profession are eligible for that exam. When I passed the board exam, I was eligible for the status of CNS, Certified Nutrition Specialist. Only RDs and CNS’s can apply for license to practice nutrition in Maryland. The license is LDN, Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist. The route I took is the only legal way for a non-RD to practice nutrition in Maryland.

When you find a person who calls him/herself a nutritionist, you must inquire if this person is licensed in Maryland. One cannot provide nutritional counseling without the license through the Board of Dietetic Practice.

When a food does not support the body, there may be health reasons like digestive problems, but we also need to understand that each person is unique. That uniqueness is acknowledged by traditional systems of healing like Ayurveda, which comes from India but is a universal system. You may be perfectly healthy and still prefer your apples baked because your constitution is such that your digestion is very delicate and too much raw food is hard to digest. Perhaps the constitution is aggravated at this time and your digestion is especially weak as a result. Adding Ayurvedic principles to nutritional healing can have a much more profound positive effect on your health.

We will tour the grocery store of your choice in order to learn how to get the most health benefit. You wil learn how to save money by buying in bulk, how to read labels, and find healthier alternatives for some of the foods you commonly buy. We will visit grains, produce, bulk section, herbs and spices, and any other sections you feel important for your lifestyle.

I certainly can – a class or a workshop would be a perfect way to answer common nutritional questions. There is no end to possible topics of classes run by a nutritionist. Please let me know your interest and I will arrange an affordable, fun, educational workshop for you and your friends or family.

I teach patients how to to create a nourishing, sustainable and delicious menu that is free of any food allergen.

We each have unique dietary habits and preferences, which can become a stressful and confusing experience when we are faced with a medical condition that requires alterations in our eating habits, or when family members have different eating behaviors. I do not usually create complete menus for patients. Instead, my job is to help YOU devise a meal plan appealing to you that is also nutritionally balanced, practical, and economical so that it can be enjoyed by you or all the people involved. There is no end to ideas and combinations you can create.