For some reason, many people only associate nutrition with the concept of weight problems. Mostly weight reduction, sometimes also lifting. However, a competent nutritionist can help solve many more health concerns and prevent them with healthy food.
Rather, an advisor is needed to become friends with his body, listen to it, and learn to understand what the body needs at the moment. Good food that fits your body will not only help you weight, but will help you stay healthy and keep fit.
A menu specially formulated for you can help or support treatment for some ailments such as high blood pressure or excessive cholesterol, as well as skin disorders or anemia.
A conscious food and health enthusiast will probably be able to solve some of the problems by using a smart book or a website. Today’s problem is more information overflow, which means that critical mind and common sense will wear out among the various counseling options. Exactly the same way, of course, choosing a counselor is when you feel that you can’t do it yourself.
A conscious diet may seem complicated at first and perhaps even annoying. But any small change will become a habit at one point and so it is good to move towards a healthier lifestyle.
Proper nutrition helps a lot
Healthy and balanced diets can keep your health strong – reduce the risk of illness, normalize blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent diabetes, and more. Skillful food can help prevent some chronic disease.
Consciously eating can improve digestion and also deal with weight problems. In case of food allergy and / or intolerance, or when eating disorders, a well-chosen menu will help to improve the situation.
“Nutrition counselors naturally deal with weight problems (both weight loss and lifting), but we can address other issues. For example, we advise pregnant women, children and parents, help prevent cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc., ”explained Triin Muiste, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Nutrition Advisors Association.
“Nutrition counselors do not provide direct disease-specific guidance, but they help make the menu healthier. Nutritionists with higher competence have more competences and can also face more serious problems. But nutritionists are already helping with disease-specific recommendations, ”Muiste added.
What does a nutritionist do?
Nutrition counselor helps to evaluate the optimal body weight of a person and to determine the best possible ways to achieve it. In doing so, the advisor shares the necessary knowledge of how the different foods can or should be reconciled and how they are most sensible in processing. In addition, people get different knowledge according to their age or area of life, for example, children, older people, or high-physical athletes need different amounts and nutrients for good health.
Today’s so-called lifestyle diseases can also be prevented or mitigated by diet. Cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. need a special menu that can be prepared with the help of a nutritionist. Together, the human diary and habits are reviewed and instructions set.
What is important here is personality – a person does not need to follow general and appropriate guidelines. The nutrition consultant personally prepares a menu that is personally suitable for him, which takes into account different individual demands and needs.
After consultations and visits, the nutrition consultant will go through and then decide whether everything has gone according to plan or needs to be changed, offers advice for the future, and so on.
Who will become a nutritionist?
In order to obtain a nutrition counselor certificate, at least 600 hours of in-service training must be completed. This includes food choices, a balanced diet, healthy food, etc. Counselors must be able to use reliable and evidence-based sources and be up to date with the latest scientific literature.
In a health school, you can continue your education in a nutrition counselor’s diet, and through it you can continue your studies in a functional nutrition counselor. The nutrition counselor can start working immediately after completing the study and, if desired, can take a professional examination.
Active nutrition counselors emphasize that passing a basic level is only the beginning, and the invitation itself does not imply anyone’s competence. Sirje Vaask, the representative of the Estonian Health Promotion Association, has said that the existence or not of a professional certificate is not the only indicator of competence and that a counselor without a professional certificate can also be competent.
In Estonia, in addition to applying for a professional certificate, a nutrition consultant has the opportunity to join the Estonian Nutrition Advisers Association, which controls the competence and experience of advisers and brings together reliable service providers in the form of members.
“Those who have passed a short course in nutrition can also apply for an invitation. But every nutritional training does not give us the competence to become a nutritionist, because here, indeed, other aspects are also affected, ”said Triin Muiste. In his opinion, one has to take into account the ability of a person to listen to others, give them adequate and personal advice, and more importantly, not to make assessments.
“Nutrition counselor supports, not shares, assessments,” Muiste said. In his opinion, the basics of psychology must be known in addition to the assigned invitation, as much of the counselor’s work is listening and understanding the client. “It’s not nutrition advice when I take the customer’s menu by e-mail and then write to him what he’s doing wrong. This is an analysis of the menu, ”he explained, and added that, when giving lectures at the Health School, they often give those who leave their studies because the difference between menu analysis and counseling is very high.
Nutrition and internet
Today’s world offers a wealth of opportunities to find the information you want without having to turn to a specific and trained person. In addition to simplicity, the internet often offers help, either free of charge or for a much smaller fee, than a nutritionist would ask for.
There are dozens of different online environments where individual counseling or ready-made diet plans are offered as favorably as possible. As a rule, they take into account the age, weight and physical activity of a person and then consider their recommendations. Behind such pages may be trained counselors, but there are also less professional counselors. Thus, a whole range of healthy ancestry skepticism should be used in all kinds of anonymous or automatically computer-based environments.
Nutrition programs that are available on the Internet or, for example, compiled on the basis of books, may be suitable for many, but require a thorough basic knowledge. For example, there are web-based programs in Estonia that advertise themselves as a balanced menu creator, but in reality, the main nutrient ratio in Estonia is still out of place.
This may lead to a daily consumption of 40 percent of the protein, while the current dietary recommendations suggest that the proportion of protein should remain within the range of 10-20 percent. To avoid such situations, you must first familiarize yourself with the necessary starting material or use the help of a specialist.
“I don’t want to believe anyone blindly,” Triin Muiste advised. “Find out if the information divider has the appropriate diploma, how many hours he has learned about nutrition, what sources he relies on in his claims, whether these sources are evidence-based.”
There are probably many bloggers who share knowledge with people based on their experience. Here, too, one has to realize that without the knowledge of oneself, they do not descend into extremes, like the strangers. All kinds of raw food, vegan, or other diets must certainly take into account the individual health status and the knowledge of the nutrition and the basics of their own as well as of the hunter.
In the opinion of others, the Internet can indeed be helped, for example, in weight loss, but it may also have a short-term effect. “By following different diets and any suggestions for nutrition, a person may be able to ruin his health in the long term,” he put to the heart of the people. “In case of serious interest, however, I recommend at least one time to contact a learned nutritionist who will help find the right way.”
How do I find a suitable counselor?
Similarly, the choice of nutrition counselor should also be taken wisely. If you have decided that the internet is not for you and you want to find the right person to get help from, then you should definitely follow the same principles outlined above. First and foremost, make sure that you are a certified and trained nutritionist. According to the rest, he suggests to avoid possible extremes as the main thing.
“If the so-called nutrition adviser itself promotes extremes (protein diets, raw or fruit production, etc.), there is a risk that it will recommend it to all of its advisers. The nutrition counselor must be impartial and nonetheless based on the client, not what he likes or dislikes, ”Muiste said.
Nobody is eating healthy all the time
Nutrition advisers, however, direct people to live healthier and make more informed decisions about their diets, but the fact is that nobody is able to live 100 percent healthy every day. And that’s not necessary. Both the advisors themselves and their advisers often face temptations and are perfectly normal. Therefore, it is not to be feared that when you turn to a nutritionist, candy, fatty foods and glassy wine must be abandoned forever.
“When it comes to fat, fat is vital for life. 25-35 percent of our menu should consist of fats. Of course, less saturated fats should be chosen and more good fats should be consumed, such as omega-3 fatty acids (fish and seafood containing them), but without fat. Otherwise, many important functions will be disrupted in our body, ”rested the worried worried that nobody would last long with lean food.
“In the case of confectionery (and alcohol), the nutritionist teaches to choose healthier alternatives and talks about quantities. In the case of prohibition, people will start to avoid carbohydrates, which will always lead to an increase in appetite, ”Muiste explained. “It won’t be long either to be eaten or without carbohydrates, it will always end with overeating.”
It is healthy to listen to your body and eat what you are looking for, of course, within reasonable limits.
When to contact a nutritionist?
Often, people are long-lasting and unable to decide whether or not they need help with their problems. This is how many diets and information searched from the Internet often reach the starting point.
“It is better to come as soon as you wish, because people do not know the basics of healthy eating, especially the newer ones,” stressed Triin Muiste. “There is a lot of information on the Internet and people are confused.”
Of course, a nutritionist is not a miracle tool and everyone can educate themselves and get to know their bodies. The basics of healthy eating are not complicated, but practice shows that people are not always able to properly evaluate and use them.
The memory compares healthy eating with exercise – you need to know the basic information to achieve results and not to overdo yourself. Exercises may be right, but the wrong pace or over-training wastes too much power. Likewise, by regulating paper-based nutrition, mistakes can be found that you cannot notice yourself.
“A side-by-side ride helps to clarify the matter,” Muiste explained. “Sometimes the textbook tutorial may not suit me. For example, in the case of weight loss, many recommend eating and eating separately. In reality, a larger number of weight loss assistants eat protein and carbohydrates together. It helps to balance the blood sugar and the weight of the right carbohydrates is nicely weighed, ”he added.
Regardless of whether you are controlling your diet yourself or using the counselor’s help, it is worth remembering that food does not always have to deal with physical problems. The right menu can also support mental health. For example, food can help with stress, for example, or improve your learning and concentration. In addition, the right choice of food increases the body’s energy level, scares fatigue and exhaustion, and thus improves mood.
