16 Jun Quality Care Starts With Qualifications
Who does what? How to find a qualified practitioner for nutrition advice.
It can be difficult to locate the perfect practitioner to meet your needs when seeking nutritional advice and counseling. What style of nutrition advice will he/she give me? What research and education will the practitioner be drawing their advice from? These are questions that should be answered before you decide to commit to your first consultation.
To find out what style of nutritional advice a practitioner will provide, you need to consider the titles Dietitian, Nutritionist and Naturopath.
Dietitian: Dietary guidelines that are followed in accordance with the dietary guidelines of Australia. Two fruit and five vegetables and meeting your daily serve requirements of certain food groups. Minimal use of nutritional or herbal supplements.
Nutritionist: Follow the guidelines of Australia however use more evidenced based research approach to dietary recommendations that don’t necessarily follow the guidelines as rigidly. In other words, use more information to give you more options to healthy eating. More variety in dietary patterns used. Moderate use of nutritional and herbal supplements.
Naturopaths: The use of more traditional dietary guidelines such as Mediterranean dietary patterns. More flexibility in dietary recommendation and much more varied advice between each practitioner. High use of nutritional and herbal supplements.
What qualifications do they have, and how to easily distinguish between qualified and not qualified?
Dietitians: Need to have a base Bachelor or post graduate degree and be registered under the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA). To easily find a practitioner, go to their website: www.daa.com.au
Nutritionist: To be called a nutritionist in Australia you don’t have to be university qualified, however this should be the norm in acquiring a practitioner. To make sure of a Bachelor degree in nutrition, find practitioners that are members of the Nutrition Society of Australia (NSA).
Naturopaths: To be called a naturopath in Australia you do not need a base line education, so it is imperative that you look for two things: an Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy or Herbal Medicine/Nutritional Medicine as a minimum, AND be registered with either the Australian Traditional Medicine Society (ATMS) or Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA). To easily find these practitioners go to their websites: www.atms.com.au or www.australiannaturaltherapistsassociation.com.au .
