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hi everyone welcome back to my channel
my name is lou i'm a registered
dietitian
and in today's video we're going to be
talking about how to become
a registered dietitian slash
nutritionist
i'm going to make all the distinctions
so that way it's clear
but if you don't want to wait too long
for the video i need to say
starting out that in order to become a
nutritionist you do need a college
degree
so i officially became a nutritionist in
2016 and then i became a dietitian in
2018
so in order to be a nutritionist do you
need a degree
from a four-year university studying
nutrition
so first things first let's make some
distinctions and define
some terms every dietitian is a
nutritionist but not every nutritionist
is a dietitian
and that is because when i have my
credentials my credential
is a registered dietitian nutritionist
the reason why nutritionist
is tacked on is because to identify a
nutritionist but sometimes people don't
understand what a dietitian is
so our title is registered dietitian
nutritionist
and then when i am licensed with my
state i become
a licensed dietitian nutritionist which
i am licensed
so let's talk about the process of how
to become a dietitian
since that is the more tedious of the
two week as we can say
so number one in order to become a
dietitian
you need to graduate from a dpd program
that basically means that you went to
undergrad or even if you did this in
your master's level
you graduated with a dpd program now if
you go to
the academies website the academy of
nutrition and dietetics
they will have a list of the current dpd
programs it is important that you check
this
because just because your school offers
nutrition or they offer dietetics that
does not mean
that they are a dpd school right so you
have to make sure that that is accurate
and that your school is actually a dpd
school okay so the second part of
becoming a registered dietitian
nutritionist
you've completed your undergrad degree
you completed the four years in the dpd
program or if you did it at the master's
level or the phd level
however long it took you completed that
program um and now you have graduated
from a dpd
program the next thing you need is an
internship
so we call it internship but it's not
traditionally like your traditional
internship
um this is like when you're getting your
clinical hours and you're actually
learning in the
field and there are programs that you
can apply to
directly or you can do the matching
process and that's the reason why i make
the distinction is because i did the
matching process i did not match
but then i went ahead and i applied to a
program directly and i was actually
admitted into that program
and i completed my internship similar
with the dpd program
internships are verified by the academy
of nutrition and dietetics and you can
go on the academy
website and you can see the list of
current internship programs that are
offered
now my recommendation is if you're going
to choose an internship program
i would go for a coordinated program if
they have a bachelor's coordinator
program
that is on a coordinated bachelor's
program which means
that when you graduate with your
bachelor's degree you have also
completed your internship within that
four years
so you can you can actually sit for your
dietetics exam
right after your bachelor's degree now
that is not common
um but for the school that i went to for
my internship they did have a
coordinated
bachelor's program which was howard
university when you are
in their bachelor's program you're also
in your internship and then once you
complete that
bachelor's degree you could sit for your
exam now master's programs
or master coordinated programs are very
common you can go ahead and get your
master's degree as well as complete your
internship
now i like the idea of attaching it to a
school because financial reasons
i got into a distance learning program
for
the internship but it cost ten thousand
dollars and i didn't have a way to pay
that ten thousand dollars and if you
need some type of loan
you're gonna have to apply for that loan
specially but
when your program is actually attached
to a school
you can apply through fafsa and get
federal student loans
um which is how i paid for my internship
program since it was so expensive and my
parents didn't have the means in order
to pay out of pocket that was the second
part of the process
you graduated from a dpd program and
you've completed your internship
internship lengths or internship
programs can vary from length
they can be six months i think is the
shortest one and it can go up to 18
months
now there are some free programs but of
course afterwards you would have to pay
them back either through
working for them for two years or um
other type of situations that is
something that you can look into and if
you have the ability
or if you have the ability to travel i
would definitely look into that
option now the third and final thing is
that you
need to pass the cdr licensing exam
the first video i posted had to do was
passing my cdr exam
once you have passed that exam you can
then
apply to your state to get your license
so when you've completed those three
process you graduated from a dpd program
you've you completed your internship
program and now you've passed your cdr
licensing exam
you are now a registered dietitian
nutritionist and then you can
technically buy your credentials or
you're allowed to use the credentials
through the cdr as a registered
dietitian
i am able to apply to any job that
requires a registered dietitian
and sometimes some jobs also request
require a license you know the two are
not the same sometimes
you just need uh your cdr credentials
and then other times you will need a
license a lot of the times it has
anything to do with insurance
if you're working in a hospital if
you're working in long-term care you
will need a license
nine times out of ten now if it doesn't
have to do maybe you're doing branding
work
you're working with like a company a
food company that might just require
your credential and you won't need the
license on top of that as a registered
dietitian a lot of the times
you know you hear people say like i
didn't need to go to school to do my job
i will say that this field is probably
the only one of the few fields that that
does not apply to
um i have used a lot of the information
that i gained through my internship
program
and through my undergraduate degree in
my current career
like i needed to go to school in order
to practice and
and to learn a lot of that information
and i'm able you know to work in those
fields because of the licensing because
of my credentials
now let's talk about how you can become
a nutritionist and if we're being honest
you know you see a lot of programs that
are promoted online about
take this course you are you could
become a nutritionist
you see certain fitness companies
promoting courses that you could take in
order to become a nutritionist
if you're already a physical trainer and
the truth is the scope of practices are
different
once you get into the nitty gritty of
these courses they'll even tell you
you actually can't really practice as a
nutritionist even though you're taking
this course
right so the only people who are
considered nutritionists are individuals
who have graduated
from a four-year university or from a
master's program or phd program
with a degree in nutrition cannot just
take a course and become a nutritionist
and i do know some nutritionists that
after they have taken their degree
program either bachelor's level master's
level phd level
they can also sit for an exam and become
a licensed nutritionist
now when we talk about jobs that you can
apply to
my friend who actually was a licensed
nutritionist but then she went on and
did the internship in order to become
a registered dietitian she said that
when she applies to jobs as a licensed
nutritionist it was very
hard for her to get a job now she had a
degree in nutrition
and she also had completed the exam so
she was a licensed
nutritionist however those credentials
aren't as recognized and because you
know
we see so many people who can go into
courses and and become nutritionist
that that terminology is very
nuanced so more people or more companies
are more comfortable hiring registered
dietitian nutritionist
because it is a theme as a credible a
more credible
credential when you see any course
promoting that you
you can become a nutritionist without a
college education and
you can take this course and become a
nutritionist the harm in that is that if
you are actually practicing
nutrition therapy or what we would call
medical nutrition therapy you could be
sued
by the state that you are currently
practicing in and of course if you're
doing this virtually and seeing multiple
clients everywhere
that also can put you into sticky
situations i would say
the truth of the matter if you want to
become a nutritionist you have to bite
that bullet
it is does take a long time it does take
some work but at the end of the day
like we always say you will always be
four years older from today so if it
takes four years it does not matter
i would say go ahead and put the time
and put the work in that you can
now if you're going into college and
you're still deciding what you want to
do i hope this video really does help
you i didn't go into college as a
nutrition
dietetics major i went into college
doing biology and then i realized and
found that my
school happened to have a dpd program
which helped me transition into the
field of nutrition and dietetics
so i will say that again if you are
taking any course and they say that
after this course you're a nutritionist
that is not true
that you you're not able to apply to
jobs that are listed as nutritionist
and if you are trying to see clients 101
as a nutritionist
that's also something that you're not
able to do because um the state can
find you if you're practicing any
medical nutrition therapy and you're not
a registered dietitian nutritionist
and honestly i'm in a lot of groups with
registered dietitians and as soon as
they see somebody practicing in their
state
that does not have their credentials or
they're not accurately practicing as a
registered dietitian nutritionist
they do report them like that is very
much common
so if you are promoting your services as
like a nutritionist
at i'm doing nutrition therapy i would
be mindful of that and note that you
know registered dietitians are
nutritionists and not all nutritionists
are registered dietitians
so i hope this video was informative i
hope it helped you make your decision of
whether or not you want to become a
registered dietitian i think it's a
great field to go into i always
recommend people to go into the field
because it's a health field but then you
also get to
really personalize it you can go into
private practice you can specialize you
can do all of these things
and when we just talk about the master's
program
so currently eventually a master's
degree will be required
to become a registered dietitian but you
can get that master's degree in anything
and i was i always recommend that if you
can get the master's degree
and something that's complementing what
you want to further do and what you want
to specialize in and what you want to be
seen as the expert in i will go for that
i personally got my degree or my
master's degree in counseling psychology
and that is why i focus on holistic
nutrition i focus on mental health and
the connection with food
i'm not specifically eating disorders
but generally just mental health as
it connects with food and how we
perceive food and intake so definitely
that's what i personally like to do and
i would advise that if you are looking
into programs
definitely look into that if you guys
have any other questions about how to
become a registered dietitian
nutritionist or anything about the field
please feel free to leave them below and
i will
get to them thank you so much have a
great day
you
