Hey friends,
There are many people who believe they know the end all to be all about nutrition and being healthy. Not to mention, there is a massive amount of ‘nutritionists’ within the industry. But be warned, being a nutritionist is not as credible as we may be led to think.
To be a nutritionist in Canada means… nothing. Even though there may be nutritionist who know a great deal about eating healthy, anybody can call themselves a nutritionist in Canada. In the United States, being a nutritionist is more accountable or official.
In Canada, however, there is no governing body looking over ‘nutritionists’ which means, there is no nutritionist that can legally diagnose you a meal plan. Only a Registered Dietitian, which is a four year undergraduate degree program, can legally diagnose a meal plan for a person because there is an overseeing governing body regulating the industry.
If you are an individual who feels like they know a lot about food and nutrition, there is nothing wrong with RECOMMENDING dietary changes; however, to keep yourself out of legal trouble stick to recommendations and leave full meal plan design to Registered Dietitians.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of people who know a great deal about nutrition and can help a lot of people. That being said, anybody can call themselves a Nutritionist and really believe they know what they are talking about, but lead you off a cliff.
When in doubt, seek out someone you KNOW understands what they are talking about, and have their degree to prove it.
