Guide to Becoming A Licensed Nutritionist

As the level of awareness of how important nutrition and food is has been raised in the past few decades, many of us started wondering about our health. In case you are one of those people, and you think you have what it takes to study food and how to help people get more healthy, stay put. Here, you will be able to learn a few tips on how to become a licensed nutritionist and turn this into your vocation. 

In order to become a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), you will have to have a dietetics high education diploma, as well as the internships from some of the accredited programs, and in some cases, it even means going through a certain type of examination. A

Get a Bachelor’s Degree 

Those of you who are thinking about making this into your vocation should know that the first step towards it is a degree. In order to be a licensed nutritionist, you will need to have a bachelor’s degree in some of these:

• Food & Nutrition
• Dietetics
• Public Health Nutrition
• Clinical Nutrition

All the programs, courses, during the studies should be accredited by some major national or international organization. 

An Internship is a Must

Completing an internship is considered obligatory for all future licensed nutritionists. Moreover, those who want to pursue a career in this field should have direct clinical experience from some of the available and accredited internship programs. Depending on the country, various health organizations accrediting such internships might assign a certain number of hours that you need to spend as an intern. 

Registration Exam 

The third obligatory step towards becoming a licensed nutritionist is to pass the registration examination. This exam is administered by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Commission on Dietetic Registration and it is not to be neglected. In fact, if you think that taking such an exam might go easily, think twice. The future dietitians will be taking an exam for two or three hours. And that is not it. There will be around 150 questions in the exam testing your knowledge and skills. 

Getting a State License 

Logically, in order to become a registered nutritionist, you will have to obtain a state license allowing you to work as one. If this is more of a passion for you and you want to keep your knowledge to yourself, you won’t have to worry about this. However, assuming that you are going to use your knowledge to help others, or apply for a job post as nutrition- you will definitely need a state license to do that. 

In order to get this type of license, you will first need to check the local jurisdiction laws for that particular matter. In fact, some states and countries won’t oblige you to have such a  license. In brief, you should look into it and see if getting a state license applies to you. So, checking all the license requirements is a must if you want to stay well-informed. 

Nutrition Specialist Certification 

Finally, in some places, registered nutritionists are obliged to get the Nutrition Specialist certificate before they could be granted the license. These kinds of certificates are issued by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists, and it is of great importance for your career as a Nutritionist. This kind of certificate proves that you have gone through all the above-mentioned steps successfully and that you, indeed, can become a registered nutritionist.