What Lane Do You Practice In?

Have you noticed that the field of nutrition is

expanding… more players?  

Over the last decade, nutrition has become a

competitive, saturated field of services with lots of

lanes to practice in.

Do you ever wonder where all of these lanes come

from? 

Social media certainly has played a role in facilitating a

platform for anyone. Lots of folks are not just giving an

opinion about nutrition, but also giving nutrition

advice.

If you are a legit nutrition expert, how do you

embolden your skills as a licensed practitioner to

separate yourself from the pack —and give you the

leeway of a few more practice lanes?

Yes, this is for you RDs and RNs too. Are you practicing

up to your potential and are you able to change lanes

if you want to?

Someone recently asked me what kind of nutritionist

am I? 

My first instinct was to respond, “A good one”, but my

humility kicked in and I asked them to clarify a bit

more.

They responded with, “Do you do low carb?”  I

explained that low carb is really a microcosm of the

field of nutrition. 

Finally, I explained that I am an RD who provides a

system biology approach to nutrition care—

addressing individual health needs. 

We talked a little bit more and they were quite

curious to hear my response because they had no clue

what an RD really does. 

Even with the internet, their awareness of my scope

of practice was a microcosm of what my scope of

practice really is.

This is a big reason why I developed my online System

Biology coursework for RDs and RNs- Institute For

Functional Nutrition.

Truth is, there are lots of people out there giving

nutrition advice. In my opinion, some who are not RDs

are qualified and some who are not.

What exactly constitutes nutrition advice? 

When I made the choice to become an RD years ago,

there were not many lanes to practice in.

If I wanted to practice within a standard of care—and be able to open up someone’s medical history,

interpret labs, maybe recommend a few supplements,

if necessary, the only discipline that best matched this

job description with my career goals was an RD. 

I  had to take certain undergrad requirements,

a national board exam, fulfill a year internship with a

high level of proficiency and then later licensure in my

state, to say nothing of my graduate degree and years

of continuing education.

Today, if a consumer wants to receive nutrition advice,

there are lots of services to choose from and the

public often doesn’t know the difference.

We’ve got health coaches, nutrition coaches,

holistic coaches, clinical nutritionists, chiropractors,

nurses, functional physicians and of course, the

nutrition supplement reps. 

With all of these “services”, the requirements may stem

from nothing but an interest in food to a licensed

clinician who has passed a board exam and fulfilled a

proficiency of clinical requirements to a Phd in clinical

nutrition. 

All of these services have the ability to put a

website online and go out there and provide

nutrition advice.

Depending on the state you practice in, you may be

able to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT). 

MNT is an evidence-based medical approach to

treating certain chronic conditions through a tailored

nutrition plan, provided by an RD and is usually

approved by insurance.

But I have my issues with MNT—more on that later.

As an RN, I greatly respect the field

of nursing but RNs have limited

nutrition education in nursing

school— however, they carry a

wide umbrella in the medical

system. 

Throughout your health care life,

you will have more contacts with a nurse

than you will with any other health care

provider.

So, certainly it makes sense for RNs to be up

to date with nutrition knowledge. 

An RN’s scope of practice allows them

to give nutrition advice but they are not able to

provide MNT except under the supervision of a

physician or unless they are a diabetes educator.

But back to the consumer. What are people looking for

when they seek nutrition advice? 

Seems safe to say they are seeking someone who

understands the science of food and nutrients and

their various components and can translate that into

food recommendations, perhaps recipes, cooking

knowledge, grocery shopping, etc. 

But food doesn’t enter the body and just stay in the

mouth —it enters the body and then takes a journey,

traveling through the GI tract ultimately having both

positive and negative systemic effects, virtually

affecting every cell in the body.

Food can also emit epigenetic effects within the

body.   

Well folks, now we have just entered the realm of

someone’s health, which opens the door to their

medical history, medications, etc., and hello, MNT. 

These layers of nutrition practice, essentially are our

practice lanes. If you are a licensed practitioner such

as an RD, you have several lanes to practice in and

RDs can do all of this in their own private practice, not

under the supervision of a physician.

A health coach or anyone else without this training

really only has one practice lane and if they venture

into any medical advice, they must be under the

supervision of a physician.

Truth be told, isn’t MNT ultimately the goal of

everyone who asks for nutrition advice? 

Unless, the consumer is just seeking a few different

recipes or wants to learn to cook, people seek

nutrition advice to improve their health—Full Stop. 

And in my mind, that is MNT—and not limited to a

diagnosis.

It all requires knowledge well beyond just what’s in

food, knowledge of anatomy and physiology of the

body.

You can see how separating out the layers of nutrition

advice is nearly impossible.

You can’t separate the mouth and the body

from the purpose of food and its systemic effects.

To do so, is the slipperiest of slippery slopes. It may be

one thing to separate philosophies of nutrition

practice, that’s a whole different debate. 

But regardless of your philosophy or the limitless

knowledge you may have about food and its nutrients,

if you are going to give out nutrition advice——you

must have an understanding of anatomy and

physiology and how the systems work together—

systems biology. 

As important as it is to stay within your scope of

practice, it’s also important to maximize the scope you

have earned.

A strong foundation of systems biology and anatomy

and physiology to match your nutrition knowledge will

allow you to practice in more than one lane.

Embolden and distinguish your nutrition skills with a

systems biology framework and now you are practicing

on the full nutrition highway.