Visit A Nutritionist And Begin Living A Healthier Life

By Author: William Hall
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We all want to live long and healthy lives. While being healthy means many things, it primarily starts with your diet and the way you are giving nutrition to your body. And if you are like most people, understanding nutrition can be tricky. This is why so many are turning toward nutritionists to lend them a helping hand.

Technically, a nutritionist is a person who devotes professional activity to food and preventive nutrition. They can also advise people on dietary matters relating to health, well-being and nutrition.

There are different types of nutritionists. There is the Nutrition Scientist, who uses the scientific method to study nutrients, both as individual compounds and as they interact in food and nutrition. The role of the nutrition scientist is to develop new knowledge related to nutrients or nutrition or to develop new processes or techniques to apply existing knowledge. For example, nutrition scientists have been involved in developing food preservation processes, determining nutrient requirements for various animal species, how individual nutrients function within the cells of the human body, and identifying ...
... nutrition-related problems in various populations.

The Public Health Nutritionists are professionals who view the community as their client. They specialize in diagnosing the nutritional problems of communities and in finding solutions to those problems. Some examples of public health nutrition interventions include the fortification of salt with iodine to prevent Goiter or the enrichment of grain products with B vitamins to prevent deficiency diseases.

Typically, a nutritionist is an alternative health practitioner who works with a person's diet to help heal or prevent disease. A person who represents themself as a nutritionist may have several different levels of education including a degree in Nutrition or Dietetics from a University or certification in Nutrition Education and/or Counseling from a private vocational/professional training school. Most people who have a degree in Dietetics in the United States will be registered with the national board and will call themselves Registered Dieticians (R.D.'s). These professionals have a slightly different perspective from the more holistically oriented Certified Nutrition Educators or Counselors (C.N.E's or C.N.C.'s).

While a Registered Dietician may have a vast scientific knowledge of the body and nutrition, they are often quite "institutional" in their approach to patient care. Their focus is entirely within the realm of western medicine, meaning they have rigid guidelines when it comes to dietary recommendations. They also often work directly with medical doctors or in hospitals. In many ways, they are trained to treat the disease rather than the person as a whole.

A Certified Nutrition Counselor is different in that they are not bound by one way of thinking. Their education is more holistic in nature, meaning they are trained to view the patient as a whole person rather than simply a disease. These nutrionists work to help clients manage their health through diet and lifestyle recommendations. They focus on education and motivation rather than simply prescribing a set diet. Dietary recommendations may even include some techniques from herbal or Eastern medicine. They are broad in their perspective and will work with a variety of health models to help their clients achieve a higher level of well being.

There are a variety of reasons that someone would want to see a nutritionist. If you have been recently diagnosed with a weight related condition such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes, you may want to consult a nutritionist in order to determine the best course of action to prevent complications. It would also be a good idea to get advice if your doctor has expressed a concern that you may be developing one of these conditions. A nutritionist can help if you are experiencing general health concerns such as poor immunity or fatigue. Serious diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, can also be improved by consulting a nutritionist along with your regular medical doctor.

An example how a food can be good or bad for the body is through examining foods that cause inflammation or picking foods that are anti-inflammatory.

Inflammation is defined as a localized reaction of tissue to irritation, injury, or infection. Symptoms of inflammation include pain, swelling, red coloration to the area, and sometimes loss of movement or function. We commonly think of inflammation as the painful component of arthritis. Inflammation is also a component of chronic diseases such as heart disease and strokes.

Foods that can increase inflammation include: junk foods, high-fat meats, sugar and fast foods. This is partially due to the unhealthy fats used in preparing and processing these foods, especially trans fats and saturated fats. Processed meats such as lunch meats, hot dogs and sausages contain chemicals such as nitrites that are associated with increased inflammation and chronic disease.

Another possible source of irritation comes from the nightshade family of plants. Vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant may actually make pain from inflammation worse. These nightshade family vegetables contain a chemical alkaloid called solanine. Solanine can trigger pain in some people.

Adding foods that reduce inflammation include the right types of fats in your diet. Omega-3 essential fatty acids are very powerful anti-inflammatory agents. They are found in cold water oily fish, walnuts, flax seeds, canola oil and pumpkin seeds. Adding omega-3 fatty acid supplements from flax oil or fish oil may also help reduce inflammation.

A nutritionist will help determine what is a proper diet for you specifically, depending on your needs. Your body needs many types of nutrients, so cutting out foods can be require a careful balance. So if you are looking for a natural way to live a better and healthier life, you may want to start with a nutrionist and work from there.
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