Good food and a healthy diet are as important for maintaining our health as regular exercise or hygiene. Unfortunately, the number of malnourished people in India and the rest of the world doesn’t seem to be reduced in spite of great efforts from the government and various NGOs.
Malnourishment does not always infer to starvation. You can eat food from the best of restaurants every day and your diet might still lack some essential minerals and vitamins. Prolonged deficiencies of specific micronutrients can stage the onset of many lifestyle diseases and disorders.
Therefore, we need qualified dieticians who can guide us on the nutritive value of different foods and advise us on how to follow a good diet. With increasing awareness about healthy organic food, the demand for qualified dieticians has also increased dramatically.
If you are interested in this career option and are considering pursuing a BSc Dietetics program, this blog is for you. It outlines all the major career paths you can take up upon your graduation as a dietician.
- Registered dietitian: Registered dietitians use their expertise in food and nutrition to promote healthy food habits among the common people. They work with their clients to fix diet charts and other food preferences to meet specific health goals.
- Dietary Aide: Dietary aides are hired in the larger food service or preparation programs to assist trained dietitians. These are usually dietetics students who are interning under a qualified dietitian to gain more experience.
- Nutritionist: The roles and responsibilities of a nutritionist are almost similar to that of a qualified dietitian. However, nutritionists also look into the effect of people’s diets on different disorders and help them avoid or manage their chronic medical conditions.
- Food program coordinator: These coordinators work with the government or NGOs to provide nutrition-related support for marginal income families. They assist social and community workers to educate people from lower-income backgrounds on how they can eat healthy within their economic means.
- Health coach: Health coaches work with individual clients to assess their dietary habits and look for ways to improve them. They devise different strategies and meal plans to improve their clients’ health and meet specific health-related goals. A health coach looks at wellness from a holistic approach and may counsel their clients for other issues apart from nutritional deficiencies.
- Food quality assurance technician: These professionals assess the quality and nutritional value of the food served in different establishments like diners and restaurants. They assess if the food meets certain nutritional requirements to be allowed to be sold to the common public.
Apart from these roles, you can also look up other roles like diet technicians, community health workers, food service workers, or diabetes educators.
Career paths in the nutrition field can be extremely fulfilling as you inspire people of all ages to lead healthy lives. The pay packages in this domain are also quite decent and can increase with your experience.
Invest in a good dietary course today to become a qualified diet practitioner in your area.
