What Does a Culinary Nutritionist Do in their Job?
Gone are the days when culinary degrees strictly confined a graduate to the kitchen or hospitality field. Now, culinary professionals are being called upon to deliver their talents to a vastly expanding new field known as culinary nutrition. Thanks to the birth of new endorsements like the Certified Dietary Manager, the culinary nutritionist can start the career of their dreams in healthcare, schools, or private counseling centers that offer lifestyle and diet support.
They could even start their own business as a personal chef that can not only provide versatile meal plans for an expanding health conscious population, but also create culinary marvels in an individualistic setting. This type of precision nutrition is all the rage nowadays with the increase in food allergies, disease prevalence, rising healthcare costs and diagnoses of all kinds and people are looking for simpler yet effective means of disease modulation with prevention as a key factor.
The Culinary Nutritionist: A Day in the Life
The designation as a culinary nutritionist allows a professional to work one-on-one with dietitians in formulating meal plans for specific dietary concerns. Whether it be for diabetics, post-surgical patients, older adults, or people medical issues that limit their ability to eat. At the same time, the culinary nutritionist can manage the kitchen of a facility.
They make sure specific recommendations are followed. This is also where the culinarian can display their ability to make healthy foods much more palatable through gastronomic techniques that only a culinary professional can provide. Because of the adaptability of the field, an average day in the life of a culinary nutritionist can look vastly different depending on professional interests.
For instance, the culinary nutritionist may begin the day by collaborating with nutrition professionals at an assisted living facility, or they may start by developing a kid-friendly meal plan for allergy-related concerns at a local school. Maybe the culinary professional wants to check in on a diabetic patient to make any necessary food-related changes based on taste, or, perhaps they wants to spend time in the kitchen making sure everything is running like a well-oiled machine.
The beauty of this field is that personal interests can shape where a culinary nutritionist may end up for their day-to-day job. Whether it be the private or public sector, corporate nutrition services or the health and wellness field, the career potentials are never-ending especially when looking at the rising number of both people and businesses who are becoming more health conscious with each passing day.
People need guidance when it comes to healthy eating and cooking techniques. A culinary nutritionist will have the skills to make delicious foods that meet the diverse needs of a changing health population at the drop of the hat. They will also have the scientific evidence from a professional program to back up their actions and delivery.
Why Seek Formal Nutrition Education?
It’s easy to surf the web and find generic dietary recommendations made for a specific disease or allergy. However, it is important to keep in mind that these “one-size-fits-all” suggestions fail to address individual characteristics like a person’s taste for a specific food, the extent of their disease, symptoms, or other lifestyle factors. As a culinary nutritionist, a formal education is crucial in order to set a person apart from the “one-size-fits-all” mentality.
The most important aspect of completing your degree in culinary nutrition is the certification you will hold as a certified dietary manager, which grants you the ability to combine your culinary skills with nutritional expertise and capitalize on food as healing for a diverse clientele. Anyone can give advice on how to eat healthy, however, it takes a true professional to deliver nutrition at the individual level and educate clients on how to carry out healthy habits both in the kitchen and beyond.
Obtaining formal education in the dietary field allows you to set yourself apart from the delivery of generic nutrition advice from non-credible sources. You will also gain an understanding of disease etiology, specific vitamin and mineral deficiencies associated with disease progression and you will be able to create comprehensive meal plans that target specific needs.
Are you interested in joining this exciting and growing field? If you want to earn an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Culinary Arts and Applied Nutrition, ECPI University’s Culinary Institute of Virginia offers these classes at an accelerated rate. For more information on how to get started, connect with a helpful admissions counselor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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Gainful Employment Information – Culinary Nutrition - Associate’s
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