Category Archives: Diseases, Conditions & Disorders

Recognizing A Certified Nutritionist

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The title certified nutritionist (CN) or certified clinical nutritionist (CCN) shows that a person has had extensive education and training in nutrition science, and has also met national testing standards.

Both C.N.s, and C.C.N.s work together with clients to assess and analyze individual nutritional needs and develop personalized nutrition plans. During this process, they educate, advise, counsel, monitor, and provide their clients with support. Both conventional doctors and alternative health practitioners often refer their patients to nutritionists for dietary counseling.

The dietary information that you receive from a certified nutritionist is most likely to be reliable and based on current knowledge in the field if the nutritionist has been working in the profession for a minimum of one year and holds one of the following certifications:

Certified Nutritionist (C.N.): C.N.s must earn a Bachelor of Science or a higher degree in nutrition science from an accredited college or formal training program which is recognized by state licensing agencies.

They must meet any state licensing or certification requirements in their state, and must also comply with all statutes related to the practice of nutrition counseling. Furthermore, C.N.s must also complete a series of examinations required by the National Institute of Nutritional Education.

Certified Clinical Nutritionist (C.C.N.): To earn the C.C.N. credentials, nutritionists must have received a graduate degree in a health-care field or, if they only hold a B.A. degree, they must complete 900 hours of medical and clinical nutrition internship as well.

They will then be qualified to take case histories and to use various tests and observations to assess an individual’s nutritional needs. C.C.N.s may use the results of their assessments as a basis for referring clients to a licensed physician or other health-care professional.

Choosing A Practitioner

When you’re looking for responsible nutrition advice, look for a certified professional. Always keep in mind that the simple title “nutritionist,” although used by many qualified nutrition and dietetic professionals, is a moniker that may also be adopted by virtually anyone who needs to hang up a shingle.

Be careful of bogus qualifications, as well as of what can seem to be extreme dietary recommendations. Because irresponsible information on nutrition can be dangerous to your health, be very cautious to ask specific questions and verify the practitioner’s education, training, and professional credentials.

Although most states do require a license for professional dietitians, the situation is murkier for nutritionists. This is why it is important to be sure any nutritionist you consult has one of the credentials listed above. These will assure you of consistent standards of education, training, and professionalism.

If a nutritionist practices in a state that doesn’t regulate their qualifications, you should still try to look for one of the above certifications, which are granted for C.C.N.s by the Clinical Nutrition Certification Board (CNCN), and for C.N.s by the National Institute of Nutritional Education.

It’s also a good sign if the nutritionist is a current member of the Society of Certified Nutritionists (SCN), which is working to establish higher national standards of practice whilst promoting continuing education in the field.

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Facts On Fast Food Nutrition

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Fast food is a convenient and fun way of eating. But can it be healthy eating?

Are too many ‘Happy Meals’ one of the reasons more kids today are overweight?

The increase in families substituting a family meal with a trip to McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. is very likely one of the causes for the increase in overweight kids, but it’s not the only cause. Other factors also play a role, including an increased time watching TV and playing video games and a decreased time in physical activity as well as unhealthy food choices.

The choice you make when eating fast food can also determine how healthy or ‘unhealthy’ it will be.

How can you make fast food healthier?

One of the easiest ways to make fast food healthier is to be careful of your portion sizes and understand how many calories and how much fat you add to a meal when you ‘super-size’ your order. It might seem like better ‘value’ to go with the special or large meal sizes, but you must also think about what the extra calories will cost you later as your child tries to burn them off in order to lose weight.

Healthier Eating Choices

Further to choosing smaller portion sizes, checking the menus at your favorite fast food restaurants will likely help you to find other low calorie, low fat alternatives to traditional fast foods which are really healthy. This could include a salad, baked potato, or grilled chicken salad.

With other sorts of fast food, such as pizza, choose a thin crust cheese pizza and try to avoid adding lots of cheese or extra meat toppings.

It can also help your child to be healthier if you avoid ‘fast food’ at more traditional restaurants that you visit. It unfortunately seems like almost every restaurant, whether Italian, Chinese, Mexican, etc. has a kids’ menu with high fat and high calorie foods, like chicken nuggets, french fries, etc.

Instead of always relying on the kid’s menu, why not consider getting a half order or child plate of a more traditional and healthier item at the same restaurant?

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Signs and Symptoms of Anorexia

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The eating disorder referred to as anorexia can be described as a continuous eating disorder caused by a loss of appetite. Nonetheless, there is more to it than that. Anorexia Nervosa includes retaining a false body image wherein you might consider you might have weight to lose whereas in reality, you might already be underweight.

Included in the definition of Anorexia should also be a few of the symptoms related to the disorder. These symptoms include not eating enough calories in order to maintain your body’s health; exercising to the point of burning excessive amounts of calories that you might have eaten; and being unable to eat more even though your health might at times depend on it.

Evidently, anorexia nervosa and bulimia sometimes run together quite closely. However, these need to be identified as separate disorders which should be treated separately.

The definition of anorexia definitely includes people who are so extremely thin, that they often encounter health problems, yet they continue to diet and count calories. At times, anorexics diet until they fall ill as their bodies are no longer able to maintain life with the too little amount of calories that they take in.

Taking into account the small amount of calories they take in, anorexics often have many underlying health issues such as poor heart, kidney failure and liver failure. This is why it is important that you remain aware that your body should be properly nourished and that someone with anorexia will find it difficult to do this for themselves, regardless of their health issues.

When an anorexic chooses to diet, they sometimes have a distorted sense of what they should be eating, and what they will need to look like. They usually tend to diet until their health problems increase, till their situation becomes critical.

Altogether, the definition of Anorexia should definitely include some of the signs which are related to anorexia. These signs include a self-esteem based on the amount of weight the person might have lost or gained; and the idea that becoming thin is all that matters despite one’s physical health; an unhealthy obsession with calories and fat grams; pretending to eat; lying about whether or not you eat; and strange food habits or rituals.

If you know someone like this, you should definitely try to get them some assistance.  Unless they get appropriate help, anorexics can sometimes die from their disorder because their body will eventually give up waiting for nutrition.

An anorexic should always bear in mind that as long as you underfeed their body, the body systems will continue to run negatively. Nevertheless, they can only run for so long, and, eventually, even the body won’t have sufficient levels of fat, muscle or tissue in order to be able to remain alive when the body consumes food. Very often, treatment will be necessary for life.

 

Georgia Kearne is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.