How about changing your perspective on nutrition and transform your career prospects?
That’s what second year MSc in Nutrition Science and Practice student Hannah Weaver found when she began studying nutrition at the NCA.
But why did Hannah choose to start studying nutrition in the first place? Here she tells us why….
From my teenage years, I’ve always been fascinated by what people eat and how a similar diet and lifestyle can affect each person so differently. Having been unwell with various vague symptoms since the start of high school, I gradually came to the conclusion that our diet and lifestyle are some of the most powerful tools we have when it comes to our health and wellbeing. Instead of trying crash diets for weight loss as many teens these days sadly do, I found myself trying crash diets for wellbeing that promised a dramatic health transformation to anyone willing to follow a restrictive diet plan.
Unfortunately, I found no success in these ‘quick fix’ diets promoted by wellness gurus, leaving me feeling resentful and asking why these dietary approaches that promised so much had let me down. I wondered why my peers who largely ate whatever they wanted were full of energy, whilst I ate healthily yet felt fatigued and unwell (with no medical cause identified). It’s these questions that led me to study nutrition. I wanted to learn the science behind how food affects our health.
So, I enrolled on a degree in Nutrition and Public Health, hoping to gain the skills and knowledge to be able to understand the latest scientific evidence and find the answers to my many questions. However, I left my three year undergrad feeling deflated. I’d learned most of the basics, but I knew that there was so much more to nutrition than this. The closest I’d got to learning about gut health was a lecture on ‘stress and IBS’ and most of my lectures on diet and disease risk concluded that ‘the evidence in this area is inconclusive’. Beyond being able to advise people to eat their 5-a-day, reduce their refined sugar intake and eat at least one portion of oily fish per week, I still felt pretty much clueless and didn’t feel equipped to provide individualised nutrition advice.
Discovering Nutritional Therapy
After graduating I got a part-time job in admin at a local GP surgery and contemplated what I wanted to do with my life. I felt lost and confused. I applied for a few jobs related to public health nutrition, but they consisted of delivering group sessions with pre-determined content, and promoting dietary approaches that I didn’t believe in.
Thankfully, a year later I stumbled upon the MSc in Nutrition Science and Practice course at the NCA. Initially, I was hesitant about nutritional therapy. I had a skewed perception of it, fuelled by various sources and experiences, and misconceptions stemming from my undergraduate course.
Despite this, after shadowing a lovely nutritional therapist who is an NCA graduate, and after speaking to Denise at the NCA, my concerns about the course content not being evidence based were put to rest.
For those wondering, the main difference between studying a nutrition degree (accredited by the AfN), and studying a nutritional therapy degree (accredited by BANT) is the emphasis that Nutritional Therapy has on an individualised and holistic approach. Nutritionists are not typically trained to work with individuals, and work with the general population (usually in groups or in the area of health promotion), they are not trained to work with those with medical conditions. The emphasis is more on communicating health messages (such as government dietary guidelines) at a population level, working towards disease prevention.
Although nutritional therapists can’t diagnose or treat medical conditions, they are trained extensively and can recognise red flag symptoms. Therefore, they’re able to safely work with those with medical conditions to manage their symptoms, and address underlying imbalances to support good health. Nutritional therapists extensively assess an individual’s health history, diet and lifestyle to be able to make evidence-based recommendations that are truly individualised. This is why I love nutritional therapy – I feel as though it sits as a happy medium between conventional nutrition and health fad diets promoted by unqualified wellness gurus. As a discipline nutritional therapy does not shy away from recommending new and emerging dietary approaches, but it does so in a way that’s firmly rooted in science.
My experience studying at the NCA
Since starting the course, I’ve not looked back. I can honestly say that my expectations have been far exceeded, and that I am continually blown away and inspired by the course content. I’ve had so many ‘lightbulb’ moments, and have FINALLY been able to understand how to apply the latest scientific evidence to provide individualised diet and lifestyle recommendations in a safe and robust way. I’ve even started to enjoy and understand complex biochemistry because of how masterfully it’s taught, and linked seamlessly with nutrition concepts (no mean feat given that I failed AS level Chemistry!)
I could probably write a book about my experience studying on the course, but to summarise, here are my key reflections:
- Good nutrition is individualised, which is why diet plans that promise so much usually fail to deliver; because they’re not tailored to address our individual imbalances and needs (hint- this is where nutritional therapy comes in!)
- Many areas of nutrition are conflicting within the scientific literature, so evidence based practice means accepting that not everything will be black and white, and that’s okay!
- Nutrition is an area that’s constantly growing and changing, with an evidence base that’s rapidly evolving. If you get into nutrition you’ll never stop learning new things, something that I personally love!
- I have learned how to think independently and to critically assess scientific evidence when making recommendations, opposed to solely basing recommendations on government and NHS guidelines as I’d have done before.
What next?
Although I have a third year of my MSc to complete, I’m already excited for my career in nutritional therapy. I’m passionate about using my new skills and knowledge to help others to improve their health and wellbeing, so I plan to set up in practice as a Nutritional Therapist.
I also currently have a blog and Instagram account that I use share nutrition information and recipes with others. I enjoy writing about health and nutrition so I hope to incorporate this into my career, too.
If you’d like to learn more about me and follow my journey into nutritional therapy, you can head to my blog:
Follow Hannah’s on Instagram nourish.and.thrive or her blog nourishnthrive