What Does a Nutrition Counselor / Clinical Nutritionist Do?
As a Nutrition Counselor, I spend a lot of time describing to folks what I do and how it can benefit just about anyone. In this post I aim to address some of the more frequent questions that I get about my job.
Summary:
Functional medicine emphasizes the importance of root cause healing, leading to whole-person health and proper functioning of the many complex systems that make you human. If your goal is to discover what has impacted your physiology so you can heal on a holistic level and support your body’s specific needs, seek out personalized care rather than relying on generalized information. Each person has their own set of prioritized nutrients based on their current life stage, health history, medications, genetics, environment, dietary history and more. Nutrition counseling will thoroughly explore these areas to identify the root cause of your symptoms and provide you with targeted lifestyle recommendations and nutrients of priority.
Introduction
I’m used to receiving looks of confusion or skepticism when I mention how I don’t hand out prescriptive diet plans or give lists of “avoid this food”. Many people get nervous when I describe how I won’t tell them how much to eat or discuss counting calories or macronutrients. Being nervous or skeptical is a totally normal response! We have been conditioned to think that 1,200 - 2,000 calories per day is normal and that eating healthy means counting calories or avoiding certain foods such as red meat and carbohydrates like the plague. These types of guidelines are are not only unhelpful but very harmful for most people. Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with a condition and the only advice you were given by your provider was to take a prescription and/or lose weight. I cannot count how many times I have had someone discuss how a doctor told them their health concerns would go away if they would “just lose weight”. Add this to the bucket of extremely unhelpful advice.
Did you know that a birth control pill is not the fix-all for painful periods or PCOS? PS - neither is Metformin! Did you know that there are underlying nutrient deficiencies involved in the onset of hypertension, and that nutrients, common herbs and lifestyle modifications are extremely helpful at reducing blood pressure? Has your mental health counselor ever described to you how neurotransmitters are produced in the first place, or were you simply given an SSRI or other prescription for mood regulation? Has your doctor told you that getting more sleep will help restore your poor energy levels (as if you hadn’t considered trying to get more sleep yourself) rather than discussing the precursors (in this case, nutrients) required to create ATP? Flashback to high school biology “ATP = energy!” If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you are not alone.
So, what is it that you do as a clinical nutrition counselor?
First and foremost I provide preventative care for people who are predisposed to health conditions due to factors such as genetics, environment, nutrition & lifestyle, or symptoms they may be experiencing. A large portion of my job is identifying the biological pathways that are working the hardest to maintain your health and provide you with targeted nutrient recommendations to support them. I hear your whole story and paint the metaphorical picture of YOU. From there I investigate what puzzle pieces are missing from the picture and help you restore balance in the areas of your health that you’ve been struggling with. This is done through a series of in-depth sessions focused on nutrition and lifestyle assessment. Your goal is root-cause healing, not just masking your symptoms, which allows you to heal on a functional level.
What does that mean?
You are made up of many different complex systems that work together to keep you not only alive, but healthy (or functioning at an optimal level). I am focused on discovering potential causes of dysfunction so you can achieve optimal function. It is very important to note that “optimal function” looks different for everyone. Your friend with Type II Diabetes will have an optimal function that looks vastly different to someone with no health conditions, or another person that suffers from an eating disorder or cancer. Together we can define what “optimal health” looks like for you & help you reach it.
Wait, you’re not going to give me a strict diet plan? How will I know what to eat?
I place great emphasis on Intuitive Eating principles in my practice. One of my favorite aspects of being a nutrition counselor is when I get to witness people having light bulb moments about their health and breaking free from rules brought on by diet culture. Discovering food freedom is incredibly nourishing! Being an intuitive eater does not mean that you’re given permission to eat anything in any quantity without repercussions. It simply means that you have left harmful eating behaviors in the past and can check in with your internal cues to sense what your body needs in the moment. Sometimes that may mean a salad or smoothie, other times that may mean chocolate cake or ice cream. The important part is that you made an informed decision based on listening to your body’s internal cues. This usually doesn’t come overnight or even in a handful of nutrition counseling sessions. For many people, there is a lot of unlearning that must be done to make these mind-body connections in order to hear what their body is telling them (referred to as interoceptive awareness).
Don’t worry, you will never be on your own to decide what foods should be incorporated into your diet. After putting together some pieces of the puzzle I can give you food ideas based on your prioritized nutrients. Every client gets frequent recipe booklets full of delicious & nutritious recipes that I have chosen specifically for them based on their food preferences and prioritized nutrients. You decide when and how much you eat, however, folks who express that a little extra guidance in this area will always be supported through the process of becoming an intuitive eater.
What type of people seek out nutrition counseling?
There is a very large spectrum of people that reach out for nutritional support. Some people reach out to me directly because they keep hearing about how diets do not help with long-term weight loss or that food plays a critical role in regulating mood and mental health. Others come to me because their doctor referred them for nutritional support in managing a health condition they’ve been diagnosed with.
Some common denominators that I see despite the massive differences between my clients are:
STRESS. Most of my clients have extremely demanding or high-stress occupations like engineers, teachers, other healthcare providers (yeah…they need my help too), firefighters, social workers, and of course, parents. Many people do fine working at high-stress jobs for a while or during their blissful 20s but eventually the lack of balance catches up to them, often after it has taken a lasting toll on their physiology. This is not to say that people should avoid these occupations - the community NEEDS people to work these jobs. It is important for everyone that their kids' teacher is healthy and energized, rather than run-down and barely making it through the day. Wouldn’t you prefer the firefighter or EMT that’s performing life-saving duties be feeling strong and well-rested, rather than experiencing debilitating symptoms caused by stress and nutrient inadequacies?
LACK OF TIME. How often have you heard the term “rise and grind”? Being a workaholic is something that has been glorified in our society, and typically not by the people working these positions. We’re incentivized to exceed expectations and spend the majority of our waking hours busting a** for a promotion, or in some cases, simply for job security. The promise of climbing the ladder tends to make us re-prioritize and put work ahead of basic self-care practices. Parents are also some of the most stressed-out humans with little to no free time to cater to their own needs – I see you too.
Fear not future client! I take a “low and slow” approach so if you have *barely* enough time to work on your health daily, you will feel the difference even by taking baby steps in the right direction - the key is to discover the right baby steps. Working one-on-one will allow me to provide you with targeted recommendations so even the small steps yield great results. If you do not work with me and choose to go it alone, I highly recommend making small adjustments rather than trying too much at once. Taking on too many changes can lead to burnout and slipping back into old routines. I promise, a low and slow approach will yield better results over the long-term.
What makes your advice different from (insert social media handle)’s advice?
Firstly, my credentials and specialized training. However, focusing on the bigger picture (because some social media influencers hold degrees or certifications as well) generalized advice does not work for most people and leaves out vital information. They are not giving you targeted recommendations specific to your individual needs or considering that you are made up of incredibly complex interconnected systems. Allow me to expand: the reason why you are not getting “healthier” by listening to advice from influencers on social media based on what they did to treat a condition is because you likely have incredibly different lifestyles. Maybe it is as simple as they failed to disclose that the form of magnesium you should take to support your mental health is different from the form of magnesium that will alleviate constipation. Maybe you are focused on supporting one health condition but are unaware of how another diagnosis impacts your physiology and needs.
Health is multifactorial - you can try your best to eat the same foods, do the same exercises and take the supplements offered in their bios at a discounted price and you are still unlikely to get the results that they did. There are several reasons for this. One is that they were probably given extremely specific advice from a healthcare provider that worked closely with them to create a personalized care plan, rendering their positive results. Another possibility is that you live completely different lifestyles than the people trying to get you to subscribe to their page and like their posts. My own hypothesis is that many of them are full of sh*t and never had the condition they are promising to cure in the first place. You may notice that I never post specific recommendations for ailments on social media platforms. This is because I know that individualized care is the only way to figure out what it is that YOU need. You will never see me post a “what I eat in a day” because my nutrient requirements are specific to me, and I refuse to be a part of the culture that generalizes health information and promotes harmful eating behaviors.
What made you want to be a nutrition counselor?
Like many of my colleagues, I struggled with my own health and failed to get answers from conventional medicine. Every doctor referred me to a specialist who gave me a new prescription that either did not work or came with its own lengthy list of issues. Through my own research I discovered that nutrition is so much more than a factor for body composition and weight. It is true that food can be your medicine, but it can also be your poison. The same exact food can have a very different impact on individual people. A bowl of ice cream can yield extremely different insulin responses between people, trail mix may be a nutrient-dense option for one while causing anaphylaxis or migraines in another. Grapefruit can be a great source of vitamin C for one person while wreaking havoc on another person’s medication. I ultimately combined my love of food and cooking with my passion for health and wellness. I quit the job that I hated and went to grad school to become a Clinical Nutritionist so that I could help others break away from harmful food behaviors and reduce their reliance on medications that only mask symptoms. Preventative care is essential for those who may be predisposed to a condition due to genetic or lifestyle factors.
I also really love talking with a variety of people and learning ways to help individuals find the healthiest versions of themselves. No two clients are the same, even if they are managing the same exact health condition. That’s why I used the term learning. Each person will respond differently to interventions based on lifestyle, genetics, preferences, and beliefs. It is my job to learn about your health history and lifestyle in detail so I can provide you with sustainable and achievable interventions. I am not going to tell you to do something that requires 2 hours of your time daily if you don’t even have 15 minutes to stop and breathe because of all your other responsibilities. I also will not give you an integrative recommendation that is way out of your comfort zone or budget because someone else with a very different financial standing found it to be helpful. My goal is to approach everyone like a brand-new case when you arrive in my *virtual* office. I will enter with an open mind and a toolbox of options to meet you wherever you can meet me.
If you would like to work together, I am accepting new clients through my virtual private practice, Root & Vine Integrative Health. Book a free discovery call to get started.
To your health and happiness,
Brittney Kraai, MS, CN
Clinical Nutrition Counselor
Root & Vine Integrative Health
