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About Nutrition What Is Nutrition? Is Nutrition Right for Me? How Do I Choose?

Glossary Treatment Applications Types of Nutrition Credentials

How Can a Nutritionist or Dietitian Help Me?

No one has a perfect diet. Even if you’ve got the willpower to eat your salad and resist second servings of cake, it’s tough to keep track of all the health claims being tossed around about certain foods and nutrients. So sometimes it’s helpful to have a guide, one who is up on the research and knows how to apply it.

For example, lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes, has been shown to lower the risk of prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease. Although the powerful antioxidant is concentrated in tomato paste and pasta sauce, you may want to weigh its benefits against the high amount of salt and sugar also found in these products. A nutritionist or dietitian can do that for you.

Even better, they tailor their knowledge to your specific body and lifestyle. Feeling down? A nutritionist might prescribe food rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish, flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, or walnuts, to fight depression.

Nutritionists and dietitians can also help you lose weight, they know what foods to eat or avoid and in what quantities. They can design personalized weight-management programs that assist patients in all aspects of weight control—through self-control, psychotherapy, and cognitive-behavioral treatment, for instance.

They can also counsel you on eating behavior if you have reactions to certain foods or medical conditions such as diabetes or high cholesterol. And they can even plan menus for you.