Nutrition Professionals Scope of Practice and Standard of Care:

  • A Nutrition Professional advises individuals, families, and groups on how to improve diet, lifestyle, and attitude to promote optimal health. They may work with a licensed health provider to help individuals with previously diagnosed illnesses identify biochemical imbalances and toxicities that contribute to poor health. Their advice and support are founded on evidence-based and holistic principles.
  • A licensed Health Provider (MD, ND, DO, DC, RN, etc.) may work with a nutrition professional to educate patients on the benefits of whole foods, lifestyle improvements, and appropriate supplementation relative to their health issue, or provide these services themselves.

Nutrition Professionals General Menu of Services:

  • Diet and lifestyle evaluation
  • Teach healthy eating
  • Shopping tours
  • Family meal planning
  • Suggestions for improving lifestyle
  • Supporting a healthy stress response
  • Meal plans for improved weight, mood, and energy
  • Teach classes on wellness and holistic nutrition
  • Advise clients on basic wellness supplementation

Nutrition Professionals Therapeutic Menu of Services:

  • Intake
  • Advise therapeutic menu and nutrients
  • Research Issues
  • Provide follow-up support
  • Review Lab Assessments
  • Summarize case and group findings
  • Provide Recommendations
  • Teach health professionals and consumers
  • Consult with practitioner

Holistic Nutrition Professionals and Registered Dietitians:

Holistic Nutrition Professionals are similar to and different than Registered Dietitians (RDs).

Similarities include:

  • Food-based
  • Science-based
  • Work in community and clinical settings

Differences include:

  • Holistic nutrition professionals (HNPs) teach a whole, organic, chemical-free food approach to health.
  • RDs are encouraged by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to teach the USDA’s MyPlate approach.*
  • The main tenet of holistic nutrition is biochemical individuality, and therefore, HNPs develop Individualized programs to address client health concerns.
  • RDs are encouraged to use Association guidelines when developing protocols for their patients, such as those published by the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, etc.*
  • Many states license RDs to practice Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT); while HNPs who are not also RDs may not practice MNT.

* NOTE: A growing number of RDs are teaching whole food and a holistic approach to health. They may or may not use the MyPlate or Association guidelines approaches with their patients.

Role Delineation:

Our job is to bring non-biased health and nutrition information to friends, neighbors, associates, and the media. We educate the public on the cost/benefit of eating unprocessed local, fresh, plant-forward foods. There is value in taking quality nutritional products to manage chronic nutritional deficiencies and toxicities associated with lifestyle and environmentally-related health problems.

Holistic Nutrition Professionals DO

  • Promote active lifestyles
  • Teach healthy eating

Holistic Nutrition Professionals DO NOT

  • Practice Medical Nutrition Therapy – the provision of nutrition care services for the treatment or management of a disease or medical condition
  • Diagnose, prevent, treat, cure, prescribe, manage or heal disease
  • Make unproven health claims
  • Misrepresent training
  • Use unproven devices, assessments, or therapies
  • Use network marketing or product sales in lieu of individual client education.

Distinguishing Features

  • Fresh, natural-foods basis
  • Educational emphasis
  • Client-based, not method or product-based
  • Refer to doctors for medical conditions
  • Highest standard of accountability and integrity
  • Use informed consent and full disclosure forms
  • Adhere to NANP practice guidelines and ethics

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What Members Are Saying

"Not only does NANP support us as Nutrition Professionals as a whole, but the community and resources that we can use in our day to day business are all there for us in one place."

~ NANP member

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