Any career change experts? Nutritionist or holistic nutritionist? I really need help

[Ophelia]

I need a career change. Things have been so extremely stressful lately from work that I have lost weight and concerned for my long term health. I feel like my body has been in fight-or-flight mode for about 7 months now and I know long term stress is not good.
I have been trying to think about what I want to do next. For a while now I have been very interested in organic/natural foods, food allergies and intolerances, etc. I was also looking being a lactation consultant but you seem to need an RN degree, so that's out (yes, I know technically you only need IBCLC but I can't get much info out of the hospitals around here and they all only seem to hire RN on the rare occassion there is an opening).

So I'm thinking nutrition. A 4 yr degree would be nice, but daunting. I have an extremely hard time with school and taking tests (memory problems and I don't think I learn well the traditional way they teach in college). I could do associates degree. Holistic is more in line with my principles and morals, however they seem to tend to be self-employed which has its own pros and cons.

A few questions:

-if I get an associates degree, would I be able to later apply the credits toward a 4 year degree?

-Is there an accredited online university for holistic nutrition? Bastyr maybe? I couldn't tell from their site.

-How would I even find where I can get an associates degree? I WOHFT so I don't have hardly any time to search.

-what kind of jobs could i get with associates degree besides WIC?

-the test-taking and going back to school really scares me. Any advice?

If I go the nutrition route, I want to help people:

-to be healthier
-to change diet from mostly processed junk food to mostly whole food
-with allergies and hard-to-detect food intolerances, especially pediatric
-helping parents get their kids nutrition off to a good start / change for the better
-to teach people about the additives and chemicals in processed foods

What kind of job could do that in?


The last time I went to school it was vocational in 1991-92 so I'm really at a loss on what to do and where to look and how to figure out what I really want to do (I have tried reading books like the Parachute one, didn't help). If it isn't obvious by now, I do not have a 4 yr degree. Thanks!

[Ophelia]

Anyone? Even if you don't know about nutrition school or jobs specifically can you give me general college course advice? If you do distance online learning, how does testing work? is it all open book or what?

[Alyantavid]

I'm looking at going into holistic nutrition in the next few years. Clayton's College is where I've gotten my info about it and it looks really interesting. You might check out their website.

That's all the advice I've got, sorry.

[pixiepunk]

you might also look into Community Health Promotion. I know WVU has a masters degree in it, and an undergrad (i know the masters is online as i was considering it, not sure about the undergrad). i believe Mountain State University also has an online degree in a similar field. From what i understand, you could have that degree and take a couple of extra nutrition classes and then specialize in nutrition - but it might give you additional options for employment, and then the nutrition classes could be of the type that really interest you. there are a lot of grants out there for community health - my mom was involved in a state-wide grant for tobacco awareness/smoking cessation a while back, for example. this might also lend itself to breastfeeding advocacy through programs like WIC. I know my state was advertising a job a while back for 'breastfeeding specialist' and it required a degree but not a LC cert - their major qualification was personal experience and a desire to help people succeed at bf'ing, and i imagine jobs like that would also happily help you pay for continuing ed for IBCLC or other certs.

anyway, just a thought. sometimes broader degrees are more easily marketable than specific ones, and generally not detremental to getting a job in the specific area you're interested in.

[Drummer's Wife]

For nutrition, you really can't work as a nutritionist/dietitian without being a RD. 4 years of schooling, plus up to a year for an internship is a lot of work - but I'm not sure there is really a way around this if you want to have a paying position. Even RD's are having a hard time finding a job b/c of the economy. Hospitals will cut dietitians before nurses, yk?

That said, I think the only Holistic program that results in a RD is the one you mentioned. But really, you could attend a local university and still have a holistic approach either in private practice or at your place of employment.

When I was looking into dietetics programs, I found UNC in Colorado as a recommended accredited online program. You have to set up your own internship, and have it approved by the ADA - this is my understanding, at least.

As for getting an associates degree in nutrition/holistic nutrition, some of the general ed classes will transfer, I'm sure for a BS, but you would still have to take all the university's nutrition courses. My plan was to get a general education associate's degree at my local community college, and then transfer those to count for the first two years of undergrad. All of the general courses were available online, so that was a bonus for me... BUT, dietetics/nutrition is very science heavy and most of the upper level courses/labs have to done on campus. With UNC, the specific degree requirments for nutrtion were online, but you had to have all the prereq's (including courses like physics, college algebra, bio, chem, etc.) done before applying for their program.

As for general online classes - it depends on the specific course. My last semester I had to go to campus for math exams every couple of weeks - but obvioulsy with completely online classes, you do it all on the computer. My English class was all online - assesments are timed, and more difficult than you would think (ie you can't just google the answers, they require a lot of thought).

if nutrition is still of an interest to you, I receommend reading up on the ADA requirements, and checking out the dietitiancentral.com forums. I, personally, decided the schooling was too long (and very competative to get into a program), pay not high enough, and the future of the field too risky to find stable employment. Talking to a friend who attended UNC's dietetics program (on campus, not online) sealed the deal for me. She never even went on to become registered and works in a completely different field.

Hope some of this helps.

eta: ADA's link (not to be confused with dental ) is www.eatright.org -- lots of good info here.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

For nutrition, you really can't work as a nutritionist/dietitian without being a RD.

That's not necessarily true. Depends on your state regulations. In the state of WA for example, I can become a certified nutritionist OR a certified dietician- the state recognizes both. (oh- but I should clarify- you have to have a Master's to be certified in either. I just realized you're looking at a bachelors.)

Here's a thread where we were talking about some of the different programs a while back. FWIW- Clayton College is NOT recommended by anyone in the field- it seems like kind of a joke. (which is a bummer, because they have a lot of different online programs!)

I'm looking into Hawthorne myself- it's not accredited, but I'm not sure that really matters to me right now, since my state still allows me to be certified with that degree.

eta: I'm looking at Hawthorne because it's a holistic nutrition degree, NOT a dietician program- because I don't want to be preaching the USDA food pyramid.

[Ophelia]

Thanks for the input...

dietetics/nutrition is very science heavy and most of the upper level courses/labs have to done on campus

Wow, this really scares me...I was horrible with math/science So I may have to think of another career...

Here's a thread where we were talking about some of the different programs a while back. FWIW- Clayton College is NOT recommended by anyone in the field- it seems like kind of a joke. (which is a bummer, because they have a lot of different online programs!)

I'm looking into Hawthorne myself- it's not accredited, but I'm not sure that really matters to me right now, since my state still allows me to be certified with that degree.

eta: I'm looking at Hawthorne because it's a holistic nutrition degree, NOT a dietician program- because I don't want to be preaching the USDA food pyramid.

Thanks, I will check the thread. I also don't want to be preaching the USDA food pyramid. But as someone said, I could get a degree and still go the holistic/whole foods way.

if nutrition is still of an interest to you, I receommend reading up on the ADA requirements, and checking out the dietitiancentral.com forums.

I will check this. I think I would really like Community Health Promotion, but again, anything that requires a degree...I feel that because I do not do well in school/taking tests, that I am stuck. I had tests done for learning disability but technically I dont' have one.

I need to get out of my current field, but am not qualified for anything else that pays even 1/3 of what i make, which we need for mortgage/bills. I would like to move as we can get another house for 70-80K less but there are pro's and con's to everything. I just feel so stuck and I don't know what to do, and am limited by my learning non-disability

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

eta: I'm looking at Hawthorne because it's a holistic nutrition degree, NOT a dietician program- because I don't want to be preaching the USDA food pyramid.

oh, I hear you. That was another thing that turned me off - especially the more into TF I got.... just the whole low-fat diet would have been hard for me swallow.

Good to know that different state's have various requirements - I guess I only researched NM and CO since there's pretty much a zero chance we would ever end up elsewhere, and job security/being employable is, unfortunately, the biggest reason for me going back to school.