5 Things To Expect When Working With A Nutrition Advisor

Someone has recommended you try a Nutrition Advisor’s service to improve your eating habits or to lose weight but you are not sure how it works? Not to worry, the profession is fairly new so it is natural to have questions about it and the whole process involved. In this article, you will find 5 common things to expect from sessions with a nutrition advisor and get a general idea of how it works. 

Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire

Prior to the first consultation you will receive a few forms to fill out. One of them being a Health Questionnaire. This is to find out if you suffer from any allergies or intolerances as well as other underlying health conditions that may be affected by changes in your eating habits. Be advised that if you have an underlying health condition like heart disease or diabetes you might be asked to contact your GP prior to continuing to the next step. 

Lifestyle questionnaires will involve general questions about your eating habits, physical activity levels at work and home, foods you like and dislike as well as the reasons you are interested in the advisor's service. 

Upon receiving above information Nutrition Advisor thoroughly analyses your answers and you’re ready to the next step - First Consultation

First Consultation

First consultation typically may last around 45 to 60 min where you get to know each other in a 1 to 1 session in an office or in an online session. Hopefully, you would have already submitted your health and lifestyle questionnaire, thus the nutrition advisor may have additional questions or would like to clarify some information previously provided. 

This is the part where you discuss your goals and motivation regarding your current diet, previous experience and obstacles as well as receive detailed information and options of the next steps depending on your goal. 

I should mention though that all of this information will be kept confidential and not shared with any third parties! 

Discuss Your Goals

Whether it is to lose that extra fat, improve your eating habits or transition to a vegetarian diet - goal has to be set SMART. Forget about highly ambitious but hardly achievable targets but say hello to healthy, specific, measured, achievable, realistic and timed goals! Your nutrition advisor will help you set one up to maximise the chance of successfully attain it and will provide support throughout your journey.

Next steps

Depending on your goals, you may be given a set of tasks (could be food or activity related) or sent personalised weekly meal plans (tailored to your nutritional needs and lifestyle). 

Some nutrition advisors provide daily support via email or phone calls so you can always get in touch if in doubt or have a question about assigned tasks. 

Follow up session

Follow up sessions are an important part of progress tracking. These provide moral support and reflect on encountered obstacles. This is a crucial part actually if we want to break the previous pattern when we failed in something after first obstacles. Your nutrition advisor is  here to help and it is in his best interest that you succeed. 

These are just 5 main things that accompany the service. If you have any additional questions it is always good to ask beforehand and all great advisors will be more than happy to answer them. The great part of using this service is you can be sure you will receive a personalised approach, meal plans and attention. In my opinion, it is definitely worth giving a try!