“Hey Michelle, what exactly does a dietitian do?”… This is a question I get asked ALL the time so I thought I would write a blog post explaining what a Registered Dietitian can do for you and also the long path it takes to become one.

To become a dietitian you have to obtain a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. I personally attended Oklahoma State University (go pokes!) which is one of the few schools in Oklahoma that has an accredited dietetics program. For this degree, I took a very diverse set of classes. I took a variety of different science courses such as biochemistry, organic chemistry, and physiology which definitely gave me a run for my money! I also took courses that were more specific to nutrition such as the study of micro and macronutrients, medical nutrition therapy, and management courses. We even got to have a little fun in a couple of cooking classes where we learned proper cooking techniques from chefs.

Since there is so much to learn in the field of nutrition and dietetics, a dietitian must also obtain a master’s degree and complete a dietetic internship with 1200+ hours in clinical, community, and management experience. I personally chose to stay at Oklahoma State to obtain my Master’s degree in nutritional sciences. After a student completes the Master’s degree and internship hours they can then sit for the RD (Registered Dietitian) Exam, which has four different components: principles of dietetics AKA nutrition knowledge, nutrition care for individuals and groups, management of food and nutrition programs, and foodservice systems. After ALL of this education and passing the exam, they can then finally call themselves a Registered Dietitian.

You can find dietitians working in numerous different settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, private nutrition counseling practices, WIC, school nutrition, research, and many others.

Dietitians can offer you individualized nutrition advice catered to you specifically by learning about your relationship with food, your medical history, day to day schedule, and many other factors. They are extremely beneficial in disease management. For example, if you have diabetes, a GI disease, heart disease, etc. a dietitian can help give you the tools to manage and maybe even improve your disease through your diet. So next time you are going to google your nutrition/food question or what diet you need to try next, maybe try asking THE nutrition expert, a dietitian.