Many people experience a health-kick at some point in their lives. For some, however, the experience is more evangelical. Wanting to share your new-found knowledge and experiences with your peers is a reflection of passion and insight. However, in order to do this responsibly and effectively, you will need to be qualified. There are a number of different ways to impart your health and diet knowledge or take up a career that is focused on diet and medicine.
Dietician
When it comes to diet, there is nothing that parallels the expertise of a dietician. Nutritionists and nutritional therapists are not medically-protected terms. If you want to provide accurate knowledge on how to make healthy diet choices based on science – not just circumstantial experience – you will need to become a qualified dietician. This proves to those who seek your advice that you have not cherry-picked your knowledge from dubious sources, or have obtained your qualification from a disreputable online source.
Working as a dietician isn’t just about knowing your greens from your processed food, either. Dieticians often act as consultants for those who have trouble with their diet, or those who have very specific dietary needs. Experts in this field will also be qualified to keep on top of relevant research, as health and diet is an ever-developing field. What is established in fact one week could change dramatically the next. Dieticians also often cite data and analysis from the World Health Organization, or WHO. A nutritionist, on the other hand, will have a more generalized approach to education, with a less rigorous approach to research.
Nursing
If your knowledge of medicine and health comes from your experiences as a nurse, then there is certainly a career path to be found as an educator. In fact, you can be uniquely qualified to teach others about nursing and this field of medicine. When it comes to nurses teaching qualifications, you have to have a BSN or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. If you’ve always wanted to help those in the healthcare sector, and impart your years of wisdom, make sure you have the basics first.
Sociology and Anthropology
You might be interested to know that, as well as specific areas of health (such as diet and healthcare), there is the general term of ‘health educator.’ These professionals generally have knowledge of sociology and anthropology. This ability to understand demographics and how levels of health vary across your country means that you are in a position to advise government bodies and other institutions. If you have a passion for research, and also talking to people, this could be an interesting field to work in.
Becoming a health educator is about responsibility and a dedication to education and research. Whether you have more of an interest in anthropology or nursing, or you just want to improve people’s attitudes towards food, all of these professions require formal training. It is important to follow the most respected and reliable job titles, as these are generally protected by regulations.
