Nutritionists and Eating Disorders

Learn about the Nutritionist Career in the Eating Disorder Treatment field...

The more understanding the patient has about nutrition, the more effectively the patient can challenge fears about food and anxiety about eating.

~ Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt

Individuals with eating or food related disorders often have negative emotional associations with food, which prevents them from practicing healthy, nutrition based eating behaviors.  For example, when feeling anxious or depressed, a person with a Binge Eating Disorder may feel compelled to consume extreme amounts of food in one sitting.  A person with Anorexia will avoid the consumption of food altogether because of a fear of becoming fat.   When left unresolved, these associations can lead to dire health consequences.  Through focused therapy sessions, Nutritionists help patients to overcome negative food associations, and teach patients how to eat for health.  In combination with mental and health therapies, nutrition therapy helps people to recover from eating disorders.

Like other mental disorders, such as addiction, accepting that one has a problem is an essential step to recovery.  As such, one of the first steps to eating disorder recovery is learning about unhealthy food behaviors, and how these behaviors affect long-term health.  Nutritionists teach people with eating and food related disorders how to eat healthy, and encourage patients to recognize their unhealthy eating behaviors.  With the counsel of a Nutritionist, people with eating disorders can learn to accept that they have a problem, and begin the process of recovery.

Once patients admit to having an eating disorder, Nutritionists can teach how to separate food intake from negative body weight related feelings, and emotional issues underlying eating disorder behavior.  For example, a person with Anorexia may experience severe anxiety (see Anxiety) when eating an entire meal.  A Nutritionist discusses these feelings with the patient, teaches the patient to challenge these feelings, and encourages the patient to start developing an educated and accurate understanding of nutrition.  This is often a very difficult process for the patient.  Nutritionists who work with eating disorder patients understand the emotional stresses of changing eating behaviors, and use patience and different therapy tools to help patients address their unhealthy behaviors.

One of the most important tools that Nutritionists use is education.  Nutrition education teaches what proper nutritional based eating requires.  With this information, patients can begin to change their eating behavior.  To assist patients with food behavior modification, Nutritionists will often design customized meal plans.  A patient with Binge-Eating disorder may normally consume 10 large meals in one day, far exceeding his or her caloric requirements.  With a personalized meal plan, this same patient can learn to eat 3 balanced meals per day, and 3 or 4 healthy snacks per day.  Patients recovering from food and eating disorders often have difficulties sticking to their meals plans.  Nutritionists take into account these difficulties when designing meals plans, and work closely with patients to create meal plans that address each individual’s specific needs.

To better understand the psychological issues underlying a patient’s eating or food related disorder, Nutritionists may ask patients to use food records.  Each time a patient consumes food, he or she records the feelings felt while eating, and after eating. The documented emotions are discussed with patients to help them resolve their negative emotional issues.  In addition, Nutritionists use the information garnered from food records to make adjustments to meal plans.  Nutritionists may also choose to share food records with the patients’ psychologists.

With help, eating disorder patients can overcome their fears of food and weight gain, and learn to manage the emotional issues underpinning their eating or food related disorder. Nutritionists are key players in the recovery process of any well-rounded eating or food related disorder treatment program.

Although not all Nutritionists work with eating disorder patients, those who do must have an interest in working with patients with behavioral problems and mental disorders.  Consequently, Nutritionists in the field of eating disorder treatment are not only able teach people how to eat healthy, but are adept at assessing and accommodating the emotional elements of eating disorder patients into nutrition therapy and counseling.

If you have an interest in nutrition, or treating eating disorders through nutrition based therapy, a career as a Nutritionist may be for you.

Request information from schools offering Nutritionist degree programs or learn more about psychology and counseling degree programs.