Why Do You Want to Be a Dietitian: Career Exploration

Finding a Career in Public Health

Public Health is a science that uses organized efforts to inform individuals to help prolong life and promote healthy human activity. I chose a degree in public health is because I want a job in life that allows me to help people, the way health professionals have helped me. My mother and I have been to many doctors to treat our various ailments and have been accustomed to many good and bad health professionals in our lifetime. I want to be a health professional that can have a positive impact on someone's life, I want to be the better aspect of a terrible time somebody is going through. I also believe there are a lot of misconceptions and public health and I want to work towards the public having a better understanding of what health means. I switched my major from nursing to public health; therefore, I am currently exploring my options with what I want to do. I am asking myself a question, 'Why do you want to be a dietitian?' I am not sure if I want to continue with a public health degree. I am not sure if I want to continue with a public health degree

The aspect of public health that interest me the most is nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. After taking a few health and nts classes I realized how interested I am in how diet and exercise helps us in the world. I have always struggled with my weight since I was a kid. Even when I was working out 7 days a week, I needed to put better fuel in my body than what I was doing. Americans are given so many unhealthy options and most people don’t know how bad that food is for you. I would like to spread awareness about nutrition and Public Health Nutrition.

Utilizing Dietitian Degree to Help Others

I would use this degree to help people make better decisions regarding their health. Health has many different aspects(mental, physical, spiritual, social, etc) and it is important that everyone's needs are met. It is important that people have the resources to look to when aspects of their life are failing so they can get advice. I want to be the trusted resource that can change someone's life around. I want to use this degree to inform the public/clients to make healthier decisions in their life. I want to have my main focus be on the food sources people put into their body.

The area that resonated with me the most while exploring the first website is Nutrition and Public Health nutrition, through this I get to learn the science of nutrition through biochemistry, epidemiology, dietary needs, and a lot of research. This is incredibly interesting to me because I love biology and it is very interesting how the body's breakdown of foods can affect people. I would get to learn about how food can affect people especially athletes, people with diabetes, and other deficiency/toxicity related illnesses.

I want to help decrease the rate of obesity in the United States, while I know this is a goliath to tackle, I believe it is a cause that is achievable. I believe that it begins with simple education of what foods people should be consuming vs what people actually consume. Not every eating style can work for everyone, but everyone can be healthy. This does not necessarily mean “runway ready” but healthy and happy in a manageable diet. Four months ago I started reading food labels and being extremely careful with what I ate. With this simple change I have lost 35 lbs. People don’t have to go through in any extreme diet or unhealthy exercise plan to not be obesese, instead they should be eating a well balanced nutrient dense diet.

Areas of the Dietitian Career

In the more specific areas of public health careers I looked into several different options. I looked into Health education which is about how educating the public could affect their lifestyle behaviors, which would have an overall effect on public health. Food Safety was another career area that was interesting because the focus is on monitoring food do prevent foodborne illness and deals with response to the public. Ultimately I would not want this job because I would end up being afraid of all foods. Lastly and my true focus was on Public Health Nutrition which allows the scientist to help improve the nutritional health of the whole population and some specific subgroups that are vulnerable to health complications. Truly, I want to specialize in Public Health Nutrition. However, one of the career options for being a Nutrition Scientist is becoming a teacher.

Yes, all of these areas I looked into where food, diet, and education related. I want to help people and education and getting more information readily available to the public is important. But, I want to focus on the specifics of Public Health Nutrition so that is the path I am looking to go forward with. With Public Health Nutrition I would be able to understand the way food affects the body and I would be able to help inform other people to live more dietary nutritious lifestyles. This would include the importance of my plate, a balanced diet, the overemphasis on protein in the american diet, and the importance of reading food labels.

Goal to Be a Dietitian 

I want a career as a Nutritionist/Dietician this would help me solve the increasing rate of obesity in the United States. I would need a bachelors in Nutrition. As a kid I was also very interested in teaching; therefore, with a bachelors in Nutrition I could always change my mind and become a teacher or professor teaching nutrition.

I would have a meeting with clients (similar to a therapist) with these means I could help people live a nutritious lifestyle. With this I can help people on their weight loss journey, help people prevent heart disease, stop emotional eating and much more. I would be a positive influence on my clients and can be their confidant in leading a healthier life. The adjustments would depend on the individual, and I would customize a routine for every client I work with, because it is meant to be a collaboration of efforts.

I have always had the outlook on life that I don’t need to be famous to change the world; however, I can make a difference in individuals life. I believe with this job I can grow relationships with real people and make a difference in their habits. Early on I could help people who just want to learn to eat right or I can help people who are overweight turn back the clock and get rid of their weight through healthy dieting. I will not change the world but I can change individuals who can educate their friends and peers, which hopefully can have a ripple effect causing obesity decrease in America. Also, nutrition is a growing field, “with an expected 21% increase in employment of dieticians through 2022” ( NutritionED pg1). With this increase, steadily my peers and I can truly make a big impact.

They environment of a Dietitians could be different depending on where they work. Dietitians have employment opportunities in hospitals, long term care facilities, private practices, clinics and more. For example in Banner Health, Catholic Healthcare West and Scottsdale Healthcare, are some of the biggest employers of Dietitians. These providers need to have their patients diets altered in order to get them healthier and back on their feet. I would want to work in an office setting, where I could see clients and be an advisor. Typically, Dieticians work a 40-hour work week.

In this field of study, I would need to get a four year bachelor's degree in Nutrition to become a Registered Dietitian. The courses that I would be taking would involve food science, chemistry, biology, and of course nutrition. After receiving a diploma, 1,200 hours of internship is required.Once this is completed there is an exam that must be taken in order to get the certificate. Once all of this is completed, you could get a license. that is required by state

The average salary for a Dietitian $59,410. However the lows of a salary can be $47,720 per year, but some of the highest paid are $72,490 per year. In Arizona, where I want to live, the average salary is $56,300.

Passion About My Future Career

I like that this job can be a puzzle, I would be able to find delicious and healthy foods that are unique to certain people. Not everyone eats the same, but everyone needs to have their energy needs met. I think I would enjoy getting to know my patients and get to coach them and cheer them on through their successes (and failures). I want to encourage people to keep trying even when they don’t believe in themselves anymore. I also enjoy that the job is a 40 hour work week which is manageable and would be a great job to be able to balance raising a family along with it. Being a mom is a full time job and I cannot spend my entire week at my job.

I believe that this job is truly what I would want to do with my life; however, it doesn’t come without its challenges. Selfishly, I always wanted a high paying job and the median salary is a bit under what I am really going for in life. However, if I could eventually work my way up to the top, if I work hard enough, I could earn the upper limit of the salary for a Registered Dietician. An aspect that can be frustrating about the job is that as a Dietician, I can not go home with my patients. It is really up to them to make change in their life, I just need to give them the tools to do so. It would be difficult to create a path for someone to live a healthier life and for my client to give up. I would hope I could be influential enough that this is a rarity not a commonality.

Yes, this job would appeal to me, because ultimately I am a people person. I need to be in a career where I get to be social and work with people. I could never see myself sitting at a desk staring at computers all day. With this job I get to interact with people and come out of work knowing I’ve made an impact on somebody's life. I want to make the world a better place and hopefully I can help people out of situations they do not want to be in, simply by altering the food they are eating. Many people are ill informed on how bad some food is for you, most people just need a push in a better direction. This needs to come in the form of a friend(which I can act as) not a doctor who says “eat better” as a threat.

I switched my major to public health, after taking nursing classes my freshman year. I am thinking that I will go to a counselor and switch public health to a Bachelors in Nutrition and Foods. While this is a big step and I need to ask my family about my decision, I am glad I took the opportunity to look into this aspect of public health. I believe that I wouldn’t be as happy with a degree with such a broad span. I think I will enjoy the specificity that comes along with Dietician. Northern Arizona University has a flagstaff program that I could join. Also, most of the classes I have taken coincide with the classes I need for a Bachelors in Nutrition and Foods. I have to take a lot of chemistry and that makes me nervous, but this is a career I am incredibly interested after doing the research. I got help from a dietitian and they helped me lose 35 lbs and I am so much happier. I want to pursue a career that can help people improve their lives. I was told by my counselor to switch to a Public Health degree and I didn’t really know what that meant. With a degree in Nutrition I will understand my career path and the steps I need to take to get there.

Works Cited

1. NutritionED. 'Careers in Nutrition.' NutritionED, www.nutritioned.org/careers.html.