You may be wondering what in the world a Registered Dietitian (RD) is and what does today’s dietitian even do? Why would an athlete benefit from ever seeing a Registered Dietitian when you are looking to improve athletic performance or dealing with an injury seem weird? As an athlete seeing a registered dietitian may be one of the best opportunities on the table.
What is Today’s Dietitian and What Do They Do?
They are food and nutrition experts who have met or surpassed the following criteria:
- Earned a Bachelors Degree
- Completed an Accredited Program
- Passed National Exam
- Completed Required Continuing Education to Maintain Title
Employment Opportunities for Today’s Dietitian
Hospitals
- Educating patients about nutrition
- Administer medical nutrition therapy
- Manage daycare food operations as well as patients
- Oversee food staff
Sports nutrition/Corporate Wellness
- Education of clients on food and health
- Using food to increase performance/Productivity
Food and nutrition-related businesses
- Working with communications, marketing, and or product development
- Consulting with chefs
Private practice
- Working under contract with food care companies or healthcare
- Can provide consulting work to anyone dealing with food on a regular basis
Community and Public Health
- Education of the public on food and best practices
- The goal is to improve the quality of life of the community
Universities and Medical Centers
- Teaching educated doctors, dentists and other nutrition information needed
- Make sure everyone understands the science of food
Research
- In charge of conducting experiments to find the truth about food and nutrition
- Done with universities, pharmaceutical companies, and food companies
When Athletes Should See Today’s Dietitian
Consuming Nutritious Meals Less Than 80% of The Time
If you are an athlete that is consistently struggling with eating better, it is time to get in with a registered dietitian. The problem with food advice is that is like financial advice; everyone has a lot to say yet they have no money. Most people do not know anything about how to eat well and when to eat. They love to give others advice about what they should be eating and athletes. Here is where the power of seeing an RD kicks in.
A registered dietitian has studied food nutrition and how it relates to health extensively. As an athlete what you eat has a massive effect on what you eat and how fast you recover. If you re training hard, and sleeping well but you eat poorly, your body will have poor materials to build your house with. If you give the best builder in the world straw to build the house, it does not matter what they do; it will still be a house of straw.
Athletes have the most significant opportunity to improve by seeing a registered dietitian because today’s dietitian is more equipped than ever to help athletes be there best. Athletes have coaches for their workouts but never once have a discussion with someone on their diet and how they can improve it.
Weight Struggles
Athletes have to deal with a lot of weight struggles that most of the world is unaware of. It is very rare to meet an athlete that is not either trying to put on muscle, cut fat or just cut overall weight. You have weight class sports like wrestling and boxing that demand these cuts of course. You also have sports like cross country where many girls are on the slimmer side they being to think that the more they cut weight, the faster they run. That eventually can turn into an eating disorder.
A lot of athletes are left with the simple instructions if you need to lose/gain weight. They are then left to their own devices to figure out how to reach their goals. Most athletes do not have this knowledge, so if this is you, it is in your best interest to seek help. A registered dietitian will be able to help you reach your goals safely and remove the stress o thinking about it all the time.
Pre and Post Workout Meals
The last place where today’s dietitian can help an athlete is with the pre and post workout meals. These meals are the most important for performance and recovery, but the problem is that everyone is so different. A coach giving entire team advice of what to eat before and after is rarely helpful.
- Some people can only eat hours before a game
- Some can eat right before a game
- Some get nervous and have to go to the bathroom a lot
- Other athletes have no appetite after working out
A registered dietitian will be able to come in and get this all figured out with you. Based on your goals, performance demands, and your personal eating preferences, they will be able to help you create a custom eating game plan that will help you to be successful. No more stressing about what to eat and when to eat it.
How Do You Find a Great Registered Dietitian
9INE POINT Health is a great place to find a registered dietitian. 9INE POINT Health allows you to search for today’s dietitian based on the skill sets you are looking for locally. For example, if you want a registered dietitian to have a specialty in sports nutrition, 9INE POINT Health will show you all of the local options with that skill set.
Once you have a list of a local registered dietitian, you can then chose which one you want based on their 9INE POINT Number. The 9INE POINT Number considers three different factors to create a number out of 100 that makes it easy to compare healthcare providers.
- Ratings and Reviews
- Engagement within 9INE POINT Health
- Insurances accepted
Of course, if you want to dig deeper on any dietitian, you can always click on their profile and look at all of the information on their profile. The key to choosing the right healthcare providers is still thinking about your needs first. Think of the thing you want your healthcare providers to do and don’t be afraid to do your research on 9INE POINT Health.
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
