What Does a Nutritionist Do, and How Do They Work With Your Doctor?

A nutritionist looks at what you eat, how you live and how you feel, and helps you change your food and daily habits toward your health goals. A nutritional therapy practitioner (NTP) does this through a detailed intake, food journals and questionnaires, then customized recommendations on food, lifestyle and supplements.¹ It works alongside your doctor, not in place of them: an NTP does not diagnose or treat disease, and refers you to a licensed provider when you need medical care.¹

What the work usually involves

1. An intake. Your health history, current symptoms, medications and goals, and what you have already tried.
2. A food journal. A few days of what you eat and drink, when, and how you feel afterward. It often shows patterns no one has noticed: long gaps between meals, eating in a rush, a food that keeps coming before the bloating.
3. Questionnaires. Structured questions that help sort which areas to work on first.¹
4. A plan. Specific, realistic changes to food and daily habits, with an emphasis on varied, nutrient-dense whole foods.¹
5. Follow-ups. The plan is adjusted as you see what helps. Change usually comes from steady steps, not one dramatic overhaul.

What a nutritionist does not do

An NTP “may not diagnose, treat, prevent, prescribe, or cure any pathological condition, illness, or disease,” may not practice medical nutrition therapy, and may not make unproven health claims.¹ That means a nutritionist won’t tell you what condition you have, won’t change your medications, and shouldn’t promise a cure. If someone does, ask what their credential is.

For a diagnosed condition that needs medical nutrition therapy, a registered dietitian is the right professional. The difference between the titles is explained in NTP, dietitian or nutritionist: what’s the difference?

How it fits with your doctor

• Your doctor rules things out. New, severe or unexplained symptoms come to your doctor first. Nutrition support starts once serious causes have been looked at.
• Your doctor stays in charge of medical care. Diagnoses, tests and medications are your doctor’s. A nutritionist works on food and daily habits around them.
• Tell each of them about the other. Share your plan with your doctor, and your medications and diagnoses with your nutritionist, so nothing in one works against the other.
• A good practitioner refers out. When something needs medical or mental health care, an NTP refers you to a licensed provider.¹

When it is worth seeing one

Common reasons to see one, once your doctor has ruled out anything serious:

• digestion that stays unsettled
• energy that dips through the day
• stress that shows up in the body
• a diet you have been advised to try and can’t make work in a real kitchen

Working with Maria

Maria Zilka is a nutritional therapy practitioner in Beaverton, Oregon, seeing clients in person and by secure video. Her work centers on the nervous system, digestion and inflammation, and it runs alongside your medical care. See how working together looks, or request an appointment.

Sources

1. Nutritional Therapy Association, “Scope of Practice”. nutritionaltherapy.com

Maria Zilka, NTP
Maria has practiced nutritional therapy for more than fifteen years. Her work centers on the nervous system, digestion and chronic inflammation. She sees clients in person in Beaverton, Oregon, and by secure video. More about Maria