this is the nutrition course I’m studying (plus a cool plan to donate $500 to charity if you enrol too…)
In February I started studying to become a health counsellor with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York, via correspondence. Name someone big in nutrition and I can safely say they’re probably lecturers at this place…Deepak Chopra, Joel Fuhrman, Sally Fallon Morell, Mark Hyman, etc.
I’ve learned things like: Eat melons alone or leave them alone (they digest so fast that if you eat anything else with them, digestion is retarded…leading to gas). There you go, hey!
Also, always soak brown rice overnight before cooking. It gets breaks down the phytic acid in the husk, which when ingested regularly can leach zinc and other vital minerals from your system.
Anyway, I’ve managed to strike up a deal where if anyone reading this decides to enroll in the course, too, and they mention I referred them, INN will hand me $500, which I’ll donate to OzHarvest.
OzHarvest is a wonderfully authentic Australian charity run by Ronni Kahn (who meditates in the same group as me) that collects excess food from restaurants and cafes and delivers it to those in need. A perfect synergy of issues I get awfully fired up about: nutritous eating and wasting less. Please feel free to forward this around to anyone wanting to study in this area…it’s a great opportunity to give.
I’m studying the course out of interest, but also so I can pass on worthy information. I care about how we’re eating today. In America, 60% of the diet consists of processed food. 35% is animal-based products and the remaining 5% is fruit and vegetables and nuts and seeds. Of this 5%, half is made up of potato. Scary!! And I’d say Australia is following not far behind.
I hate diets. This course covers more than 100 diets…but then advises we forgot all the rules and just take on board the sound information. Their big mantra is “crowding out”. That is, eat more good food so that, naturally, we don’t have room for the bad stuff. It’s not a nutrition course. It qualifies you to be like a life coach, but focusing on eating.
Some extra things you might need to know:
* I listen to all lecturers on an ipod that they supply. Exams are done online.
* The course is roughly $4-5K (depending on exchange rate) and is for a year.
* I dedicate about 2-4 hours a week on the course …it’s not taxing, especially given I can listen to the lectures whenever I want.
* Check out the website here. Or view an info session here.
I’m happy to answer any other questions you might have. Just give me a hoi!!! AND PLEASE PASS THIS ONTO YOUR MATES WITH THE LITTLE LINK BELOW XXXX
ah, still wishing I’d spent more time on google before signing up for my nutrition course. This just sounds too good.
do you need to do much reading? or is it all ipod based?
OzHarvest are doing a fabulous job, really wonderful.
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Hi Sarah,
I’m loving the look of this course – I was hoping to study naturopathy by distance, but unfortunately the private health and collages won’t accept the qualification in australia if you do it by distance.
Would this course actually qualify you to be a nutritional counsellor in australia? My concern would be that it’s too much of a private, novelty course, that wouldn’t actually enable me to earn a living (or at least part of a living) from.
Thanks,
Rosie
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Hi Sarah
Thanks for sharing. Am loving your blog and columns. I am currently finishing my Masters in Wellness (RMIT) and would love to study nutrition. I will check it out too.
Also, I am the co-founder of World Wellness Project (worldwellnessproject.com) and we are in the process of contacting you to invite you to speak at our innaugural global summit in November (in Melbourne). We are bringing wellness leaders from all over the world together for the summit. I really hope you can join us there!
Be well
Megan xx
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hi sarah,
this course sounds fantastic. i’ve just completed a bachelor in human nutrition and have been looking for a something like this for a long time. I just had a quick look through the website, but it didn’t mention much about the time frame you can do it in or when you can start. would you know much about this or would it be better to contact them directly?
thankyou thankyou thankyou for sharing this, im stoked!
aimee
xx
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Hi Sarah,
I was very interested and excited about this course after reading about it on your blog. Having looked into it further I was really disappointed when I stumbled across this article ‘A Skeptical Look at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’ ‘www.credentialwatch.org/reports/iin.shtml’. I would very much value your opinion about this as I still believe this could potentially be the course for me.
Sarahxx
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June 18th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Hey Sarah Hay, sorry about the tardy reply to this. Your question is an important one. I had a look at the site. A few things:
- I agree the course is not “scientific” in scope. But I don’t think this HAS to matter. A health coach is about steering people’s choices. Me, I dont’ think people always need the heavy dose info…they need support and guidance and someone to help them sift through the maze of dietary advice.
- I can’t comment on all the regulatory board stuff…I know it takes years to get approved by big institutions…perhaps that’s at play here. But I did get some health workers I know to look at the course and they rate the content and lecturers.
- I think the best way to use the course is as an adjunct to any kind of training or expertise you already have. A lot of nutritionists or PTs, yoga teachers etc do the course. It builds on what they’re already doing. Me, I’m doing it as a journalist who wants to communicate better health messages. I’m also doing it because I really enjoy knowing this kind of info.
- In defence of the course – it’s jam-packed with very good info and uses very good health experts. Also, this realm of advice has never sat comfortably with “science”. It’s like women trying to prove their “strength” by competing with men at football. The parameters are always going to be biased. I accept this about this kind of knowledge, and work my way through it with an open, but critical mind. Some of the diets we cover are soooooo wrong. I’m anti-Atkins, for instance. But the point of the course is to take on board the various theories and care about them, have an opinion and then coach.
- One of main criticisms is the emphasis on building a life coach business. This might suit some people. But I think the course should focus on the info and how best to impart it, rather than marketing techniques. But like I say, I’m not doing the course for this reason.
- To wrap – the course is there for you to get what suits you out of it. In my honest opinion, I think it’s a great way to build on your career, if you’re in a line of work that helps people with their lives. It’s another string to your arrow. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone straight out of school, or someone looking for a brand new career as a life coach, with no grounding in other disciplines. And granted i think some people do do the course for this.
Hope this helps!!
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Hi sarah, I found the course really interesting. I’ve had a good poke around their website – in your opinion, do you need to be fixed on having a goal of becoming a health coach to get the most out of the course? (I don’t have any interest in becoming a one-to-one coach, looking more at the idea of starting a health/raw food business) – wondering if this course would be a worthwhile thing to do as a springboard? interested to know what you think…
p.s love love your site!
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Hey Sarah
Just wanted to comment here lest you think your readers care more about SATC 2 than nutrition (although I too was quite irate after seeing SATC 2 on sunday night). Such basic stuff – soaking brown rice etc, amazing that we need to study it in a course when it is our bodies, but that’s the millennium for you.
I saw a quick food shop interview with you today in a weekly magazine, it might have been women’s day, and you mentioned root vegetables for feeling grounded, which i’ve heard from naturopaths i’ve seen in the past too when i’ve travelled lots.
Could you post your yummy beetroot risotto recipe you mentioned one day? I made those chia muffins you blogged a few weeks ago, they were beautiful!
Louisa
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Hey Sarah! Sorry I missed you in NYC – but I’ve been looking into this course for such a long time and haven’t pulled the trigger yet – really intrigued to hear how you’ve been getting on with it.
BTW – I can’t even comment on SATC 2. Those are hours of my life I can’t get back…
Have a great weekend! Am off to a yoga retreat at Omega this weekend, woo hoo!
xx
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Hi Sarah, I absolutely love the sound of this course. I am a classically trained chef and even though I have a personal interest in nutrition all my professional training revolves around traditional food theories. I am so excited about the prospect of learning more about this strand of nutrition. Would it be a beneficial course for a chef wanting to teach home cooks how to integrate mindful cooking with the techniques that create delicious foods. Cheers Ali
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Ali, this would actually be perfect for you. One of the lecturers – Andrea??? – was a chef and did the course and moved to become an expert in healthy eating…she went on to be a contestant on Top Chef.
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Hi Sarah, I came across your site through Pink of Perfection and have proceeded to devour it in its entirety, great stuff. I have a background as a cook and also English teacher but wish to go into a new career as a nutritionist/dietitian because I don’t want to own a restaurant/continue teaching and I think this would be a good way to combine my skills. I’d like to do consulting and possibly some media (nutrition columns and the like) and I have been looking around at what to study but the main thing I can find (I’m a Kiwi living in Austria but plan to move back home) is a whole 3 year science undergrad (I already have an arts degree) with an additional year studying dietetics – the other one- year courses that are available seem a bit fluffy. Sorry for bending your ear but I wonder if you think the course is for me at all?
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Sarah,
Thank you for taking the time to get back to me – I appreciate your input and yes it really was helpful!
I’ve got some serious thinking/planning to do now :@)
p.s I look forward to your articles every day -keep up the good work!
sxx
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Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
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[...] about nutrition…a pet topic of mine. As I’ve mentioned here, I’m studying integrative nutrition at the moment. I graduate as a health coach in [...]
genius. this might just be what I am looking for! Thanks for sharing Sarah
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Hi Sarah,
When I looked into the integrative nutrition course I thought AT LAST that’s what I’ve been waiting for!! I have been extremely unsuccessful in finding “my thing” and that really struck a chord with me BIG TIME so thankyou!! I neally signed up then and there, however then (as i’m learning to do slowly) I sat on it and thought about it (I’d like to say meditate, but I’m not quite that good – yet!) I began thinking that $4-5K is a fair bti for whats in the end not going to lead to any qualfiication and basically the equivalent of 4 weeks work (even though its stretched out over a year) I was also a bit concerned as when I emailed them for the more info thing, I have since been receiving emails everyday saying if I sign up by the end of the day (or sometimes they give you 2) that you will get “a free ipad” or $500 of next tuition course, or the next day their giving me a ” free goodies bag”- so I became a little disappointed in how in your face their being and trying to bribe you with freebies if you SIGN UP NOW!! I also was wondering then, if you would mind sharing if you actually paid the full course fee or whether (as you deserve) got it free?? This would just make me feel a little better knowing that you had paid for it and still rate it!! – Just before I put my savings into this?? Hope you don’t mind.
I do want to say that I adore your blog and think i’m becoming ADDICTED to your blog – (better than my former sugar addiction tho)
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[...] while back I posted about the integrative nutrition course I’ve been studying via correspondence in New York. A number of you’ve signed up and the referral cash I got went [...]
Hi Sarah
I really enjoy your colum and blog, but as an Accredited Practising Dietitian want to make sure your readers are not misled about the path to becoming a nutrition professional.
It’s great you’ve clarified the reasons you are doing the course and that it should be an add on to exisiting qualifications. And for the record I support integrative approaches and further learning.
But I would highly recommend that anyone wanting a serious career in nutrition complete a degree qualification first. In order to work as a dietitian you need to go one step further.
Your readers may be interested in this info on studying to be a dietitian http://www.daa.asn.au/index.asp?pageID=2145833487; accredited universites http://www.daa.asn.au/index.asp?pageID=2145833452 and steps to becoming an Accredited Nutritionist http://www.daa.asn.au/index.asp?pageID=2145883819
Looking forward to reading more as you get into the course Emma
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March 13th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Hi Emma, I totally agree with your take and have said as much in one or the other posts. Thanks for the links.
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Well I truly enjoyed studying it. This post procured by you is very useful for good planning.
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Started the course 3 weeks ago and loving it.
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I do believe I’ll ultimately make a move in your tips on areas I really could never have had time to touch by yourself. You’re so considerate to permit me to be one of those to benefit from your useful information. Please realize just how considerably I thanks.
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[...] tuition with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition worth more than [...]
Hi Sarah,
I am loving your blog and excited to experience your quitting sugar book. I eat well but it’s always fun for me to learn from others and their perspective. I am extremely excited for this opportunity for the class!!!! Couple questions…..and I know it’s in this blog somewhere….the meditation you do is transcendental meditation?? Where do you suggest learning about that? and also, you gave up coffee? Caffeine altogether or just coffee? Do you write about that somewhere?
Thank you!
Jami
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[...] course in NYC. (Sorry to everyone else who was keen to win…for those of you still thinking of doing the course, if you enrol between now and November 24, you get an ipad2!). This week, I’m giving [...]
Hey hey,
I am currently studying Nutritional Medicine. I will still be studying next yr, but was thinking about doing this course at the same time. Is there a lot of work involved? It sounds amazing, just wondering if it would be too much to handle, whilst studying elsewhere.
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[...] anything I’ve missed, you can probably find here or [...]
Hey Sarah,
I’m currently in Year 12 and have looked at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition website and course and am extremely interested in pursuing it next year. I took note of the fact that you did not recommend this for students straight out of school and was wondering why?
Love and light,
Nadine
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Hi Sarah,
Interested in studying this course but finding it hard to find information on the minimum qualification required to practice as a health coach in Australia.
I assume the Integrative Nutrition course is recognised here and allows you to practice…..
Can you shed some more light on this?
Thanks,
Ange
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Not everyone wants to become an “accredited practicing dietitian” and be a puppet for the government and big food industries.
This course is about broadening the mind and finding out how our bodies work differently for the next. For most people, “3 serves of dairy a day” and all the other rigid guidelines aren’t working!!!!
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Amazing! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a completely different topic but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!Orangeburg Roofing & Painting, 512 Breezy Dr., Orangeburg, SC 29115 – (803) 566-8577
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