Counseling: Nutritional Counseling For Your Health

Medically reviewed by Andrea Brant, LMHC

Updated January 3rd, 2025 by BetterHelp Editorial Team

Content warning: Please be advised that the below article might mention trauma-related topics that could be triggering to the reader. Please see our Get Help Now page for more immediate resources.

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Basic health is vital to maintaining a content mind, and a large part of a person's basic health is decided by their nutritional and dietary habits. What, how much, and how often each person eats can affect their behavior, moods, and thought processes.

Of course, the reality of your dietary situation is more complicated; your mental health can also play a role in the decisions you make regarding your diet. This can become a vicious cycle of mental health challenges that cause physical health issues that can loop back into deteriorating mental health.

If someone is experiencing an eating disorder or unhealthy dietary habits, such as binge eating, nutritional counseling may be helpful. This type of counseling is generally provided by a registered dietitian or a nutritional counselor, enabling people to develop healthy relationships with food.

How can eating habits or nutritional counseling affect the brain?

Heredity

Heredity can influence one's likelihood of developing an eating disorder, but that genetic predisposition may be dormant unless or until the individual is under a great deal of stress. This stress can be anything from natural processes like puberty to a traumatic event.

Neurotransmitters

It was also said by Amanda Leigh Mascarelli in her article "Eating Disorders: The Brain's Foul Trickery", that neurotransmitters (messengers that transmit signals around the brain) play a significant role in stress, moods, and appetite. If some of these neurotransmitters are not being produced enough or are unbalanced, then the brain begins lying about the perception of your appearance.

Social Pressures

There is also an increasing body of understanding related to how social pressures from peers and media – especially social media – can lead to poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits, especially in young people. According to one 2019 review of existing research, social media was found to increase comparison habits between users and encourage negative perceptions of users’ own bodies, which may contribute to unhealthy eating habits.

Eating Habits

Unhealthy eating habits may start in the brain, but they don’t end there. When people aren't eating food with the right nutrition as they should be, their bodies can lack key nutrients. Many of these nutrients are important for maintaining mental and emotional health. For example, we often think of calcium as being important for bone health. Bones are the last place in your body that calcium is used. It's a very important ion for the conduction of nerve impulses, so people who don't get enough can have some serious symptoms.

Proteins

Similarly, we think of proteins as being things that build muscle. While this is true, proteins are also broken down into amino acids that are used to construct chemical messengers in the body. Fats, the bane of many under-informed dieters, are also required for the storage or production of some chemical messengers in the body. Fat and water are also required as the stage for various chemical processes. A proper nutritional diet can be crucial to your health.

Other potential complications from unhealthy eating habits

Unhealthy eating habits, lack of proper nutrition, and eating disorders can lead to emotional distress and negative body image which may result in "yo-yo dieting"—a cycle of severe dieting and weight loss followed by rapid weight gain. This cycle can be hazardous to both physical and emotional health. Physically, yo-yo diets can cause severe changes in metabolism and difficulty absorbing key nutrients. It can also, in rare cases, lead to issues with bone strength or intestinal blockages.

There are also some eating disorders, such as Pica, an eating disorder in which people compulsively eat inedible things such as hair. While Pica is different for everyone and many things that we don't usually eat are safe to eat, some of them can be dangerous in ways that most people aren't familiar with. For example, some people with Pica feel compelled to ingest metal. Some metals, such as iron or zinc, are in some foods and are necessary for the body to function properly. However, many metals, such as lead, are very bad for the body. Metals are also difficult for the body to remove so ingesting small amounts over a prolonged period can be more damaging than is the case with other dangerous chemicals like alcohol or even nicotine, which move through the body comparatively much faster.

Nutritional counseling from a nutrition expert

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Nutritional counseling is professional counseling from a dietitian or nutritional counselor to assess and address dietary habits and promote healthy eating on an individual level—essentially letting you know how to listen to your body and give it the food and nutrition it needs. Generally, this begins with a recording of one's food intake in a certain amount of time. The most common and more concise method is recording what one has eaten over two weekdays and one weekend day. Registered dietitians or nutritional counselors can evaluate your food intake, offer nutrition tips for taking better care of your body, and provide meal plans or suggest intuitive eating, among other forms of support.

How nutritional counseling can help

Your medical history and physical condition, including body weight, may also be assessed during nutritional counseling. This has traditionally been done using weight-for-height tables and body mass index (BMI) to determine whether someone is “underweight” or “overweight” in relation to their height. These metrics are largely falling out of favor, however, as neither takes muscle mass, genetic predispositions, medical conditions, or variations from physical sex and ethnicity into account. Healthcare providers may use other methods to measure body fat content independent from weight, among other factors. They may also look at your medical records from other healthcare professionals for more information regarding your health.

Online therapy for improved dietary habits

After this, therapists such as the ones at BetterHelp will speak to you and work with you to promote gradual improvement, help set up realistic goals, and maintain results. In most cases, talking to a licensed therapist will help to deal with the social, mental, and emotional causes of eating disorders that are not usually as well addressed during nutrition counseling. While nutrition counseling can be a great place to start, addressing your mental health can also be vital.

Cognitive behavioral techniques may be used to change negative thinking patterns to improve self-esteem related to body image. Research has found that online treatments for eating disorders and other unhealthy eating patterns are generally effective and can show a significant reduction in symptoms over the course of treatment.

That does not mean, however, that this kind of therapy is a replacement for nutritional counseling. Mental health therapy and nutrition therapy should be seen as complementary to one another. The two services should offer related and interconnected services rather than one being a replacement for the other. Both nutritional therapy and mental health therapy may have their place in treatment and can help you on your journey of fostering healthier nutritional dietary habits. Counseling, nutrition therapy, and other aspects of care can all play helpful roles.

It is important that nutritional therapists keep an open mind to a person's religious beliefs, preferences, and nutrition or dietary requirements when arranging and encouraging regular meal schedules. If these are disregarded, the trust between a patient and a nutritional therapist is weakened, and therefore, the patient is more likely to stick with their original and damaging eating habits.

During these nutrition counseling sessions, addressing any issues related to anxiety after eating can also assist clients in identifying potential triggers so they can implement appropriate nutritional or dietary adjustments to try and help alleviate their symptoms.

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Takeaway

Unhealthy eating habits can be difficult to address on our own for a wide range of reasons, including genetic predispositions, personal trauma, and outside influences from places like social media. Having professional support in adjusting your diet to match your body’s needs can help you reach long-term success both physically and mentally. If you’re experiencing difficulty with nutrition or weight loss, know that you don’t have to face it alone. You may benefit from nutritional counseling, nutrition-related mental health care, and other forms of treatment. By talking to a licensed nutritional counselor, you may find that you can develop a healthy relationship with food while building your self-confidence. Take the first step toward getting nutrition support and contact BetterHelp today.

Frequently asked questions

Read more below for answers to questions commonly asked about this topic.

What is the difference between a nutrition counselor and a registered dietitian?

A nutrition counselor and a registered dietitian have different levels of training and education. People who work as nutritionists typically have a degree in nutrition but may not have any further training or licensure. Registered dietitians have a degree in an accredited nutrition program, have completed 1000 hours of supervision, and have passed an exam. In some states dietitians are required to get a license. Dietitians are allowed to provide medical nutrition therapy.

Should I see a dietitian or nutritionist?

If you have chronic health conditions such as insulin resistance, nutrient deficiencies, or immune system dysfunction, you should see a registered dietitian. If you want to change your eating habits to lose weight or improve your overall health through proper nutrition, you can see a nutritionist.

What is an example of nutrition counseling?

A nutrition counseling session is tailored to each individual client’s needs. For instance, someone hoping to manage diabetes may work with their nutrition counselor to develop a plan for preparing regular healthy meals and nutritional snacks while avoiding sugars and other simple carbohydrates.

Who needs nutrition counseling?

Many individuals may benefit from nutrition counseling, including the following:

Anyone with a chronic disease such as blood glucose dysfunction could use help via nutrition counseling from a registered dietitian.
Older adults, who can be more prone to ill health, can also benefit from nutrition counseling.
People who suffer from eating disorders such as compulsive eating would benefit from therapy plus nutrition counseling.
Anyone who wants dietary advice in order to improve their health and wellbeing can also benefit.

Is nutritional counseling worth it?

Yes, nutritional counseling can be worth it. If you have any health conditions or simply want to improve your overall health, good nutrition can have a positive impact on symptoms of chronic conditions, and it can boost energy levels

What happens during nutrition counseling?

During nutrition counseling, the counselor will ask you about your dietary intake and assess your needs. They will then work with you to devise a nutrition plan for making healthy food choices and developing other healthy habits around nutrition.

What are the different types of nutritional counseling?

A few types of nutrition counseling include the following:

General nutrition education – This helps patients to have the right perceptions and principles about eating foods with proper nutrition to become healthy.
Parental nutrition education—This type of nutrition counseling aims to give parents the essential knowledge to understand the nutritional needs of their kids. Helping them learn nutrition-related skills can help their children attain good health and a balanced diet.
Nutrition counseling for diabetes — The main focus of this type of nutrition counseling is to help people with diabetes attain a healthy lifestyle by guiding them on their eating preferences, blood sugar levels, and other necessary things related to proper nutrition and health.
Nutrition counseling for heart health — This focuses on helping patients practice eating foods with proper nutrition for the heart.
Nutrition counseling for weight loss — The main goal of this type of nutrition counseling is to help patients maintain a healthy weight, practice eating foods with proper nutrition, and adopt a balanced diet and lifestyle for healthy living.

How does nutrition counseling improve your health?

Nutrition counseling can improve your general health by teaching you about healthy foods and supporting you in developing healthy habits around food.

Can nutrition counseling change your eating habits and help with weight loss?

If you follow your counselor’s nutrition plan, nutrition counseling can change your eating habits by teaching about healthy food choices and food preparation, and when paired with physical activity, it can sometimes lead to necessary weight loss.

What does a nutritional therapist do?

A nutritional therapist assesses a person's health conditions and determines whether they lack proper nutrition or have inadequate dietary intake of essential nutrients. Then, they help patients devise a nutrition plan.

Healing from eating disorders is possible

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